Leigh Whitman Director pictured with her husband Jeff and their adopted children

We are devastated to share that our friend Leigh Whitman Director passed away on Saturday night, January 11th. Leigh was an incredible advocate for the vulnerable and lived out her pro-life convictions in her everyday life.

Leigh and Jeff Director at Louisiana Right to Life’s 2024 Proudly Pro-Life Gala

Leigh and her husband, Jeff Director, have adopted five children and are close friends of Louisiana Right to Life. Leigh often shared with us her belief that adoption is close to the heart of God and therefore should be close to ours too.

She never wavered in her willingness to share this truth and wrote in 2020: “God has not only blessed us with the incredible gift of adoption in our children, but He continually draws the mission of Adoption to our hearts. What is a more beautiful gift than a child? What is a more beautiful gift than life itself?” 

Leigh was the Executive Director of The Whitman Family Foundation where she helped serve through charity women in crisis pregnancies and the economically disadvantaged. She also served with Jeff as members of the host committee for our Proudly Pro-Life Gala, sponsored our screening of the adoption film, LifeMark in 2022, and shared her adopted daughter Benson’s story with us for the New Orleans Right to Life Calendar in 2023.

Jeff and Leigh have been long time partners of New Orleans pregnancy centers: Access Pregnancy Center and Woman’s New Life Clinic (WNLC). In 2021, Leigh received the Gala for Life Honoree Award from WNLC.

The former Executive Director of WNLC , Associate Director for Louisiana Right to Life, and current staff attorney and spokeswoman for the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, Angie Thomas J.D., said the following about Leigh: “Leigh innately and intimately knew the gift of life; each day, each minute was a miracle. She harnessed this knowledge into a unique and beautiful advocacy for every human life. Leigh (and Jeff) have been amazing witnesses to the dignity of life as they have been radically open to the gift of adoption with their five beautiful, adopted children. Her commitment to and support for Louisiana Right to Life will never be forgotten.”

The current Chief Executive Officer  of WNLC, Allison Daigle, also reflected on Leigh’s life. She said, “The Staff and Board of Woman’s New Life Clinic are devastated by the loss of our dear friend and warrior for life, Leigh Whitman Director. Leigh has become a dear friend to me over the years as we partnered in our mission to promote the sanctity of life, the dignity of women, and the sacredness of sexuality at Woman’s New Life Clinic. Since 2007, Leigh, her husband Jeff, and her family have generously supported our life-affirming work. Woman’s New Life Clinic was blessed to honor Leigh and the Whitman Family as our 2021 Gala for Life Hope Award Honorees. We remain in prayer for Jeff, Wayne and Diane, and their entire family, as we mourn the loss of this beautiful woman and daughter of God.”

In 2023, sharing about the beauty and sacrificial nature of adoption, Leigh told Louisiana Right to Life: “Birth mothers sacrifice so much in choosing adoption and giving their children the best opportunities in life. We learned there’s no greater love than to give your child to someone else.” Read their full adoption story in the New Orleans 2023 Calendar here. 

Please lift up in prayer Jeff and their five children.