Dr. Bess Goodykoontz

Dr. Bess Goodykoontz

In 1929, Dr. Bess Goodykoontz, Iowa - Iota, was appointed Assistant United States Commissioner of Education, a position that she held in the Bureau of Education for 16 years. The Bureau, at that time, was a part of the Department of Interior of the federal government, whose secretary was Ray Lymur Wilbur, a longtime friend of President Herbert Hoover. Both the president and Mr. Wilbur were interested in education reform. The crises of the Great Depression and World War II called for programs that would retain the unemployed and school classes that were more relevant to the times. After the war, Dr. Goodykoontz was sent to Germany as part of a delegation representing the United States Office of Military Government. She became the Director of International Education Relations under the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Bess was an outstanding student in her formal education, becoming a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Mortar Board, Altrusa and the American Association of University Women (AAUW). She authored textbooks and worked as a consultant. Outside of her profession she had many other interests including gardening, collecting antiques and a farm in West Virginia specializing in Black Angus cattle. She was named the 1959 Woman of the Year.