Victoria G. Leibfried

Victoria Leibfried was a big-hearted and loving soul who believed in treating people, the earth, and animals with kindness and respect. She battled a debilitating autoimmune disorder, scleroderma, for over twenty years, and faced her struggle with incredible strength and resilience.

Vicki was born in East Orange, New Jersey on June 14, 1956 to parents Walter and Jean Gregonis. She was the second of four daughters—Janie, Vicki, Krissy, and Judy. The family lived in a cozy neighborhood in Metuchen, New Jersey, until 1966, when Walter’s job at General Motors took the family to Fullerton, California. Five years later, yet another transfer brought them to Montgomery, Ohio. Vicki has fond memories of playing with neighborhood children in the cul-de-sac near the family’s Metuchen home. Though she enjoyed riding her dirt bike through the orange groves and swimming in the family pool in California, she always missed New Jersey.

Vicki first attended college at Eastern Kentucky University before transferring to Ohio State University, where she earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Natural Resources. She made wonderful friends at both institutions. After graduating from Ohio State in 1979, she became a wildlife intern at the Cloquet Forestry Center in Minnesota on a ruffed grouse research project. There, she met her future husband, Robert “Bob” Leibfried, who was working on a peatlands research project. The pair played volleyball with the other students at the Center and even competed in crosscut saw (lumberjack) competitions.

Vicki and Bob were married on July 19, 1980 at Side Lake Church in northern Minnesota, surrounded by family and friends. Once married, the couple had many adventures—moving around the country, joining the Peace Corps in Nepal, and adopting a puppy they named Buckwheat. After Bob earned his Master’s degree from Penn State University, the couple moved back to Bob’s home state of Minnesota, where their daughter, Kate, was born in April, 1986, and son, Joshua, was born in September, 1987.

The family settled into Grand Rapids, Minnesota, where they lived on thirty acres of fields and forests. Vicki never sat still. She loved animals, and enjoyed having dogs, horses, chickens, a rabbit, and an ornery barn cat, named Suzie, over the years. When she wasn’t working as a teacher, she kept busy riding and showing horses, growing an impressive vegetable garden, making dried flower arrangements, cross-country skiing, canoeing and camping with the family, and socializing with her many friends (too many to name—you know who you are!).

In 2003, after participating in her second triathlon, Vicki began experiencing extreme muscle tightness, exhaustion, and swelling in her joints. She was eventually diagnosed with the autoimmune disorder scleroderma, which she lived with and managed for the rest of her life. This disorder prompted Vicki and Bob to move to North Carolina, where winters are much less taxing than in Minnesota and Vicki could be outdoors more often. They lived in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains for ten years, grew and sold organic produce, and made wonderful friends.

Vicki loved traveling and visited all 48 continental states, Canada, Nepal, and several European countries. She enjoyed plants and birds, and had a deep knowledge of both. Over the years, she taught several different grade levels (from preschool to eighth grade), and treasured her teaching career.

As her autoimmune disorder took over, her final years were rocky, but she always marched forward with a bright, resilient spirit. She was an unstoppable force. A fighter to the end. Several people offered love and support during those final days, and the family is forever grateful to those individuals.

Vicki is survived by her husband Robert, her daughter Kate and son-in-law Eric, her son Joshua, her sisters Janie Rice, Kristine Gregonis (Hans Hahne), and Judy (Glenn) McDonald, dozens of in-laws, cousins, nieces, and nephews, and her beloved dog Bo.

A celebration of life will be held for Victoria Leibfried in October, 2025 in Grand Rapids, MN. Details are forthcoming. If you would like to honor Vicki’s memory, consider making a donation in her name to Friends of the Boundary Waters.