Glenda Leon

Glenda Sue Leon left this life on August 19, 2026, at the age of 78, and went home to the Lord she had loved and served all her days. She was born March 18, 1948 to Samuel Lawrence Hatcher and Mildred Alice Flarity Hatcher, the youngest of their three surviving children and, by every account, the one whose laughter carried furthest.

Her early years were spent in Irving, Texas, but it was Shreveport, Louisiana, that became home — the place where she built her life, raised her family, and made herself beloved. For many years she served as cook at Highland Baptist Church and later at Trinity Heights Baptist Church, both in Shreveport.  At these churches her faith and her gifts became one and the same. She fed her church family, week after week, year after year, and she did it as ministry. She believed that a delicious, warm meal set before someone was a way of telling them they were loved and that God loved them, and she preached that sermon from her kitchen faithfully.

Her petite frame seemed hardly big enough to hold all the love she carried, and yet somehow it always did. Her blue eyes sparkled especially when accompanied by a mischievous grin and a gentle tease. Her laugh was pure joy and utterly contagious; it filled a room, it turned strangers into friends, and it is the sound her family will miss most.

She loved with her hands. Her table was always open — a plate for whoever walked through the door, and a second one before you could say no. There was always a project going, some bit of thread or paint becoming something lovely, made for the pleasure of giving it away. She loved every living creature that crossed her path, but dogs held the deepest place in her heart, and they knew it the moment they met her. They always found their way to her.

Her faith was quiet, steady, and lived out. She trusted Christ completely and she carried a peace that those around her could feel. Her family takes comfort in knowing she is with her Savior, reunited with the parents, brothers, and sister who went before her.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Samuel Lawrence Hatcher and Mildred Alice Flarity Hatcher; her brothers, Billy and William, who died in infancy; brother, James Oscar Hatcher; and her sister, Carol Violet Capps.

Glenda is survived and lovingly remembered by her husband, Stephen Leon; her sons, Andrew Leon and David Leon; her granddaughter, Susannah Leon, and her grandson, Phillip Leon; her nephews, Sam Hatcher and Jonathan Capps and wife, Yoli; her nieces, Julie Maestas and husband, Ernesto, and Georgianna Newburg and husband, Ray; her and great-nephews, Gabriel Newburg, Collin McGrath, and Evan John; and a number of cousins. She leaves behind a family who adored her and a great many friends who were blessed to know her.

Visitation will begin at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, August 25, 2026, at Shiloh Methodist Church, 556 County Road 1641, Jefferson, Texas 75657, with funeral services to follow at 10:30 a.m. Burial will be at Shiloh Methodist Church Cemetery, where she will rest alongside many of the Flarity and Hatcher family.