Bio: Damon, Ina – Spencer’s Oldest Native Born Citizen

Transcriber: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Damon, Heath, Williams, Mellenthin, Widmer

Source: Spencer Centennial Book (1874 – 1974)

Ian Damon, oldest daughter of A. A. (Gus) and Carrie (Heath) Damon, is Spencer’s oldest native born citizen. She now resides at the Marshfield Convalescent Center. Ina, who has vivid memories of the fire of 1886 and many other aspects of Spencer’s early days, has diligently kept a history of her town, with scrapbooks of newspaper clippings and photo albums. These, and her amazing memory, have provided the Centennial Book Committee with invaluable information.

Ina became a school teacher and taught the intermediate grades in the “middle room” of our old schoolhouse. She left the teaching profession to attend Wausau Business College, and after finishing the stenographic course, became a private secretary to Mrs. Widmer, the college president. After passing the Civil Service examination in 1918, she was employed by the U.S. Navy in the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts in Washington, D.C. After completing a course in supervision in 1943 she became supervisor in that department.

She returned to Spencer, to the family home on West Mill Street, in 1946, where she and her sisters, Calla, Ethel and Lucille, and brothers, Frank, Faye, Grant, Glen, Seth and Walter had been reared, to care for her aged mother. Following her mother’s death, the home was sold and Ina moved to an apartment above the bank on Clark and LaSalle Streets. Her brother, Glen, a veteran of World War I, lived there with her the rest of his life. Sometime after her brother’s death, she moved into a part of the former Collin Williams residence on East Main Street, now owned by Mrs. Elsie Mellenthin. Her she did her last housekeeping, and her people of all ages, children, teenagers, and grownups loved to come and visit with her.

Ina enjoys letters and visits from her former pupils, as well as relatives and other old friends, including Spencer folk. She has always been a very efficient, enthusiastic person, and while the efficiency may have waned with the years, the enthusiasm has not abated, nor has her cheerfulness and keen sense of humor. She reads her newspaper each day and is well informed on current events. A lifelong Republican, she retains her faith in the integrity of President Nixon and the ability of her country to survive a political trauma or any other catastrophe, and still remains the greatest country with the greatest government in existence.

It is a joy to visit her, and all who do, leave with lifted spirits and a resolve to try to grow old like Ina Damon.