Los Angeles County
Biographies
DAISY
C. SHERWOOD
It
would be a vain effort to look for another person in the district, who has been
as purposeful in her work for the good not only of the community, but as a
pebble thrown in the water draws wider and wider circles, for the good of the
country. She is Daisy C. Sherwood,
“Daisy” to her friends, who was officially proclaimed “Mrs. Republican” at the
Alhambra Republican Club Lincoln Day Dinner in 1960. She has rightfully earned this title, for she
worked with untiring energy, boundless enthusiasm, continuous effort, combined
with decisive planning and deep devotion to her ideals toward being a good
citizen, a good Republican, and to assist the Republican Part to make this
country – the United States of America – the best country on the globe, by
finding and electing the right man for the right job in government. As far back as 1920, she has given freely of
her time to work for the Party.
Mrs.
Sherwood was active in the Republican Party, when in November, 1942, Judge Lothrop Smith was elected to the State Assembly
for the 53rd District, which included Alhambra, San Gabriel and
Monterey Park.
When
Richard Nixon ran for Congress in 1946 on the Republican ticket, the Party
backed him as the representative from the State of California, and Mrs. Daisy
Sherwood was on the original fact finding committee. She was one of the citizens who did more than
her share to get Richard Nixon elected to the House of Representatives in 1946
and to the Senate in 1950. Mrs. Sherwood
was chairman of Republican Headquarters, when Patrick J. Hillings
was a candidate for election to the House of Representatives in 1950, and won
the election.
In 1948 Mrs.
Sherwood organized the Alhambra Republican Club, which began its meetings with
seven members. There are now more than
two hundred members on the roster. She
served two terms, 1946 and 1948, on the State Republican Central Committee.
But
all along, Mrs. Sherwood had Alhambra in her heart. In 1905 she was helpful in the cause of a
Public Library for the community, by having a bond issue submitted for the
building of the Alhambra Public Library.
In 1926 she organized a choral group in Alhambra, Las Cantoras, and was their president for six years. In May, 1941, she opened the Victory House in
Alhambra, for the sale of War Bonds.
Mrs. Daisy Sherwood was its chairman for three years and under her
management Alhambra, through the Victory House alone, helped the war effort
with financial support of several million dollars. For her outstanding work she received a
Citation from the War Bond Savings Committee.
She joined the Alhambra Women’s Club in 1905, and was a member for twenty-one
years. She is a past member of the
Alhambra Round Table Club and of the San Gabriel Republican Club. In 1943 Mrs. Sherwood was honored by the
Alhambra Soroptimist Club as the “Woman of the Year.” She is also on the San Gabriel Valley
Philharmonic Association’s Board of Directors.
Mrs.
Daisy Sherwood was born in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She is the third of seven children of Henry
Turner and Mary (Wiggins) Coley. Her
father was, for a short time, one of the pioneer ranchers in Imperial Valley,
California. Of her four sisters and two
brothers, only one of her brothers, Howard Coley, who resides in San Marino is still living.
She recalls that her family reminisced about the history making day when
Andrew Johnson was born in the loft of her great-grandfather’s kitchen in
Raleigh, North Carolina. In the Colonial
days, the kitchens were a building apart from the house, and usually had living
quarters in the loft for their employees.
Mr. Johnson’s father was the family coachman and his mother was the
seamstress. Mrs. Sherwood’s great-grandmother
had the distinction of naming Andrew Johnson.
The Daughters of Confederacy had this famous kitchen moved to Pullen
Park in Raleigh, North Carolina, where it stands intact today, bearing a bronze
plaque naming the kitchen as the birthplace of Andrew Johnson. Mrs. Sherwood has pictures that were taken in
1950 when she visited this famous landmark.
Mrs.
Sherwood attended elementary and high schools in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She taught school in Minneapolis for a year
and near Brainard for a year. She came
to California in 1902. She was married
to Dr. Harry S. Miles in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Dr. Miles practiced dentistry in Los
Angeles. Dr. and Mrs. Miles built a
beautiful home at 314 South First Street in Alhambra, a home in which Mrs.
Sherwood still lives, and in which, as she says, “I will stay until I die.” Dr. Miles passed away in 1934.
His
widow married George B. Sherwood, thus becoming Daisy Sherwood on July 29,
1944, in a ceremony which took place in her Alhambra home. Mr. Sherwood was the manager of the of
Pasadena branch of the Ralph Hamlin Company, Inc., selling Franklin and Reo
automobiles, and later became district manager for this firm. He was born in Pennsylvania, and first
entered the automobile business in Ohio.
He came to California in 1911, opening his business in Pasadena in
1916. Mr. Sherwood was a very active
Republican, and vice-president of the Alhambra Republican Club. Mr. Sherwood died on June 21, 1958.
Mrs.
Daisy C. Sherwood is well-known for her kindness, neighborliness and
hospitality. Whenever there is need or
want or sickness, she is there as a friend and good neighbor. Her good deeds are too numerous to
mention. She is a gracious lady, and the
social gatherings in her home are always enjoyable, and many social and
business leaders have enjoyed to break bread with
“Daisy.”
Transcribed
by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Historical Volume &
Reference Works Including Alhambra, Monterey Park, Rosemead, San Gabriel &
Temple City, by Robert P. Studer, Pages 416-418,
Historical Publ., Los Angeles, California.
1962.
© 2012 V.
Gerald Iaquinta.
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BIOGRAPHIES