Leona Fern Toussaint

Leona (“Onee,” to her grandchildren and great grandchildren) was born on September 15, 1932, on a farm in Chanhassen Township, Minnesota. Her mother, Mary Evans, was a successful businesswoman, and her father, George Haering, was a farmer and musician who played trombone in the John Phillip Sousa military marching band during WW1. She had an older sister, Grace, who died at the age of 21 from Leukemia.

Growing up in and around Excelsior, Minnesota was all about the many lakes and related activities of boating, fishing, ice skating, and the amusement park along the shore of Lake Minnetonka. Leona became a proficient swimmer early on, which would become one of her many lifelong passions. Her love of synchronized swimming, in particular, landed her a job with the Aqua Follies group, traveling around the country with renowned Olympians.

Leona graduated from Hamlin University in 1954 with a degree in Physical Education. She taught swimming and P.E. for years and continued to swim well into her eighties. She performed her last synchronized swimming routine in front of family and friends at the age of 90, in Santa Barbara. She was head cheerleader and homecoming queen in both high school and college.

Leona married Maynard Norman Toussaint in 1954, moving to Champlain, Illinois, and then Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1956, where Maynard received a PhD in Economics at MIT. Their first and second children, Paul and Jon, were born during those years. Paul’s birth took place on Leona’s 25th birthday!

After MIT, the family moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where Maynard had accepted a professorship at the University of Michigan. Leona’s two daughters, Cynthia and Beth, were born in the city.

The family moved to Pleasant Hill, California, in 1963, where she remained until her late eighties. Their fifth child, David, was born in nearby Walnut Creek. Maynard died in 1969, leaving Leona to raise their children, ages five to twelve, on her own. She never remarried.

During her years in Pleasant Hill, Leona continued to love swimming, teaching, art, and theater, all the while taking care of her family. She started an extremely successful real estate venture, buying and selling houses before the trend became popular. She loved to travel and took her children on several trips around the country. Leona was known for being the activity hub for all the neighborhood kids, and for entertaining, especially with the annual Christmas party that she held every year up until her mid-eighties.

She was a prolific painter, dancer, and actor, appearing in many stage shows in Contra Costa County. She was so interested in theater that after her kids grew older she moved to New York City for five years to experience the theater scene. She became a member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG).

In addition to her five children, Leona is survived by three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. She was loved by all who knew her, and she will be greatly missed.