Women of Steel and Stone by Anna M. Lewis

“I felt I was not quite ready for college at 18, so I chose to work in the office at the Sidney Machine Tool Company.

He became a self-taught metallurgist.Īfter India graduated as valedictorian of her class at Pemberton High School, she didn’t enter college right away. Her younger brother, Howard, studied metallurgy at Ohio State, but withdrew the summer after his first year after he lost his leg in a farming accident. India’s older brother, Ralph, graduated from Ohio State University, with a degree in electrical and mechanical engineering. Her father was a successful agriculturalist. India’s mother was the first woman to serve on the Perry Township Board of Education. Ethel and Calvin Boyer named their baby daughter after India Schoaff, a family friend. India Boyer was born on June 27, 1907, in Sidney, Ohio-located near the mid-west section of the state, between Toledo and Cincinnati. It was truly a full circle discovery for me. When I learned India was the engineer in charge of the building of the Beechmont Levee-the main road we drove on almost everyday in my childhood-that was one of the most surprising moments while I was writing this book. I wonder if she was combing the shelves at the local public library with me. When India retired in 1975, she lived in Mount Washington, a suburb of Cincinnati-the town I grew up in. India Boyer was the first female in Ohio to sit for and pass the state architecture examination as well as, the first woman to graduate from Ohio State University in their architecture program. However, along with the challenges, came many rewards and much fulfillment.” - India Boyer India Boyer Looking back, I am reminded that my career presented many challenges and often took precedence over my personal. “I just thought of myself as an individual doing what I had to do.

Women of Steel and Stone by Anna M. Lewis