As a child, Ethel DeVol Imel would climb to the attic of her home and set up a classroom where she would play teacher to her dolls. In 1968, after a 37-year career in education, she retired as chairman of the English Department at Hoover High School, where she had served as a teacher, counselor, and coach of the championship debate team.Ethel died in her sleep on April 15, 2008, in San Diego at the age of 99.
Ethel May DeVol arrived in California from Kenwood, New York, shortly after her birth in 1908 with her parents, Emogene and The Rev. Charles DeVol, who had been assigned to rebuild a small church in Santa Rosa that was devastated by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
From Santa Rosa her family moved to Stockton where she graduated from high school in 1925 as class valedictorian. She was president of the Stockton High School chapter of the California State Scholarship Society, president of Girls' Student Control, vice president of the Student Body and a member of the debate team. She was awarded the Selma Reese Ziemer Scholarship to the University of California at Berkeley.
She graduated from Berkeley in 1929 with a B.A. degree in history and minors in political science and English. She was a member and president of the Berkeley chapter of Pi Lambda Theta International Honor Society and Professional Association in Education. She completed an M.A. in history and graduated with Honors in Education.
She taught at Moorpark High School in Ventura County from 1931 to 1934 and then, on the death of her father, moved to San Diego to support her family. In San Diego she met and married fellow teacher Kenneth Imel, who later served as director of adult education for San Diego City Schools and director of the University of California Extension Program in San Diego before the establishment of UCSD.
At the end of World War II, she taught classes in public speaking and debate at San Diego State to soldiers returning to college on the "G.I. Bill." From 1935 to 1968 she taught at Hoover High School, where, in addition to teaching and counseling, she coached a championship debate team. She was awarded the Diamond Degree Pin by the National Forensic League Speech and Debate Honor Society, recognizing her as one of the national outstanding debate coaches. She also served as a counselor and advisor for foreign exchange students under the American Exchange Program.
In addition to her teaching career, Ethel was active in community service. She was a member of the Board of Trustees of First United Methodist Church of San Diego, a member and office holder in the San Diego Women's University Club, a member and president of Zeta Rho study club, a member of the Board of Trustees of Senior Adult Services, a member of the Executive Board of Meals on Wheels, and a volunteer at the Forest Home Thrift Shop.
She and Kenneth were active in their church and enjoyed playing bridge with a life-long group of friends, traveling, and making and giving away bouquets and corsages from orchids they raised.
Ethel is survived and remembered by her son and daughter-in-law, John and Anne Imel, her nephew, David DeVol and family, nieces Margaret Duecker and Marilyn Asher and families, and sister-in-law, Roberta Hurlbut and family.
Memorial Services are scheduled for 11 a.m. on Friday, May 2nd, at First United Methodist Church of San Diego, 2111 Camino del Rio South, 92108. The family suggests contributions to First United Methodist Church of San Diego in lieu of flowers.
| April 27, 2008 | |
| • | It has been a priviledge to have met this lady and her family . And the love and care of her son John has been boundless and exemplary over many difficult years of care . ANDY |
| Charles 'Andy' ANDERBERG (LA MESA) |
| April 28, 2008 | |
| • | Several times, since graduating from high school, I've thought about the instructors I've had who've put their heart and soul into their teaching, and one that always comes to mind is Mrs. Imel. For me, what began as a revelation in 9th grade, continued as a real appreciation of the English language, and its uses, in the 10th grade, with much appreciation to Mrs. Imel. I will always remember her, as much for her kindness, as well as for her thorough instruction. |
| Janine L. (San Diego, CA) |
| April 28, 2008 | |
| • | I will always hold fond memories of Ethel and will miss her forever. I'm so blessed that she was part of my life. |
| Sue DeVol |
| April 30, 2008 | |
| • | When I was a student at Hoover HS (1941-44), I remember taking speech & debate classes from Mrs. Imel. She must have made these classes fun & interesting to a teenage girl, as I elected to take these. Or perhaps she encouraged my joy in talking. It's so nice to learn that she lived a wonderful long & happy life. Yvonne Hamblin Shewmaker '44 |
| Yvonne Shewmaker (San Diego, CA) |
| April 30, 2008 | |
| • | John, I remember your mom as my sophomore English teacher at Hoover High in 1968. Although years have passed it was obvious that she enjoyed and was very good at teaching, and enjoyed being around young people. |
| Geoff Rogers (San Diego, CA) |
| May 16, 2008 | |
| • | May I express sympathy to the family of Mrs. Imel. I am 80, and a former student of hers [class of '45], and it was by chance I noticed her happy face while looking for the o.b. of another former student of hers,Mary Donnan Ingalls, my dear friend since 7th grade. Mrs. Imel was certainly a favorite of mine, and I remember her for that smile and her vitality. [My own years of teaching may have been a seed grown from her bag of tricks.] Margery Woodrow Hamlet, Stockton, Ca. |
| Margery Hamlet (Stockton, CA) |
| May 27, 2008 | |
| • | Tribute to Ethel Ethel DeVol Imel was an exceptional person! Born in 1908 in New York State, she lived for nearly a century. Think what happened during that time. Just a few years after the Wright Brothers, two years after the San Francisco Earthquake, and four years before the Titanic. Shortly after she was born, she and her parents and older brother Arthur moved to Santa Rosa, California, where her father, a minister, was charged with rebuilding a church damaged in the San Francisco Earthquake. Ethel was a feminist, and I use that term in it’s most positive sense. She went to college when most women didn’t. With apologies to my good friends from Stanford, I remember hearing the story that she received a scholarship to Stanford, but her parents didn’t want her to go there since it was too liberal. That was in 1925. She went instead to Cal-Berkeley, where she graduated with Honors in 1929. She immediately went into teaching, but deferred marriage since married women were discouraged from working during the Depression. Later moving to San Diego, she met and married fellow educator Kenneth Imel in 1938. I was at their wedding, although a baby at the time. I was there when John was born, and at Ethel and Kenneth’s Golden Wedding Anniversary. Ethel was a very important role model when I was growing up. I remember thinking many times, “What would Aunt Ethel think, and would she approve”. It was always fun to visit Aunt Ethel’s home in Kensington. Growing up in Point Loma, which was largely rural at the time, we didn’t have sidewalks and ice cream vendors. Ethel had sidewalks and the Good Humor Man. She also let me use her state-of-the-art manual typewriter, which John recently pointed out had a combination red-and-black ribbon. Later, when I was a poor and struggling college student, and Ethel and Kenneth and John went on Summer Vacation, she would lend me her loose, stick-shift 1950 Ford. Ethel and Kenneth loved to travel. One of Ethel’s favorite things was to recite alphabetically the cities and countries they had visited. Ethel was an exceptional person. She led a long, full and very productive life. She was the matriarch of our family, and my last older relative. |
| David DeVol (La Mesa, CA) |
