By Marjory J. Sente
Born in Jerome to Arthur A. and Mae Winterholer Foster in 1908, Edith Marie Foster lived a life that few girls at the time would ever dream possible. Graduating from Prescott High School in 1926, she attended the University of Arizona, graduating in 1930.
With a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and a minor in geology, specifically the geology of Northern Arizona, she sailed to the Far East. In Hong Kong she married fellow UA graduate and Yavapai County native, George T. Scholey. A mining engineer, George worked for The Nielson Mining Company in the Philippines. They lived in a remote part of the islands until moving to Manila in 1937.
When Edith returned to the United States in 1937 for a visit, she had six-year-old George and two-year-old Frank in tow and was pregnant with Guy. They were the first family to fly east from Manila to California via the Pan American Airways Clipper.
According to the April 13, 1937 Oakland Tribune, George said, “Oh, it was fine. We played Indians all the way and we’re going to play it when we go back, too.” They returned to Manila via the Clipper two weeks later.
With the Japanese threatening the Philippines, the family relocated to Seattle in 1940. George, however, returned to take care of his mining interests and was taken prisoner and held by the Japanese for 44 months.
Edith, now with three sons, spent World War II volunteering as an air raid warden and working for Bhutan Relief, helping facilitate information among the families of P.O.W.s.
George was released and returned to the U.S. in 1945. The family left Seattle in early 1946 and moved to Prescott to be near family and for their sons to get a better education. Following in their father’s footsteps, the boys became mining engineers and worked with him in the Philippines.
George returned to the Philippines in July 1946 to reopen his mines. Initially, he visited Prescott annually for the Christmas holidays. Later, he returned less frequently and died in the Philippines in 1981. Edith maintained a home base for the family and served as stateside business agent for their mining interests.
She quickly became involved in the Prescott community. Like her mother, Mae Foster, Edith joined the Orders of the Rebekah and Eastern Star. In 1953 she was elected president of the Yavapai County Women’s Republican Club.
She was a member of the Prescott chapter of the American Association of University Women, serving as Arizona’s state president from 1956 to 1958. In 1963 she was appointed to chair the AAUW state committee on the Occident and Orient which promoted a better understanding of these cultures among AAUW members.
An avid stamp collector and postal historian, Edith formed one of the earliest collections of Prescott and Yavapai County covers (postally used envelopes). A frequent speaker at the Prescott Stamp Club, she shared information about the postal history of Yavapai County, stamps of the Philippines and techniques for successful exhibiting.
Edith wrote articles for stamp collector magazines, presented indigenous Philippine textile research in Paris, and wrote an article introducing artist George Phippen to those outside Prescott.
The January 12, 1959 Prescott Evening Courier announced that three Prescott women – Edith, along with Mrs. Mary Brooke and Mrs. Velma Shotwell – were included in the first edition of Who’s Who of American Women.
Edith died in 2000 at the age of 91. A friend wrote in the January 18, 2000 Arizona Daily Sun, “She was Arizona from heart to her fingertips. She was born on Mingus Mountain, in Jerome, grew up there, (lived) in Prescott and Flagstaff, had a life filled with adventure.”
The Scholeys are buried at the Prescott Odd Fellows Cemetery.
“Days Past” is a collaborative project of the Sharlot Hall Museum and the Prescott Corral of Westerners International (www.prescottcorral.org). This and other Days Past articles are also available at www.archives.sharlothallmuseum.org/articles/days-past-articles/1 The public is encouraged to submit proposed articles and inquiries to dayspast@sharlothallmuseum.org Please contact SHM Research Center reference desk at 928-277-2003, or via email at archivesrequest@sharlothallmuseum.org for information or assistance with photo requests.