Dates

• Existence: 1943-

Biography

Anabeth Koob is the child of Elsie and Harold Koob. She was the fourth of six Koob daughters: Kathryn, Mildred (Zeller), Vivian (Homeyer), Anabeth (Voigts), Mary Jane (Engquist), and Emogene (Zuck). The Koob girls were the fifth generation of their family to be raised on a farm near Jesup, Iowa. As each girl turned ten, "chores and farm life turned synonymous. The girls rotated: feed the chickens Monday, help with the pigs next day, milk the cows Wednesday. Cook one night, clean-up the next. And on and on...Given her druthers, Anabeth favored indoor jobs....The unwritten schedule that called for chores at ten sent the Koob girls packing for college at eighteen." [The Tampa[ Florida] Times, November 3, 1980]

Anabeth Koob married David Voigts. The couple settled in Tampa, Florida where David Voigts worked for the Florida Power Corporation and Anabeth Voigts worked as a teacher´s aide for the second grade class of Citrus Park Elementary School and taught piano lessons out of their home. The Voigts had two children: Mark and Emma Lou.

On November 5, 1979 Voigts´ oldest sister, Kathryn Koob, was taken hostage in Iran as part of the student-taking of the American Embassy the day before. Koob became one of the fifty-two American hostages kept for 444 days before being released on January 20, 1981. During her sister´s captivity, Voigts worked endlessly to keep the hostages in the public´s mind and prayers, while simultaneously pressing the government to find a peaceful solution to the crisis. Voigts wrote many congresspersons, pushing for passage of the Hostage Relief Act. She also participated in the Family Liaison Action Group (FLAG), the Free the Hostages pin project, the Hostage cross project, Stand Up for America, and the Yellow Ribbon Campaign. She joined the Iran Working Group, an organization Kathryn Koob had worked with prior to her assignment in Tehran. Voigts encouraged a nationwide prayer campaign. Through interviews and speaking engagements, Voigts articulated the country´s hopes and fears through the lens of her family´s experiences.

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