Saratoga Springs - Carol Leighton-Jones, 79, of Saratoga Springs, passed on May 6th, 2024.  She was born on April 25, 1945, to Richard and Virginia Goertz of Rensselaer, New York.  She was cherished by her daughters, Brooke Vincent and Lauren Leighton; adored by her grandchildren, Thomas, Jameson, and Lillianna; devoted to her older brother, Paul Goertz and younger brother, Carl Goertz; and treasured by thousands of former students.

Carol was the Class President of Rensselaer High School in 1963. She was the first in her family to attend college, achieving a bachelor's degree from SUNY Oneonta and master's degree from SUNY Albany in teaching education.

Carol had a love of film and theater from a very young age.  Shortly after she began her career teaching English and masterpieces of drama at Shenendehowa Schools, she began directing the junior and high school musicals.  Carol took pride in saying, "I've never cut a single kid" from her Broadway-worthy shows; "kids can do anything."  Hundreds of cast members (and her daughters who were in every show), would testify that being in a Leighton-musical was a life-changing experience.

Carol loved to say, "We're going on an adventure!" Her daughters have fond memories of traveling abroad, white-water rafting and skiing in Vail, spending summers in "the hovel" on Nantucket; being invited to join "bus loads of kids" to NYC to see musicals, going to see movies at The Spectrum, playing Christmas Bingo; bicycling for miles across Nantucket, or back-and-forth to Saratoga Lake, or along the Adirondack trail; camping and boating in Lake George; snuggling in "the car", (two couches pushed together), cozied under "the cloud" blanket, watching movies and shows together at home.

A Ceremony of Life will be held in the future, the date and details of which shall be updated to this website.

You will be with us always, Mama Nona, 'From Here to Eternity.'