Los Angeles County
Biographies
ELSIE
W. AYERS
One
of the earliest native Alhambrans who has been a life-long resident of that
city, Elsie W. Ayers, was born there on November 2, 1889. Her parents, William Henry Whittemore of
Springfield, Massachusetts, and Charlotte Esther (Booth) Whittemore of Seymour,
Connecticut, were married in 1884. Mr.
Whittemore came to Alhambra in 1885, when there were only a few hundred
residents in the town, and brought his wife there the following year. Mr. Whittemore, whose family settled in
Charlestown, Massachusetts, before 1639, was a charter member of the Alhambra
Masonic Lodge, its first secretary, and its third master. He died in 1897. Elsie Ayers’ mother, whose family came to New
Milford, Connecticut, in 1635, was active in the Wednesday Afternoon Club,
which is now the Alhambra’s Woman’s Club, and in the Chautauqua Circle. She passed away in 1937. Mr. and Mrs. Whittemore were early members of
the First Presbyterian Church of Alhambra and helped in its organization. Mrs. Whittemore was active in the Lend-a-Hand
Society, now the Women’s Association, from its beginning until her death. She was a member of the Friday Morning Club
of Los Angeles, and a charter member of the Alhambra-San Gabriel Chapter,
Daughters of the American Revolution.
Elsie
W. Ayers, her two sons, and now two grandchildren, all attended Alhambra High
School. Mrs. Ayers and one of her sons,
Donald, are members of Phi Beta Kappa; Mr. and Mrs. Ayers and one son are
graduates of Stanford University, and the other son, Alden, is a graduate of
the California Institute of Technology.
Both of the Ayers’ sons graduated from high school at the age of sixteen
and are life members of the California Scholarship Federation.
After
attending Garfield Elementary School and graduating from Alhambra High School,
Mrs. Ayers attended Oberlin College and Conservatory of Music in Ohio, for two
years, then studied at the University of Southern California
School of Music, and completed her education at Stanford University
where she received her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees. From 1913 to 1916, prior to her marriage,
Mrs. Ayers taught in the language department of Fullerton High School and
Junior College.
A
member of the First Presbyterian Church since 1902, when it was located on
South Second Street in Alhambra, Mrs. Ayers also belongs to the Friday Morning
Club of Los Angeles and is a former member of the American Association of
University Women in Los Angeles. She is
a member of the Alhambra-San Gabriel Chapter of the Daughters of the American
Revolution, the Governor John Winthrop Chapter of the Daughters of the American
Colonists, and the Plymouth Chapter of the Colonial Dames of the Seventeenth
Century. She is affiliated with the
Order of the Eastern Star, Granada Chapter, and was worthy matron of this
chapter in 1930. Mrs. Ayers is a past
president of the 1930 Matrons’ Association.
At
her family home in Alhambra on April 20, 1917, the former Elsie Louise
Whittemore was married to Murray Chase Ayers of Ohio, a descendant of John
Alden. Mr. Ayers was a structural
engineer for a time with the State Highway Commission, actually making his
career with the Los Angeles County Building Department. He was active in the Presbyterian Church and
the Alhambra Masonic Lodge until his death in 1947. Two sons were born to Mr. and Mrs.
Ayers. Alden Whittemore Ayers is a
chemical engineer with the Fluor Corporation in Los Angeles and is an active
Scout leader and an Eagle Scout. Alden
is a registered professional engineer in the State of California, and is a
member of the American Chemical Society, the American Institute of Chemical
Engineers, and the National Association of Corrosion Engineers. He is married to the former Marion Sanmann of Monterey Park, and is the father of two sons,
both Boy Scouts, Alden Wayne, who attends Alhambra High School, and Lawrence
Murray, who attends Garfield Elementary School, and a daughter, Melinda Jane,
who is a Girl Scout and attends Alhambra High School where she sings in the
Glee Club. Alden and his family are
active members of the First Presbyterian Church of Alhambra. Donald Murray Ayers received both his Bachelor
of Arts, with award of “with great distinction” and Master of Arts degree from
Stanford University, received his doctorate at Princeton University, and is an
associate professor in the classics department of the University of Arizona. He and his wife, the former Esther Belew of Selma, California, live in Tucson, Arizona, and
are the parents of two young children, Thomas Murray and Barbara Louise. Donald and his wife are members of the
Mountain View Presbyterian Church of Tucson and are active in church work. Donald was a lieutenant (j.g.)
in the United States Navy during World War II, serving in the Pacific Theater.
A
musical family, Mrs. Ayers’ father, W. H. Whittemore, was a member of the first
choir, a quartette, of the First Presbyterian Church of Alhambra. Mrs. Ayers is a former member of the church
choir, and at one time played the organ.
Mrs. Ayers’ granddaughter, Melinda, is presently a member of the church
choir.
Transcribed
by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Historical Volume & Reference
Works Including Alhambra, Monterey Park, Rosemead, San Gabriel & Temple
City, by Robert P. Studer, Pages 443-445,
Historical Publ., Los Angeles, California.
1962.
© 2012 V.
Gerald Iaquinta.
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