Author Series – Barbara Anne Waite – Thursday, September 18, 2025

In 1912, the first year of Arizona’s statehood, rural Verde Valley was home to enterprising ranchers and farmers who raised cattle, crops – and children. These children needed a school. So just as they mail-ordered supplies from the Sears catalog, the community mail-ordered a teacher.

Elsie Hayes, a college graduate, came from a world of concerts and literary clubs. The teacher’s tiny shack in Cornville was a far cry from her family’s lovely home in Long Beach, California. This cultured young woman drank water from an irrigation ditch, bathed in Oak Creek, and taught in a one-room schoolhouse to children first considered “common,” but with whom she soon developed a mutual love. Though she had come to Arizona feeling a bit superior to these “backwoods” folks, her emotions transformed into admiration and respect, and the untamed wilderness became “breath-taking and glorious.”

In this true story, Elsie’s 100-year-old journals, photographs and detailed letters home paint a picture of a time and place that has since faded, and give insight into the early history of Cornville and Williams, Arizona. Even more than this, they are a vivid portrayal of a colorful adventure, tragedy, and a heartbreaking story of love lost.

To register your spot for this series, please contact marissa.pallares@sharlothallmuseum.org