The Shanewise Family

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Lenore Shanewise's father, John Bauman Shanewise, died in California in 1941. Her mother, Alice Perry Shanewise, died there in 1948.

Miss Shanewise's brother, Maurice Earl Shanewise, married Hazel Ardell Kloster by about 1919. Hazel Kloster was born in Pearl City, Illinois, on March 5, 1894. She was one of the nine children of Fredrick Carl and Minnie May Cronemiller Kloster. By 1910, the Kloster family had moved to Waterloo, Iowa. Maurice Shanewise worked as a salesman in Waterloo until at least 1924. Hazel Shanewise worked as a clerk. Maurice and Hazel Shanewise were in Portland, Oregon, in 1928, but by 1934 they had joined Maurice's parents and sister Lenore in southern California. Maurice Shanewise worked in sales and promotion in the Los Angeles area. Hazel Kloster Shanewise died in Burbank, California, in February 1975. Maurice Shanewise died in that same city in May 1975. They had no children. Both were buried in Fairlawn Cemetery, Waterloo, Iowa.

Lenore Shanewise's sister, Anna Barbara Shanewise, graduated from East Waterloo High School. She also had a fine career, but in a field quite different from that of her sister. As noted above, both sisters were members of the prestigious Alpha literary society. But where Lenore received praise for dramatic recitations, Anna made an impression in athletics. Opportunities for women to compete in athletics around 1900 were limited. However, Anna made the most of those opportunities. She was an excellent basketball player and a member of the women's Physical Training Department championship team in 1907. That team even defeated a faculty team in April 1908.

1909 Alpha basketball team — 1909 Alpha Literary Society basketball team; Anna Shanewise is fourth from the left; the young woman to the right, Ruth Wright, was the daughter of David Sands Wright, the man for whom Wright Hall was named.

In October 1908, Anna Shanewise easily won the school women's tennis championship. She repeated as women's champion in straight sets in 1909. She studied physical education and graduated from the Iowa State Teachers College with a diploma as a Director of Physical Training in 1910.

In March 1911, she accepted a position as a director of physical training in the Chicago Public Schools. She remained in that position through at least 1934. She worked for at least some of her career at Schurz High School in Chicago. At some point she received a degree from the University of Chicago. In 1929 she took a motor trip through Europe. In 1934 she sailed to the West Coast of the United States via the Panama Canal. One of the West Coast ports of call was Los Angeles, where she likely visited her sister Lenore. Unfortunately, no additional details about Anna Shanewise's life were available to the author of this essay, though she likely remained in Illinois through at least 1963. Anna Shanewise died on August 15, 1983, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. With her brother Maurice's death in 1975 and her sister Lenore's death in 1980, she was the last survivor of the Shanewise family. She did not marry. She had no children.

Essay by University Archivist Gerald L. Peterson, scanning by Library Assistant Joy Lynn, June 2014; last updated, June 17, 2014 (GP).