Leah Borsich

2d Lt. Leah Rose Borsich, age 23, of Eagle River, Alaska was killed August 20, 2026 while on active duty in the US Air Force. Leah's broken-hearted family include parents Sherry Koski and Michael Borsich, brother and best friend, Dominic Borsich, boyfriend Stavros Ananiadis, and many family pets including Camry, a crabby black cat that hates everyone but loved her.

A 2021 graduate of Wickliffe High School and 2025 graduate of University of Dayton receiving a mechanical engineering degree, Leah loved everything about school and even if she got 100% she still did the extra credit.

The amazing Leah. Smart, fun, funny, kind, hard working, determined, adventurous and so very incredibly musical.

Leah was music. She played: piano, flute, piccolo, trumpet, clarinet, mandolin, ukulele, guitar, a saw with a bow, two different styles of accordion, and had just received a bouzouki. Plus for fun and to annoy her brother she played the melodica and kazoo.

Leah was a member of the Willoughby United Methodist Church bell choir in Ohio and joined the bell choir at St. John United Methodist Church in Anchorage, Alaska.

She was a nearly ten-year volunteer of The Fest, a large scale Northeast Ohio one day outdoor Christian music festival. She was proud to be part of the Core Team that led the volunteers. One year she also played flute on stage before the evening Mass.

Leah auditioned and won a scholarship from the University of Dayton Symphonic Wind Ensemble for flute. When asked by the judges how many years she had taken lessons she surprised them when she replied, "none."

She was an enthusiastic marching band member becoming drum major in high school. In college she was thrilled to travel with the Pride of Dayton to march in the St. Patrick's Day parade in Dublin, Ireland and the Chicago Thanksgiving Day Parade. She also traveled with them to London, England where on a layover several band members snuck off to see the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

In pep band for Dayton she traveled several times including to South Carolina and St. Louis, Missouri.

She had a college professor who wanted to become a judge for music competitions but first had to prove he could teach that instrument. Leah gladly offered to learn. To prove he succeeded in teaching her she earned First Class Honors with distinction from The Royal Conservatory of Music for Level 1 Trumpet.

Leah carried one of her accordions up the highest hill in Woodland Cemetery in Dayton and could then claim to be the only living person to perform for the Wright Brothers. She thought they would enjoy the music.

Although she was lonely when she first arrived in Anchorage, she was rarely in her apartment. She hiked mountains and went to festivals and concerts. At one concert she met someone who invited her to join their band. She joined the Parkstrippers Marching Band where she played clarinet, flute and trumpet. She was amused when they introduced her as a professional trumpet player. The band performed at music festivals all over Alaska and Leah loved camping at these events every weekend.

During high school Leah volunteered a few years at the Cleveland International Women's Air and Space Museum and would wear the mascot costume for events including the Cleveland National Air Show.

Two consecutive summers Leah was selected by the Rotary Club of Cleveland for Project YESS and sailed through the Great Lakes from Wisconsin to Cleveland on the Denis Sullivan, a tall ship, as junior crew.

Leah bicycled solo 150 miles in three days on the Great Allegheny Passage from Pittsburgh to Cumberland, Maryland because she wanted to go fast and who could keep up?

Her senior year of high school she applied for and was awarded an Air Force scholarship. She was determined to go to the University of Dayton. She graduated debt free and actually made money because some of her other scholarship money was refunded to her.

In college through an Air Force ROTC program she studied Arabic one summer in Amman, Jordan the next in Morocco traveling throughout both countries.

Leah was a project programmer for the US Airforce 611th Air Squadron stationed in Anchorage, Alaska.

Her job required her to fly to remote stations. She loved going where other people couldn't. In the Aleutian Islands she jumped in the Bering Sea and the Pacific Ocean one after the other. Although she didn't drink she thought it was funny she was asked and glady brought a suitcase of beer to a remote site for those stationed there. She flew over Denali and took a photo looking down at it. She loved Wake Island and Hawaii. Leah traveled to all of these places with an instrument and played on the beaches and mountain tops.

Having traveled extensively with her family growing up, Leah's love to go to new places was to include traveling with her brother to Japan next year and she was also saving for an Antarctica cruise in two years. She was always looking for the next adventure.

Prayers of Christian Burial will be held on Saturday, October 24, 2026 at 11:00 am at ST. NOEL CHURCH, 35200 Chardon Road, Willoughby Hills, Ohio 44094. Procession immediately following to Lake View Cemetery for burial with full military honors. Luncheon to follow at Willoughby United Methodist Church in downtown Willoughby.

In lieu of flowers, contributions suggested in memory of Leah to her memorial fund by clicking here