How SLO’s ‘goodwill ambassador’ helped bridge nations for generation of students
Educators can never quite be sure what lessons will take root on a deeper level with their students.
After the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic, there are a lot of forks in the road.
In San Luis Obispo, Ethel Cooley found a way to teach lessons that were bigger than a classroom through her pioneering sponsorship of student exchange programs.
In the post-World War II era as the Cold War began, an “Iron Curtain” fell (as Winston Churchill called it) between the communist world and Western Europe.
Some leaders of the era chose to stoke fear and amp up fears of communism.
In 1948, Cooley looked to build a bridge to the land of a former enemy, only three years after the Nazi Third Reich was crushed. A letter exchange program was established.
Gifts of soap bars and hard candy went to a sister school in Stuttgart.
The industrial city had been the target of 53 air strikes with thousands of tons of bombs that left it 45% rubble. Unexploded bombs have been found there as recently as 2025.
The letter writing program grew into a student exchange which grew and continues today.
Cooley’s scrapbooks are on display at the San Luis Obispo County History Center through Feb. 6, 2026.
During her life she was honored with Woman of the Year and Citizen of the Year awards.
The Federal Republic of Germany honored her with the Officer’s Cross of the order of Merit and the San Luis Obispo Rotary Club named her “Ambassador of International Goodwill.”
During and after her retirement from 30 years in education, she was involved in Soroptimist Club, American Association of University Women, American Field Service and was president of what was then known as the County Historical Society. She spearheaded the restoration of the Jack House.
At least a half-dozen other groups were part of her resume as well.
She died at the age of 90 on May 28, 1995.
Jill Duman wrote this story Jan. 28, 1989: (A note on terminology: a gymnasium school in Germany is the most advanced of the three types of secondary schools, strongly emphasizing academic learning.)
Former SLO High dean named ‘Woman of Year’
World traveler founded exchange program at SLOHS
She is the founder of the county’s high school exchange programs, a member of the county Historical Society, and chairwoman of the Jack House Committee.
Now, 83-year-old Ethel Cooley has a new honor to add to her name.
In December, she was chosen Woman of the Year by the county Commission on the Status of Women.
The commission is an advisory body to county Board of Supervisors; Cooley will be officially honored before the supervisors Feb. 28 meeting.
Cooley arrived in San Luis Obispo County 49 years ago to take a job as dean of girls at San Luis Obispo High School. But even now, 19 years after retirement, Cooley is still too busy to tally up honors and rest on her laurels.
Always a world traveler, Cooley has made 16 trips to points around the globe since retiring. She remains an active member of the German School Committee, a student exchange program between San Luis Obispo High and Eberhard Ludwig Gymnasium, a boys’ school in Stuttgart, Germany, that Cooley founded in 1948.
And Cooley has somehow managed to remain in contact with both German and American students who participated in the program, often hosting the former students, their families and their friends in the legendary pink guest room of her San Luis Obispo home.
“I never got away from it,” said Cooley of the exchange program. “I don’t want to get away from it.”
Cooley’s involvement with student exchange programs began just after World War II in the office she occupied as dean of girls at San Luis Obispo High.
“The kids used to come in,” said Cooley, “and they said it was real silly for us to shoot people’s heads off when we didn’t agree with them.”
From these discussions came advice from the American Friends Service Committee that San Luis Obispo High adopt a school in Germany.
In 1948, a sister school relationship was formed with the Stuttgart boys’ school. At first, students at the two schools exchanged letters. San Luis Obispo students also sent Christmas gifts of bars of soap and hard candy to students in war-torn Germany.
Then, in 1952, Cooley visited the gymnasium and, at the suggestion of a student there, presented San Luis Obispo students with the idea of contributing money towards bringing a German student to California for a year.
An exchange student program was formed, and to this day, students from Stuttgart and San Luis Obispo trade places each year.
One year, Cooley even ended up hosting a German student for part of a year when arrangements didn’t work out with his host family.
When Cooley was told that the host family intended to send the boy back to Germany, they were given a sharp Cooley rebuttal: “You didn’t invite him, so you can’t send him home.”
The student’s picture remains on the bulletin board of Cooley’s guest room, along with photos, names and dates of all the room’s occupants over the years. There have been about 60 in all, including one boy who asked for a two-week crash course in manners after having been accepted to an Ivy League school.
“I like kids,” said Cooley. “I tried to give them as much as I could.”
But, students aren’t the only ones who have benefited from Cooley’s efforts.
A member of the county Historical Society for more than 30 years, Cooley served as president of the society from 1972 to 1975. And, as part of the massive restoration of the Jack House, Cooley helped inventory 14,741 papers belonging to the Jack family.
“We were looking for someone who had made a significant contribution to the community,” said commission member Dixie Budke of the decision to honor Cooley. “Ethel’s name kept coming up.”
This story was originally published January 31, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story gave the incorrect date for Ethel Cooley’s death. She died in 1995.
