Los Angeles County
Biographies
COSBY
LOUISE GILSTRAP
Refined,
gracious, charming, Cosby Louise Gilstrap enriched the lives of several
generations of young people in Alhambra through her work as librarian at
Alhambra High School for thirty-three years, from 1925 to 1958. Through her work with girls’ classes in
library science she helped many get into college and into city library
positions.
Miss
Gilstrap was born in Oakdale, Washington, on November 3, 1897. Her father, the late William Grant Gilstrap,
was born in Kansas. He and his brothers
owned newspapers; when Mr. Gilstrap brought his wife and daughter to live in
Alhambra in 1913, he established the first daily newspaper in Alhambra, the
Post Advocate. He later founded the
first weekly newspaper in San Gabriel, the San Gabriel Sun. Miss Gilstrap’s mother, Lillian (Finch)
Gilstrap, was born in Oregon. She is still
living, and is a past president of the Alhambra Women’s Club, Past Worthy
Matron of the Alhambra Chapter Number 193 of the Order of the Eastern Star,
Past Royal Matron of the Alhambra Court Number 42 of the Order of the Amaranth,
and was a member of the Alhambra school board for ten years. Miss Gilstrap’s maternal grandmother, Jane
Hoover Finch, a pioneer in California, was related to President Herbert Hoover.
When
Miss Gilstrap was a little girl her father took her to Salem, Oregon; he had
some business to attend to and left her in the library; during that time she
decided to become a librarian. While the
Gilstrap family lived in Eugene, Oregon, Miss Gilstrap received her elementary
and high school education there. She
attended the University of Oregon and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts
degree. She earned her Master of Arts
degree at the University of Southern California in 1933. She had previously graduated, in 1919, from
the Los Angeles Library School, which at that time was a separate institution,
but is now a part of the University of Southern California. Miss Gilstrap worked in the main library in
Los Angeles for a short time, and then spent one year as librarian in Anaheim,
completing four years at Pasadena prior to taking the position of librarian at Alhambra
High School in 1925. In addition to her
library work, Miss Gilstrap wrote many book reviews. She is a past member of the California
Library Association and the School Library Association of California, of which
she was treasurer for one year. She is
also a past member of the California Teachers’ Association and is presently a
member of the California Retired Teachers’ Association. Prior to her retirement, Miss Gilstrap held
memberships in the National Education Association, the American Library
Association, the Alhambra Teachers’ Association, and the Alhambra High School
Parent-Teachers’ Association.
As
is her mother, Miss Gilstrap is a past Worthy Matron of the Alhambra Chapter
Number 193, Order of the Eastern Star and past Royal Matron of the Order of
Amaranth, Alhambra Court Number 42. She
is also a past Grand Royal Matron of the Order of the
Amaranth of the State of California. At
the present time, she is the recipient of the appointment as Deputy Supreme
Royal Matron of the Supreme Council, Order of the Amaranth, Inc. Miss Gilstrap is a past Guardian of Job’s
Daughters, Alhambra Bethel Number 27 and a past Deputy Grand Guardian of the
Order of Job’s Daughters. She and her
mother are both past presidents of the Daughters of the Confederacy, Southland
Chapter Number 1511. Miss Gilstrap’s
father was a Mason and member of the San Gabriel Kiwanis Club until his
death. Miss Gilstrap is a charter member
of the Pasadena Alliance of Delta Delta Delta sorority and is a member of the American Association
of University Women.
Although
she has lived in the same home in Alhambra for over forty years, at 112 East
Alhambra Road, Miss Gilstrap has always been fond of traveling. She and her mother were aboard the Athenia when it was torpedoed on September 3, 1939. Count Wennegren,
traveling to the Bahamas, rescued over two hundred people with his private
yacht. Then the City of Flint, a United
States freighter with a cargo of English wool and Scotch whiskey, took the Athenia survivors from the yacht and brought them to Nova
Scotia. Miss Gilstrap visited Alaska in
1923, the year President Harding died.
He was the first President to visit Alaska and his memorial service was
held on board Miss Gilstrap’s ship in Alaskan waters after his death. Miss Gilstrap visited Old Mexico in 1936, and
traveled to Japan in 1954.
Transcribed
by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Historical Volume &
Reference Works Including Alhambra, Monterey Park, Rosemead, San Gabriel &
Temple City, by Robert P. Studer, Pages 428-429,
Historical Publ., Los Angeles, California.
1962.
© 2012 V.
Gerald Iaquinta.
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