USA > Ohio > Women of Ohio; a record of their achievements in the history of the state, Volume II > Part 36
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"Thanks, though the years in sheaves The past's dim store complete ;
By grace of autumn leaves Are far-off summers sweet.
"Thanks that the human soul May trust the plan sublime Which rises towards its glorious goal On century steps of time.
"Thanks that the hearts of men May fold in their frail tents A treasure safe from tyrant's ken- The Dream's magnificence
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"Thanks that when stars and years Their outmost bound have won, Beyond them still the Dream appears And smiling beckons on."
Ad Finem 1900
A. E. H.
FLORENCE LA GANKE HARRIS
FLORENCE LA GANKE HARRIS, (Mrs. Frederick Aston Harris), of Cleveland, is a recognized authority on home economics, not only in Ohio but also largely throughout the country by reason of her wide activities in this field and her extensive writings on the subject.
Born in Cleveland, Mrs. Harris is a daughter of Robert Frederick and Lillie (Green) La Ganke. Her ancestors in the paternal line were French Hugenots, who settled in Alsace Lorraine. Her mother's people in the paternal line were English and in the maternal line of American and German descent. Mrs. Harris attended the grade and high schools of Cleveland and some years afterward, or in 1923, was graduated from the Teachers College of Columbia University. In the nineteen years which had elapsed after her graduation from high school in 1904 she had been very active in Cleveland, New York, Oakland, California, and then again in Cleveland, largely in the field of home economics.
Her first position was that of hospital dietitian in Cleveland and later she was manager of the lunchroom of the Horace Mann school of Columbia University. She then became instructor of home economics at the Flora Stone Mather school and later at Western Reserve University of Cleveland. This was followed by a period spent as supervisor of the economics department of the Teachers College of Columbia University, and from the Atlantic coast, she proceeded to the Pacific, becoming supervisor of home economics in the public schools of Oakland, California. With her return to her native state she became home economics editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer and later of the Cleveland Press and was appointed director of women's activities under the title of "Home in the Sky."
In 1935 Mrs. Harris was made home economics consultant, in which connection she does considerable broadcasting over the radio and writes book- lets and other articles. She is widely known as the author of various books, including "Patty Pans," a cook book for beginners, published by Little Brown; is a co-author (Harris & Huston) of "Home Economics Omnibus," which is a high school text book; the author of "Every Woman's Complete Guide to Home Making," a handbook for housekeepers; co-author (Harris & Henderson) of "Foods," also a high school textbook, the above all being published by Little Brown, and "Flavor's the Thing," issued February 1, 1939 by Barrows, this being a cookbook of foods that have good flavor.
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Mrs. Harris remained home economics editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer for seven years, during which time she started a food column for children, writing a daily and Sunday column. For five years she traveled all over northern Ohio as a goodwill representative of the Plain Dealer, talking on home-making subjects before club groups, Grange meetings, Parent- Teachers Associations, girls classes and other gatherings.
It was in 1923 that Florence La Ganke was married to Frederick Aston Harris. She gives her political support to the Republican party and she belongs to the Epworth Euclid Methodist Episcopal church. She has member- ship in the Woman's City Club of Cleveland, of which she is a director, is a life member of the Associated Charities, is serving on the board of directors of the Child Health Association of Cleveland and belongs to the Home Eco- nomics Association, including the national, state, local and business groups. She also has membership in both the state and national organizations of American Dietetics and is serving on the board of directors of the Needlecraft Guild of Cleveland. She works with an artist to design quilts, selling some of these designs to magazines, and she has a most interesting collection of fifty quilts. Mrs. Harris is also extremely interested in home decorations, this being developed during her "Home in the Sky" regime, and she is an omni- vorous reader.
MARIAN SINCLAIR HEADLAND
MARIAN SINCLAIR HEADLAND (Mrs. Isaac T. Headland), of Alliance, is now retired, after a professional career such as few men or women trained in the art and science of healing have to their credit. With her husband, who taught philosophy at Mt. Union College, she travelled to the Orient and there served as physician to the mother of the former Empress Dowager of China, to the Chinese princesses and to wives of Manchu officials.
Her unique experiences are told in several books, of which Prof. Head- land is joint author, notably "Court Life in China" and "Home Life in China."
MARY BREWSTER HOLLISTER
MARY BREWSTER HOLLISTER, writer and lecturer of Delaware, O., who has contributed many authentic stories of Chinese life to juvenile and religious literature, was herself born in China, at Foochow, the daughter of William H. and Elizabeth Brewster. She took her A.B. degree cum laude at Ohio Wesleyan University and did graduate work at the University of California, the University of Chicago and at Columbia University. In 1915 she married George Wallace Hollister and until 1928 was most of the time in missionary or educational service in China. Mrs. Hollister taught at the Sienyu Boys School and at Hinghwa Theological School and was active in
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social work in this and other cities. She is author of "Lady Fourth Daughter" an interdenominational study book, "Back to the Mountain" and other books that tell the story of her own colorful experiences. The Hollisters live at 150 N. Sandusky St., Delaware.
HELEN JOAN HULTMAN
HELEN JOAN HULTMAN, of Dayton, combines successfully two occu- pations not ordinarily brought together, that of school teacher and detective story writer.
Helen was born at Dayton, the daughter of Klaus and Amanda Hultman, took her Ph.D. at Denison University and is now teacher of English at Stivers High School. She has been deeply interested in all types of modern literature, especially poetry, since her school days. Several years ago Miss Hultman began to try her hand at detective fiction, with excellent results. She is author of "Find the Woman," "Death at Windward Hill," and "Murder in the French Room." Her residence is at 339 Grand Ave.
ELLOUISE BAKER LARSON
Among Ohio women, few, if any, have more expert knowledge of china than has ELLOUISE BAKER LARSON, who has made a comprehensive study of the subject and has written largely for magazines and is also the author of several published works on china. Mrs. Baker is the wife of Louis A. Larson, vice president and treasurer of the Lima Locomotive Company, of Lima, Ohio, and a daughter of Samuel S. and Kulia A. (Baxter) Baker. Her parents were natives of Cape Cod, Massachusetts and representatives of old families that came to this country about 1638. The Bakers came from England and the marriage of Francis Baker and Elizabeth Twining was the first ever celebrated at Yarmouth, Massachusetts.
Mrs. Larson, like so many of her ancestors, is a native of Cape Cod and after attending the grade schools there and graduating from high school, she entered the Quincy (Mass.) Training School. After completing her studies there she and her mother joined her father and brother who had gone to St. Paul, Minnesota, where she began teaching in the Oak Hall School for Girls, a fashionable school of that day in which she taught for seven years.
In 1906 Ellouise Baker became the wife of Louis A. Larson and for a time they continued to reside in St. Paul, but later removed to New York City, where they made their home for eight years. They afterward spent two years in Montclair, New Jersey. While in New York Mrs. Larson studied with Clayton Hamilton, won her diploma and began writing short stories, which has engaged her attention at times ever since. Twenty years ago, in 1919, Mr. and Mrs. Larson came to Lima. They have two sons, Laurence H., after finishing high school in Lima attended preparatory school in Lawrence-
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ville, then went to Maine and in 1936 was graduated from Princeton Uni- versity, where he had specialized in law. He next entered Harvard as a law student, also pursued a course in business administration there and was graduated in June, 1939. William G., the younger son, had his early schooling in Lima, was graduated at Lawrenceville in 1937 and is now at Princeton, where he is majoring in surgery. Both sons have won the rank of second lieutenant in the Reserve Officers Training Corps. They have also studied music and play the flute, violin and piano. The younger son was president of his class at Lawrenceville and was awarded the prize by the Aurelian Honor Society at Yale on "Character, Leadership, Scholarship" in the class of 1937.
Mrs. Larson has long been prominent in club circles, has served on various important club committees and has been active in other ways. Soon after coming to Lima she joined the Lotus Club and the Art Study Club and has been president of each. She is even more widely known as an expert on antique china and has lectured largely on "Old Blue," many times having the co-operation of Homer Eaton Keyes, the editor of the magazine "Antique." She has a collection of more than five hundred pieces and in her book on Antiques in China, she has pictures of six hundred and ninety-five pieces, all of which are described and indexed. Many pieces of her private collection date from 1820 to 1860. Pieces manufactured since then are considered modern, while anything made prior to 1860 is "antique." She is the author of many interesting articles on china, her first one appearing in the Anti- quarian Magazine of February, 1929, on Identifying Makers of Historic Blue. She also wrote Some Idiosyncrasies of the Staffordshire Potters, published in the magazine Antiques, in July, 1931, and in the same magazine, in March, 1933, Thomas Godwin, Staffordshire Potter, while in April, 1936, appeared her article on Staffordshire Records of Early Modes of Travel. In the Maga- zines of Antiques, June, 1936, Part II, is found her article, The Truth about Andrew Stevenson. The editor asserts in his introduction that this article is true in every detail. Doubleday, Doran & Company have recently brought out her book on Antiques in China, containing more than three hundred pages, with about one hundred and thirty photographs and about twenty other illustrations, and these publications of Mrs. Larson have been widely read by lovers of fine china, who are acquainted with and interested in its history in any measure.
Mrs. Larson owns an old residence at Hyannisport, on Cape Cod, which they use as a summer home and which was built in 1818, as evidenced by a penny which was found in the fireplace, it having been a custom of dating the year of erection by placing the penny bearing current date in the fireplace, which in their home is adorned with a hand carved mantel, adding much to the beauty of the room. She belongs to Christ Episcopal Church of Lima, and for fourteen years taught a Sunday school class of senior high school boys.
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ELMA EHRLICH LEVINGER
ELMA EHRLICH LEVINGER (Mrs. Lee J. Levinger), of Columbus, widely known writer, was formerly editor of the Jewish Child Magazine and also director of entertainment, Bureau of Jewish Education, New York City.
Mrs. Levinger was born in Chicago, attended the University of Chicago and later Radcliffe College. She is author of "Grapes of Canaan," a $2,000 prize novel of Jewish life and of numerous other novels, plays and short stories. Her home is at 2257 Indianola Ave., Columbus.
ADNA LIGHTNER
When, in 1875, novels by an Ohio author, ADNA LIGHTNER (Mrs. S. B. Lightner), began to appear, continuing fairly steadily for 40 years, they found popularity for a number of reasons.
The main reason is indicated better now, perhaps, than formerly. Al- though more or less in the style of their literary epoch, they did, it seems, point toward a newer trend, toward more graphic picturization and more clear cut characterization. Among them were "Shadow and Sunshine," "The Wayside Violet" and "Creta."
Mrs. Lightner has written also for periodicals and newspapers. She has been a correspondent for the Cincinnati Post, the Ohio Farmer, the Masonic Review, and writes short stories for Sunday School magazines.
The veteran woman writer is now 89 years old but she is still deeply interested in her profession. She was completing-at the time of this biog- raphy, 1938-a new piece of work. She hoped to live to see it published but if not-well, her daughter would.
MARY LOUISE MACMILLAN
MARY LOUISE MacMILLAN, poet and dramatist, daughter of the Rev- erend William MacMillan, a Presbyterian Minister, granddaughter on the maternal side of the Wades, who settled in Cincinnati in 1792, was born in Venice, Ohio, in 1874.
After attending the high schools of Hamilton, Ohio, and Wells College, she came, at an early age, to live in Cincinnati, where she made her home until her death in 1937.
Her achievements were varied-researches into Cincinnati history, plays, short-stories, critical reviews, and poems. But it was as a dramatist that Miss MaeMillan first acquired a national reputation. Realizing the need of dra- matic groups for materials less hackneyed in theme and technique than the "Box and Cox" genre, she published three volumes of short plays; and to their influence may be attributed, in no small measure, an improved taste in amateur theatricals in America and the popularity of the one-act play. For more than twenty years Miss MacMillan's short pieces, ranging in tone and subject from the broad farce of "The Dress Rehearsal of Hamlet" to the stylized beauty of "A Fan and Two Candlesticks," have been frequently
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presented, and it is likely that they will continue to please the judicious for some time to come.
Accomplished though Miss MacMillan's plays undoubtedly are, they do not sound the deep notes of her poetry. Her most significant work as a writer is to be found in the volume entitled "The Little Golden Fountain" and in other poems that have appeared in various magazines and anthologies. Whether it celebrates the loveliness of the Ohio countryside, "a second Shakespeare country," as she called it, or intones the finality of death, her verses were soon recognized by composers, and Dr. Sidney Durst and others have turned many of her lyrics into exquisite songs. Only a few months ago Miss Mac- Millan finished a Christmas cantata, for which Dr. Dale Osborn has written the music.
She was not only a poet, but also an inspiration to poets. As leader of the Ohio Valley Poetry Society, she encouraged many writers and, by the constant challenge of her wit and imagination and incorruptible standards of judgment, roused them to fruitful activity. Moreover, she supervised the publication of three anthologies containing work by members of the society, and brought to Cincinnati audiences such compelling personalities as the late Amy Lowell, Percy Mackaye, Carl Sandburg, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Robert Frost.
In recent years she had turned to the novel as a medium of expression and had been gradually feeling her way to a mastery of this form. At her death she left unfinished the manuscript of a novel which she had designed to be a chronicle of pioneer heroism in the conquest of the Ohio Valley-a subject with which by family tradition and by her own research, she was conversant. Because Mary MacMillan did not live to contribute her part to the great saga of our historic Middle West, that saga must always be im- measurably poorer.
MARJORIE MCCLURE
MARJORIE MCCLURE (Mrs. Franklin E. McClure), Cleveland novelist and short story writer, was born in Newark, N. J., the daughter of the Rev. James M. and Mary Barkley. She completed her education at Detroit Sem- inary, Mich., and established her home in Cleveland on her marriage to Franklin E. McClure, financial specialist.
Mrs. McClure's first full length novel, "High Fires" was published in 1924 and other fiction equally successful followed in quick succession. She has written several plays, notably, "The Marriage of King Paulinus," and "John Dean's Journey."
ABBIE MCKEEVER
ABBIE MCKEEVER of Withamsville, Ohio, born in 1852 was gifted in the art of versification, so much so, that she was often called the successor of
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Alice Cary. Many of her poems-notably "Draft Away" and "Only" were published in national magazines.
RUTH McKENNEY
RUTH McKENNEY, whose "My Sister Eileen" has had New York by the ears for the past year, is a comparative newcomer to the ranks of liter- ature. Still a youngster as years go, she is deftly humorous without sacri- ficing the realism that makes her a crack newspaper woman. She is now in New York but Akron, Ohio, where she was born, still claims her.
No one, the compiler of this chapter realized, was competent to report the snappy not to say snorting part Ruth McKenny has played so far in the game called life but Ruth herself.
So here it is "by RUTH McKENNEY":
BIOGRAPHY IN BRIEF
November 18, 1911-Born.
December 25, 1913-Fell off rocking horse.
March 17, 1914-Fell into creek.
March 18, 1914-Fell into same creek.
May 15, 1918-Cashiered out of Grade 2-B for pawning World War Savings Stamps to buy Eskimo Pies.
September 16, 1918-Fell off second story porch, while playing submarine. Not hurt much. Slight fracture of skull.
September 20, 1918-Vaccinated.
March 14, 1919-Fell off school swing. Only broke ankle.
May 20, 1919-Cashiered out of Grade 3-A. Teacher felt my essay entitled, "What I did on my last summer vacation," was a mess of lies. Essay described my encounter with boa-constrictor. Teacher was right.
July, 1919-Whooping cough.
August, 1919-Fell off porch stairs. Cut over right eye. Not very bad. Scar permanent.
June, 1928-Graduated from Shaw High School. Fell up stairs just before going on stage, causing large hole in knee of new silk stockings.
September, 1928-Went to college dance. Fell up stairs, naturally.
July, 1929-Run over. Two day coma, black eyes, nothing serious. September, 1929-Went to work for Columbus Dispatch.
May, 1930-Automobile crash. Photographer for Dispatch broke six ribs. Heaven was with us, I only got bruised. Coal truck smacked us. September, 1930-Dean of Women at Ohio State University predicted I would never be a credit to the institution. Absolutely right.
November, 1930-First issue of Free Voice, a magazine devoted to comment and opinion. I was an editor.
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November 20, 1930-Cleveland Plain Dealer reports President of Ohio State University deciding whether or not to expel editors of Free Voice. November 21, 1930-Heaven again with us. President decides he has better things to do than to expel a lot of nasty students. Hurray.
June, 1931-Sail for Europe. Had fun. This was before Hitler.
January, 1932-Quit college. No money. Couldn't graduate anyway, no credits in Hygiene and Physical Education.
September, 1932-Went to work for Akron Beacon Journal.
October, 1934-Went to work for New York Post.
October, 1936-Decided on Serious Literature. Quit Post.
October 20, 1936-No money.
October 21, 1936-Hungry.
October 22, 1936-Decided on Funny Literature. Wrote funny piece for New Yorker.
November 1, 1936-New Yorker buys same. Whoopla.
August 12, 1937-Married. Husband's name is Bruce Minton.
August 20, 1938-New Yorker pieces published in book called "My Sister Eileen." Eileen wouldn't mind.
December 20, 1938-Book called Industrial Valley-serious study about Akron, Ohio. Goes to press. Ambition of a life-time fulfilled-maybe.
-END-
DAPHNE ALLOWAY McVICKER
DAPHNE ALLOWAY McVICKER (Mrs. Vinton McVicker), Columbus writer, widely known for juvenile and short stories, was born at Cambridge. O., the daughter of James William and Ninette Alloway.
She took her A.B. at Ohio State University and soon developed unusual ability in short story fiction and free lance writing. Mrs. McVicker has had more than 300 juvenile stories published in various national magazines and her verse and adult fiction have been featured in important publications. Her home is at 371 W. Tenth St., Columbus.
MAUD MOORE
An active worker in social, civic and religious circles of Ada, Ohio, is MAUD MOORE. Her father, Justin Brewer, was president of the First National Bank, and her husband, Charles Moore, is now cashier in the same bank. She is a niece of Mrs. L. B. Campbell.
Mrs. Moore organized the local P. T. A. and was its president for ten years. She has verse featured in national magazines.
Her "Lethargy" was published in 1936 Davis Anthology. Mrs. Moore is now a member of the Ohioana Library Committee from Hardin County.
Among her many fine poems is the following-
RUTH McKENNY
author of "My Sister Eileen" and "Industrial Valley," former Ohio State University correspondent for Columbus Dispatch
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"MY MOTHER"
In vision only, may I find her,
My Mother! Her love was such, Wakening from her sleep immortal, In my dreams she paused to touch My lips, my eyes, oft, through the years ; Yet sleeping eyes, they shed no tears. Loves like her are always giving;
Sleep, Mother dear-safe from the living. -M. M. Moore."
MARGARET MORSE NICE
MARGARET MORSE NICE (Mrs. Leonard R. Nice), ornithologist, of Columbus, Ohio, was born at Amherst, Mass., took her A. B. at Mt. Holyoke College and her M. A. at Clark University. She is vice president of the Col- umbus Audubon Society and an advisory councilor of the National Association of Audubon societies. Mrs. Nice has written numerous authoritative articles on birds and has translated many foreign books and monographs on this subject. She was a delegate to the eighth international Ornithological Con- gress held at Oxford, England, and is vice chairman of Section 111 of this important organization of scientists.
MABEL POSEGATE
MABEL POSEGATE, Poet Laureate of Ohio, reader and lecturer, was born in Cincinnati, the daughter of Oliver Franklin and Gertrude Knighton Bear. Her education was received in the Walnut Hills High School, the Nelson Business College and the University of Cincinnati. Mrs. Posegate married Charles Sargent Posegate, and is the mother of four children.
"Silver Scutcheon," Mrs. Posegate's first volume of poems, was pub- lished in France, in 1928. "Once When Arcturus Shone," her second volume of verse, came seven years later, in 1935, and was published at Brattleboro, Vermont. This book received an award in the National Book Contest spon- sored by the National League of American Pen Women in Washington, D. C., and was in part responsible for Mrs. Posegate's lifetime appointment on November 11, 1936, as the first Poet Laureate of Ohio.
Shortly after her appointment, a pink dogwood tree, which was the gift of Mrs. Oliver B. Kaiser, was planted in her honor in the Author's Grove in Eden Park, where it overlooks the Ohio River. "White Moment," Mrs. Pose- gate's third book of verse, was published in Philadelphia, in 1938. It was widely reviewed, and brought its author honorary membership in the Eugene Field Society of St. Louis, Mo.
Mrs. Posegate was selected by Henry Harrison, well-known New York publisher, to edit and write the Foreword for the Ohio section of the North American Book of Verse, which is scheduled for spring publication. "Gallery
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for Poets" is a monthly column which she edits for the benefit of poets, using in it their poems and reviews of their books.
Mrs. Posegate's verse has had wide recognition in England as well as in America. Poems of hers have appeared in The Christian Century; The Satur- day Review of Literature; Chicago Tribune; Literary Digest ; London Poetry Review ; Voices and many poetry journals. Some of her poems have received awards, while a number of them have been set to music and have been given on the radio. She has been widely represented in anthologies, including those of William Stanley Braithwaite.
Mrs. Posegate is an active member of the Poetry Society of America ; the Poetry Society of England ; the Poetry Society of Ohio. She is vice-president of the Cincinnati branch of the National League of American Pen Women ; a board member of the Cincinnati Woman's Press Club; past president, Eastern Hills Literary Club; member Greater Cincinnati Writers' League ; member Music and Poetry Society; Republican Woman's Club; Patroness, Omega Chapter Phi Beta, Music and Speech Fraternity.
SARA V. PRUESER
SARA V. PRUESER, writer and former educator of Defiance, Ohio, has made two gratifying careers grow where only one is the customary experience. She took her A. B. at Defiance College and became a teacher more than 40 years ago. She was promoted to a principalship and at the time of her retire- ment was head of Northside Grade School. Miss Pruesser had been active in the Toledo Writers' Club and a contributor to national magazines while still in the schools. In recent years she has had poems and articles published in widely known periodicals and her work has found good place in various anthologies. Her home is at 800 N. Clinton St., Defiance.
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