Ida Fuller
| |
|---|---|
| Born | Ida Mabel Fuller November 28, 1854
Albion, Maine, U.S.
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| Died | September 26, 1930(1930-09-26) (aged 75)
Oakland, California, U.S.
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| Resting place | Greenwood Cemetery, Eureka, Kansas |
| Alma mater | Colby College |
| Known for | Founder of Sigma Kappa |
| Spouse | Jonathan B. Pierce |
Ida Mable Fuller Pierce (November 28, 1854 – September 26, 1930) was one of the founders of Sigma Kappa sorority.
Ida Fuller was born on November 28, 1854, in Albion, Maine.[1][2] Her parents were Louise J. and David B. Fuller.[2] She grew up in Albion.[1] Fuller completed the Ladies Preparatory Course at the Waterville Classical InstituteinWaterville, Maine.[1]
She was twenty years old when she decided to attend Colby College, the first New England college to go fully co-educational. Although Fuller men had always attended Colby, her brother Blin Fuller refused to go to Colby if she enrolled.[1] When she passed the entrance exam and was accepted by Colby in 1873, Blin decided to go to Bowdoin College instead.[1]
While at Colby College, she helped establish Sigma Kappa sorority in 1874.[3][4] However, she left the college during her junior year due to illness and never graduated.[1]
Only four other women attended Colby College with Fuller in 1873.[5] Fuller and Mary Caffrey Low Carver, Elizabeth Gorham Hoag, Frances Elliott Mann Hall, and Louise Helen Coburn decided to form a literary and social society.[6][5] (Coburn and Hoag were classmates of Fuller at the Waterville Classical Institute.)[1] They were instructed by the college administration that they would need to present a constitution and bylaws with a petition requesting permission to form Sigma Kappa Sorority.[5] They began work during that year, and on November 9, 1874, received a letter from the faculty approving their petition.[3][5]
Fuller continued to be active in the sorority after graduation and marriage. She helped her niece, Abby Louise Fuller, established the Xi chapterofSigma Kappa at the University of Kansas.[7][1] Blin's other daughter, Illde W. Fuller, also joined the Xi chapter.[1] Ida Fuller Pierce also served as the Xi chapter's housemother.[8][9]
She was honored at the sorority's 39th annual convention in Denver, Colorado in July 1913.[7] She also gave an address about coeducation.[7] She also attended the 1924 Golden Jubilee Convention of Sigma Kappa.[10]
After leaving Colby College, Fuller went to Kansas in 1880 to seek a drier climate for her health.[1] In Kansas, she met and married Jonathan B. Pierce on July 7, 1878.[11] Pierce was a physician and pharmacist.[11] The couple lived in Eureka, Kansas, where she was active in club and social life.[11][7] Her husband predeceased her in May 5, 1890.[11]
After her husband died in 1890, she was the vice-president of a Kansas bank and established the Girls' Hotel in Kansas City, an affordable accommodation for lower-income women.[1] During World War I, she was in charge of organizing supply depots for the American Red Cross in Eureka and also lectured on food conservation across the United States.[4][1] She was a relief worker during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.[4]
In her last two years, she lived at 1176 Sunnyhill Road in Oakland, California, with Mrs. F. G. Battram.[4] She died on September 26, 1930, aged 76, in Oakland.[4] She was buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Eureka.[4][1]
