Los Angeles County
Biographies
OSA
McALLISTER
The
life of Osa McAllister is a life of achievement. With extraordinary interest in the welfare of
the young, she has given generous assistance to the care of infants, little
children, helped in the rehabilitation of young girls in trouble by befriending
them, and advanced the cause of the Boy Scouts by recruiting the help of the
mothers in organizing a Mother’s Auxiliary of Troop No. 9, the first
organization of its kind in Alhambra.
Mrs. McAllister is associated with the church, clubs, associations and
auxiliaries in the desire to give assistance where needed.
In
appreciation of her outstanding public service, she has been presented with
awards and citations. Mrs. McAllister
has the distinction of having been chosen as one of two “Civic Women of the
Year” in 1958, by the Business and Professional Women’s Club, and as “Citizen
of the Month,” by the Civitan Club in March, 1959.
From
1949 to 1959 Mrs. Osa McAllister was elected to the
Alhambra Board of Education, and was president in 1951-52 and in 1955-56. For six years she represented the board on
the Alhambra Parks and Recreation Committee.
Illness of her husband forced her to resign. For the ten years of outstanding service on
the school board, Mrs. McAllister was given a citation by the Alhambra City
Commission in 1959, and was, in the same year, presented with a citation from
the Los Angeles County Superintendent of Schools. During the War Bond Campaign in World War II,
she received a citation from the United States Government for selling War
Bonds.
Born
in Marion, Indiana, Mrs. Osa Miller McAllister is one
of seven children. Her father, Francis
M. Miller, was a farmer. Her mother’s
maiden name was Martha Jane Leverich. Her
great-great-grandfather Leverich, a native of Scotland,
was shanghaied at the age of twelve and found himself on a ship which brought
him to this country, settling first in Pennsylvania and later in Indiana.
Mrs.
McAllister attended elementary and high schools in Marion, Indiana. She majored in business and received her
degree at Marion Normal College.
She
married Ray Edgar McAllister, the son of a Colorado pioneer lumberman, in
Boulder, Colorado, on November 9, 1910.
Mr. Ray E. McAllister passed away in 1959. The McAllister’s have a son and a
daughter. Ray Edgar McAllister, Jr., now
lives in Dallas, Texas, with his wife and two sons, Bruce and Scott, and a
daughter, Cameron. Their daughter, Mrs.
Robert (Jane Elizabeth) Beach Black, and her husband are currently living in
Japan. The Black’s have one son, Robert
McAllister Black, who is a 1961 graduate of Alhambra High School.
Mrs.
Osa McAllister and her husband came to California in
1922 and lived in Monrovia for four years.
In 1926 they moved to Alhambra and purchased a photo shop at 29 West
Main Street, where they operated the Eastman Kodak Agency. In 1927 when they changed their business
location to 33 West Main Street, they also changed the name of their store to
McAllister’s Stationery and Gift Shop, greatly expanding the stock of merchandise
and enlarging the photo finishing plant.
Mr. and Mrs. McAllister conducted the business from 1926 to 1946, when
their son, Ray Edgar, managed the business until 1955. The business was sold and is still operating
as a gift shop.
A
Republican, Mrs. McAllister is a member and a diligent worker in the Republican
Party.
With
a heartfelt interest in the well-being of children, she was in a position
through the Soroptimist Club of Alhambra to assist in establishing the Alhambra
Day Nursery in 1939, and is a member of its board of directors. The need for nursery care of small children
of working mothers is so great, that in spite of a capacity to take care of
forty children between the ages of two and five years, there is a long waiting
list for admission to the school.
Mrs.
McAllister is the chairman of the infants-care group. These children are under two years of age,
and are placed in foster homes on a daily basis. The Soroptimist Club shares with the mothers
the cost of their care.
Mrs.
McAllister is a charter member of the Soroptimist Club of Alhambra and now
holds a life membership in this organization.
Mrs.
McAllister has served as a sponsor for many girls released on parole from
Tehachapi Prison. It is to her lasting
credit that, through her kindness and understanding, every one of the girls she
sponsored is living a normal life, without slipping back into delinquency.
During
World War II, she was actively engaged in various kinds of war work, including
her participation on the Wave Committee, a committee for recruiting young women
into service with the United States Navy.
Other activities during the war years included her services to the USO
and the Red Cross, serving on the board of directors of both
organizations. She still serves as Home
Service Chairman of the Alhambra Red Cross.
Mrs. McAllister is a past president of Chapter CE of P.E.O. and is the
current educational chairman of the chapter.
This chairmanship submits names for approval of girls eligible to
receive financial assistance to further their education, and is financially
supported by the P.E.O. Loan Fund.
Mrs.
McAllister has also helped the need of the Salvation Army and has been on the
Salvation Army’s Alhambra Citizens’ Advisory Board since it was organized in
1943. She holds a life membership in the
Parent-Teachers Association, is an associate member of the Alhambra Auxiliary
of the Children’s Hospital, and an honorary member of the Alhambra Association
of Educational Office Employees. She
also served on the board of the United Fund of Alhambra when it was first
organized in 1956. She is a patron of
the newly organized Alhambra Friends of the Library.
When
she is not attending a meeting or helping out in one way or another, Mrs.
McAllister enjoys gardening and takes great pride in her
beautiful rose garden. “I like people
and I like to help people,” states Mrs. McAllister, when asked what prompts her
to serve her community so well.
Transcribed
by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Historical Volume & Reference
Works Including Alhambra, Monterey Park, Rosemead, San Gabriel & Temple
City, by Robert P. Studer, Pages 448-450,
Historical Publ., Los Angeles, California.
1962.
© 2012 V.
Gerald Iaquinta.
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