Alma Mary Hamilton
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Alma Mary Hamilton | |
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| Born | April 11, 1878 Bloomington, Illinois, US |
| Died | April 29, 1962 (aged 84) Normal, Illinois, US |
| Alma mater | Illinois Wesleyan University, Illinois State University, Columbia University |
| Occupation | Grade school teacher |
Alma Mary Hamilton (1878–1862) was an American educator and the first recipient of a bachelor's degree from the Teachers' College at Illinois State Normal University.
Alma Mary Hamilton was born on April 11, 1878, in Bloomington, Illinois.[1] Her parents were Matthew H. Hamilton and Lida Hamilton Johnson.[1] Matthew was a local cashier at the First National Bank of Normal, which was the town in which the family resided.[2] She had three siblings.[1] She attended Bloomington High School.[2]
Education and career
After high school, Alma went to Illinois Wesleyan University where she earned a bachelor's degree.[2] She also went to Illinois State Normal University and obtained the first bachelor's degree offered to students of the Teachers' College in 1908, attributing to her legacy.[1] In the summer of 1915, she earned her master's from the Teachers' College at Columbia University.[2]
Throughout her teaching career, she taught at several high schools. She began at Lincoln Public School in Bloomington, moving on to Melvin and Milford High Schools in Okmulgee, Oklahoma.[2] After her time at Columbia, she moved back to Normal and taught English at University High School.[1] She worked there from 1915 to 1943, the year she retired.[1]
Alma was also a part of Kappa Kappa Gamma social sorority and two honorary fraternities: Phi Kappa Phi and Phi Kappa Delta.[1] Her other engagements included the Thalia Circle and Woman's Improvement Association at her church, Second Presbyterian.[1]
While Alma made numerous publishings, one piece that's on record with ISU is her "Ibex Hunting" from Cornhill Magazine, in which she co-authored a story about the hunting of an Ibex in the Kurdish Highlands.[3][4]