League of
Women Voters of the Upper Valley
Hanover,
NH, Norwich, VT and neighboring towns
updated April 29, 2006 Home Page
>> About
the League >> League
Biographies
Members Remembered
Members
of the LWVUV have made significant contributions to the community as
well as to the League. This page contains biographies of some who have
died in 2003.
Elsie
Krug Senuta 1922 - 2003
It is
hard
to believe that that dynamic woman in overalls is no longer with us.
She made a remarkable contribution to our community.
Elsie
was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and grew up in Puerto Rico and Montreal.
After receiving a bachelor's degree from Wellesley College in 1943, she
worked for the Army Map Service in Washington, D.C., during World War
II.
In
1944, she was married to Lt. Joseph F. Senuta. They raised their family
in Massachusetts. After her husbad died in 1971 she moved to an 80-acre
farm in Lancaster, N.H. She became fully engaged with neighboring
farmers, helping them with haying as well as sharing her hay and apples
with them.
She
was active with the White Mountains Festival of the Arts in Jefferson,
N.H, the Waumbeck Center for the Arts, the New Hampshire Youth
Orchestra, the North Country Chamber Players, the Weeks State Park
Association and the North Country League of Women Voters.
After
moving to Kendal in 2001 she volunteered at the reception desk, and in
the Health Center. She did the lion's share of the work pulling
together the residents' bios. She was involved in the double twelve
domino program, in scheduling for service at the reception desk, and
the Upper Valley League of Women Voters as Treasurer. Giving and
outgoing, her first thought was to help others, anywhere, any time.
Lucile
Smith 1913 - 2003
Lucile,
a
daughter of the old South, was born in Jackson, MS. She received a BS
from Newcomb College and a Master's degree from Tulane in New Orleans.
After teaching chemistry to medical students at Tulane during the war,
she earned a doctorate in biochemistry at the University of Rochester.
After
further study at Cambridge and the University of Pennsylvania, Lucile
began a teaching and research career at Dartmouth Medical School,
making major contributions to the discovery of the enzyme,
cytochrome-C. She became the first woman full time professor and the
first female department head.
She
had an abiding interest in politics and women's issues and was active
in Church of Christ at Dartmouth College, League of Women Voters,
lnstitute for Lifelong Education at Dartmouth and in committees at
Kendal.
Caroline
"Karnie" Cooper, 1915 - 2003
Karnie,
a
50-year member of the League, was born in Toledo, Ohio and was educated
both here and abroad. She entered Smith College with the idea of
studying geology, but this subject was deemed not a proper major for a
young woman. She majored in Italian and after spending her junior year
in Florence, she graduated from Smith in 1937.
During
the war she worked in Washington, where she met Dexter Cooper, marrying
him in 1943. After the war, the Coopers moved to Boston, where Mrs.
Cooper went to Boston University, graduating in 1958 with a master's
degree in sociology.
She
went to work for the United Prison Association and was appointed to the
Massachusetts Board of Corrections by then-Gov. John Volpe. She
continued her work with juvenile delinquents when she moved to
Pasadena, Calif., working with police agencies to develop programs to
keep children from becoming involved in crime and the corrections
system.
At
that time, she began working for the League of Women Voters. Active in
the California Democratic Party and in Pasadena city government, she
was a driving force in the creation of Pasadena Urban Research Corp., a
planning organization that contributed to revitalization of the
downtown.
Her
interest in the League of Women Voters continued after her move to
Kendal and she served on the LWVUV Board of Directors until six months
before her death. She also volunteered working with police and other
organizations in developing programs for children, with the goal of
keeping them out trouble with the law.
Karnie
had a keen interest in national and world affairs, and after Dexter
died she could be seen every morning reading her New York Times while
eating her breakfast in the Cafe at Kendal. She enjoyed travel, her
last trip being to Patagonia at the age of 87.
Fanny
C. " Finny" Ham, January 1908-May 2003
Finny
Ham
is fondly remembered by many members of the Upper Valley League. A
history she wrote was reprinted by the LWVUV in early 2003. It has been
distributed as a membership flyer and is on this web site.
Her
obituary in the Valley News, May 15, 2003 said in part:
"She
was born to Greely S. and Fanny Curtis of Marblehead, Mass., on Jan.
11, 1908. At age 16, she won the national girls doubles tennis
championship with her friend, Polly Palfrey. She continued to play
tennis until age 89.
"After
graduating from Smith College, in 1930 with special honors in history,
government and economics, she worked with -Edward R. Murrow in New
York. She met her future husband, Thomas Hale Ham, assisting at
Thorndike Labs in Boston. In Brookline, Mass., she co-chaired the
education committee of the League of Women Voters, helping to win
approval of a bond issue for a long-needed new wing of the high school.
"Her
family moved to Cleveland in 1950, where she co-chaired the 1959 League
Study of Education Beyond the High School, which helped to enact
legislation to create two-year colleges in Ohio. From 1962 to 1972, she
was a member of the board of trustees of Cuyahoga Community College,
which opened its doors in 1963.
"As a
member of the recreation board in Shaker Heights, Ohio, from 1952 to
1962, she helped develop Thornton Park. She received a Citizen Of the
Year award for that work.
"She
and, her husband retired to Hanover in 1974, where she co-chaired the
League of Women Voters' A Study and Evaluation of Recreation
Opportunities and Facilities in Hanover. She worked with the social
responsibility, committee of the Unitarian-Universalist Congregation of
the Upper Valley and the Interfaith Coalition against Homelessness,
serving as a chaperone at a church shelter in her 80s. She became a
Hospice volunteer at age 86, assisting with projects for a number of
years in their office.
"She
cooked a mean shirred egg on wood stove, split wood into her 70s and
was an ace at caroms and the card game Oh Hell. She loved loons and the
natural beauty of Squam Lake, N.H."
Home
www.uppervalleyleague.org