(November 26, 1854-September 6, 1930)
Born on November 26, 1854, Ida Mabel (May) Fuller was raised in Albion, Maine, a small town near Waterville. As a teen, Ida attended the Waterville Classical Institute, completing the “Ladies Preparatory Course” with fellow Sigma Kappa Founders Lizzie G. Hoag and Louise H. Coburn.
Ida refused, in her own words, to accept her sex as “irrefutable condemation to a subordinate position in life.” So when Colby College began admitting women in 1871 - two years before Ida completed her preparatory coursework - Ida was thrilled about the opportunity now open to her. Her brother Blin Fuller, however, was horrified by the prospect. Although it was family tradition that Fuller men attend Colby, Blin declared that if Ida May went there, he would not! Ida May, however, won the day; their father told her that if she could pass the entrance exam then she could enroll at Colby. Despite being unfamiliar with Greek, she mastered enough of the subject in one summer to pass that portion of the examination and was admitted to Colby College in 1873. In response, Blin broke with family tradition and enrolled at Bowdoin College - far from home in Brunswick, Maine - instead.
Ida May was known as a vigorous, dynamic girl who would develop into a social-minded woman. Unfortunately, ill health forced her to leave college in her junior year and she never graduated. Seeking a drier climate and the benefits it would have on her health, Ida moved to Kansas in 1880. There, she met and married Dr. Jonathan B. Pierce. Ten years into their marriage, Dr. Pierce died, but that didn’t leave Ida May at a loss for interest and purpose. She would become a successful business woman and vice president and director of a Kansas bank. Perhaps her greatest achievement was founding the Girls’ Hotel in Kansas City, a hotel that had affordable rates, allowing lower-income women to stay there. Deeply interested in the issue of food conservation, Ida Fuller Pierce travelled around the country lecturing on the subject during World War I and organized supply depots for the American Red Cross.
Ida May’s differences with her brother Blin had a happy ending as well. Blin eventually changed his opinion on women in higher education, allowing his own daughters to enroll at the University of Kansas. When Blin’s daughter Abby Louise Fuller (Burnham) entered the University of Kansas, Ida May helped her form Xi chapter of Sigma Kappa. His other daughter, Illde W. Fuller (Skofstad) later enrolled at the University and joined Xi chapter. Barbara Ilde Burnham - Ilde’s daughter and Ida May’s grandniece - also joined Xi chapter and served as the chapter’s delegate to the 1948 National Convention. Continuing the Xi chapter connections, Ida Fuller Pierce served as the chapter’s housemother for a time.
But Ida Fuller Pierce was not devoted only to Xi chapter, but to all of Sigma Kappa. A Confirmed Conventionite, she considered it an obligation she owed to the sorority - though surely a welcome one - to attend convention whenever possible. Her friendliness, keen sense of humor, and genuine love for Sigma Kappa made her a delightful companion for those who got to know her.
Ida May Fuller Pierce died on September 6, 1930 at the age of 75. She is buried in the Greenwood Cemetery in Eureka, Kansas.
