Josephine Norville
Miss Josephine Norville taught at Chillicothe High School (CHS) in Chillicothe, Missouri for many years, possibly from about 1890 to 1949; she refused to tell anyone when she started, just that she had taught for “over 40 years.” The first CHS Cresset yearbook came out in 1905 and she is listed as faculty. She never earned a college degree but taught English, English literature, Spanish and US History at CHS. In 1920 she received the distinguished service badge from the US government for her ceaseless work with the American Red Cross in WWI. She travelled extensively, taking summer courses at Harvard, University of Chicago, and Cambridge, Oxford, and the National University of Mexico in Mexico City. For many years she also served as the librarian at CHS’s Hazelton Library. She retired in 1949 and passed in 1956.
Her story was also submitted to the National Trust - Where Women Made History at https://savingplaces.org/where-women-made-history#shareyourplace