Gladys Waddingham
Encyclopedia
Gladys Waddingham a Spanish teacher at Inglewood High School
Inglewood High School (California)
Inglewood High School is a public high school in Inglewood, California, USA. Opened in 1905, it is part of Inglewood Unified School District.-Notable alumni:*Sonny Bono, did not graduate*Jason Hart, NBA basketball player...

 in Inglewood, California
Inglewood, California
Inglewood is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, southwest of downtown Los Angeles. It was incorporated on February 14, 1908. Its population stood at 109,673 as of the 2010 Census...

, for 45 years, was the author of nine books about her adopted city.

The Centinela Business and Professional Women's Club named her Woman of the Year in 1967, and the Inglewood Sertoma Club gave her a Service to Mankind Award in 1973.

She was born August 23, 1900. A graduate of Occidental College
Occidental College
Occidental College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college located in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1887, Occidental College, or "Oxy" as it is called by students and alumni, is one of the oldest liberal arts colleges on the West Coast...

 in Los Angeles (and winner of the 1990 alumni Seal Award there), Waddingham held her first teaching position in Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...

. When she was offered a job in Inglewood, she "didn't even know where the community was." She said she got the position because she "was willing to live in El Segundo
El Segundo, California
El Segundo is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located on the Santa Monica Bay, it was incorporated on January 18, 1917, and is one of the Beach Cities of Los Angeles County and part of the South Bay Cities Council of Governments...

 and chaperone the school bus into Inglewood for a dollar a day." She was married to Frances Waddingham. They had no children.

Waddingham taught about ten thousand youngsters, including Robert Finch
Robert Finch
Robert Hutchison Finch was a Republican politician from La Canada Flintridge, California. Born in Tempe, Arizona, he was the son of Robert L. Finch, a member of the Arizona House of Representatives....

 and Glenn M. Anderson
Glenn M. Anderson
Glenn Malcolm Anderson was an American politician. He was the 37th Lieutenant Governor of California and later as congressman. He was a member of the Democratic Party....

, both of whom became lieutenant-governors of California.

Her books included a history of the First Presbyterian Church of Inglewood, of which she was a member; a History of Inglewood, two volumes of an autobiography titled A Kaleidoscope of Memories, and another book called My Memories of Inglewood High. She wrote The Women Who Made Inglewood because "I got so tired of all these biographies written about men that end with one sentence: On such a such a day, he married so and so."

She died April 15, 1997, in Alhambra, California
Alhambra, California
Alhambra is a city located in the western San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles County, California, United States, which is approximately eight miles from the Downtown Los Angeles civic center. As of the 2010 census, the population was 83,089, down from 85,804 at the 2000 census. The city's...

. A Los Angeles Times reporter wrote in her obituary:

As Inglewood changed racially and faced growing crime problems, Waddingham was sometimes criticized for ignoring the efforts of black politicians in recent years. But historians countered that she was merely recording early Inglewood history as she had observed it and that Waddingham personally campaigned to urge white residents to remain as blacks moved in. . . . When her hip was broken during a 1991 robbery, she said from her hospital bed: "This sort of thing happens everywhere. It isn't a matter of Inglewood."
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