From fellow classmate Brian Morris:

Leona passed away in 2006 from a heart attack. She had been suffering from kidney disease and was on the list for a transplant but the stress on her body was to much and she died in her sleep.

Leona taught school for more than twenty years with Sacramento Unified School District. She was a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., Sacramento Alumnae Chapter initiated into the Nu Lambda, California State University Sacramento. Leona is survived by a brother Ivan Talley, sister Rose Marie Holloway with daughter Savannah Marie Holloway and sons Joseph Allen Holloway and Travis Kenneth Holloway, nephew Emil Chidike Talley and a host of relative and friends.