Sabra Ann Rickey Greenhalgh (August 26, 1877 – October 13, 1969) was an educator, the first woman to hold a County elective position in Amador County, California.

Early life

Sabra Ann Rickey was born on August 26, 1877, on a farm near Plymouth, California, the daughter of James Allen Rickey (1834–1916) and Charity Olive Alspaugh (1841–1918), pioneers of California. Her paternal grandfather crossed the plains three times, the last trip being in 1850, and around that time the family was among the first settlers in Ione, California. After they lost that land, they moved to nearby Shenandoah Valley, their last destination. Her mother was a school teacher. She had one sister, Effie Rickey (died in 1883). Rickey attended local public schools, summer schools and then studied privately. She received a teacher's certificate.

Career

For six years before her marriage, Rickey taught in rural schools and was a church choir director for ten years. William H. Greenhalgh was the county superintendent of schools and in 1916 died while in service. Greenhalgh was appointed County Superintendent of Schools to fill out the unexpired term of her husband. She was the first woman to hold a County elective position in

Amador County, California Amador County () is a county located in the U.S. state of California, in the Sierra Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,474. The county seat is Jackson. Amador County, located within California's Gold Country, is known as " ...

. She was the chairman of Child Welfare Committee at Jackson Women's Club. In 1928 she introduced a system of "Individual Learning and Progress" in the elementary schools of Amador County. She was the past president of Amapola Parlor No. 80, N. D. G. W. She was a life member of the

National Education Association The National Education Association (NEA) is the largest labor union in the United States. It represents public school teachers and other support personnel, faculty and staffers at colleges and universities, retired educators, and college stud ...

, elected a delegate to represent northern California at the annual convention in Columbus, Ohio, in 1931. She was a member of the Association of California Public School Superintendents, the

California Teachers Association The California Teachers Association (CTA), initially established in 1863, is one of the largest and most powerful teachers' unions in the state with over 300,000 members and a high political profile in California politics. The teachers' union is ba ...

, the Jackson

Women's Club The woman's club movement was a social movement that took place throughout the United States that established the idea that women had a moral duty and responsibility to transform public policy. While women's organizations had always been a part ...

, the

California Academy of Sciences The California Academy of Sciences is a research institute and natural history museum in San Francisco, California, that is among the largest museums of natural history in the world, housing over 46 million specimens. The Academy began in 18 ...

, the

Order of the Eastern Star The Order of the Eastern Star is a Masonic appendant body open to both men and women. It was established in by lawyer and educator Rob Morris, a noted Freemason, and adopted and approved as an appendant body of the Masonic Fraternity in 18 ...

Personal life

On August 22, 1905, Sabra Rickey married William Henry Greenhalgh (1872–1916), county superintendent of schools, and they had two sons: Howard Creighton/Clayton Greenhalgh (1906–1995), a graduate of Stanford University and later an engineer with the Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Company in San Francisco, and Gertrude Charity Greenhalgh (married Henry Ferguson Strachan and then Mr. Dempsey), a graduate of the University of Southern California at Los Angeles. She lived at

Jackson, California Jackson (formerly, Botilleas, Botilleas Spring, Bottileas, Bottle Spring, and Botellas) is a city in and the county seat of Amador County, California. Its population was 4,651 at the 2010 census, up from 3,989 at the 2000 census. The city is acc ...

and died on October 13, 1969, at

Sebastopol, California Sebastopol ( ) is a city in Sonoma County, in California with a recorded population of 7,521, per the 2020 U.S. Census. Sebastopol was once primarily a plum and apple-growing region. Today, wine grapes are the predominant agriculture crop ...

. She is buried at Jackson City Cemetery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greenhalgh, Sabra R. 1877 births 1969 deaths American women educators Educators from California National Education Association people People from Amador County, California Clubwomen