Elard Lee Haden

Elard Lee Haden III passed away early Sunday morning, October 13, 2024 after a short, fierce fight with colon cancer. A celebration of life will be held at the Haden home on Sunday, November 10, 2024, from 1:00-5:00 p.m.

Elard was born on December 13, 1960 in Ponca City Oklahoma to Elard Lee Haden Jr and Dorothy Dee Cox Haden. He was their only child. His mother and he moved to Shreveport, LA when he was 12. He attended Captain Shreve High school where he was graduated in 1981. He attended LA Tech where he earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering technology in 1985. He started his career at Carl Pons motors in Shreveport before joining the IMC Fertilizer group in Sterlington LA in 1987. In 1989 a young female chemical engineer, Edna Holland, joined IMC Fertilizer and they soon became inseparable. He married her on December 31, 1994. Elard spent 30 years with IMCF/ANGUS/DOW making many lifelong friends. They always said that Elard was a man of few words (mostly 'cause Edna wouldn't let him get a word in...not entirely untrue) so, if he spoke, it was probably worth listening to. He retired in Nov. 2017. Once Edna also retired, they embarked on a 4 year road trip around the country in their motorhome. They managed to hit all the 48 contiguous United States, Covid 19 be damned. They settled in Haughton, LA near Edna's brother and sister in 2023. The cancer made itself known in Aug. 2024 and was too far along to treat effectively (get regular colonoscopies people).

Elard is survived by his wife, Edna; aunts Vivian Scott and husband, Walter, and Flo Kennedy and husband, Ronnie, all of Tallulah, Louisiana; as well as his stepmother, Maralyn Haden, of Ponca City, Oklahoma, and her family.