Fredda Nottingham and Dayton Schools 

       Fredda Alice Nottingham was born in Humansville, Missouri in 1904.  Her family moved to Erath County in Texas in 1906 and lived near Dublin.  In 1911, they came to Liberty County and settled in the Stilson community just west of Dayton on Hwy. 90.  Miss Fredda attended the Stilson School through the eighth grade.  This was the year, 1916, that Stilson and many of the Common Schools were consolidated with the Dayton school.  Fredda graduated from Dayton High School in 1923.  Miss Fredda received her permanent teaching certificate in 1924 from the Normal School at Arlington, Texas, her B.S. in Education from Texas Wesleyan, her M.S. from the University of Houston, and studied for a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.

       Miss Fredda taught at several of the Common Schools around Dayton.  In 1931, Miss Nottingham was hired by the Dayton Schools to teach social sciences at Dayton High School.  She was made Principal of the Junior High in the fall of 1932, where she also taught science.  During the war, she served as Principal of both the Junior High and Elementary.  Miss Fredda retired in May of 1969 as Principal of Wilson Junior High with 45 years of service in education and 37 of those as a Dayton Principal.

       Fredda Nottingham assisted in the formation of the first Delta Kappa Gamma chapter in Liberty County.  She was a charter member of the Delta Zeta chapter which was established in 1950.  This group has formed four other chapters through the years.  Delta Delta was formed in 1954 to create a chapter for the Montgomery County members.  Iota Psi was formed in 1974 for members from Cleveland area.  In 1978, the Kappa Chi chapter was organized for the teachers in Chambers County.  Dayton's Mu Iota chapter was organized in 1988 and Miss Fredda became a charter member of the chapter.  Miss Fredda had served as President while in the Delta Zeta chapter and received the organization's achievement award.  She was a constant source of inspiration to the teachers she worked with through the years.  Mu Iota has honored her by naming their teacher scholarship the Fredda Nottingham Scholarship.

       The Fredda Nottingham Elementary School was named for Miss Fredda Nottingham.  Members of the Mu Iota chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma petitioned the Dayton school board to have the school named in her honor.  The school opened in the fall of 1999.

The text of this article is from a speech given by Sue Park at the Dedication of the Fredda Nottingham Elementary School on October 22, 1999.