Miss Elizabeth Felkner

Miss Elizabeth Felkner was the first replacement trustee to join the original board when appointed to take the place of Alice Luscombe upon her departure in May 1898.[1] Miss Felkner often served as Vice-President during her twenty-two years on the board and she was active in the development and growth of the children’s library. As a teacher and school principal, Felkner represented the public schools. She left the board upon her move to Los Angeles in 1920.

Elizabeth Alvaretta Felkner was born April 1858 in Johnson County, Iowa to Henry & Elizabeth Lewis Felkner, natives of Ohio.[2] Elizabeth attended the University of Iowa and became a school teacher in Iowa City. She also served for thirty-two years as the Principal of the Third Ward and Horace Mann Schools.[3] Her father, Henry Felkner was one of the earliest settlers to Johnson County and wrote the first history of the area in the early 1880s. Elizabeth took a yearlong leave of absence from both the board and her position of principal to visit her sister in California in 1919.[4] She returned briefly in May 1920 to resign from both positions and moved to Los Angeles.[5] She taught school at the California Military Academy and remained in California after her retirement.[6] She never married and died January 14, 1942 in Los Angeles, California where she was buried at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park.[7]

-Dr. Melissa Stewart

[1] Eggers, Lolly Parker, A Century of Stories, The History of the Iowa City Public Library, p. 55.

[2] Aurner, Clarence Ray, Leading Events in Johnson County, Vol. 2, p. 670.

[3] Quad-City Times, Davenport, Iowa, 7 June 1918, p. 2.

[4] Iowa City Press Citizen, Iowa City, Iowa, 1 May 1919, p. 3.

[5] Iowa City Daily Citizen, Iowa City, Iowa, 6 March 1920, p. 3.

[6] 1924 Los Angeles City Directory, p. 924.

[7] FindAGrave Memorial #85398184.