Dates

• Existence: 1901 - 1981

Biography

Elvira Irene Metz was born on February 19, 1901 in Tama County, Iowa. She married Clifford Allen Houston on March 19, 1924. The couple had two children, Allen Benedict, born in 1925 and Alyce Elvira, born in 1927. They were a rural family, living primarily near Chelsea and Tama, Iowa. In 1935, Clifford Houston lost everything and the family moved to Birmingham, Alabama to live with and work for Clifford Houston's well-to-do uncle, C.W. Wright. The Houston family returned to Iowa about a year or so later. A poor but self-sufficient family, daughter Alyce recalled that she never had a store-bought garment until she was fourteen years old. Her mother made most of the children's clothes from old coats and other used materials. In 1942, Elvira Houston ran for city council in Chelsea on the Women's Progressive Ticket. Houston also wrote poetry and often submitted it to be read on a local radio show. In her later years, Houston became an Avon representative. Elvira Houston died on January 24, 1981 in Spearfish, South Dakota.

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