Ida Fuller
Template:Short description Template:For Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox person
Ida Mable Fuller Pierce (November 28, 1854 – September 26, 1930) was one of the founders of Sigma Kappa sorority.
Early life
Ida Fuller was born on November 28, 1854, in Albion, Maine.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":3">Maine State Archives; Cultural Building, 84 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333-0084; Pre 1892 Delayed Returns; Roll Number: 40 via Ancestry.</ref> Her parents were Louise J. and David B. Fuller.<ref name=":3" /> She grew up in Albion.<ref name=":0" /> Fuller completed the Ladies Preparatory Course at the Waterville Classical Institute in Waterville, Maine.<ref name=":0" />
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.<ref name=":0" /> When she passed the entrance exam and was accepted by Colby in 1873, Blin decided to go to Bowdoin College instead.<ref name=":0" />
While at Colby College, she helped establish Sigma Kappa sorority in 1874.<ref name="triangle">Template:Cite bookTemplate:Open access</ref><ref name="obit">Template:Cite newsTemplate:Open access</ref> However, she left the college during her junior year due to illness and never graduated.<ref name=":0" />
Sigma Kappa
Only four other women attended Colby College with Fuller in 1873.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Open access</ref><ref name=":1" /> (Coburn and Hoag were classmates of Fuller at the Waterville Classical Institute.)<ref name=":0" /> 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.<ref name=":1" /> They began work during that year, and on November 9, 1874, received a letter from the faculty approving their petition.<ref name="triangle" /><ref name=":1" />
Fuller continued to be active in the sorority after graduation and marriage. She helped her niece, Abby Louise Fuller, established the Xi chapter of Sigma Kappa at the University of Kansas.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":0" /> Blin's other daughter, Illde W. Fuller, also joined the Xi chapter.<ref name=":0" /> Ida Fuller Pierce also served as the Xi chapter's housemother.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
She was honored at the sorority's 39th annual convention in Denver, Colorado in July 1913.<ref name=":2" /> She also gave an address about coeducation.<ref name=":2" /> She also attended the 1924 Golden Jubilee Convention of Sigma Kappa.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Open access</ref>
Personal life
After leaving Colby College, Fuller went to Kansas in 1880 to seek a drier climate for her health.<ref name=":0" /> In Kansas, she met and married Jonathan B. Pierce on July 7, 1878.<ref name="husband">Template:Cite newsTemplate:Open access</ref> Pierce was a physician and pharmacist.<ref name="husband" /> The couple lived in Eureka, Kansas, where she was active in club and social life.<ref name="husband" /><ref name=":2" /> Her husband predeceased her in May 5, 1890.<ref name="husband" />
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.<ref name=":0" /> 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.<ref name="obit" /><ref name=":0" /> She was a relief worker during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.<ref name="obit" />
In her last two years, she lived at 1176 Sunnyhill Road in Oakland, California, with Mrs. F. G. Battram.<ref name="obit" /> She died on September 26, 1930, aged 76, in Oakland.<ref name="obit" /> She was buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Eureka.<ref name="obit" /><ref name=":0" />