Idella Purnell (also known as Idella Purnell Stone and Ikey Stone) was an academic, librarian, teacher, and children's book author.

Biography

She was born in Guadalajara, Mexico, to the dentist George Edward Purnell and his wife Idella. She became a teacher in the primary schools of Guadalajara at a very early age, in 1915. In 1922, she received a B.A. degree from the University of California, Berkeley

University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

, and took on the position of a secretary in the American Consulate in Guadalajara, continuing in that position through 1924. In 1923, she started the poetry magazine Palms, of which she also served as publisher and editor. In 1925, she served as the head of the foreign book department at the Los Angeles Public Library

Los Angeles Public Library

The Los Angeles Public Library system serves the residents of Los Angeles, California, United States. With over 6 million volumes, LAPL is one of the largest publicly funded library systems in the world. The system is overseen by a Board of Library Commissioners with five members appointed by the...

. She left that position to return to Mexico. In 1932, she served as the dean and organizer of the first summer session at the University of Guadalajara

University of Guadalajara

University of Guadalajara is a public university in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. It is the second oldest university in Mexico, the fifth oldest in North America and the fourteenth oldest in Latin America...

. She married in Remington Stone on September 10, 1932. She would eventually have two children with him, Marijane Stone and Remington P.S. Stone, and she brought up her niece Carrie Stone. Beginning in 1935, she opened a gold mine at Ameca, Mexico, remaining there through 1937. She also began writing at about this time. Beginning in 1938, she taught creative writing

Creative writing

Creative writing is considered to be any writing, fiction, poetry, or non-fiction, that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, and technical forms of literature. Works which fall into this category include novels, epics, short stories, and poems...

 in Los Angeles. During World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, she was a riveter for Douglas Aviation

Douglas Aircraft Company

The Douglas Aircraft Company was an American aerospace manufacturer, based in Long Beach, California. It was founded in 1921 by Donald Wills Douglas, Sr. and later merged with McDonnell Aircraft in 1967 to form McDonnell Douglas...

 and Fletcher Aviation

Fletcher Aviation

Fletcher Aviation Corporation was an aircraft manufacturer founded by three brothers, Wendell, Frank, Maurice Fletcher, in Pasadena, California in . The initial aim of the company was to produce a wooden basic trainer aircraft that Wendell had designed, but despite brief interest by the Army in...

. In 1957, she became the director of the Dianetic Center for Dianetics and Scientology in Pasadena, California

Pasadena, California

Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...

, remaining in that position through 1957. Beginning in that year, she became a practitioner of Scientology

Scientology

Scientology is a body of beliefs and related practices created by science fiction and fantasy author L. Ron Hubbard , starting in 1952, as a successor to his earlier self-help system, Dianetics...

, and remained one through 1966. She died in Los Angeles in 1982.

Awards

Her book The Merry Frogs was named a Julia Ellsworth Ford Foundation Book in 1936. She also received a diploma from the Second Mexican Congress for the Fine Arts and Humanities.

Publications

• The Talking Bird: An Aztec Story Book.
• Tales Told to Little Paco by His Grandfather, 1930.
• Why the Bee Is Busy, and Other Rumanian Fairy Tales: Told to Little Marcu by Baba Maritz, 1930.
• The Wishing Owl: A Maya Storybook, 1931.
• Little Yusuf: The Story of a Syrian Boy. 1931.
• The Lost Princess of Yucatán, Holt, 1931.
• The Forbidden City, 1932.
• (contributor) Gringa, edited by Emma Lindsay-Squier, Houghton, 1934.
• Pedro the Potter, Thomas Nelson, 1935.
• The Merry Frogs, Suttonhouse, 1936.
• (adapter) Felix Salten
  Felix Salten
  Felix Salten was an Austrian author and critic in Vienna. His most famous work is Bambi .-Life:...
  
  's Bambi
  Bambi, A Life in the Woods
  Bambi, a Life in the Woods, originally published in Austria as Bambi. Eine Lebensgeschichte aus dem Walde, is a 1923 Austrian novel written by Felix Salten and published by Paul Zsolnay Verlag...
  
  , Health, 1944.
• (contributor) Journey with Genius: Recollections and Reflections Concerning D. H. Lawrence]], John Day, 1951.
• Luther Burbank: El Mago de las Plantas, Espasa Calpe (Argentina), 1955.
• (contributor), D. H. Lawrence:A Composite Biography, edited by Edward H. Nehls, three volumes, University of Wisconsin Press, 1957-1959.
• (editor, as Idella Purnell Stone) Fourteen Great Tales of ESP, Gold Medal Books, 1969.
• (editor, as Idella Purnell Stone) Never In This World, Fawcett, 1971.
• Thirty Mexican Menus in Spanish and English, Ritchie, 1971.