Edna Hague Leonard of Tryon and Polk County departed this life on May 19, 2014 at the age of 98. She was born to William Carmichael Hague and Maude Waldrop Hague at the family home near Mill Springs in Polk County on January 27, 1916, the fifth of seven children.
Mrs. Leonard attended Fox Mountain School and graduated from Sterns High School in Columbus as the valedictorian of her class. She became a teacher after graduating from the Asheville Normal where she was the president of the student body and an accomplished debater and champion after dinner speaker in regional competition. She began her career as a teacher in Saluda, N.C. and taught for many years in the Tryon City Schools where she made a difference in the lives of generations of third graders. She retired from the teaching profession in 1978.
Edna Hague married Ernest Nelson Leonard in Tryon on New Year’s Eve of 1937. They returned to Polk County from Virginia in 1945 at the conclusion of World War Two. She was a founding member and president of the Gay Blades Garden Club and also took her turn as president of the Tryon P.T.A. She was a member of the Tryon Presbyterian Church, the North Carolina Association of Educators and the Polk County Historical Society and she sang in the Community Chorus.
Mrs. Leonard enjoyed her family and her home, as well as public affairs, music and Tar Heel athletics.
She is survived by her three sons, Chip, Alan and Mike, and by daughters-in-law Jane, Susan and Bland as well as nine grandchildren and six great grandchildren.  Also surviving are two sisters, Molly Stokes and Elizabeth Pace.
Those wishing to memorialize Mrs. Leonard are asked to support public education, which she knew to be the foundation of democracy.
A private memorial service for the family will be scheduled at a later date.