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The Blue Book of Iowa Women A History of Contemporary Women

Compiled by Winona Evans Reeves, 1914.

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Mrs. Francis E. Whitley

Mrs. Cora Call Whitley, vice-president of the I. F. W. C., was born in Virginia in 1862.  She is a member of probably the best known educational family in the state.  Her father is the Rev. L. N. Call, a retired minister of the Baptist denomination, for more than twenty years he was a member of the executive committee of the state Board of Missions.  Her mother, Mary Guyon Call, died in 1913.  She was a scholarly woman, a reader, familiar with the best in classical and current literature.

Mr. and Mrs. Call in 1905 celebrated their golden wedding anniversary.  At that time they received letters of congratulation and best wishes from friends in all parts of the world, from young men and women who had been inspired by them to activities in the business, professional and mission fields.  These letters were bound in a volume and form an unusual testimonial to the great worth of such a life as they lived.  Six children were born to Rev. and Mrs. Call:  of whom a son died in infancy and a daughter, Grace, passed away when eight years of age.  Another son, David Forrester Call, was professor of Greek at the Iowa State University, but died when twenty-nine years of age, just as a life of unusual usefulness and promise in the educational world was opening to him.  He was succeeded on the university faculty by his sister,  Miss Leona, who held the place twenty-three years.  Another daughter, Miss Myra, is professor of Latin at the state college in Cedar Falls, where she has been eighteen years.  Mrs. Whitley was educated in a denominational school.  She was married in 1883 to Dr. Francis E. Whitley, a leading physician of Webster City.  They have three children:  Gladys, who is Mrs. Variet C. Crosley, of Webster City, a graduate of the State University of Iowa, with Phi Beta Kappa honors.  She is a member of the state committee on music, I. F. W. C.  The second daughter, Grace Bingham Whitley, is also a graduate of the State University of Iowa, with Phi Beta Kappa honors.  The son, Guyon Call Whitley, is a student at the State University of Iowa.  Mrs. Whitley is a writer of much ability, having contributed to many periodicals.  She is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, joining on the service of John Jamieson, and is regent of New Castle Chapter.  She has been for many years prominent in the state federation, having been for four years chairman of the tenth district, and served on state committees, before her election to the vice-presidency, which office she now holds.  She belongs to three local organizations, --- the Wednesday Club, the Civic Improvement League, and the Humane Society.  She has just pride in her sisters who deserve more than a passing notice:  Miss Leona Call, Prof. of Greek in the State University, was the only woman at that time in any state university in the United States with the full rank of professor.  She and Miss Myra Call have taken post-graduate work in the University of Chicago and in Ann Arbor, besides having studied abroad.  They are both club women and P. E. Os.  Her brother, David Forrester Call, who died at the age of twenty-nine, had achieved much.  He had the degree Ph. D., was Professor of Greek at the State University, had been called to the chair of Greek in the Divinity School of the Chicago University and engaged to edit Harper's series of Greek text books.

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