Dates

• Existence: 1886 - 1976

Biography

Leanna Field Driftmier, radio broadcaster and founder of "Kitchen-Klatter," was born on April 3, 1886 in Shenandoah, Iowa. Upon finishing high school in 1905, she taught country school near Essex, Iowa. In 1906 she was asked to care for her grandparents in California. While there she attended Los Angeles State Normal College, resuming teaching in 1911 in San Bernardino, California. Returning to Iowa in 1912 for a family visit, she met Martin H. Driftmier whom she subsequently married in 1913. A widower, Martin Driftmier brought two children into the marriage. The Driftmiers ultimately raised seven children.

In 1926 Leanna Driftmier established her own homemaker program, "Kitchen-Klatter," on radio station KFNF in Shenandoah, Iowa. KFNF was owned by her brother, Henry Field, an early developer of hybrid seed and founder of the Henry Field Seed Company in Shenandoah. In this half-hour program Driftmier discussed her family, recipes, philosophy, and whatever news seemed worth sharing. Beamed to six midwestern states, "Kitchen-Klatter" became the longest-running homemaker program in the history of radio. Driftmier celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the "Kitchen-Klatter" broadcasts in 1976. In 1954 Driftmier was the recipient of the Iowa Mother of the Year Award.

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