Edward C. Leach, Sr.*

Edward Leach was born in 1913 with clubfoot. After wearing casts and braces and undergoing many operations, the condition was corrected. Because his father died when Leach was 12, the young man worked at an early age to help his family.

An injury forced him to resign from West Point just as the Great Depression was coming to an end. Next, he became a gardener at a hotel in Mineral Springs, Texas, and spread fertilizer by hand the first month. Another hotel hired him as a porter, and he worked up through the ranks to assistant manager and then manager. He later became owner of the Jack Tar Hotels resort chain.