Nellie Lee Holt Bok
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February 1, 1901
Nellie Lee Holt Bok | |
|---|---|
 Nellie Lee Holt (later Bok), from a 1930 publication | |
| Born | Nellie Lee Holt February 1, 1901 Falls City, Nebraska, U.S. |
| Died | October 7, 1984 (aged 83) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Occupations | Educator, socialite, philanthropist |
| Spouse | Curtis Bok |
| Relatives | Edward Bok (father-in-law) Mary Louise Curtis (mother-in-law) Derek Curtis Bok (stepson) |
Nellie Lee Holt Bok (February 1, 1901 – October 7, 1984) was an American educator, writer, and philanthropist, based in Philadelphia. She taught at Stephens College in Missouri before her marriage to judge Curtis Bok.
Holt was born in Falls City, Nebraska, the daughter of William Robert Holt and Eva Lezetta Giannini Holt.[1] She studied piano at the music conservatory at Saint Mary's College in Indiana, graduating in 1921. She earned a master's degree from the University of Nebraska.[2]
Career
Holt was a professor and chair of the religious education department at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, from 1925 to 1934.[3] After attending the World Federation of Education Associations meeting in Edinburgh in 1926,[2] she traveled the world studying youth movements, educational and religious institutions.[4] She met with Havelock Ellis, Hermann von Keyserling, Rabindranath Tagore, William Ralph Inge, and Maude Royden during this project, and interviewed Gandhi during her stay in an Indian ashram. "Speaking with the freshness of youth on problems which are confronting members of her own generation," explained one profile, "Miss Holt is seeking out the truth as it is presented in the twentieth century."[5]
She married in 1934 and moved to Philadelphia. She gave a radio lecture in support of the re-election of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936.[6] She was appointed to a seat on the Philadelphia County Board of Mothers' Assistance, Old Age Pension and Relief of the Blind. She resigned that position in 1937, the year she attended the coronation of King George VI with her husband. Eleanor Roosevelt mentioned visiting the Boks in Philadelphia, in a 1942 "My Day" column.[7] She helped establish the Philadelphia Fellowship Commission,[8] and was a member of the board of Philadelphia's Fellowship House during the 1940s.[9]
In 1956, Bok was appointed president of the American Foundation, Inc. The foundation supported Mountain Lake Sanctuary in Florida, and education programs for prisoners.[8] Sculptor Wharton Esherick worked on the Bok's Gulph Mills home in the 1930s.[10][11] Rachel Carson sought the Boks' advice on buying land for conservation.[12]
Publications
- "To a Rag-Doll", "The Song Fugitive", "To Mother", and "On Moderation" (1919, poems)[13][14][15][16]
- "Roses and War" and "The Tale of an Apple" (1919, stories)[17][18]
- "Portia and Nora: A Comparison" (1919, essay)[19]
- "Sing!" and "To Chaucer" (1920, poems)[20]
- "The Conqueror: Pride or Prejudice?" (1920, essay)[21]
- "Arbat 26" (1928)[22]
- "Young Artists of Living" (1929)[23]
- "Prepare Students for Social Contacts" (1930)[24]