While there she played in the school orchestra, her instrument being a bass. Southwestern College was a Methodist college and Elizabeth attended it for two years. She decided to study at Southwestern College in Winfield, entering in 1946. At this time orchestras were composed almost exclusively of men and, even if she was successful at joining a professional orchestra, the life-style was not suitable for a married lady. She had other reasons to change her plans to become a professional musician. After graduating from Winfield High School, Owen was going to study dairy manufacturing at Kansas State College in Manhattan, Kansas and Elizabeth didn't want to be far from him in New York. Already at this time Elizabeth and Owen Fennema had fallen in love and were intending to marry. This would seem like a dream come true for the young girl who was passionate about music and had dreamed of a musical career since elementary school. She was offered a scholarship to study at the highly rated Eastman School of Music, part of the University of Rochester, New York. Elizabeth then had a difficult decision to make. Both Elizabeth Hammer and Owen Fennema graduated from Winfield High School in 1946. At this High School she met Owen Richard Fennema who was born on 23 January 1929, in Hinsdale, Illinois, the son of Nicolas Fennema, a dairy plant owner, and Fern First. She attended Winfield High School and her name appears in the 1944 and in 1945 Lagondan Yearbook. Elizabeth describes her mother as a strong woman who made her children feel secure by not focusing on the fact that they had little money.Įlizabeth was very talented musically and through her elementary schooling and beyond she had absolutely no doubts that she wanted to be a musician and have a career in music. However, because in the early 1930s schools and most businesses would not hire married women, she took in sewing in order to earn needed money for family expenses. She taught in one-room schools and in small city schools. Unable to take the dramatic situation, Elizabeth's father left home and her mother had the sole responsibility of bringing up Elizabeth and her brother :-Įlizabeth's mother had been born in 1889 and had overcome familial pressures and extreme poverty, common in the southern United States at that time, to attend Valparaiso University.
In October 1929 the stock market crashed and Elizabeth's father was one of thousands of Americans who lost everything overnight. About a year after she was born, the United States went into recession which, by the end of 1929, had become markedly worse. We use the name Elizabeth up to the time of her marriage but, since we also describe something of her husband, we will make every effort to always distinguish the two. She only became Elizabeth Fennema after her marriage. Biography Elizabeth Fennema was given the name Elizabeth Hammer.
0 kommentar(er)
