Jessie M. Towne was Central’s first dean of girls and first female vice principal . She was offered the position of principal but refused it because the administrative load would not have allowed her to continue teaching . After graduating from Central in 1892, she took university courses at Harvard and Stanford and graduated from the University of Nebraska. Although she first taught Latin, she later became head of Central’s English Department. She retired in 1940 after over 40 years at Central. Her aim in teaching was “to inspire in others a lasting appreciation of language, a love for the best in literature, a desire to read and an ambition to become better persons”.
Jessie passed away in 1957.