Leighlin Louise Gies passed away in her sleep at home in Berkeley on July 21, 2019. Born July 10, 1999 in Berkeley, CA, Leighlin did a lot of living in her 20 years. She embraced experiences and reveled in human connection, collecting friends and chosen family with her innate ability to reach into the heart of a person. She was a poet and an artist and a rogue taxidermist. She was a caregiver and survivor and an ardent cat-mama. She was an explorer and a deep thinker and a passionate activist. Her creativity was boundless and blended gracefully with a heavy dose of down-to-earth realism, and she shared both in spades. She was a hero. She was a giver. She was ours. And we were hers.

Leighlin lived her life according to her unwavering moral compass; she worked hard every day to do what she believed was right and still inspires her loved ones to do the same. She was a devoted daughter, sister, and friend, whose love leaves a permanent brand on every soul she touched. Her family will be holding a private celebration of Leighlin’s life on Sunday, August 18th. Please contact Wren Irwin at [email redacted] for more information.

We will miss our pirate faerie, our rebel angel, our vibrant soul.  We’ll miss her more than words can ever express. But we will continue to choose and participate, and to carry on her story.

To help with the cost of her cremation and service, we are reaching out to our community for donations. Every contribution helps in the wake of this tragedy.

Additionally, please don’t post on her Facebook wall or announce her passing on social media. Leighlin deeply disliked being on social media and we are closing her accounts. If you would like to post something online in her memory, feel free to leave a comment on her obituary at the Chapel of the Chimes website: https://oakland.chapelofthechimes.com/obits/leighlin-gies/

Thank you.