Dates

• Existence: 1892-1948

Biography

Gertrude Helen Taft was born in 1892 in Humboldt, Iowa,€”the town her grandfather founded, to William Taft, an attorney, and Alice Tibbetts Taft. She had one older brother, Thurlow, who served as a Sergeant in WWI, before becoming a lawyer and Superior Court judge in Santa Monica, California. The siblings both attended the State University of Iowa (now University of Iowa). Following her graduation in 1915, Taft briefly taught mathematics in Spencer, Iowa before attending Bradley Polytechnic Institute in Peoria, Illinois, where she she studied Mechanical Drawing. She then taught in Marion, Iowa. In 1920, she returned to Humboldt, initially working for her father and later becoming a bookkeeper for the Humboldt Gravel and Tile Company. Taft later moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where she served as Director of Religious Education at The First Unitarian Church School. While in Cleveland, Taft attended graduate classes at the Women's College, Western Reserve University. She also served as a Girl Scout Troop leader and volunteer manager for The Triangle Club, a teen social club. She later worked for the Unitarian Church in Boston. Gertrude Taft died in 1948.

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