Leona Farris

Farris was born on August 11, 1917, and grew up in poverty.[1][2] Her father died when she was four and one of her sisters died at age 9.[2] Farris' mother helped provide for her daughter's education as long as Farris would take care of her sister who had schizophrenia.[2] Farris's mother was a lifelong volunteer, inspiring her daughter to do the same.[3] Farris earned her bachelor's degree from Ohio State University (OSU) in 1940.[4] At OSU, she was part of the integration of the school dormitories in 1939.[2] Farris married her husband, physician Melvin Farris, around 1943.[2][5]

Farris moved to Stow, Ohio, in 1954.[5] This was their second attempt at buying a house in the city. The first time, was in 1948, when because they were black, the price was raised by $3,000 on the spot and "two other parties were interested in the house" by the time they arrived to look at the house.[6] The second time, in 1954, three doctors got together to build homes on Fishcreek Road, using a white contractor to purchase the land.[7] They were the third black family to move in and the first to have children in Stow.[8] In the community, she volunteered while she was staying at home, raising her four children.[9] Farris also raised a foster child.[10] Her children were the only African American kids in the school district.[7] Farris was very careful helping her children integrate into the neighborhood and helped create lifelong friendships in the process.[7] As a volunteer at the time, Farris was involved with her husband's work in the Summit County Medical Auxiliary.[2] She also volunteered for the PTA.[8] In the 1960s, she helped stop the local Girl Scout group's use of minstrel shows for fund-raising activities.[3]

Farris decided to create a new career for herself in the late 1950s.[11] While still working on her graduate degree at Kent State University, she was hired as an assistant professor at the University of Akron in 1969 to teach home economics.[12] She was the first African American woman to work as an assistant professor there.[5] She graduated from Kent State in 1970.[2] Her teaching methods included working on a film created with students and also encouraging her students to design games based on their studies.[13] She also directed consumer workshops at the university.[14] Farris retired from Akron University in May 1988.[10]

Farris was involved in the community and also in national groups. She helped raise money for the NAACP in Akron in 1962.[15] By 1982, Farris was involved in 16 different groups and had been designated an alternate delegate to the White House Conference on Aging in 1981.[9] Among the other groups she was involved in were the United Way, the Western Reserve Girl Scout Council, American Field Service and Alpha Kappa Alpha, in which she was a member for more than 75 years.[16][17] She learned to belly dance as a senior citizen in order to get more exercise and also performed for other seniors.[18]

In 1981, the Home Economics Alumni Association at OSU awarded Farris a distinguished service award for her leadership in the field.[4] In 1985, she received one of 2 Distinguished Service Awards for her service in the United Way of Summit County.[19] The University of Akron established a Leona W. Farris Scholarship in 1987.[17]

Farris moved from Stow into Copley Place in Copley, Ohio, around 2012.[20] She died on February 27, 2022, at the age of 104.[21]

• Leona Wright Farris (2018 video)