Leon Warren Tucker

A lifelong native of Pitt County, Leon Warren Tucker served on the ECTC board of trustees from 1925 until 1930, helping to guide East Carolina through its first decade as a teachers college. During his tenure, Tucker witnessed the beginnings of a gradual transformation in the student body as young men from eastern North Carolina, including Henry Oglesby (1908-1985) and others, returned to campus to take advantage of the school’s coeducational mission.

Born into a farm family, Tucker lived much of his adult life in Greenville, on Greene Street proximate to the Pitt County Court House. His father, J.A.K. Tucker had served as sheriff of Pitt County during the late nineteenth century, and like him, Leon Tucker served first as deputy sheriff and then, between 1904 and 1910, coinciding with the founding of ECTTS, as sheriff. In addition to law enforcement, Tucker managed various family business interests.

He was also active in the modernization of Greenville and Pitt County in the first half of the twentieth century, serving as a member of the Greenville Utilities Commission (established in 1905), from 1911 until 1943, as the GUC sought to extend municipal utilities – water, electricity, and sewage – throughout the town and into surrounding parts of the county. Tucker was a strong advocate of “good roads” for the area and as a spokesperson for “rural electrification,” i.e., the extension of electricity to farming communities throughout the county. He also served as president of the Pitt County branch of the Farmers Mutual Fire Insurance Association, and as a board member of the National Bank of Greenville (later, State Bank), located at Five Points.

Sources

• “As I Was A-Sayin’.” News and Observer. June 5, 1914. P. 4.
• “Deaths and Funerals: Leon W. Tucker.” News and Observer. June 18, 1951. P. 16.
• “Democratic North Carolina.” News and Observer. March 11, 1914. P. 2.
• “Pitt County Is Leader in Rural Electrification.” News and Observer. February 16, 1942. P. 30.
• “Tucker House.” April 06, 1956. East Carolina Manuscript Collection # 0741-b10-fb-v10.b.1. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, North Carolina. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/2775

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