Kathleen Elizabeth "Betty" Lamont Maloney Leaf Papers

Betty Lamont Leaf was born in 1922 at St. Augustine, Florida. She and her first husband, Edward J. Maloney, moved in 1959 to Beaumont, Texas. He was employed as the president of the White House department store. He also served as a Captain in the United States Air Corps during World War II. She later remarried Ralph A. Leaf. He was employed as the general manager of the Bethlehem Steel Company shipyards in Beaumont. He served as a member of the Board of Directors of Lower Neches River Authority. A lifetime interest and passion of Betty Leaf was home gardening. She came to serve both as president of the Magnolia Garden Club of Beaumont and then as director of the Garden Club of America. She also received the Medal of Merit from the Garden Club of America. She also was involved with the Beaumont Library Commission, was Grounds Chairman of the Tyrrell Historical Library System, and chaired the grounds committee at St. Mark's Episcopal Church. Her passion for beautyfing her community led her to become a registered landscape architect in 1971. This collection consists primarily of publications, certificates, and awards from the Garden Club of America and many other Beaumont community organizations Betty Leaf was involved with. It also features photographs and certificates related to her two former husbands, including aerial photographs of Germany taken in the 1940s.