Source: Written by Bruce Landeck, landeckb@bellsouth.net

ANNA VERNA BARSTAD

Verna was born on September 12, 1892 in Aurelia, Iowa. She was baptized in the 
Lutheran Church and grew up in Spokane, Washington with three sisters (a 
fourth sister died in infancy). All four sisters were encouraged by their 
parents to enjoy the arts and pursue education. Verna attended high school at 
the Spokane College Academy in Spokane, Washington, 1907-1912 and upon 
graduation was awarded a scholarship to Spokane College, which she did not 
accept. She attended the University of Washington, College of Arts, from 1912 
to 1915 and received her A.B. degree. She was a member of the Sigma Kappa 
social sorority. After graduating from the University of Washington, she 
accepted a position as librarian of the Centralia, Washington Library. She 
married Warren Ort Grimm on April 15, 1918. Warren was introduced to Verna by 
his sister Mary who was a close friend of Vernašs. The wedding was in the 
Chapel of Stanford University and was performed with full military honors. 
Pictures and an account of the wedding were in the San Francisco papers. On 
March 15, 1919 she gave birth to a daughter, Shirley Ann. On Armistice Day, 
November 11, 1919 she was widowed when the I.W.W. assassinated her husband 
during the Armistice Day parade in Centralia, which Warren was leading. She 
attended the trial of the murderers to which she took her young daughter. 
Verna then chose to pursue a career rather than remarry. Her parents, John and 
Martha Barstad, and her sisters all helped in raising Shirley Ann. She earned 
her M.A. in Library Science from Columbia University in New York in 1923. She 
was offered a job as a reference librarian in the New York Public Library but 
chose to be National Librarian at the National Headquarters of the American 
Legion in Indianapolis, Indiana where she felt it would be better to raise her 
daughter. In 1926 she published a book, "A Bibliography of Bookplate 
Literature" edited with a foreword by George W. Fuller. She was a member of 
the national librarian association, the American Librarian Association. She 
was the National Librarian and Chief of Research for the American Legion from 
1923 to 1957 when she retired. While with the American Legion she took on 
additional responsibilities, the most important of which was organizing the 
annual national convention. Carrying out these duties allowed her to travel 
all over the US and to Europe. Verna collected matchbook covers and wine corks 
from each place she visited. The American Legion Library was renamed for her 
after her death as The Verna B. Grimm Memorial Library. She died of cancer on 
February 13, 1958 in Munster, Indiana at the home of her daughter and 
son-in-law. She chose to be buried where she had spent most of her life, 
Indianapolis, Indiana.