Edith Peters Warn

On December 3, 1923 in the midst of a deep snow storm, a wee baby girl was born. She was named Edith Ellen Peters. Ellen is from the name Rose Ellen White, Edith’s maternal grandmother. As she grew older she became very fond of cookies. Peanut butter cookies were her favorites. Edith attended Sunday School regularly at the Presbyterian Church. She was very interested in poetry and at the young age of three memorized a poem for Children’s Day at the church. “Happy Little Children singing as they play, Keep the sun a shining through each gloomy day.” In her early childhood years, there were intervals when her older sister and her youngest brother required extra care from their mother. During these periods of time, Edith and her younger brother were sent to tag along behind their father as he went about his work on the farm. They became good friends. At the age of five she entered new Holland Grade School and she recalled later having to stand at the blackboard to practice writing her name over and over again because she kept getting the letter “d” backwards. Edith also recalled that during her school years, in the winter, she had many happy and exciting experiences wading through the snowdrifts and sledding down the hills and, when it wasn’t snowing, her brothers rode bikes. Her father bought bikes for the boys but did not think that bikes were meant for girls, however, Edith found a way around this. She offered to do her brothers’ paper routes in return for the simple pleasure of riding on their bikes. At the age of ten she entered fifth grade. She thought this grade was very hard and had a lot of homework, which meant no time for play. In the summer of 1934 she attended the State Fair, and subsequently had “some of every drink and rode on about everything down in ‘Happy Hollow.’” In her thirteenth year, Edith attended the Logan County Dictionary Contest. After winning first in the County Contest she entered the State Dictionary Contest held at Springfield. She won sixth place and was presented with a new dictionary as an award. On Wednesday, June 16, 1937 she entered the Girls 4-H and took her work to the Fair in Lincoln where she received several prizes for a total sum of $2.05. These were early experiences of life outside the farm and they may have been what inspired her to get involved with so many different activities during her high school years. She entered New Holland High School in the fall of 1937 as a “Green Freshie.” The subjects that she took in 9th grade were Algebra, English, Home Economics and General Science. She also took part in operettas, Glee Club, 4-H, and Orchestra. She played the coronet. Edith graduated from High School in June of 1940. Before graduation, she was crowned “the Queen of the County.” Edith’s father may have thought that bikes were only for boys but he also strongly believed that all of his children should get a college degree. So Edith was enrolled in the University of Illinois. After one year, she wrote a letter to her father saying that she wanted to drop out. Instead of writing back, her father drove to the campus and had a serious talk with her and convinced her to stay on. Shortly after university graduation in 1944, Edith married G. Frederick (Fred) Warn. (One of Fred’s friends had told him that she was the prettiest girl on the campus). They initially set-up house in California where Fred had taken a job with Kaiser Aluminum. Then, they spent number of years in Texas after Fred accepted a job at Texas Tech University. During this period of time, they had five children. Sadly, one child died shortly after birth. In 1955, they returned to live in California permanently and Fred started his career with Caltrans. The following year, Edith began her own career as an elementary school teacher. Life was busy with four children and two careers but Edith somehow managed everything. She officially retired after nearly thirty years of teaching but continued to do volunteer work for several more years while also helping out with her six grandchildren. Edith lovingly cared for Fred for 56 years before he passed away in 2000. More sadness came into her life when on August 8, 2008, her beloved daughter, Karen Jil Warn, succumbed to a battle with cancer. Edith carried on, continuing to help her children, grand children and, eventually, six great grand children. On December 5, 2013, Edith Ellen Peters Warn passed away, just two days after her family had helped her to celebrate her 90th birthday. Her family will always cherish her. Her friends will always fondly remember her. The communities where she lived and worked will always appreciate her.