Irene Strang Hazard Gerlinger (December 3, 1876 – April 5, 1960) was an American fundraiser and the first woman on the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

Board of Regents. She is the namesake for Gerlinger Hall on the University of Oregon campus. Irene Hazard, daughter of James Rider Hazard and Evangeline Strang, was born in 1876 in

Orange County, New York Orange County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 401,310. The county seat is Goshen. This county was first created in 1683 and reorganized with its present boundaries in 1798. Orange ...

, on her family's farm. Her father had a large cattle ranch in Arizona, where Gerlinger spent some of her early childhood.W.E.D. Burns, "A Sketch of (Mrs. George T.) Irene Gerlinger," date unknown, UA Ref 2, Box 4, Irene Gerlinger Folder, Special Collections & University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries, Eugene, Oregon. She died in 1960 after being a resident of Oregon for 24 years. She described herself as "a simple housewife, the 'cruel' mother-in-law to three fine young sons-in-law, grandmother to four young descendants, and a volunteer public servant by way of an avocation."

Family life and education

Irene Hazard married

George T. Gerlinger George T. Gerlinger was influential in the railroad and lumber products business in the U.S. state of Oregon in the early 20th century. The oldest son of Louis Gerlinger, Sr., in 1902 he organized a group of investors in Dallas, Oregon to build rai ...

at the end of her senior year of college on October 21, 1903. In 1910 or 1911, she moved to

Dallas, Oregon Dallas is a city and the county seat of Polk County, Oregon, United States. The population was 16,854 at the 2020 census. Dallas is along Rickreall Creek, about west of Salem, at an elevation of above sea level. It is part of the Salem Metro ...

, where her husband supervised the Willamette Valley Lumber Company. They had three daughters, Georgiana, Irene, and Jean. She did not like the Dallas schools, so she hired a live-in governess for her daughters. Not wanting them to be in seclusion, she later opened a private

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...

in their home and invited other girls to attend. Gerlinger was educated in public and private schools in California, and earned a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree from the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

, and a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

degree from the University of Oregon. Describing finishing her degree she stated, "Then one summer I took my three little girls with a nurse for the baby, and went down to California to finish my work so that I'd receive my degree from the university there…We stayed in the Kappa house, and so in 1922 I was graduated, instead of in 1904 as I should have been."Kay Lundeen
"Irene Gerlinger Revisits University,"
''

Eugene Register-Guard ''The Register-Guard'' is a daily newspaper in the northwestern United States, published in Eugene, Oregon. It was formed in a 1930 merger of two Eugene papers, the ''Eugene Daily Guard'' and the ''Morning Register''. The paper serves the Eugene- ...

'', June 12, 1957, (accessed November 30, 2013). Gerlinger founded the Dallas Public Library in 1905 in a room of the old Fireman's Hall, and in 1912, a building was constructed with local funds. The library was supported by

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans i ...

, who helped build 1,679 public libraries in the United States between 1883 and 1929. In 1935, she founded Republican Women of Oregon Inc. with Ella Allen Scott. It became the Oregon chapter of Pro America,

National Federation of Republican Women The National Federation of Republican Women (NFRW) is the women's wing of the Republican Party in the United States. Overview Founded in 1938 by Joyce Porter Arneill and Marion Martin, it is a grassroots political organization with more than 1, ...

and Gerlinger was its first president. She died of a massive intestinal hemorrhage in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, California in 1960, aged 83.

University of Oregon

Gerlinger was the first female Regent of the University of Oregon from 1914–1929 and Vice-President of the board when it was abolished in 1929. She was active in the building and financing of

Doernbecher Children's Hospital Doernbecher Children's Hospital is an academic teaching children's hospital associated with Oregon Health & Science University located in Portland, Oregon. Established in 1926, it is the first full-service children's hospital in the Pacific Northw ...

, being Chairman of the Medical School committee. She helped the University of Oregon secure the Women's Building (Gerlinger Hall), Prince Campbell Memorial Art Museum (Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art), women's dormitories and other buildings on campus.

Gerlinger Hall

Gerlinger stated in 1957, "I was shocked to learn that University of Oregon graduates were ineligible to join the

American Association of University Women The American Association of University Women (AAUW), officially founded in 1881, is a non-profit organization that advances equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, and research. The organization has a nationwide network of 170,000 ...

because we didn't have a women's building on the campus." Gerlinger Hall was completed in 1921. In 1929 the building was officially named Gerlinger Hall after being called the Women's Memorial Hall, Women's Building and Women's Hall because of the immense impact Gerlinger had in taking this project off the ground and seeing it to fruition with the help of so many alumni, students and donors. The building was a symbol of the voice of women on campus. Gerlinger was the voice of the women on campus during the creation of this building. She describes the great living room in the hall, "The cultivation of the pleasant amenities and graces of life is a very valuable part of any person's education."Irene H. Gerlinger
"The Building Thousands Gave,"
''Old Oregon'', March 1921, (accessed on Tues. Nov. 5).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gerlinger, Irene Hazard 1876 births 1960 deaths People from Dallas, Oregon People from Orange County, New York University of California alumni University of Oregon alumni