Excerpt of "How the Women's Board of the Exposition Differs Organically from Similar Auxiliaries, by Mrs. Gaillard Stoney, 1915.

Secretary of Women's Board

Excerpt...

TO THE PIONEER MOTHER

The director of the fine arts department, Mr. J. E. D. Trask, was anxious to have something typical of California in the place of honor under the dome, and deeply pondering what it should be one day he met Mrs. Ella Sterling Mighels who told him of her plan for a monument to the Pioneer Mother. "That," Director Trask said, "is what we will have," and accordingly he asked the women's board to form an association for the purpose of raising $25,000 for a monument in bronze, to be afterwards placed in the civic center of San Francisco. Mr. Charles Grafly of Philadelphia is the sculptor. Mrs. Phoebe A. Hearst and Senator James D. Phelan were appointed a committee to visit Mr. Grafly's studio and pass final judgment on the monument. All the contributions have been in small sums, as it was the wish of the association to have everyone in California contribute, and even the children in the public schools have given a penny subscription, the maximum sum asked for from them being five cents. This is the first monument to motherhood in the world.

EDITOR’S NOTE:

MRS. GAILLARD STONEY has served as Secretary of the Woman's Board since the incorporation of that body. She is well-known in San Francisco society as well as in the world of women's clubs and in church and charitable activities. She is the wife of one of San Francisco's prominent attorneys.

Source: "California's Magazine", New Call Building, San Francisco, 1915, Pages 378-380.