BELLA L. SHERVEN

Bella Landsrud Sherven, who is serving for the second term as county superintendent of schools in Worth county, has a splendid record as a most capable educator, her work having clearly demonstrated her ability to impart readily to others the knowledge which she has acquired. She is a native of Silver Lake township, Worth county, and a daughter of Mons E. and Gro (Hovie) Landsrud, both of whom were natives of Norway. The father left Europe in 1869, when a young man, attracted by the opportunities offered in the United States. He made his way westward to Winneshiek county, Iowa, where he was married, and there he was employed at farm work until 1872, when he came to Worth county and bought a farm in Silver Lake township. He invested in two hundred and eighty acres and concentrated his energies and attention upon its further development and improvement. He spent his remaining days upon that place, passing away in 1915, at the age of seventy-six years, while his wife died in 1893. They were consistent members of the Norwegian Lutheran church. In his political views Mr. Landsrud was a stalwart republican.

Mrs. Sherven spent her girlhood days upon her father's farm in Silver Lake township, Worth county, where she began her education in the district schools, displaying special aptitude in her studies. She afterward became a student in Luther Academy at Albert Lea, Minnesota, from which she was graduated with the class of 1898. She then taught school in Bristol township, Worth county, Iowa, where she remained for two years. Later she attended the Normal School at Sioux Falls, North Dakota. Subsequently she returned to her native county, where she resumed the profession of teaching, being one of the successful educators of the county for seven years. On the expiration of that period she accepted a position as teacher in North Dakota, where she remained for five years, acting as assistant superintendent of schools at Cheyenne, when once more she came to Northwood, Worth county. In 1910 she went abroad, traveling in England, Norway, Sweden and Denmark. In 1912 she was elected county superintendent of schools, in which position she made so excellent a record that she was reelected in the spring of 1915 and is now serving for the second term. She holds to high ideals and is putting forth every effort in her power to advance the standard of the schools. She has the ability to inspire teachers and pupils with much of her own interest in the work and at all times she keeps in touch with the most advanced methods of the ablest educators of the country.

SOURCE: HISTORY OF MITCHELL AND WORTH COUNTIES, IOWA, 1918, VOL. II; Pages 229 & 230

Transcription by Gordon Felland, 9/22/2006