Doris June Struble (June 21, 1895 – 1976) was an American pianist, singer, and dramatic reader, based in California. As a young woman, she toured North America, Australia, and New Zealand, and performed on radio; in her later years, she wrote poetry and was a popular children's hospital entertainer in Fresno.

Early life

Doris June Struble was born in Sioux City, Iowa, the daughter of Michael A. Struble and Sarah June Pattenden Struble. She studied piano from childhood, and graduated from

Sioux City Central High School The Sioux City Central High School and Central Annex, also known as the Castle on the Hill, are historic buildings located in Sioux City, Iowa, United States. The high school building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. ...

in 1913. In 1914, she starred in a large church pageant in Sioux City. She trained as a performer at the Columbia College of Dramatic Art in Chicago, and as a singer with Oscar Saenger in New York."Doris June Struble, the Versatile Artist, Will Give a Recital"
''La Jolla Journal'' (June 9, 1922): 1. via California Digital Newspaper Collection

Career

Struble toured as a pianist, singer, and dramatic reader on the

Chautauqua circuit Chautauqua ( ) was an adult education and social movement in the United States, highly popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Chautauqua assemblies expanded and spread throughout rural America until the mid-1920s. The Chautauqua bro ...

in the United States and Canada in the 1910s and 1920s. She appeared in Australia and New Zealand in 1918 and 1919, as a member of the Southern Seas Sextette (an all-woman musical ensemble), as a soloist, and accompanying singer Carrie Lanceley. She performed her own works, and pieces by Edna Ferber, Mana-Zucca, Edgar Guest,

Carrie Jacobs-Bond Carrie Minetta Jacobs-Bond (August 11, 1862 – December 28, 1946) was an American singer, pianist, and songwriter who composed some 175 pieces of popular music from the 1890s through the early 1940s. She is perhaps best remembered for writing t ...

, Charles Wakefield Cadman, and other writers. She was especially active in California, often seen on women's club programs and at other community events. Her act also worked on radio. She continued performing her dramatic readings for community groups into the 1940s. In the 1950s and 1960s, Doris Struble Harmon wrote short poems that appeared in newspapers including ''The Wall Street Journal''. In the 1970s, she was known as the "Fairy Godmother" of

Valley Children's Hospital Valley Children's Hospital (VCH), formerly Children's Hospital Central California is a stand-alone, pediatric acute care children's teaching hospital located in Madera County, California. The hospital has 358 pediatric beds and is affiliated the S ...

, because she would dress up in a silver cloak, a tiara, and carry a magic wand to visit the young patients to tell them stories.

Personal life

Doris June Struble married Sturges Harmon of Chicago in 1923. They had two children, James and Sarah. She was widowed in 1973, and married again in 1974, to Kennard Burdette Seyller Sr. She died in 1976, aged 81 years, in Fresno, California.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Struble, Doris June 1895 births 1976 deaths People from Sioux City, Iowa 20th-century American pianists American women pianists Musicians from Los Angeles