Obituaries: Ella B. Durham (Mrs. Joel), 1953, Winn Parish, LA
Submitted by Greggory E. Davies, 120 Ted Price Lane, Winnfield, LA 71483
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From: July 9, 1953 Winn Parish Enterprise

Final Rites Are Held Here For Mrs. Joel Durham

Funeral services were held yesterday in the First Methodist Church at
Winnfield for Mrs. Ella B. Durham, 67 year old former principal of the A. C.
Steere Elementary School, Shreveport, who died unexpectedly Tuesday at the
home of a daughter in New Orleans.

Burial was in the Winnfield Cemetery.

Mrs. Durham, the widow of the late Joel Durham of Shreveport, went to
Shreveport in 1923 and taught two years at Creswell School before becoming
principal of the A. C. Steere School then being constructed in Broadmoor.

She remained principal of the school until her retirement in 1948 because of
ill health.  The school, which had only 17 pupils when she became principal,
had an enrollment of more than 600 students at the time of her retirement.

Mrs. Durham, a veteran of 36 years of teaching in Louisiana schools, began her
career in Columbia where she had graduated from high school several years
earlier.  She taught in Winn and Grant Parishes and for seven years in
Rayville before moving to Shreveport.

Mrs. Durham was a former president and secretary of the Caddo Principals'
Club, a member of the National Education Association, and member of the
Louisiana Teachers' Association.  She was a member of the First Methodist
Church and the Altrusa Club, was active in civic affairs and had been awarded
a life membership in the Louisiana Parent-Teachers Association.

Following her retirement, Mrs. Durham divided her time between a daughter,
Mrs. Frank Keller, in New Orleans, and another daughter, Mrs. Herman Farmer,
in Houston, Texas.

Other survivors include a sister, Mrs. Jeanette Durham, of Alexandria; one
granddaughter, Eleanor Keller of New Orleans; and a grandson, James J. Farmer,
of Houston.