Niles Historical Society books teacher as speaker

NILES — “The Life of Lou Henry Hoover” will be the subject of a talk by Elizabeth Clark, retired history teacher, at a Luncheon on the Lawn to be sponsored by Niles Historical Society.

Scheduled for noon July 26, the event will take place on the grounds of the Ward-Thomas Museum, 503 Brown St.

Born in Iowa in 1874, Lou Hoover moved to California when she was 10. She earned a teaching degree from the State Normal School in Los Angeles and a bachelor’s in geology from Stanford University, where she met the man who was to become her husband, Herbert Hoover.

The couple married in 1899 and traveled throughout the world due to his work as a mining engineer, a career that made him a millionaire. They had two sons and moved into the White House in 1929 when he became president. At the end of his term, they retired to Palo Alto, Calif., in 1933.

An intelligent woman who spoke five languages, including Chinese, Mrs. Hoover was known for her charitable acts but was also criticized for changing the social norms of her day. For example, she received the wife of a black congressman at the White House, and she believed that women could do any job a man could, and often better, which was not a popular belief in the first half of the 20th century. She actively supported the Girl Scouts and urged women to be active and physically fit. She died in 1944 in New York.

Tickets for the luncheon are $20. Reservations are required by July 23 and can be made by contacting any historical society officer of by calling the museum at (330) 544-2143.