Arletta Greene Clarke

Key Facts

  • Lived from 1857 to 1948

  • Daughter of one of Adel’s first settlers

  • Obtained a Master of Science Degree from Oskaloosa College

  • Former First Lady of Iowa

  • Civil rights leader and part of the suffrage movement to gain women the right to vote

  • Active Sunday school teacher

  • Listed in Iowa’s Blue Book of Iowa Women as one of the State’s notable women of influence.

Biography

Arletta Greene Clarke was born in Adel on January 16, 1857 to Benjamin Greene and Parmelia Catherine Sturge. The family was one of Adel’s earliest pioneer settlers.

She obtained a Master of Science degree from Oskaloosa College which was an uncommon distinction for women of her era. She married George W. Clarke on June 25th, 1878. At the time of their marriage, Mr. Clarke was a young attorney but would go on to be the Governor of Iowa. They had four children - Fred Greene Clarke, Charles P. Clarke, Portia Clarke Van Meter and Francis Ada Clarke.

As First Lady of Iowa, Arletta embodied the quiet dignity and social grace expected of the Governor’s wife during the early 20th century. Arletta was a devoted member of the Christian Church - regularly teaching Sunday school and generously contributing her time to Missionary Society. She was involved in many local clubs and service organizations.

History books also remember her as a progressive-minded and civic-oriented women who advocated for equal suffrage. For example, she participated in the Iowa Federation of Women’s Clubs, where she served on the Civic Service and Social Reform committee.

Arletta G. Clarke’s name appears on page eight of The Blue Book of Iowa Women, a testament to her status as one of the state’s notable women of influence. History remembers her not only as the wife of a governor but as a community leader, advocate for women's rights, and a steadfast figure during a formative period in Iowa’s political and social history. Her story offers a window into the life of a nineteenth-century pioneer daughter who embraced the evolving roles of women in public and private life, leaving an enduring legacy in both Adel and the broader state she quietly helped shape.

Arletta died in Seattle, Washington on December 31, 1948 at the age of 91. Her family brought her remains home to Adel and laid her to rest in Oakdale cemetery among the same community her family helped found a century before.

Sources: The Blue Book of Iowa Women; a History of Contemporary Women; WikiTree on Arletta Greene