| Honored by: | Ron Ross |
| Brick location: | G:22 map |
Ethel Eileen Newbecker Ross (1889-1983), mother, homemaker, teacher, and business woman, was the wife of Professor Earle D. Ross for whom the nearby Ross Hall is named.
Ethel E. Newbecker was born April 24, 1889 on a homesteaded farm in Custer County, Neb. She began her education in a sod schoolhouse and went on to graduate from Ord, Neb. High School and Nebraska Wesleyan College, and earn a Master's Degree in literature from the University of Chicago in 1913. While serving as professor of English and acting head of the German Department at the former Missouri Wesleyan College in Cameron Mo., she met Earle D. Ross who was professor of history and they were married in Ord. Neb., in June 1917. In the following years, Professor Ross taught at Simpson College, Illinois Wesleyan and the North Dakota Agricultural College (now North Dakota State University) before joining the Iowa State faculty in the fall of 1923.
In Ames, they were active in the Collegiate United Methodist Church, and Mrs. Ross served for many years as superintendent of the Sunday School. She was a member for half a century of Sun Dial Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution Chapter AA of PEO, the Iowa State Faculty Women's Club and the local affiliate of the American Association of University Women. A Democrat, she was active in the local party and a delegate to state conventions.
Planning for future years before Social Security and the establishment of a University retirement program, Mrs. Ross invested in rental housing in Ames and was a successful business woman for many years.
She died February 14, 1983 in Arlington, VA., survived by her three children, five grandchildren, and several great-grandchildren.
Submitted on 12/27/94