Oral history with Dr. Eleanor Byrd Walters

              Oral history with Dr. Eleanor Byrd Walters
F341.5 . M57 vol. 748, pt. 2
Funding for this project provided by The Mississippi State Legislature, The Mississippi Humanities Council, The Mississippi Department of Archives and History, and the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage at the University of Southern Mississippi.
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Biography
Born on March 28, 1914, Dr. Eleanor Byrd Walters was the oldest of four children, all daughters, born to Jerry Edward Walters and Mary Louise Loudie Boyd Walters, in Gunnison, Mississippi. Her father was a levee surveyor on the Mississippi River as well as a farmer. When Dr. Walters was growing up, her father planted mainly cotton. Living next to the Mississippi River levee, she had a fun- filled childhood, listening to the radio, playing with her sisters and their paper dolls, reading, and attending the Gunnison public school, which sometimes included being ferried in her father's motorboat on the Mississippi River to school.
In 1934, she received her B. S. in education from Delta State Teachers College. In 1939, she received her M. A. from Duke University. In 1956, she received her Ed. D. from Teachers College, Columbia University.
From 1934 through 1938, Dr. Walters taught mathematics at Shelby High School; from 1934 through 1941 at Hernando High School; and from 1941 through 1943, at Pensacola High School in Florida. From 1943 through 1948, Dr. Walters was an associate professor of mathematics at Delta State College; from 1948 through 1954, she was an assistant professor of mathematics and acting head of the mathematics department at Delta State College; and from 1955 through 1979, she was a professor of mathematics and head of the mathematics department of Delta State College. In 1979, Dr. Walters retired, and enjoyed during her retirement Delta State baseball and basketball, dinner clubs with other Delta State University retirees, and playing the organ.
Dr. Walters received the Outstanding Alumni Award from Delta State College in 1966; she was a General Education Board Fellow, and was awarded by the Rockefeller Foundation.
Since this interview was recorded, Dr. Eleanor Walters has passed away.
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