Rebecca Leo, 82

Rebecca Leo, born Rebecca Sue Feltus, passed away peacefully in her sleep on October 15, 2025. She was 82 years young and is survived by her three children, Launcelot Bicknell (California), Amanda Bicknell (Virginia) and Mari Bicknell (Florida). She was born in Iowa on July 1943, to Robert and Siena Feltus and had one brother, Patrick Feltus, who passed away in August 2025. The love of Rebecca’s life was William Nichols and they were married for 21 years before she was widowed, in March 2017. Rebecca is survived by her cousin Lynn Manson, of Sumner. They were born the same year and were close their entire lives. She is also survived by nieces and nephews.

Rebecca’s life was filled with travel and adventure, but most of all she loved her children and Bill. She also loved the ocean and the family home in Jamaica, called Chebuctoo. Her life was sometimes very difficult, but she had great strength, fortitude, and courage through it all. Although not altogether autobiographical, she wrote about some of the most valuable lessons she learned in two published books, The Flaws that Bind and The Love that Heals. 

Rebecca loved education. She founded and taught at a school in the U.S. Virgin Islands called Lime Tree Academy. She taught English, English as a second language, and even home-schooled all three of her children one year when they were in grammar school. When she moved her children from St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, to Massachusetts, she went to work in administration at Boston University, where she worked for over 15 years. This allowed her three children and herself the benefit of tuition remission. All three children appreciated this amazing gift and graduated from B.U. She herself went on to get two master’s degrees and nearly finished her doctorate at BU. By the end of her time at B.U. Rebecca had been working for several years as an adjunct professor. She also taught at Bunker Hill Community College for several years. Throughout her life Rebecca was a strong advocate for protecting the environment, including writing a high school paper advocating for solar energy adoption, then later in life installing solar panels on her home with Bill.

For fun, Rebecca enjoyed square dancing, playing tennis, hiking, writing, cooking, meditating and playing Scrabble. She was loyal, kind, honest and incredibly hard working. She had honor and dignity.

Rebecca sacrificed a lot for her children and raised them as a single mother. She will be greatly missed by family and friends who loved and cherished her, especially her three children and five grandchildren, Skyler, Launce Jr., Emily, and step-grandchildren Suzie, and Avetis.

Her family will have a private memorial for Rebecca at a later date. Condolences can be emailed to mandylynb23@gmail.com.