Biography
Eleanor Shimeall was born and raised on a western Kansas farm. She attended Colorado State University for three years (1941-44) and later married petroleum industry geologist, Clark Shimeall. The Shimealls lived in Guatemala, Ohio and Wyoming before moving to Stockton, California (1968), where Clark Shimeall was a professor of Geology at the University of the Pacific's Spanish-language Covell College (1968-1986). While in Ohio, Eleanor Shimeall served on a state water committee that dealt with the pollution of Lake Erie. Eleanor Shimeall received a B.A. in Liberal Arts from the University College program at the University of the Pacific (1973). She was active in the San Joaquin County League of Women Voters, serving as Water Director at a time when the League was studying the State Water Projects (1977-1981). In this role she wrote and delivered speeches at water conferences, testified before committees of the state legislature on water issues and maintained files of clippings and printed matter on the important California water topics of that time. Shimeall was also a member of the San Joaquin County Water Action Committee (1974-77) and its successor, the Water Advisory Commission (1980-1990).
From the guide to the Shimeall (Eleanor) California Water Collection, 1972-1995, (University of the Pacific. Library. Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections)
