Los
Angeles County
Biographies
AMOS KREIDER KAUFFMANN
A
tall, genial, and soft-spoken octogenarian gentleman, Amos Kreider Kaufmann
served Alhambra as an educator from 1926 until his retirement in 1947. He was the first principal of Emery Park
School, and was interested in and helped organize the Emery Park Youth Center,
in 1946, acting as its first president.
His promotion to the Annual Extravaganza Pageant in Emery Park was one
of his most successful contributions toward unifying the community.
One
of Mr. Kaufmann’s ancestors came to the United States in 1717. His father’s grandfather, Benjamin Kauffman,
was one of the young Mennonite boys who carried food for the horses to George
Washington at Valley Forge. The American
branch of the family has always used the “Kauffman” spelling of the name, but
when Amos K. Kaufmann made a trip to Germany he discovered the correct form,
which he now uses. He was born in
Manheim, Pennsylvania, on April 23, 1878, the son of Isaac Kauffman, a
Pennsylvania Dutch farmer who was born in Lancaster County, and Maria (Kreider)
Kauffman, who was also born in Lancaster County. There were two boys and five girls in the
family; all of Mr. Kaufmann’s brothers and sisters have passed away.
Receiving
his early education in Manheim, Mr. Kaufmann attended Millersville State
College and graduated in 1899; he took additional work and received his
Bachelor of Arts degree in 1902.
As
Commandant of the Los Angeles Military Academy in 1902 – 1903, Mr. Kaufmann had
an exposition drill squad which performed in front of President Theodore
Roosevelt at the Sawtelle Soldiers’ Home west of Los
Angeles.
In
1903 Mr. Kaufmann went back to Pennsylvania and was engaged in the women’s knit
goods manufacturing business, but he closed the operation in 1914 and returned
to teaching. He was in the physical
education department at Grand Rapids High School in Minnesota for two years and
then accepted a position as director of physical education at the high school in
Astoria, Oregon, in 1919. He then spent
a year learning the lumber business at the Inman-Paulson Lumber Company, which
is still in existence in Portland, Oregon.
Coming
to Blythe, California, in 1921, Mr. Kaufmann was in the cotton and grape
raising business in the Palo Verto Valley and also
taught eighth grade in the Blythe school system. During the summers he attended the University
of California at Los Angeles and the University of Southern California. He came to Alhambra in 1926 and taught at
Ramona School for four years, and then taught at Central School for one year
while waiting for Emery Park School to be built; he was principal of Emery Park
School from 1931 – 1947.
Amos
K. Kaufmann was married to the former Miss Mary Swarr
in Manheim, Pennsylvania, on June 16, 1909.
Mrs. Kaufmann taught school in Manheim for a few years. A pianist, she helped Mr. Kaufmann teach
dancing in Grand Rapids and Portland.
She also played for his pageants in Alhambra. Mrs. Kaufmann passed away in 1950. There were two sons in the family. Ray S. Kaufmann, born on August 31, 1923, was
a graduate of San Marino Elementary School and South Pasadena High School and
attended Pasadena City College. He
entered the service of his country as a pilot in the United States Air Force,
attaining the rank of captain at the age of twenty-one. Flying the “Hump” into China on October 6,
1945, Captain Kaufmann was lost and has never been found. Leo S. Kaufmann, born on March 23, 1910,
married Miss Dorothy Carss, of a prominent Alhambra family; he was a graduate
of Blythe High School, had one year of post-graduate work at Alhambra High
School, and graduated from Occidental College and California Law School. He never practiced law, but after spending
five years in the United States Army, as a First Lieutenant during World War
II, served with California Battery ‘C’, 382nd Field Artillery, he served two
years in the European theater of war. He
worked for the Title Insurance Company in Los Angeles until his death in May,
1961; at the time he was serving as secretary of the newly formed Monrovia
Youth Center. He was the father of four
children: Margaret Mary, born on October
9, 1943, who attends Occidental College; Kenneth C., born on December 26, 1944,
who attends Monrovia High School; Karen, born on December 20, 1948, who attends
Monrovia Junior High School; and Sara, born on March 19, 1950, who attends
Monroe Elementary School in Monrovia.
Mr.
Kaufmann is active in the youth center in Monrovia which has a plaque on its
fireplace in memory of his son, Leo. The
Emery Park Youth Center has a plaque in memory of his son, Ray. A member of the Eugene Fields School square
dancing club, Mr. Kaufmann is the oldest advanced square dancer there. He loves horses, but hasn’t been an active
rider since he lived in Lancaster County where he was a member of the Road
Drivers’ Association.
A
member of the Alhambra Lions Club since 1940, Mr. Kaufmann is a past member of
the Manheim Masonic Lodge in Pennsylvania.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Historical Volume & Reference Works Including Alhambra, Monterey Park,
Rosemead, San Gabriel & Temple City, by Robert P. Studer,
Pages 742-744, Historical Publ., Los Angeles, California. 1962.
© 2013 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES BIOGRAPHIES