Los Angeles
County
Biographies
ELIZABETH
CLAUS FAIMAN
A
woman who believes in giving of herself to serve others and who has done so in
keeping with each of the phases of her own life, Elizabeth Claus Faiman is presently
director of volunteer services at the City of Hope. When her children were young, Mrs. Faiman was
active in the Ramona Parent-Teachers’ Association, in which she holds a life
membership, serving as recreation chairman and as a member of the Parent-Teachers’
Association Council. She was also at
that time, from 1936 to 1946, a troop leader for Brownies, Girl Scouts, and
Senior Scouts, acted as a volunteer trainer to help start the Alhambra Girl
Scout Council and the Girl Scout Headquarters; she was also a member of the
camp committee and has received the Girl Scout fifteen year pin and thanks
badge. Being the mother of three sons,
Mrs. Faiman also acted as a Cub Scout den mother for four years, was active in
Boy Scouts, and served as a committee member for the Woodcraft Rangers. During wartime Mrs. Faiman worked for the
American Red Cross as an instructor in standard and advanced first aid and
instructed in Civil Defense emergency outdoor cooking. From 1945 to 1951 Mrs. Faiman was with the
Alhambra Recreation Department as director of a playground and day camping
activities, and then for five years was executive director of the Girls’ Club
of Pasadena. From 1956 to 1958 she was
associated with San Marino Hall School for Girls and Maryville, the Los Angeles
orphanage for girls, on a part time basis.
Spending one and one half years in work at the El Calvario
Community Center, she also served as a member of the camp committee of the
Presbyterian Social Work Department in Los Angeles. Mrs. Faiman assumed her present duties at the
City of Hope Medical Center in January, 1960.
Mrs.
Faiman was born Elizabeth Claus on March 30, 1907, in Sutton, Nebraska. Her father, William H. Claus, was born in
Clay County, Nebraska, and was a businessman there and also in Los Angeles as a
broker in wholesale poultry. He had a
seat on the Los Angeles Stock Exchange.
Her mother, Elizabeth (Scheidermann) Claus,
was born in Germany and came to the United States at the age of nineteen. Mrs. Faiman’s grandparents were pioneers in
land and business in Nebraska. The
eldest of seven children, Mrs. Faiman has four sisters and two brothers. One brother, William Claus II, operates her
father’s business, the Eastern Poultry Company in Los Angeles. He is the father of three children. The second brother, Raymond Claus, is also
associated with the family business and is the father of four children. Mrs. Faiman’s sisters are: Mrs. Waldo Baker who lives in Baldwin Park,
the mother of one son; Mrs. Roger White who lives in Alhambra, the mother of
two sons; Mrs. Maurice Balma who lives in Alhambra,
the mother of one son; and Mrs. Mabel Halgren who
lives in San Gabriel, the mother of two daughters.
Mrs.
Faiman received her elementary and high school education in Nebraska and attended
the University of Nebraska; she also took several extension courses through the
University of California at Berkeley.
In
York, Nebraska, on June 19, 1926, the former Miss Elizabeth Claus was married
to Rudolph A. Faiman in a ceremony at the bride’s home. The Claus family came to California first,
settling in Los Angeles, and Mr. and Mrs. Faiman came to Alhambra in 1931. They have lived in their present home at 1104
South Third Street for the past twenty years.
The Faiman’s are the owners of the Faiman Markets, Incorporated, in
Nevada, of which their son, Robert Lee, is president. He lives in Las Vegas and commutes with his
own plane. He has two children, Deborah
Lynn and Robert Lee, Jr. The Faiman’s
also own a California corporation, but are operating no markets in this state
at the present. For
ten years Mr. Faiman operated their food market in San Gabriel. He now assists with the Nevada corporation, but is semi-retired. Another son, Donald G. Faiman, lives in Reno
and manages the Faiman Market there. He
has three sons, Donald Melvin, Christopher Gene, and Randal James. The Faiman’s third son, Morris Dean, an
Alhambra High School graduate, as are his brothers, lives in Temple City. He is in the automotive business and is
married to the former Miss Judith Fry, an Alhambra High School graduate who was
active in school affairs and a batonist at the high school as well as a member
of the Princess Court in 1958.
Elizabeth Claus Faiman is also a
member of the Wesleyan Service Guild of the First Methodist Church of San
Gabriel, and is a charter member of the Santa Anita Area Zonta
Club, a women’s international service organization.
Talented in painting and writing,
Mrs. Faiman has written and may publish some nineteen stories for her
grandchildren; she particularly enjoys paining landscapes and is an associate
member of the Pasadena Art Association.
She is also adept at handcraft, sewing and handwork, enjoys folk and
square dancing, and loves to travel.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Historical Volume & Reference Works Including Alhambra, Monterey Park,
Rosemead, San Gabriel & Temple City, by Robert P. Studer,
Pages 594-597, Historical Publ., Los Angeles, California. 1962.
© 2013 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
GOLDEN NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES
BIOGRAPHIES