Fortner, Ethel Nestell

Ethel Nestell Fortner (1907-1987) was born in Aspen, Colorado in February 11, 1907. The second of six children of Sam and Ida Nestell, Ethel was raised in the small mining towns of eastern Colorado. She attended public schools in Glenwood Springs. After fraduating from high school Ethel attained a provisional teacher's certificate, and at the age of nineteen began her teaching career in a one-room log schoolhouse. After two years of teaching she wpent on year (1927-1928) at Western States College in Gunnison and earned a lifetime certification to teach in Colorado. She then taught in a Colorado Mining Camp.

Believing that she could do better, Ethel Nestell came to Oregon in 1931. She accepted a teaching position at the Oregon School for the Blind in Salem and stayed there for twelve years, eventually becoming principal of the school. In 1937 she married fellow teacher Lawrence Fortner. She received her BA in psychology from the University of Oregon, also in 1937, by attending summer school and extension classes. She left her position at the State School for the Blind to become Vision Supervisor in the Oregon State Department of Education. After WWII she resigned that jog to join her husband in Seattle where he was working for the Veteran's Administration.

...