Ethel Percy Andrus
Personal Information
Born: 1884
Died: 1967
Country of Birth: USA
Nationality: USA
Ethnicity: White
Education
University of Chicago BA Philosophy 1903; USC MA 1928 & PhD 1930; Lewis Institute (now Illinois Institute of Technology) BS 1918
Professional Life
Field of Study: Educator; Activist
Institution/Corporation: AARP; NRTA
Degrees & Memberships: Member: AARP; NRTA
Awards & Achievements
Awards: 1993 National women's Hall of Fame; 1995 women's History Month Honoree; 1 of 37 honorees of The Extra Mile National Monument in Washington DC
Achievements: founded National Retired Teachers Association (NRTA) in 1947 to obtain health insurance at a reasonable cost for retired teachers; 1958 founded AARP & NRTA eventually became a division of it; 1st female high school principal in California; 1954 founded Grey Gables of Ojai an NRTA sponsored retirement community
founder of AARP & NRTA
was a volunteer at Jane Addams' Hull House
The Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center at USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology is named for her & is the oldest & largest existing professional school of gerontology
1944 retired from teaching to care for her ailing mother
Her motto was "To serve, not to be served"
decided to form NRTA after visiting a retired teacher who was living in a chicken coop because inflation & high health care costs had eroded her pension & she couldn't afford decent housing