In Memory

Elizabeth Inglis Goetten (Principal)

Elizabeth Inglis Goetten

Elizabeth Inglis Goetten passed away on Tuesday February 25, 2004 in Silver City, New Mexico. She was 97.

Born on August 8, 1906, in Hudson, Wisconsin, Elizabeth was the eldest child of John Percy Inglis and Ruth Penfield.

She is survived by two brothers, Robert and David Inglis and her sister Faith Imbach. In 1919, the family moved to Southern California, where Elizabeth spent most of her life.

She graduated from Van Nuys High School in 1925, where she was involved in nearly every school activity from drama club to editor of the school newspaper. She then went on to graduate from Pomona College with honors and earned her M.A. from the University of Wisconsin, in International Relations. She was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Delta Gamma as well as the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority.

She began her long career with the Los Angeles Unified School District in 1930 when she was hired to teach English at Wilmington High School.

In 1954, she was appointed Girls Vice Principal at Sun Valley Junior High School and in 1958 she was appointed to head Dorsey High School, becoming the first woman principal of a high school in the district.

Then, in 1960, she culminated her career as an administrator when she opened Taft High School in Woodland Hills as the school's first principal.

She helped to establish Taft as one of Los Angeles' premier academic and athletic high schools before retiring in 1965.

After retirement, Elizabeth and her husband, Armor E. Goetten, moved to Escondido, where they built a home designed by their son and surrounded by orange and avocado groves.

Throughout retirement, Elizabeth was active in the League of Women Voters, the Escondido library and enjoyed travel and playing bridge with friends.

In 2001, after the death of her husband of 70 years, she moved to New Mexico, to be nearer to her daughter.

Elizabeth Goetten is survived by her son, John Goetten and his wife Paula of Puebla, Mexico, and her daughter, Liz Kinneberg and her husband, David of Silver City, N.M. She is also survived by two granddaughters Dana Moody of Vacaville, Calif., and Ruth Marvin Webster of Encinitas, Calif., and eight great-grandchildren.

North Country Times (Escondido, CA) - 2 March 2004