Ida Freeman - UCO - Edmond, OK
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Max and 99
N 35° 39.415 W 097° 28.397
14S E 638198 N 3946970
A lovely sculpture of an important woman in Oklahoma history
Waymark Code: WMYVJW
Location: Oklahoma, United States
Date Posted: 07/28/2018
Views: 4
This beautiful sculpture of Ida Freeman was dedicated on July 27, 2018. It is located on the east side of Old North on the University of Central Oklahoma campus.
The sculpture of Ida Freeman sits atop a two-tiered foundation, reading a book as she would in her profession. She is looking at the book on her lap, reading to two children. She wears a dress with a brooch that appears to be a C and with a depiction of Old North. Below her on the lower tier is a young girl, looking up and touching Ida's skirt, watching the activity above. The little boy at the top is leaning against the woman, looking at the book while she reads. A plaque is attached to both sides of the top tier of the foundation.
The text on the plaque reads:
"Lighting the Path"
Ida Freeman (1877-1957)
From a one-room schoolhouse built shortly after the land run of 1889, followed by the territorial legislature's placement of the state's Normal School for the education of teachers, Edmond has grown to become a shining beacon of what is best in education.
Ida Freeman represents the thousands who have dedicated their lives to teaching, administering and providing services within Edmond's schools and universities. When Miss Freeman graduated from the Normal School in 1908, she'd already been teaching for a decade. Starting in a tiny rural school in 1898, Ida transferred to Edmond in 1905. Before retiring in 1941, Ida Freeman's strict but loving methods had helped three generations of Edmondites become knowledgeable, caring and engaged citizens, truly "Lighting the Path" for her students.
From the website of Ida Freeman Elementary School, named after the subject of this sculpture:
Miss Ida Freeman began her career in the teaching profession in 1898 in a one-room log school house near Wellston, Oklahoma. In the succeeding years Miss Freeman taught at Captain Creek, Woodlawn, Grant County and Mountain View schools. Miss Freeman came to Edmond in 1915 and served 26 years before retiring in 1941. More than 1,000 Edmondites have been in Miss Freeman’s fifth and sixth grades at Lowell school at which she served as teacher and principal. To this lady who spent more than 40 years in the classroom, Ida Freeman was dedicated by the citizens of Edmond and the Edmond Board of Education on October 9th, 1951.
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