Leona Troxell

Who was Leona Troxell?

Leona Anderson Troxell Dodd, known politically as Leona Troxell, was a native New Yorker who was a pioneer in the development of the Republican Party in her adopted state of Arkansas. She was president of the National Republican Women's Committee from 1963 to 1967, during which time she became involved in the gubernatorial campaigns of another New York State native, Winthrop Rockefeller. She was also a former Republican national committeewoman from Arkansas. For a time, she was director of the Arkansas Employment Security Division in the Rockefeller administration.

Mrs. Troxell was born in Johnstown in Fulton County in New York to Frank and Clara Anderson. She was the dean of women at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, before she married Nolan Troxell and moved to tiny Rose Bud in White County north of the state capital of Little Rock.

In 1968, when Rockefeller was re-elected to his second term as governor, Mrs. Troxell was the unsuccessful candidate for state treasurer. She was defeated by the Democratic incumbent Nancy J. Hall. Troxell polled 218,804 votes to Hall's 365,540.