Hazel
Belle Nielson - Alpha Omicron's first state president 1940-1942
Hazel
Belle Nielson - Alpha Omicron's first state president 1940-1942
Hazel Belle Nielson was born in Valley City, August 26, 1888. Here she grew up as the new state of North Dakota began unfolding. Both of her parents, Wylie and Mary Stewart Nielson, were born in Scotland. Her grandparents, for whom Stewart Township in Barnes County was named, were pioneer builders, having arrived at Worthington — now Valley City — in 1878. Her parents came in 1880. They, too, were active community builders. Hazel was a member of the first kindergarten class in Valley City. She was a member of the girls’ basketball team which played winning games in North Dakota and Minnesota.
On
Senior Class Day in 1906 she predicted that oil would be discovered in North
Dakota, which seemed so unlikely that even she was surprised when the prediction
came true. Her interest in athletics continued while a student at the University
of North Dakota. She was the first woman to serve on the Athletic State Board
of Control. She was a charter member of Alpha Phi sorority of the University
and later was a member of sorority’s Alumni Society.
Always interested in patriotic and historical affairs, Miss Nielson was dedicated
to the promotion of good citizenship. Following graduation from the University
of North Dakota in 1910 she taught history and German for two years in the Valley
City High School, and in the Fargo High School for four years. She resigned
from the latter position to go overseas in World War I as one of two young women
chosen from North Dakota to join the General Federation fo Women’s Clubs
Overseas Unit.
When Miss Nielson returned from France she lectured on historical subjects at Teachers Institutes, stressing "Appreciation of the United States." Shortly after this she became Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction in North Dakota. From this position in Bismarck she was called to Washington, D.C., to write textbooks for the National Literacy Crusade. She was soon invited to join the staff of the Federal Commission for the Bicentennial Celebration of the Birth of George Washington, where she was Director of Education. Her handbook for teachers regarding George Washington was distributed throughout the nation. Later she was made Director of the Sesquicentennial of the Constitution of the United States. In all, she spent almost twenty years in Washington, D.C., five of which were as secretary of the Committee of National Defense for the Daughters of the American Revolution. During that time she edited a bulletin sent out to high schools six times a year. She spoke frequently to patriotic groups both in Washington and elsewhere.
Despite
her heavy schedules, wherever she was she found time for community service.
While in Bismarck she was president of the Business and Professional Women’s
Club, and the American Legion Auxiliary. While State President of the Auxiliary
she organized more than twenty units and headed the delegation to the National
Convention held in Paris in 1928 because it was the tenth anniversary of the
Armistice. While in Washington she was elected National President of the Women’s
North Dakota Society of the Federal City, and served as president of its National
Past Presidents’ Parley.
Hazel was
a member of the P.E.O. Sisterhood of North Dakota. At one time she was president
of Chapter O of the P.E.O. Sisterhood in Washington, D.C. For several years
she served as secretary of the historical division of the North Dakota Education
Association, and later as its president. In Valley City she was at one time
president of the Pioneer Daughters Club. Her membership was in the Congregational
Church, where she worked in the Sunday School for many years.
Hazel
was a charter member of the first chapter of the Delta Kappa Gamma Society to
be organized in the District of Columbia. Five years later she assisted in organizing
Alpha Omicron, the Delta Kappa Gamma state chapter of North Dakota. As the first
state president she organized several local chapters in North Dakota and was
happy to assist in organizing Alpha Chapter in Valley City, the first local
chapter to be organized in the state.
Hazel Nielson spent the last days of her life with her sister, Minnie J. Nielson,
in their home in Valley City, where she passed away July 10, 1957.
Information for this article was taken from the following: Swanson, Nellie
R. & Bryson, Eleanor C. (Eds.). 1965. Pioneer Teachers of North Dakota.
Minot: ND: Alpha Omicron State, The Delta Kappa Gamma Society, pp. 153-154.
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Eleanor
C. Bryson
– Second Vice President, 1940-42 … Minot
Eleanor C. Bryson, the fourth child of James and Elizabeth Anne Howard Bryson,
was born on a farm in Blue Earth County, Minnesota, on April 27, 1879. This
farm was an enchanting place for a child to grow up. The Blue Earth River with
its " wash banks" and occasional spring floods wound through it, and
passed wooded hills where black walnuts, chokecherries, wild plums and grapes
grew. There were other hills for coasting, and marshy haunts, near which jack-in-the-pulpits
and moccasin flowers could be found.
With the other children of the family Eleanor attended a rural school until
she was fourteen and was admitted to the Mankato High School after passing the
entrance examinations. Four years later she graduated summa cum laude as salutatorian
of her class. In the fall she began her teaching career in a rural school five
miles from home, with fourteen pupils and a salary of eighteen dollars a month.
The following year she taught a larger school thirty-five miles from home with
a thirty-five dollar salary and a nine month term. Then followed two-year stretches
in the intermediate grades in Minneota, Canby, and Dawson, Minnesota, and two
years in the eighth grade in Le Seur, Minnesota. During these years she attended
either county institutes or summer sessions at the Mankato Normal School or
the University of Minnesota. In 1905 she came to Mandan, North Dakota, and taught
the seventh and eighth grades for four years. Then followed a year in Everett,
Washington, and another in Hammond, Indiana.
At that time, Home Economics or Domestic Science as it was then called, seemed
to be a promising field. She enrolled in a Saturday morning class in Food Study
at Lewis Institute in Chicago. Here she first experienced racial integration.
A Chicago teacher, a young colored woman, worked at the same table as Eleanor.
She was a lovely person, gentle and cooperative. In 1911 and 1912 Eleanor was
principal of the three-teacher school in Garden City, a village near the family
farm. In June, 1915, Miss Bryson received her Bachelor of Science Degree from
Lewis Institute of Technology. That summer she taught Domestic Science at Morningside
College in Sioux City, Iowa.
In September, 1915, she joined the faculty of Minot Normal School, remaining
until retirement in 1945. During these years she attended summer sessions at
the Universities of Colorado and Chicago. She studied at Teachers College, Columbia
University, during a sabbatical leave. For the first eight years the Home Economics
Department˜she insisted that it be called that˜had no room of its
own. The classes in foods were conducted in a crowded space in the end of the
chemistry laboratory. The clothing classes "made-do" in the music
and art room. With the addition of the west wing to the Main Building a four
room suite was provided for the Home Economics Department.
Miss Bryson is a life member of the North Dakota Education Association. While
at the College she was a founding member of the National Education Association
and the National Home Economics Association. She served the State Home Economics
Association as vice-president and as news reporter for the Journal of Home Economics.
At one time she edited the State News Letter. She is a member of the P.E.O.
Sisterhood; she served her local chapter for three years as president and for
fifteen years as treasurer. She was chairman of the committee that wrote the
book Fifty Years of P.E.O. in North Dakota. She is a charter member of the Business
and Professional Women‚s Club in Minot, a past state treasurer and a past
state president. She is a state founder and past state president of Alpha Omicron
State of the Delta Kappa Gamma Society. She served as National Parliamentarian
of the Society in 1952-1954.
While president she organized two of the ten chapters in Alpha Omicron State.
She is a member of the League of Women Voters and a director on its state board.
She is an active member of the Presbyterian Church. She served the Women‚s
Association as president for three years and has served on its executive board
for sixteen years.
Miss Bryson has traveled widely, having visited forty-two of the fifty states,
Alaska included, and taught in six of them; toured Europe, crossed into Mexico
and made many visits to Canada in addition to two extended tours. Her travels
have been by car (her own), bus, train and plane.
Recognition and many honors have been given Miss Bryson: a citation by the administration
of the Minot College on the occasion of her retirement, an award in 1953 from
the State Federation of Business and Professional Women‚s Clubs. The Minot
Club named her "Woman of the Year" in 1952 and gave her a life membership
in 1964. The North Dakota Chapter of the Delta Kappa Gamma Society presented
her the "Citation for Outstanding Service" in 1954. The Presbyterian
Women‚s Association of Minot expressed appreciation for her faithful service
by a gift of silver in 1953, and by naming her an Associate Member of the national
Board of Christian Education, and in 1964 an Honorary Member of the Board of
National Missions. Each year at the State Convention of the Delta Kappa Gamma
Society Miss Bryson is honored as a State Founder and presented the traditional
red rose.
Miss Bryson is active in the organization to which she belongs. She is interested
in world events and it community affairs. She is living alone in the apartment
which she has occupied for more that half of the fifty years she has resided
in Minot. She greets you at the door with a hearty handshake and entertains
you with discourses on almost any topic in which you are interested.
Miss Bryson was a member of Gamma Chapter in Minot. She passed away on November
10, 1969, in Minot.
Information for this article was taken from the following: Swanson, Nellie R.,
& Bryson, Eleanor C. (Eds.). 1965. Pioneer Women Teachers of North Dakota.
Minot: ND: Alpha Omicron State. The Delta Kappa Gamma Society, pp. 67-68.
Esther Maxwell, Corresponding Secretary, 1940-1942
Like many another girl in the early days of statehood, Esther Maxwell took the
teacher‚s examinations and qualified for a third grade certificate to
teach an ungraded school. When she was sixteen she started teaching in the Grass
Lake No. 3 School in Burleigh County/ In the summer she rode horseback to school
and in the winter drove a horse with an open cutter over ice and through snowdrifts.
The winters were severe. Frozen fingers and toes were common experiences, as
was the thawing of frozen cheeks and noses ˆ teacher‚s as well as
pupils‚.
Esther maxwell was born on November 24, 1887, at Perry, Iowa. When she was three
years old her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Maxwell, moved to Dakota Territory
to the area where Wilton now stands. Her early education was secured in a country
school, typical of those on the prairies. She entered the Valley City Preparatory
Department in 1906 to begin her high school courses. She alternated teaching
with attendance at the Normal School to complete the Standard curriculum in
1921, with a special certificate in art and a second special certificate in
manual training. Miss Maxwell enjoyed going to college and went, every summer
that it was possible to do so during her later years, to the University of Washington
to take more art courses and study methods which she could use in her work with
children.
In the years between 1905 and 1920 she taught in rural and small town schools
in Burleigh, McLean, Walsh, Oliver, and Barnes Counties, including experience
in village and town schools in Grafton, Center, Coleharbor, Wilton, and Valley
City. She taught in Bismarck 1920-1949.
Teaching was her vocation and her avocation as well for she was superintendent
of the primary department of the Sunday School in the Presbyterian Church and
superintendent of the Vacation Bible School. One of her last adventures was
organizing and acting as principal of a Church School workshop in which she
gave lessons in weaving with several types of looms. Too, she was an instructor
of handicrafts for children at Camp Grassick. Handicraft was her hobby and she
utilized this skill in occupational therapy for children who were handicapped.
She put the hobby to use for herself in making furniture for her apartment.
Her interest in Bible study is indicated in a letter to Mr. A. C. Van Wyk, who
at the time (November 26, 1943) was superintendent of city schools in Bismarck.
This is the pertinent excerpt: "I do believe we have filed somewhere, whether
in home, school or church, to have pupils appreciate the Bible as real reading
material. Certain Bible passages could be classified as Bible literature."
Miss Maxwell was active in social and club work as well as in church and charitable
work. She was a member of the P.E.O. Sisterhood, Business and Professional Women‚s
Club, American Legion Auxiliary, Inter-church Council and the Gray Ladies. She
participated in numerous Red Cross activities.
Esther Maxwell was one of the founders of the Delta Kappa Gamma Society in North
Dakota. She was initiated at Valley City in November, 1940, and was a member
of Delta Chapter (Bismarck).
She had at heart the interests of the Society. The secretary‚s minutes
contain mention as, "Esther Maxwell made a study of the Constitution and
Bylaws and explained them to Delta Chapter." She was active in Delta Chapter
until the time of her death on August 14, 1949. Her varied interests and genuine
services attracted many friends. She will long be remembered. Of herself she
said, "My greatest ambition is to take what life can give and be cheerful
about it ˜ to meet others on the square and to give of myself whenever
possible."
Information for this article was taken from the following: Swanson, Nellie
R. & Bryson, Eleanor C. (Eds.). 1965. Pioneer Women Teachers of North Dakota.
Minot: ND: Alpha Omicron State, The Delta Kappa Gamma Society, pp. 41-42.
Ina Best was born in Casselton, Dakota Territory, on May 6, 1882, the middle child in a family of five. Her father was William Henry Best whose father had served in the Civil War from Missouri. William Best’s grandfather came from Ireland in the early 1800s and served in the War of 1812. Ina’s mother, Abbie White Hall Best, was a descendent of Elder Brewster. When Abbie Best went to Texas to visit her daughter Sarah (Ina’s sister) who was teaching there, she took several college courses. “That’s the kind of mother we had,” said Ina.
The family lived in Casselton until 1891. Ina attended primary school in Casselton until they moved to Fargo where Ina entered the fourth grade. She continued through school and graduated from Fargo High School. On a quiet street in Fargo, North Dakota, the “Best girls,” Sarah and Ina, lived in the house their father built in 1890. Seventy-five years later Sarah still resided in that house, which was a veritable museum of beautiful antiques and treasures gathered in the United States and abroad.
Ina had two goals in life: to teach small children and to further her own education, which she did. First she taught in rural schools in Cass County including Prairie Grove, Amenia, and Eldred; then in Wahpeton in Richland County. Later, when she was teaching near Sanders Station on the Milwaukee railroad six miles from Fargo, she planned to take the freight train into Fargo one Friday evening. She watched for the headlight to show through the trees, went to the platform, and flagged the train. It slowed down but did not stop. It was a passenger train. Later she learned that she had flagged the Roosevelt Special! Ina commented that she felt sure Teddy would have had the train stopped had he known a little country teacher wanted to hear his campaign speech that evening.
Ina took time off for additional schooling including a winter in 1901 at Fargo College (a “Christian” liberal arts college that existed from 1887-1922), two years at the University of Minnesota from 1903-1905, and one year at Columbia University where she received the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1915. By attending summers and one spring term, Ina earned the Master of Arts degree at Columbia in 1920. She went to Michigan where she was a critic teacher in the second grade in Central State Teachers College in Isabelle County for six years from 1915-1921. Then she went to Iowa State Teachers College in Cedar Falls where she continued as a critic teacher in the second grade from 1921-1928.
Ina and her sister, Mary, took a trip abroad in these years. Europe and Egypt were included. A camera was her constant companion, and later she used the pictures as illustrative material in school. When children saw the prints of the pyramids or the Acropolis on the bulletin board they said, “It’s true! See! Miss Best is riding Yankee Doodle, the camel at the pyramids.” A succession of Ford cars, all black, took Ina and Sarah on many trips to national parks, mountains, lakes, and rivers from Washington State to Quebec and to the Black Hills, the Ozarks, and the Great Smoky Mountains.
Ina returned to Fargo in 1928 to round out her career. She remained in the Fargo schools for twenty years. She taught in the Hawthorne, Agassiz, Clara Barton, and Roosevelt schools and retired in 1948 while teaching in the Emerson Smith School. Thus, she taught in Cass County and Fargo schools for a total of 33 years.
Ina Best, a life member of The Delta Kappa Gamma Society, was initiated at Milwaukee on July 3, 1940. She was a founder of Alpha Omicron state and a charter member of Beta chapter in Fargo. Ina served on the International Committee on Membership for 1941-42. At the state level she chaired the Membership committee from 1944-46 and again from 1946-48. Ina was also a member of the American Association of University Women, Fine Arts Club, Pioneer Daughters, Cass County Historical Society, Young Women’s Christian Association, and a life member of the North Dakota and the National Education Associations.
Ina Best died on December 29, 1962, at 80 years of age. Her winning smile and gentle ways gave hundreds of second-graders that bit of extra confidence needed to succeed in the many interesting things to be learned in school. Her patient guidance, sympathetic understanding of the hopes and fears of college students and her demonstration of good teaching methods were an inspiration to cadet teachers in two of the foremost teacher-training institution of the day in the middle west. The friend who said, “Ina was one of the kindest persons one could ever meet,” summed up exactly Ina’s whole way of being.
Taken
from Swanson, Nellie R., & Bryson, Eleanor C. (Eds.). 1965. Pioneer Women
Teachers of North Dakota. Minot, ND: Alpha Omicron State, The Delta Kappa Gamma
Society, pp. 121-122.
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Jeanette
Harter Wild received her B.S. degree from Mankato State Teachers College in
Minnesota and her MA from Iowa State University. She became a supervisor in
Grades 1-2 at the Valley City State College. She was superior at training teachers
for kindergarten, first and second grades at the Valley City Normal School.
She taught there from 1929-1943.
She married Reverend Fredric Wild in 1943 or 1944. She moved to Marionette,
WI, from 1944-1945, and spent a number of years in Holdridge, Wymore, and Omaha,
NE, until about 1954. She then went to to Excelsior Springs, MO, to St. Luke‚s
Episcopal Church. And from there to Naples, Fl. The date of her death has not
been ascertained.
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Mary Beatrice Johnstone, Parliamentarian, 1940-1942
M.
Beatrice, as she was familiarly known, was born of British parents with military
interests and traditions. Her mother, of four children, was the daughter of
a British army officer stationed in Capetown, South Africa. Soon after the family
returned to England both parents died. The boys were put in a military school
in England, and the girls were sent to an uncle in Kingston, Ontario. Miss Johnstone‚s
father was born in Ontario Province and spent his youth on the shores of Lake
Champlain. In time Mr. And Mrs. Johnstone met, married and moved to Fort Snelling,
Minnesota, where he was in army training. In 1858 he was ordered to Henderson,
Minnesota, to help quell a Sioux uprising, and the Johnstones moved from St.
Paul up the Minnesota River on the "Jeanette Robert" and later to
Glencoe, Minnesota, where M. Beatrice was born on April 14, 1870.
M. Beatrice entered a rural school at the age of five and attended until April,
1883, when the family moved to Grand Forks and she entered high school. In May,
1885, she was drafted to teach a one-room village school, which she continued
to teach for six summers, meanwhile continuing high school and university study.
She attended the University regularly during the year 1890-1891 and was graduated
with Phi Beta Kappa rating. Following graduation she served as principal in
Buxton for two years, in Thompson for one year, in Hillsboro for five years,
and in Grand Forks for thirteen years. Her services there were terminated in
1913 by election as county superintendent, a position she held for twelve years.
Her work in the country superintendent's office attracted state and national
recognition. She was instrumental in effecting passage of the North Dakota Health
Bill creating the position of school nurse. She believed many health problems
in children could be solved before they grew, through neglect into serious lifetime
handicaps. She thought the answer lay in education of the parents, with whom
a school nurse could work very effectively. She went to Bismarck while the legislature
was in session and presented the case so effectively that enabling legislation
was passed. For the first time in the nation‚s history counties were authorized
to secure the services if a trained nurse; the appointee in Grand Forks County
was the first county nurse in the United States.
Miss Johnstone developed the County Playday Movement which resulted in improved
playground equipment for rural schools. A hot lunch program was started. Realizing
the importance of advising parents on matters pertaining to trends in education,
she edited a County School Bulletin which included new of the county schools
as well as new national developments. She prepared and supervised, with the
help of the office staff and state historians, an original pageant portraying
the history of Grand Forks County.
Thirty communities were represented and eight hundred persons participated in
the pageant.
Miss Johnstone was appointed to take charge of extension work at the University
in 1925 for the purpose of projecting educational opportunity to all parts of
the state by providing study by correspondence in many subjects. The office
also provided speakers, musical talent and judges for schools or organizations
requesting such help. It was through her efforts the first Homemakers Club was
organized in Grand Forks County.
Miss Johnstone was much sought as a commencement and after-dinner speaker. Her
talks or lectures were never dull, they were enlivened by bits of poetry, sparkling
humor and wholesome philosophy. Also, she was a prolific writer. Her articles
were published in local papers, magazines and national journals of education.
She is listed in the Library of Congress as a writer on education.
Though the promotion of education was the absorbing interest in Miss Johnstone‚s
life, her career had many facets. She was active in the Baptist Church, a charter
member of the American Association of University Women and of the Business and
Professional Women‚s Club in Grand Forks; a longtime member of the P.E.O.
Sisterhood and the Parent Teacher Association, a member of the National Council
of Women in Education and the National Committee on Classroom Teaching. She
held many positions of state and national significance. She was president of
the North Dakota Education Association, a twenty-five year member of the Board
of the North Dakota Teachers Insurance and Retirement Fund, served as chairman
if the Washington Bicentennial in 1932, and state president of the Parent Teacher
Association in 1930-1934.
Many recognitions and honors brightened the closing years of her life. In 1937
the State Council of Women in Education named her Woman of the Year and presented
her picture to the University of North Dakota. In 1945 the State Congress of
the Parent Teacher Association gave her a life membership, and on April 16,
1961, dedicated the new headquarters in Bismarck as a memorial to the service
rendered by this great woman.
In appreciation of her devoted service the University conferred upon Miss Johnstone
many honors. One, in which she took great pride, was that of being named an
Honorary Colonel in the R.O.T.C.
In this the long military tradition of her family was continued. Her long career
in education reached a climax in 1951 when the university conferred upon her
the honorary degree of Doctor of Humanities, and at the same time chose to perpetuate
her name by dedication in her honor the new $400,000 women‚s dormitory,
the M. Beatrice Johnstone Hall.
In recognition of her long and useful life in the field of education and her
humanitarian efforts the Senior Citizen Magazine in May, 1959, published the
article "Thirty Thousand Call her Sweetheart," written by Dr. E. L.
Grinnell of Grand Forks. This was the last nationwide recognition to come to
her, and it came only four months before her death in Grand Forks on September
17, 1959, in her eighty-ninth year.
Tireless and zealous in her quest for all good things for education, M. Beatrice
Johnstone enriched the lives of thousands. Beloved humanitarian, educator, leader,
tireless worker, she was hailed as North Dakota‚s best-known woman. She
treasured her eighty-nine years of life, she lived joyously ,and she remained
ever young in mind and spirit.
Information for this article was taken from the following: Swanson, Nellie
R. & Bryson, Eleanor, C. *Eds.) 1965. Pioneer Teachers of North Dakota.
Minot: ND: Alpha Omicron State, The Delta Kappa Gamma Society, pp. 10-12.
"Too
wise to worry; too noble to anger; too strong for fear; too brave to be overcome
by trouble." Thus was Minnie J. Nielson once described by a colleague.
So, too, is she remembered by family, friends, and associates. Minnie Jean,
the eldest of the three children of Wylie and Mary Stewart Nielson, both natives
of Scotland, was born January 18, 1874, in Jackson, Michigan. There, too, her
brother, James was born. Hazel Belle, fourteen years younger was born in Valley
City.
The Nielson family moved to Dakota Territory in 1880 and settled at Worthington (now Valley City) on the homestead that Grandfather Stewart had acquired in 1878. Minnie and James thoroughly enjoyed life in the country. In summers they attended school in a little one-room building. This experience helped Minnie J. solve some of the problems she met when, as a high school girl of sixteen, she began her first term of teaching in a rural school in Barnes County. For several years she continued to teach summer terms in Barnes County while continuing her own education. With this experience she was given a position in the Valley City Public Schools as a primary teacher. After a few years she was assigned to the grammar grades. Still later she was put in charge of the science department in the High School, teaching chemistry and physics in alternate years.
Miss Nielson’s formal education was obtained in the High School of Valley City, the University of North Dakota, Fargo College – a church related college – and in summer sessions at the Universities of Michigan and Chicago. In 1920 Fargo College conferred upon her the honorary degree of Bachelor of Laws.
In 1907 Miss Nielson was elected County Superintendent of Schools in Barnes County, as office she held for twelve years. In 1919 she was elected State Superintendent of Public Instruction, the first woman in North Dakota to be elected to that office. She held the office for eight years, winning four hotly contested elections. During the years she served Barnes County she concentrated on improving and reorganizing school districts with such zeal that in twelve years, forty one-room rural schools were replaced by consolidated schools and seven new high schools were established. She also worked for an improved course of study, sponsored play days, fostered hot lunch programs, and secured the appointment of a county school nurse. During her tenure in the state office she led a campaign to eliminate illiteracy, with the result that North Dakota moved from one of the states with the highest per centum illiteracy to a place among those with the lowest per centum.
After leaving state office Miss Nielson became nationally known through her work in organizing Parent Teacher Organizations, using North Dakota as the demonstration state. From 1929 to 1931 she was Field Secretary for the National Illiteracy Crusade, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. For seven years she traveled and lectured in forty-two states, working with state departments in the effort to eliminate illiteracy.
In
1938, at the request of the Trustees of the North Dakota Teachers Insurance
and Retirement Fund, she returned to her home state to become the Executive
Secretary of the Fund. She resigned from this appointment in 1950. She spent
the last years of her life in the beloved family home in Valley City, where
she died on February 27, 1958.
Because of her various activities Miss Nielson was well known throughout the
state. While living in Bismarck she was a member of the State Board of Health,
the State Board of University and School Lands and State Board of Administration.
She was one of the founders of the State Historical Society and for several
years served on its Board of Directors. During World War I she was chairman
of the Fifth Liberty Loan Drive and of the Victory Drive at the close of the
War. She was a member of the North Dakota Education Association, a life member,
past director, and a past vice president of the National Education Association.
She was an early member of the Women’s Auxiliary of the American Legion,
also the National President of the Past Presidents’ Parley of the Auxiliary;
a National President of the Administrative Women in Education as well as the
organizer and first president of that organization in North Dakota.
Miss
Nielson served two terms as president of the Federation of Women’s Clubs
in North Dakota. Mrs. Pennybacker, National president of the Federation, publicly
commended Miss Nielson’s excellent planning and management of the state
convention in 1915. Chapter A, the first chapter of the P.E.O. Sisterhood to
be organized in North Dakota, chose Miss Nielson as its first initiate. Both
Minnie and Hazel Nielson were state founders of the Delta Kappa Gamma Society
in North Dakota. It was through their influence that the Society came to the
state.
Information taken from the following: Swanson, Nellie R. & Bryson, Eleanor
C. (Eds.) 1965. Pioneer Women Teachers of North Dakota. Minot: ND: Alpha Omicron
State. The Delta Kappa Gamma Society, pp. 154-155.
Sadie Elliott was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, on December 20, 1865. In 1880 Sadie’s father brought her and her mother from Philadelphia to Spiritwood, Dakota Territory. Mr. Elliott came to supervise a two-thousand acre Adams Ranch owned by the Northern Pacific Railway Company. He filed on a quarter-section homestead near Spiritwood where Sadie spent her time until college and teaching took her away from home. There was little time for amusement in those days and few forms of fun or recreation. Ranches were miles apart, and graded roads were a refinement of civilization which had not then appeared on the frontier. Snow and mud frequently stalled traffic entirely, except for the most determined who went on foot or horseback. At first all “country” schools were in session only in summer months, but most of the children were kept home during August to help with the harvest. For that reason some schools were in session during June and July and again in September and October. In these months the weather was pleasant and roads were usually passable, so four months in a year was the extent of the education Sadie received from 1880 to 1883. Even that was more than most of the parents in the community had.
When Jamestown College held its first registration on September 28, 1886, Sadie Elliott was the first student to enroll. The following year this private college became the first teacher training institution in Dakota Territory. After three years at Jamestown and some teaching, her education was continued in summers at Valley City State Normal School, the University of Pennsylvania, Indiana University, and the University of Wisconsin. After her second year at Jamestown College, Sadie taught the spring term in a school 12 miles north of Jamestown for $35 per month. A friend of Sadie’s taught the fall term so Sadie could return to college.
In 1888 Sadie’s mother was called east because of illness in the family and Sadie took over the duties at home, temporarily. The following spring Sadie taught a six-month term five miles from home and lived in the schoolhouse when travel was difficult. Usually she drove a team and buggy. She taught at this school the following year, March through August, at $40 per month. In the fall of 1890 she taught at the Mutz School, a really difficult assignment. There were 30 pupils, mostly of Polish extraction, a number of whom spoke no English. The schoolhouse was crowded, but the pupils were eager.
The fall of 1891 was a milestone. She taught an eight-month term, continuing through the winter. There were 25 pupils. One year later she had 30 pupils in a village school, including all grades. A framed photograph of this school with its teacher and children went to Chicago as part of the North Dakota exhibit at the 1893 World’s Fair.
In those days pupils were divided into six “reader” classes. Having finished the sixth reader was equivalent to completing the eighth grade. Most of the time was devoted to the three Rs. The older boys and girls were excellent scholars in oral and written mathematics. More time, proportionately, was spent with the older children in class work, and the smaller ones had many forms of seat work for learning and review. There were alphabet cards, number cards, picture puzzles, colored straws, and an abacus and kernels of corn for practice in the fundamentals of arithmetic. In the one-room schools where Sadie taught there were usually several children in each reader class.
Sadie’s school closed on Good Friday in 1892. The following Monday she went to Urbana, North Dakota, to open a six-month term and continued to teach there for three years. In the fall of 1895 she was hired by the Jamestown Schools to teach the second grade, her first opportunity to work in a single grade and in a graded school. She continued in this position for five years. At that time her salary was $95 per month.
In 1900, at the age of 35, Sadie married Charles Walker and they established their home in Fargo. She was widowed within a short time, and six years later she applied for work as a substitute teacher in the Fargo schools. She was a regular staff member before the year was over as the teacher of the second grade in the old Central building. Here her salary was $60 per month. She continued at Central School until 1912. When Agassiz School was completed she was transferred to the second grade with 50 pupils. Sadie recalled that contracts issued to new teachers promised annual raises of five dollars per month; whereas, teachers already on the staff got raises of two and one-half dollars a month, a rather common practice in many schools.
In December, 1916, Central School was destroyed by fire after an explosion in the chemistry laboratory. The third grade was put into a portable building on the High School grounds while grades one, two, and four were taught in what was the Civic Center building on the corner of Second Avenue South and Ninth Street. It was here that Sadie taught fourth grade and acted as principal for the two buildings.
In 1921 when the Central High School building was ready for use, Sadie was the principal and taught the second grade. In 1931 when Emerson School was completed Sadie Walker, at the age of 66, was asked to take the principalship of this new school. Sadie was one of the first “full time” elementary principals in Fargo, having no further teaching duties after 1931. She remained in this position until retirement in 1941, at age 76. Thus, she taught in the schools of North Dakota for 51 years, 36 of them in Fargo.
Sadie Walker was initiated into membership in the Delta Kappa Gamma Society on July 3, 1940, at the time of the convention of the National Education Association in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She served as a founder of Alpha Omicron state when it was organized at Valley City on November 22, 1940. She served as the first state recording secretary from 1940-42. She also served as the state president from 1944-46. She was a charter member of Beta chapter and remained active for many years.
She was also active in the
National Education Association and the Elementary Principals Association for
which she served as chair for North Dakota. She was equally active in the North
Dakota Education Association and was a founder of the “Lollipops,”
the women’s organization formed after the Chancellors’ group for
men in education was created.
Sadie Walker was a charter member of the Fargo chapter of Pioneer Daughters,
one of the North Dakota Federation of Women’s Clubs. She was an active
member of Eastern Star for 57 years and a Past Matron. She served as secretary
of Mecca chapter for 17 years and was awarded a life membership. During World
War II she devoted many hours to Red Cross services. She also maintained her
membership in the First Presbyterian Church in Fargo where she taught Sunday
school and served as a deacon.
Sadie
received many honors for her conscientious, efficient, and forward-looking performance
in education through the years. She was cited for having influenced thousands
including leaders in the social and civic life of Fargo and the nation. She
was long recognized as an independent, self-reliant, and alert woman who had
a radiant personality and a kindly disposition. Friends and acquaintances described
her as one of the most interesting conversationalists they had ever met. Sadie
Walker lived past her 101st birthday before she died.
Information for this article was taken from the following: Swanson, Nellie
R. & Bryson, Eleanor C. (Eds.). 1965. Pioneer Women Teachers of North Dakota.
Minot: ND: Alpha Omicron State, Delta Kappa Gamma Society, pp. 172-174.
"She
was a wonderful, wonderful person." "Miss McCoy was my teacher and
I remember her as a scholar, grammarian, and a critic in the field of English."
She left behind her many "hostages to fortune, for wherever one of her
English majors lives her love of good literature; wherever one of her Clionian
girls resides, there too will live Miss McCoy‚s ideals." Miss McCoy
was always interested in the news of the alumni and solicitous for the many
graduates. She worked closely with the Alumni Association and when a survey
of the graduates was made, Dr. Kleinpel, then president of the College, named
Miss McCoy the chairman of the project. The alumni held her in high esteem,
as did all who knew her.
Susan McCoy was born in Tipton, Iowa, on August 6,1880, and at an early age
moved with her parents to Des Moines where she graduated from high school, then
attended the Des Moines College in 1900-1903. She was awarded the Bachelor of
Arts degree by the University of Chicago in 1905, and the Master of Arts degree
by the University of Wisconsin in 1916. She received the signal honor of an
invitation to attend, as a member, the Breadloaf Conference of Writers and Teachers
of College English at Middlebury College, Vermont, in the summer of 1935. She
was enrolled as a graduate student at Stanford University for particular courses
she wanted with certain specialists in English.
Miss McCoy was head of the English department during her long association with
the College at Valley City. Prior to joining the faculty at the State Normal
School in 1914, she taught English in several high schools. She taught first
in Clear Lake, Iowa, in 1905-1906, then in Yankton, South Dakota, in 1906-1909,
then in Brainard, Minnesota, in 1909-1913, and last of all in Fargo, North Dakota,
for five months in 1914. In the high schools she sponsored group activities
related to literary study as an extra-curricular project. This she continued
to do in the Clionian Society on the campus at Valley City.
Professionally, Miss McCoy participated actively in the work of the National
Council of Teachers of English. She was a state director of the Council and
served on many of the key committees at state and national levels. She was proud
of the contribution to literary interest and taste made by the North Dakota
Poetry Association. Other professional memberships included the National Education
Association, the North Dakota Education Association, the American Association
of University Women of which she was a charter member in Valley City, the American
Association of University Professors and the American Council of English Teachers.
Miss McCoy was a founder of the North Dakota chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma, international
honor society of key women teachers and she was a charter member of Alpha Chapter
in Valley City. In her will she made a provision for a state scholarship to
be awarded to a member of the Society for graduate study pursued during the
academic year.
While a student, she was elected to membership in Alpha Psi Omega, national
honor society in dramatics, and to Kappa Delta Pi, national honor society in
education.
When Miss McCoy retired in 1952, she had been a member of the college faculty
for thirty-eight years and she had taught English for a total of more than forty-six
years. In the years between retirement and hospitalization prior to her death
on May 2, 1957, she found much pleasure in each of the several interests she
had outside of the classroom. One was her house, near the College, architecturally
perfect, well appointed, with much-loved furniture and furnishings. Another
was her garden, compact, neat, well-groomed, with fresh blossoms from early
spring to late fall, some flowers for indoor enjoyment and others to enjoy from
the lawn and the street; and dearest of all, the wide circle of friends, both
professional and non-professional folks who stopped by to visit, to enjoy the
flowers or the cool breeze under the trees in the back yard. There was always
something of interest to share. It might be a new book, or letters from alumni
or former faculty associates. Miss McCoy was truly remarkable woman and a devoted
teacher who "saw life steadily and saw it whole."
Information taken from the following: Swanson, Nellie R. & Bryson, Eleanor
C. (Eds.) 1965.
Pioneer Women Teachers of North Dakota. Minot. ND: Alpha Omicron State. The
Delta Kappa Gamma Society, pp.147-148.
Vida
Austin – Treasurer, 1940-42
Vida Austin received her B.S. degree from Northwestern University (Evanston,
IL) in 1908 and her M.A. degree from the University of Illinois in 1941. She
came to teach biology at the State Normal School in Valley City in the fall
of 1913, taught 33 years and retired in 1946. During her last years she was
head of the Biology Department at Valley City State.
She remained enthusiastic, full of energy and vitality throughout her career.
Her students learned there is beauty in the ordinary, unrecognized things of
life like bugs, birds, leaves, flowers, and feathers. Highly respected by her
students, according to them she was the greatest.
Vida was born on January 24, 1885, and died August 10, 1969, at her home in
Woodstock, IL . She was a founder of Alpha Omicron State and a charter member
of Alpha Chapter. She served as state treasurer from 1940-1942.
Agnes Davies was born at Valley City on July 16, 1894. Her parents were Ole and Anna Anderson. She attended high school and Normal School at Valley City where she received a Standard Certificate and later a Life Certificate for teaching.
In 1915 she moved to New Rockford to teach art and music. In 1917 she married Fred Davies and began teaching again in the 1920s.
In 1932 she was elected County Superintendent of Schools of Eddy County. She held this position until 1954 when she retired and moved back to Valley City. Agnes died in 1982.
Agnes was a stately person. She was influential in county spelling bees, declamation contests, and music festivals.
Claire Davis was born at Graham, Missouri, on September 15, 1895. She came from
a family of educators. She earned her B.S. degree at Northwest Missouri State
Teachers College in Maryville and her M.A. degree at Miami University, Oxford,
Ohio.
Claire Davis taught for seven and one-half years in elementary grades in Missouri, three years at Arkansas Agricultural and Mechanical College, and one year at Valley City State Teachers College. She went to Minot State Teachers College in 1934 as a supervising teacher of third grade at the campus laboratory school and remained for 29 years until she retired in1963.
She maintained membership and was very active in local, state, and national education organizations, attended many state and national meetings, and served on boards. She contributed articles to the North Dakota Teacher and published an anthology of poetry for children.
Claire Davis was one of the founders of Alpha Omicron state in 1940 and also a charter member of Gamma chapter in Minot. She was president of Gamma chapter from 1943-45. She attended 24 state conventions and 3 national conventions. She loved to travel and made many extended trips and tours and attended conventions across the United States and Alaska.
On
her retirement she honored by several college and community groups. Gamma chapter
named their twentieth anniversary scholarship in her honor in 1961.
Miss Davis died in Minot on December 22, 1970. Interment was at Ravenwood, Missouri.
She was remembered as the best of teachers. (Written by Lorraine Smith, Gamma
chapter)
Education:
Valley City Normal School (graduated in 1914). Valley City Normal (completed
Standard Course in 1920), North Dakota Agricultural College, B.S. and M.S. degrees
(via continuation courses, evening school, extension courses, and summer school
courses)
Summer Schools: University of Minnesota and University of Wisconsin
Teaching: Elementary education: Chaffee (1914-19)
Sixth grade: Fargo 1920-21
Principal, Lincoln and Clara Barton, Fargo Elementary Public Schools
(Married Dick Fryar, retired, and moved from Fargo to Sumner, Washington, in
1942)
Substitute teacher, Sumner, Washington
Delta Kappa Gamma involvement: Initiated, July 3, 1940, N.E.A. national meeting,
Milwaukee
Founder, Alpha Omicron State (Nov. 22, 1940)
Chair, State Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women Teachers (1940-41)
Helped organize Beta Chapter (Jan. 30, 1941)
President, Beta Chapter (1941 and 1941-42)
(Moved to Sumner, Washington, in 1942 and transferred to Epsilon Chapter.)
Secretary, Alpha Sigma State (Served one year shortly after her move to Washington.)
(Withdrew from Delta Kappa Gamma after completing substitute teaching)
Retirement Activities (from a letter sent to Jessie Wycoff, May 2, 1961):
Enjoy gardening; have a little greenhouse, a big yard, and lots of flowers.
Volunteer work at a children’s hospital once a week in Tacoma as of 1956
New interest: Started piano lessons in 1958
Travel: To Hawaii, then on a banana boat to Cuba and Guatemala
Boat trips to Alaska and to Europe, Egypt, Lebanon, the Holy Land, Istanbul,
Greece, Spain, London, and Paris
Traveled to Mexico, Trinidad, Tobago, Barbados, South America, and Panama
Again to Europe, spending most of the time in Scandinavian countries
Another boat trip to the Land of the Midnight Sun, around the top of Russia
Hobby: Sewing for nieces and nephews.
Adeline Stevenson was born on January 22, 1889, in Neponset, Illinois. There she attended elementary and secondary school and graduated with class honors.
In the early 1900s qualifications for rural school teaching in Illinois consisted of having a high school diploma and passing a teacher’s examination. Adeline began her teaching career with these qualifications and taught in a rural school in Illinois until her family moved to Moorhead, Minnesota.
After settling in Minnesota, Adeline enrolled at the Moorhead Normal School to work on her standard teaching certificate. She taught second and third grades in the Moorhead Public Schools from 1914 to 1918.
In
1918, when a better teaching position became available in Fargo, Adeline began
teaching first grade in the Civic Center building, which housed some grades
after the Central School was destroyed by fire. Concurrently, she enrolled in
extension courses and summer school sessions. She completed her Bachelor of
Science degree in 1929 from Moorhead State Teachers College, formerly the Moorhead
Normal School.
After completing her degree, Adeline developed a summer home on Fish Lake in
Minnesota to be closer to her interest in outdoor life. She personalized her
cottage by building a fireplace of rocks that she had gathered as she traveled
during summers while attending colleges in the eastern and western parts of
the United States.
In
1932, when Emerson Smith School was completed in Fargo, Adeline was transferred
to auditorium teaching in that building under the principalship of Mrs. Sadie
Walker. Adeline continued as auditorium teacher at Emerson Smith until 1942
when she was appointed principal of Clara Barton School. She remained in that
position for the next seven years until the time of her resignation. During
her career, Adeline also served on the faculty of the State Normal and Industrial
School at Ellendale for several summers.
Adeline Stevenson’s effective leadership qualities were recognized by
her fellow teachers. They elected her president of the Fargo Education Association,
president of the North Dakota Education Association, and chair of the Kindergarten
and Primary Section of the National Education Association. Adeline carried out
her work with unfailing professionalism. She had an air of quiet confidence
and dignity about her which led others to turn to her for advice. They were
always rewarded with capable assistance. Known for being gracious and friendly,
she was particularly attentive to new and inexperienced teachers in her building.
Adeline Stevenson was initiated into membership in The Delta Kappa Gamma Society on July 3, 1940, at the time of the National Education Association convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. On November 22nd of that year, when Alpha Omicron state was organized at Valley City, she was one of the 16 state founders and was elected to the office of First Vice President of Alpha Omicron state. Soon thereafter she was involved with the founding of Beta chapter on January 30, 1941. Adeline was credited with nurturing the chapter in the beginning years and for working earnestly to advance chapter welfare. Adeline was very committed to Delta Kappa Gamma and served at all levels of the Society. She was a member of the International Committee on Legislation from 1942-43. At the state level, she chaired several committees including the Constitution committee from 1941-42, the Progress of Delta Kappa Gamma committee from 1942-44, and the Program committee from 1944-46. She also served as Beta chapter president from 1947 to 1949.
After a long and successful career in teaching, her marriage at age 60 to Dr. Frank Nurse came as a surprise to her friends and associates. Dr. Nurse was a scholar and a professor of literature, languages, and philosophy. He was also known as something of a poet. Frank and Adeline had been friends for years, and they shared many interests. After their marriage they moved to La Jolla, California, where Adeline quickly became involved in the community devoting many hours to church and civic organizations. Any extra hours in her week were spent flower gardening, golfing, and homemaking. The happy couple returned to Adeline’s lake home in Minnesota for a number of summers where her friends enjoyed her ever gracious hospitality. Adeline and Frank had been married for 22 years at the time of his death in 1971.
Twelve
years later, at the age of 94, Adeline Stevenson Nurse died on July 12, 1983,
at a health care center in Muncie, Indiana. Her interest in Delta Kappa Gamma
and her affectionate loyalty to Beta chapter was evidenced shortly thereafter
when Beta Chapter was notified that she had bequeathed $10,000 for a scholarship
to be established and administered by Beta Chapter in the name of Adeline Stevenson
Nurse.
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Margaret Montgomery …… Minot
Margaret
Montgomery was a teacher in the public schools of Iowa and a county superintendent
there before she moved to Minot in 1924. Prior to this she earned her B.A. degree
at the University of Michigan and her M.A. degree at Columbia University.
Miss Montgomery spent five years teaching in elementary schools, eight years
in high schools, and one year in a college before accepting a position at Minot
State Teachers College in 1924. She spent 20 years there as a supervising teacher
of sixth grade teaching at the campus laboratory school. She was described as
a very energetic and dedicated teacher.
Margaret Montgomery published many articles in the Normal Instructor. She also
wrote arithmetic, history, and hygiene manuals.
She was one of the founders of Alpha Omicron state in 1940. She was also a charter
member of Gamma chapter in Minot and served one term as chair of the state Social
committee.
Margaret retired in 1944. At some point she moved to a rest home in Chicago
where she died on April 11, 1950. In 1955 Gamma chapter honored her memory by
sending $120 to the building fund of the national headquarters of Delta Kappa
Gamma as a memorial for her.
(Written by Lorraine Smith, Gamma chapter)
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Millie J. Fristad …....... Minot
Millie Fristad grew up at Madelia, Minnesota. She earned a B.A. degree at Valley
City State Teachers College and a M.A. degree at the Institute of Musical Arts,
Teachers College, Columbia University.
Miss Fristad taught public school music at the Valley City State Teachers College
for five years and at Wisconsin State Teachers College at La Crosse for two
years. From there she went to the Greensboro Women’s College in North
Carolina to teach public school music for four years. In 1931 she went to Minot
State Teachers College to teach public school music. She stayed for 16 years
until she retired in 1947.
While in Minot she was very active in several community and state music organizations.
She served as chair of the music committee for the North Dakota State Course
of Study in 1945.
Millie Fristad was one of the founders of Alpha Omicron state in 1940 and a
charter member of Gamma chapter in Minot. She was president of Gamma chapter
from 1945-47. She chaired the state music committee in 1941 and was general
chair of the state convention held in Minot in 1947. Millie also served as chair
of the national music committee in 1942.
Millie Fristad transferred her membership to Stockton, California, in 1952.
She died there on January 29, 1962.
(Written by Lorraine Smith, Gamma chapter)
