O.C. and Evangeline King Case

Evangeline Jane King (1860–1907), often found in the Red Cloud newspapers as Eva J. King, was an influential teacher and school administrator in the community. She was born in Vermont, coming with her family to Webster County to farm in 1879. In 1882 and 1883, she taught at the Blue Hill school, taking charge of more than sixty pupils of all ages. By 1884, she was assistant principal in Red Cloud. Willa Cather recalled in a letter that she, as a new pupil moving into town, was interviewed in the bell room by Miss Evangeline King, the principal of "the old high school." 

King's pedagogical approach emphasized the role of education in training children to study, think, and function as good citizens—much more than mere recitation of facts. King was active in the Webster County Teacher's Institute, an annual gathering for the training and professionalization of educators in the surrounding counties. 

By 1890, Eva King was the Webster County Superintendent of Public Instruction. In 1891, King married Oliver C. Case, a successful attorney in Red Cloud.

Oliver Case (1852–1904) was born in New York and educated in Rochester. He relocated from West Side, Iowa, to Red Cloud. He attended Iowa Law School and opened a Red Cloud office in 1879, on the second floor of Reed's Furniture store. He was known for his serious and imposing courtroom demeanor, with an especially effective manner before a jury. He served one term as a Nebraska state senator.

In the mid-1880s, Case began to be afflicted by a chronic illness that confined him to a wheelchair and eventually forced his early retirement from practice.

After Oliver's death in 1904, Eva King Case became preceptress at Kearney Normal, a teacher's training college. She died in Omaha following an operation, only age 47. However, during her short life, she influenced the lives of hundreds of students and teachers across Nebraska, including Willa Cather, who remembered her teacher when she wrote the short story, "The Best Years."