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Vol 37 No 6 November 1945 Hostetter Family Contributes Three Generations to Success of Frances Shimer College This number of the Alumnae News has as its cover picture three members of the Hostetter family representing three generations. The family association goes far back in the Shimer history, beginning with Mrs. Elizabeth Barber Hostetter’s coming to the Seminary as a student in its early days. Her years of association continued in other forms after her graduation. Mrs. Shimer named her a member of the original Board of Trustees, and she served on the Board for many years. Her daughter, Miss. A. Beth Hostetter, is Vice-President and Registrar, after many years of loyal service in several capacities. After graduating from Frances Shimer and taking her degree from the University of Chicago, she returned to teach in 1903. From that time until the present, except for teaching experience of short periods in other places, and interludes of foreign study and travel, she has given her time and energies to her first Alma Mater. Last September her niece, Jeannette Hostetter, entered Frances Shimer. An honor roll student, Jeanette adds more laurels to the Hostetter name and fame. Her mother, Mrs. Ross Hostetter, is also a Frances Shimer graduate. The Hostetter family continues to contribute its talents to the success of the College. In the minds of hundreds of graduates, the family name is indissolubly linked with Frances Shimer, present, past, and future.
 Obiturary: Mrs. Hostetter was born in Canton, New York, August 20, 1852, the daughter of Luman Foote Barber and Angeline Bradley Barber. Her girlhood was spent in Canton, and she was graduated from St. Lawrence University in 1871. She came to Mount Carroll to teach and study music in 1875, and was graduated from the Mount Carroll Seminary Music Conservatory in 1878. On June 27, 1878 she married William Ross Hostetter. Their three children were Abram, Angeline Beth, and Ross Barber. For forty years she and her husband lived at Grouseland Farm, in Salem Township, near Mount Carroll. To those whose privilege it was to enjoy the warm hospitality at Grouseland, the memory will always be of a real home, wholesome and gracious. Mrs. Hostetter was always keenly and vitally interested in Frances Shimer, and for thirty-five years served on its board of trustees. Her interests were varied, her intellect keen. She was a chartger member of the Women’s Club, attended its meetings with great regularity, and took an active part in its programs until the past few years. She was a member of the D. A. R. through her forebears, Reuben Barber, of Connecticut, and Lt. George Sloan, of Massachusetts, a Minute Man. She leaves one daughter, one son, three granddaughters and two grandsons, and one great granddaughter. Mrs. Hostetter always was a woman of great loyalty to any cause or movement in which she believed. She always kept, despite her many years here, a certain New England conservatism and reserve in her approach to people or to causes. But once convinced of their merit, her loyalty was great. Through the Canton paper, “The Plain Dealer”, she kept in touch with her college and her old home town activities and interests. Thus, though seventy years of her life were spent in the middle west, part of her heart was in New England. Her interest in books, art, and her family was keen. Her devotion to her family was complete. She was a woman sympathetic, kindly, cultured, and of great strength of character. In the death of Mrs. Hostetter, on September 15, 1945, Frances Shimer and the community has lost one of its finest and most beloved citizen. Alumnae News: Frances Shimer Record November 1945
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