French, Davida Catherine.

Biographical/Historical Sketch

Davida ("Vida") Catherine French was born in 1880 in San Francisco, the daughter of Dr. Hayes Clifton French, one of San Francisco's first opthalmologists. After graduation from Lowell High School in San Francisco, she attended Mills College in Oakland. She transferred from Mills to Stanford, graduating in 1908 from Stanford with an A.B. in history.

Prior to her graduation form Stanford, Ms. French spent some time in Japan, where she taught Latin and Greek in the Japanese school system. While in the Orient, Ms. French met Charles William Ure, a Scotsman engaged in business in Shanghai; they were married in London in 1913. After Mr. Ure's death in Shanghai in 1923, Mrs. Ure returned to England. For many years, she alternated residences between Malaga, Spain, Tunbridge Wells, England, and Palo Alto.

While at Stanford, Mrs. Ure had been a member of the Cap and Gown scholastic honor society and a member of Alpha Phi sorority. She was also a member of the Palo Alto Women's Club and the American Association of University Women.

Mrs. Ure died in Palo Alto in 1974 at the age of 94. In her will, Mrs. Ure established a medical scholarship at Stanford in her father's name.

From the guide to the Davida Catherine French papers, 1906-1974, 1906-1907, (Department of Special Collections and University Archives)