Ida Elizabeth Stover
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Ida Elizabeth Stover Eisenhower (May 1, 1862 – September 11, 1946) was a lifelong pacifist, and the mother of U.S. President Dwight David Eisenhower.
She was born in Mount Sidney, Virginia, the only child of Elizabeth Ida Juda Link and Simon P. Stover.
When her mother died while she was five years old, Ida was sent to live with her paternal grandparents and later was brought up by her elder brothers in Kansas, who thought that girls shouldn't be educated and instead pushed her to memorize the Bible. When she was ready to go to high school, she was told that she couldn't so she ran away. She graduated at age 19 and taught for two years before entering Lane University, where she met her future husband, David Jacob Eisenhower.
She was named Kansas Mother of the Year in 1945.
Dwight said of her:
- "Many such persons of her faith, selflessness, and boundless consideration of others have been called saintly. She was that—but above all she was a worker, an administrator, a teacher and guide, a truly wonderful woman."