Miss Ann Deeter
American, 1909 - 2014
Although in her official capacity “Miss Deeter” served the Dayton Art Institute as registrar from 1937 to 1973, friends say she unofficially took on the responsibility of guiding and advising students about subjects ranging from their schooling and finances to their personal problems and careers. She assisted numerous World War II, Korean War and Vietnam veterans to begin or resume their art education at the DAI.
At her 100th birthday celebration four years ago, 150 former students gathered for party at the DAI. A tea party was chosen because one of Miss Deeter’s first jobs at the museum was serving tea to visiting groups.
Born July 17, 1909 on the Old Deeter Farm in Miami County, she graduated from Covington High School in 1927, and then came to Dayton, renting a room at the YWCA and studying accounting and business law at Miami Jacobs Business College.
After visiting the art museum for the first time in 1929, Miss Deeter knew it was where she wanted to study and work.
“I always wanted to be an artist but don’t know why since no one in the family made art, and we didn’t even have art in our one-room schoolhouse,” she once told the Dayton Daily News. “My family didn’t agree with me about going into art.”
She received a diploma of fine arts from the DAI school and then became the museum’s registrar, a job that grew in importance over the next 36 years.
Pat Jessee of Bristol, Va., is one of many former students who regularly visited.
“She was elegant in her dress and manner, she was a good listener who made it her business to understand each person there, to understand their strengths and weaknesses,” said Jessee, who graduated from the DAI school in 1970. “You knew that if something wasn’t right she was going to fix it — from the top of the place to the bottom. If a dean wasn’t doing something for students, she would let him know and if students weren’t living up to their potential, she would follow them to make sure they did.”
Jessee believes there were many individuals who eventually became serious artists because Miss Deeter kept them in line.
“She would only have to lift one eyebrow to give everybody pause,” she said.
Former student Joan Collins of Harrison Twp., who said Miss Deeter was “sharp as a tack” days before her death, described her friend as someone who could read people and was “young at heart, interesting, fun.”
Kathy Emery of Dayton said Miss Deeter will be remembered for “her understanding of art and artists as a way to think about and understand the world in good times and bad.” She said a celebration of Ann Deeter’s life is being planned, a date has not yet been determined.
https://www.daytondailynews.com/news/local/ann-deeter-104-was-dai-registrar/OTIaQJqKRAAQBMowiooFfP/
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