Mary Rippon was the first woman to teach at a state university, as well as the first female professor at the University of Colorado Boulder.
14 Facts About Mary Rippon
2.
Mary Rippon was born May 25,1850, in Lisbon, Illinois, to Thomas Rippon and Jane Skinner, who had immigrated from England.
3.
Mary Rippon's father died when she was ten months old, and because he did not leave a will and Mary was his only child, she inherited his farm.
4.
Mary Rippon attended the high school department of Illinois State Normal University, a teacher training school.
5.
Mary Rippon taught German at a high school in Detroit for one school year from 1876 to 1877.
6.
Mary Rippon joined the University of Colorado faculty in January 1878.
7.
In 1887, at age thirty-seven, Mary Rippon met Will Housel, a student in her German class, who was then twenty-five.
8.
When she became pregnant, Mary Rippon took a year off from teaching and went to Europe, secretly marrying Housel in St Louis on the way.
9.
Mary Rippon provided financial support to Miriam and Housel, even after he remarried.
10.
Mary Rippon occasionally visited her daughter, but Miriam believed Mary Rippon was her aunt.
11.
Mary Rippon's family remained a secret, even while Miriam taught at the University of Colorado.
12.
The Mary Rippon Theatre, located on CU's campus, hosts the annual Colorado Shakespeare Festival each summer.
13.
In 1985, Mary Rippon was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame.
14.
Mary Rippon was awarded posthumous honorary doctorate from the University of Colorado in May 2006.