Educator Leona Farris, a Black pioneer in Stow, dies at 104

Leona W. Farris had a simple philosophy: “You eat right, you exercise and you do something for somebody else.”

For more than a century, she lived by the motto that her mother taught her as a little girl. She credited it with her longevity.

Farris died peacefully in her sleep Sunday at age 104 at Copley Place. It was fitting that she died during Black History Month because she was a pioneer in so many ways.

Local history: Akron landmarks in Black history

She and her husband, Dr. Melvin Farris, a family practice physician, were among the first African Americans to live in Stow after they built a home on Fishcreek Road in the early 1950s. Their four children, Judy, Betty, Mel and Laura, were the first Black students in Stow public schools.

“It was 52 acres of cow pasture when we moved here in 1954,” Farris once told the Beacon Journal. “The cows would get loose every once in a while.”

Stow had fewer than 12,000 residents when the Farrises arrived. Today it’s a community of nearly 35,000. Last year, the city celebrated Leona W. Farris Day on Jan. 25 and renamed Silver Springs Lodge as the Leona Farris Lodge on Sept. 16.

Stow mayor mourns loss

“She’s just a remarkable person,” Stow Mayor John Pribonic said. “So it’s going to be a tremendous loss. It’s a tremendous loss, of course, to her family. But this goes bigger than the city of Stow. This is Summit County and beyond.”

Laura Farris-Daugherty called her mother “The Petite Wonder” because she was only 5 feet tall but commanded any room she entered.

“Wherever she went, she left her influence,” Farris-Daugherty said. “I will miss my mom and friend but know she created a legacy just by living her life.”

Farris was born Aug. 11, 1917, in Cleveland to Lucy Taylor Wright and John B. Wright. She had two sisters: Elaine and Ida.

A product of Cleveland schools, she studied vocational home economics at Ohio State University, where she helped integrate the dorms in the late 1930s. She was a charter member of the Zeta Theta Omega chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority and earned her bachelor’s degree in 1940.

At Ohio State, she met her future husband, Melvin, who earned his medical degree in 1943. After she taught junior high in Cleveland for a couple of years, they got married and moved in 1946 to Akron, where he started his medical practice.

Difficulty in finding housing

Finding housing was a problem for the couple. In 1948, she and her husband were hoping to buy a home on Diagonal Road.

“Don’t you know, by the time we got there at the noon hour, the price had gone up $3,000 and two other parties were interested in the house,” Farris later recalled. “All because we were Black.”

In 1954, Dr. Melvin Farris and two other Black physicians built homes on Fishcreek Road in Stow, which at the time was an all-white suburb. It was against local ordinances to sell to Black families, so the doctors’ white contractor served as the face of the transaction as they purchased the property from a farmer. Meanwhile, the real estate agent, who also was white, gave up his commission so he would not lose his license.

Farris went door to door to introduce her family in the neighborhood. She befriended a white woman, Evelyn Nanashe, and together they established a Girl Scout troop, the first integrated troop in Stow.

“I learned to live by example, watching Mom politely defend myself and others against racism in my childhood by introducing her family to the community,” Farris-Daugherty recalled.

Her mother joined the PTA, volunteered at the library, held bake sales and did whatever she could for the schools.

“My philosophy is to be useful,” Farris explained.

Educator at University of Akron

She went back to school in the 1960s, earning a master’s degree in child and family development from Kent State University in 1970. Before graduating, she joined the University of Akron to teach home economics and became the first African American woman to work as an assistant professor at the school.

She remained at UA for nearly 20 years, helping students develop community service projects that benefited at least 90 agencies in Summit County. She retired in 1988 as faculty emeritus.

At one point, she served on the boards of 16 local agencies, including the United Way, then known at United Fund.

“I believe everyone has a special place in this world, a potential they can achieve if they make use of the resources around them,” she noted.

Farris assisted the Summit County Medical Auxiliary, the Volunteer Service Corp. of Summit County and the Akron Summit Community Action Foster Grandparent Program. She was the founding president of the Akron chapter of Jack and Jill Inc. and served as a consumer advocate for the elderly at Edgewood Homes.

She worked with the Akron Area Agency on Aging and served as alternate delegate to the White House Agency on Aging Advisory Council. She raised a foster child and cared for a sister with schizophrenia.

Among her many accolades, Farris was honored with distinguished service awards from the United Way of Summit County and the Home Economics Alumni Association of Ohio State.

In 1987, the University of Akron established the Leona W. Farris Scholarship, which is awarded annually to Black undergraduate students majoring in family and consumer sciences.

She remained an active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha and earned diamond status with more than 75 years in the sorority. And she was pleased as punch to live long enough to see Kamala Harris, a sorority sister, elected as vice president of the United States.

Farris-Daugherty said her mother loved “her family, community, sorority and God above all else.”

Special honors in Stow

The Stow-Munroe Falls school district declared Jan. 25, 2021, as Leona W. Farris Day. A plaque was presented to Farris’ family and another was placed at the entrance of the high school.

In September, Farris attended a dedication ceremony after Stow renamed Silver Springs Lodge as the Leona Farris Lodge.

Mayor Pribonic described Farris as “truly a leader and truly a great person.”

“I was just totally amazed at what this woman had accomplished and her love of people,” he said.

He said the 104-year-old woman was so humble and so happy to speak with anyone who came up to her at the dedication ceremony.

Pribonic said looking at Farris’ long list of accomplishments made him feel insignificant.

“There would be no way in time, even if I would live to be 104, that I could accomplish what Mrs. Farris did,” he said.

Leona Farris was preceded in death by her parents, sisters, husband and oldest daughter, Dr. Judy Kizzie.

Survivors include children Betty Wilson, Melvin Farris Jr. (Laurie) and Laura Farris-Daugherty, grandchildren Beth Kizzie, Carl Kizzie III, Albert Wilson Jr., Melvin Farris III, Ian Farris, Dominic Farris, Deborah Giron, Steve Giron, Denise Daugherty Summer, Daniel Daugherty and great-grandchildren Nala Wilson, Kiara Wilson, Sierra Shannee and James Sumner.

Calling hours will be 4 to 6 p.m. Friday at Sommerville Funeral Services at 1695 Diagonal Road in Akron. Friends may also call from 11 a.m. to noon Saturday at City of Joy Life Enrichment Center at 610 W. Exchange St. A funeral service will immediately follow.

Masks are required at the funeral home and church. For more information, visit sommervillefuneralservice.com.

For those who wish to follow Farris’ example: Eat right, exercise and do something for somebody else.

Mark J. Price can be reached at mprice@thebeaconjournal.com.

More: Local history: 101 trailblazers who achieved famous firsts in Akron Black history

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Educator Leona Farris, Black pioneer in Stow, dies at 104