Elsie Dammeyer was born in Chicago, Illinois on August 19, 1911 and her full name is Elisabeth Martha-Wilhemina Dammeyer. Her family moved to San Pedro, California in 1916 to join several of her aunts who were already living there at the time. A doctor told her mother that if Elsie's sister Alice, who had asthma, were to live they needed to move to Sierra Madre. Before moving there in 1918, her father Oscar Paul Lichnog, divorced her mother, Martha Hoffman Lichnog, leaving her with four children to raise, Elsie, Alice, and her two brothers, Rudolph and Frank. Elsie went to Sierra Madre Elementary School, John Muir Junior High, and Pasadena High School. After graduating she worked at such places as the Security National Bank in Pasadena and Scribner's Drug Store, where she met her husband, Theodore Edward Dammeyer. They were married on May 29, 1936 and had three children, Ted, Diane, and Don. Elsie was active in the Girl Scouts of America, the Parent Teachers Associaition, the Red Cross; and was a member of the Cultural Heritage Commission, the Sierra Madre Environmental Action Council, and Friends of the Library. She also served as the archivist for the Sierra Madre Historical Preservation Society for fourteen years. She passed away on June 7, 1999.
From the description of Oral history interview with Elsie Dammeyer, 1989 May 9. (Sierra Madre Public Library). WorldCat record id: 54794684
