Dates

• Existence: 1888 - 1994

Biography

Clara Steen (Skott) was born on October 11, 1888, in Menlo, Iowa, the daughter of Frederick and Mary Steen. When she was eleven the family moved to West Liberty, Iowa, where her father farmed. She graduated as valedictorian of her high school class and attended Iowa State College (now Iowa State University), majoring in home economics with studies in journalism as well. In 1917 she married a college classmate, Hans Skott, and moved for a short time to South Dakota, where he was a county agent. They had three daughters, Hilda, Signe, and Kathryn, and one son, Frank.

From 1920 to 1933 the Skotts farmed in northeast Iowa, and in 1937 moved to Madison, Wisconsin, where Hans Skott worked for the United States Department of Agriculture. During the war, he was employed by the United States Army as a civilian and the family lived in Alexandria, Virginia. In 1946 and 1947 the Skotts lived in Shanghai, China, where Hans was employed by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRAA). During that time Clara Skott taught high school home economics. They returned to Wisconsin in 1947, settling in Middleton, where Clara Skott remained after her husband died in1952. She moved to a Madison retirement home in 1976 and died in 1994 at the age of 105.

Clara Skott was an active freelance journalist and a devoted civic leader. She wrote articles on home economics for Successful Farming and The Farmer's Wife during the 1910s and was a regular contributor to the Middleton Times-Tribune for many years. Among her numerous civic activities, Skott was president of the Middleton Women's Club, The Middleton Garden Club, and the Women's Guild of the Middleton Community Church. In 1956 she helped organize the Middleton Senior Citizens and served as their volunteer director for sixteen years. She was the first recipient of the Service to Mankind award of the Sertoma Club of Middleton.

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