Etalea Unferth
Oklahoma City educator and librarian
Etalea Unferth was born December 13, 1905, in Oklahoma City. Her parents moved to Oklahoma City in 1904 and lived at 8th and Lee and around Stiles Park. Her parents were Fred K. Unferth and Emma Diehr Unferth; grandparents on her mother’s side were from Milwaukee, and her father’s family farmed near Campbellsport, Wisconsin.
She earned a B.S. from Texas Woman’s College (later noted as Texas Wesleyan on her form) and a Master of Education from the University of Oklahoma in 1939. She worked for the Oklahoma City Board of Education from 1928 to 1971 as a school librarian at Washington, Jackson, and Classen, retiring in 1971.
She was a Past Matron and 50-year member of Oklahoma Chapter 10, and a 50-year member of Mizpah Shrine, White Shrine of Jerusalem.
Source: Oklahoma County Historical Society biographic sketch and Central High memory forms (scans provided by Steve Lackmeyer, September 2026).
