Ramona Strahan Henderson
RAMONA STRAHAN HENDERSON
Ramona Geneva Strahan was born January 1, 1905 in the mining town of Jerome, Territory of Arizona, daughter of Samuel L. and Laura Sutter Strahan. Her parents were divorced when she was eight years old, a rare occurrence in those days. She had one brother, Albert, four years younger, and they lived part of the time with their maternal grandparents, Charles and Elizabeth Burch Sutter.
Her grandmother had a profound influence on Ramona throughout her life, and it was she who insisted Ramona enroll at the “Tech” when she came to Pocatello at the age of 15 to live with her grandparents. Due to illness, Ramona had missed a full year of school and felt she was too old to start high school, so planned to get a job. Instead she enrolled in the Commerce program at the Idaho Technical Institute where she took the traditional classes of typing, shorthand, and “accountancy,” in addition to the standard academic classes she had missed by not attending high school. Her grandparents bought her an Underwood typewriter which she used to type all her letters for the next 70 years. Her son, John, has this typewriter in his home on a shelf among other antiques. Samples of her shorthand notes are so well written it is like reading from a textbook.
Ramona loved the Tech, her classes, teachers, friends, and activities, and spoke fondly and proudly of it all her life. She enjoyed playing tennis and basketball, and the 1924 Wickiup yearbook lists her as social chairman of the Commerce Club. She loved to dance and had saved many dance programs over the years. She received a Commerce Certificate in 1924, but continued attending classes for another year (until she was 20).
Ramona worked as a secretary for the County Agricultural Agent in the old Bannock County Courthouse until her marriage in November 1927 to Robert D. (Doug) Henderson who was a telegrapher for the Union Pacific Railroad. They lived in Pocatello, Driggs, Idaho Falls, then settled in Rexburg in 1938 when he became a station agent. Doug died in 1947 and Ramona never remarried.
Ramona and Doug had four children: Geneva, John, Bette, and David. The importance of education was always stressed in the family, and all four attended Idaho State College, as did both sons-in-law, Bob Beasley and Bill Mitchell, and two of her grandchildren including her namesake, Ramona A. Henderson.
Ramona was active in the PTA, Eastern Star, American Legion Auxiliary and, in later years, the AARPs. She loved to garden, and was very interested in family history, history of the West, and Southwestern Indian culture. She returned to Pocatello in 1964, then moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1988 where she died in 1996.
Ramona was passionate in her desire that all her children, and later her grandchildren, receive good educations and lead happy, productive lives. It is with this inspiration from a wonderful mother that we dedicate this scholarship endowment fund.