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Lake County History: A profile of Minnie Cannon
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – In Lake County, where most of the schools bear geography-related names, Minnie Cannon Elementary School is distinctive.
Out of the handful of schools named for people, Minnie Cannon Elementary School in Middletown is the only one named for a woman.
By all accounts, Minnie Ozenberger Cannon was a well-loved and respected teacher who taught three generations of students during her 79 years in Lake County.
Newspaper articles pay tribute to her “goodness and kindness” and the “love and good cheer” that she radiated to children.
The Middletown Times-Star described her as “one of the best-loved teachers this area has ever known.”
Minnie Ozenberger was born in 1868 in Missouri, the eldest of three children.
Joseph and Emily Ozenberger and their daughters Minnie, Iva and Gertrude moved west from Missouri to Washington in the early 1870s.
After another move and a brief sojourn in Southern California, the Ozenberger family settled in Lake County.
Minnie graduated from the State Normal School for teachers in San Jose and returned to Lake County to teach. She was still a teenager herself when she began teaching in 1887 in Lake County’s small one-room schools.
Minnie taught at High Valley School, Mountain View School and Pine Mountain School in the 1880s; in 1891 she taught at Middletown School.
In 1902 Minnie married Robert B. Cannon, a Middletown merchant. During their 30-year marriage, she taught for some years and for about 10 years assisted Robert in running a general store. Robert and Minnie had no children of their own.
Robert died in 1932 and Minnie resumed teaching. Following her retirement in 1935, Minnie continued her service to Middletown as a member of the local Presbyterian church. She held many volunteer positions there and was even ordained an elder, very unusual for a woman at that time.
Middletown, Callayomi and St. Helena school districts formed a unified Middletown district in 1925, and a new elementary school was built there in 1926.
Middletown students attended that school until 1958, when Minnie Cannon Elementary School replaced it. The Native Daughters of the Golden West proposed that the new school be named for Minnie Cannon in recognition of her standing in the community.
On Sept. 28, 1958, Middletown dedicated the new school as the finale to the Middletown Reunion, an event that brought together current and former residents in a grand three-day celebration.
Minnie attended the dedication, but health problems made it difficult for her to speak. Her niece Evelyn Nelson spoke in her stead, expressing “Mrs. Cannon’s pleasure for the honor bestowed and [she] stated it marked the most outstanding event of her 91 years.”
Minnie’s health had declined after she broke a hip in 1955. Her sister and niece cared for her until her condition required more professional care in 1961. Minnie then moved to the Calistoga Hospital, where she died July 29, 1963, at the age of 95.
Her funeral was held at Middletown’s Community Church and she was buried in Middletown Cemetery.
A few days after she died, the Middletown Times-Star (8/2/1963) published a long article on Minnie’s life and what she accomplished in and for Middletown.
A quote from the article says it well: “Perhaps the most accurate indicator of her goodness lay in the devotion & respect held for her through the years by the long list of those who ‘went to school to Minnie.’”
Note: Sources for this article were articles from the Middletown Times-Star on microfilm in the collection of the Lake County Library; the Mauldin Notes; and www.cagenweb.com/lake/lakeschools.htm .
Jan Cook has lived in Lake County for about 40 years. She works for the Lake County Library, is the editor of the Lake County Historical Society's Pomo Bulletin and is a history correspondent for Lake County News. If you have questions or comments please contact Jan at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .