The first black female school administrator, a composer who also recorded music in Hopi kivas, a teacher who helped pass a bill creating a teachers’ retirement system, and an expert on Indian art and culture will have their names added to a long list of women who helped shape the state.

Veora Johnson, an educator and humanitarian; Louise Lincoln Kerr, a composer and musician; Winona E. Montgomery, an educator and champion of the elderly; and Clara Lee Tanner, an expert on Indian arts will be inducted into the Arizona Women’s Hall of Fame in a ceremony Oct. 21. For more detail about their lives, please see the biographies below.

Hall Of Fame History

There are currently 66 women in the Arizona Women’s Hall of Fame. Additional information on the inductees and the Arizona Women’s Hall of Fame Program can be found at 1101. W. Washington St. Phoenix or through the Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records Web site at http://dev.lib.az.us/awhof

The Arizona Women’s Commission and Governor Bruce Babbitt initiated the Arizona Women’s Hall of Fame in 1981. The Arizona Humanities Council provided funding for the first two years. The Arizona Department of Library, Archives and Public Records and the Arizona Historical Society produced the first induction ceremony in 1981.

This year’s event will feature a reception, a musical performance and exhibits. It will be dedicated to Edwynne C. “Polly” Rosenbaum, who lived in three centuries and influenced Arizona life from elementary school to the state Capitol. “Teacher, historian, state legislator, friend, Polly Rosenbaum truly was an Arizona treasure and icon,” according coordinator Leslie J. Norton.

For an unprecedented 45 years, Mrs. Rosenbaum was Arizona’s longest serving legislator, capably and energetically representing her constituents.

She served under 12 governors and 15 House speakers; and between 1973 and 1995, was Speaker Pro Tem on opening day of the Legislature. Many lawmakers considered her the most influential person at the state Legislature, respected by Democrats and Republicans alike. In 1982, her colleagues honored Polly with a resolution and title: “First Lady of the Arizona Legislature.” Mrs. Rosenbaum died in Phoenix in 2003 at age 104.

Those expected to attend the ceremony include former Governor Rose Mofford, Governor Napolitano, Senate President Ken Bennett, House Speaker Jake Flake and Rep. Meg Burton Cahill, D-17.

Veora E. Johnson, 1910-2001

Born in Navasota, Texas, on April 21, 1910, Veora Johnson was the eighth of 10 children born to Albert and Annie Blackshear Johnson. She was an Arizona resident for 74 years.

Johnson was selected as valedictorian of her high school class in Navasota, Texas and graduated magna cum laude from Prairie View University in Texas. She earned a degree in elementary administration from Arizona State University and completed additional graduate work at the University of Arizona, the University of Hawaii and the University of Southern California.

Veora Johnson was still a student at Prairie View Normal Institute in 1927 when she was selected by the president to fill a teaching position at Booker T. Washington Elementary School in Mesa. After 17 years of teaching, the superintendent asked her to apply for the position of principal and for the next 30 years she served Washington School as the first black woman in Arizona to hold administration credentials in education. In 1983, the Veora E. Johnson Elementary School was named in her honor. The school is at 3807 E. Pueblo Ave., Mesa.

Johnson was a Golden Soror and lifetime member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. She was a founder and first president of the Delta Beta Omega Chapter of the sorority at Arizona State University and also started the first black Greek letter organization in Arizona, Alpha Sigma.

She was the recipient of many honors including Mesa’s 1953 Citizen of the Year; Who’s Who in Arizona 1958; World Who’s Who of Women, 1974, and was selected as Woman of the Year by the American Association of University Women in 1967. She was also affiliated with many professional organizations such as the National Education Association, Arizona Education Association, and the National Retired Teacher Association. In 1985, Arizona State University awarded Johnson the Medallion of Excellence for her outstanding and significant contribution to the first century of Arizona’s public education.

Johnson held a seat on various boards of directors including Mesa Lutheran Hospital, Mesa Historical Society, Sirrine Adult Center, and the Mesa Museum Guild. During her lifetime she served on seven boards, two at the state level, one by Arizona Supreme Court appointment.

Veora Johnson died in Mesa on Nov. 15, 2001 at the age of 91.

Louise Lincoln Kerr, 1892-1977

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, on April 24, 1892, to Myrtie and John C. Lincoln, Louise Lincoln Kerr was an Arizona resident for 41 years.

During the early years of the 20th century most women were prohibited from gaining higher education in musical theory and composition or from holding a position in a professional symphony orchestra. Louise Lincoln Kerr was an exception. She studied with Columbia University professors and won awards in composition at Barnard College in New York. She also studied violin with the famous Dutch virtuoso, Christian Timmner. Timmner was appointed conductor of the early Cleveland Symphony Orchestra and in 1913, Kerr accepted his offer to join the violin section as one of the orchestra’s youngest members and one of the first two women to win a seat.

She was also at the forefront of the recording industry. In the 1920s she worked at Aeolian Recording Company of New York proofing piano rolls and later was in the sound booth as a trouble-shooter for the first disk recordings of modern music.

In 1936, Kerr and her family moved to Arizona. Known in Arizona as the “Grand Lady of Music,” Louise Lincoln Kerr was a charter violinist and benefactor of the Phoenix Symphony, formed in 1947. She contributed both funding and property to the organization.

As a pioneer in the field of ethnomusicology, Kerr was invited into the kivas of the Hopi where she recorded their music. This pursuit inspired her to write several orchestral pieces based on Hopi themes. She wrote an orchestral suite entitled “Enchanted Mesa,” which captured the spirit of the Southwest and drew on the legends and music of the Hopi.

During the 1950s, few women could get their works premiered by university and professional symphonies. The Phoenix Symphony Orchestra performed “Enchanted Mesa” in 1955 and other of Kerr’s works were premiered by Arizona State University and the Sun City Symphony. Throughout her lifetime she produced more than 100 works ranging from solos to full orchestral pieces.

She was a major benefactor of the School of Music at Arizona State. In addition, she bequeathed her former Scottsdale home and studio to Arizona State University, now known as the Kerr Cultural Center. Louise Lincoln Kerr’s generosity and talent supported the fine arts in Arizona for four decades.

Louise Lincoln Kerr died on Dec. 10, 1977 at the age of 85.

Winona E. Montgomery, 1898-1990

Born in Nebraska City, Nebraska, on Jan. 24, 1898, Winona Montgomery came to Arizona in 1919 and was an Arizona resident for 71 years. She attended the University of Arizona where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree and began her teaching career in Florence. Throughout the years, Montgomery pursued graduate studies at the University of Arizona, Stanford University, Northern Arizona University, Washington State University, University of Montana, Mills College, and Arizona State University.

After teaching in Florence for a year, she moved to Phoenix and taught at Phoenix Union High School from 1923 to
1939. In 1939 she transferred to North High School where she taught until her retirement in 1963. During her teaching years she worked diligently for the betterment of all teachers. Her work with the Arizona Legislature bore fruit with the passing of a bill for a teachers’ retirement and tenure system.

After 40 years of teaching she retired from Phoenix Union High Schools and turned her attentions toward the betterment of Arizona’s elderly. In retirement, she became a champion for all of Arizona’s senior citizens and continued to educate legislators on important issues to aid the elderly.

Montgomery began working with the Arizona Retired Teachers Association as soon as she retired. In 1964 she served as president of Arizona Retired Teachers and was also elected to represent the National Retired Teachers Association at their National Conference in 1965 and the Regional Conference in 1966.

She also exercised leadership in the Arizona Education Association, the Governor’s Council on Aging, and the League of Women Voters. She was a legislative chairman for both the Arizona Retired Teachers Association and the Phoenix Senior Citizens Council and was a member of the Maricopa Senior Citizens Council, serving on subcommittees for Transportation and Housing.

She was an active member of the American Association of University Women and provided a tremendous amount of support to the educational television station KAET, a public service station currently under the auspices of Arizona State University in Tempe.

In 1971, she was appointed by Governor Jack Williams as a delegate to the state White House Conference on Aging at Arizona State University where she was honored as Arizona’s Outstanding Older American.

Winona Montgomery died in Phoenix on April 29, 1990, at the age of 92.

Clara Lee Tanner, 1905-1997

Born in Biscoe, North Carolina, on May 28, 1905, Clara Lee (Fraps) Tanner was an Arizona resident for 90 years. She received a Bachelor’s Degree in Archaeology at the University of Arizona and was one of the first three students there to receive a Master’s Degree in Archaeology (1928). She pursued graduate studies at the National University of Mexico and at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago and was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters by the University of Arizona in 1983.

Clara Lee Tanner was appointed to the faculty of the University of Arizona in 1928 where she taught in the Department of Anthropology for half a century. She specialized in Southwest Indian arts and crafts and authored an extensive list of articles and books ranging from newspaper articles to college textbooks in addition to being a regular contributor to Arizona Highways magazine.

For many years she was the recognized authority on Southwest Indian culture and arts. As a highly sought after public speaker she was able to communicate appreciation of the artistic achievements of these people in both the United States and abroad and inspire other’s interest.

Among her numerous awards were the Sharlot Hall Award in 1985, given to a living Arizona woman who has made a valuable contribution to the understanding and awareness of Arizona’s history, and in 1993 she was given a National Lifetime Achievement in the Crafts Arts Award sponsored by the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

Professionals and the public have praised Tanner’s many publications, and her major works have been distributed in 85 foreign countries. She won numerous Arizona Press Women First Awards and three awards from the National Federation of Press Women for her books on Southwest Indian craft arts, Southwest Indian painting and Apache baskets, and prehistoric Southwest arts.

Clara Lee Tanner died in Tucson on Dec. 22, 1997, at the age of 92.—

Information for this story was provided by Carol Hughes and Leslie J. Norton.