Biography:

Edna Greenfield, born Edna Florence Kraus, was Albert M. Greenfield’s first wife. They were married in 1914 and had five children together: Gordon, Elizabeth, Carlotta, Patricia, and Albert Jr. Their marriage ended in 1935 when Edna divorced Albert to marry a New Yorker. Albert continued to financially provide for Edna until his death in 1967. Edna had many cultural, social, and political interests as an alumna of Bryn Mawr College, a member of the League of Women Voters, a frequent donor to the Welfare Federation of Philadelphia, and an avid patron of various musical and artistic organizations such as the Philadelphia Orchestra. She also organized protests against a proposed merger of the Philadelphia High School for Girls and the William Penn High School in 1930. Edna argued that combining the two schools would lower the quality of education for the students, warning that “if we decapitate the eminent for the benefit of the average, we shall have to answer to posterity.” Her husband Albert agreed, stating in a letter that the female students at Girls’ High would flourish more in an environment “devoted exclusively to academic interests” instead of “the more immediate results – financial and otherwise – to be obtained through the non-academic courses” from William Penn High.