F OUNDER profile
On Nov. 15, 1901, Calva was one of the five women who dreamed of beginning their own sorority in Farmville, so that they could remain forever
Calva Watson Wootton B Y B A R B J . W I L L I A M S O N , ⌭⌭ National Historian Calva Watson Wootton, 〈, was born in Nottoway County, VA, to parents Josephine and Meredith Watson. Her father Meredith was a judge in Nottoway County and they lived on a plantation named Woodland, which was off Highway 360 near Crewe, VA. The Watsons were a well-thought-of family. Judge Watson was known as a true southern gentleman. Something you may not know about Calva is that her family called her by the nickname “Pig.” “She wanted us (her new extended family) to call her ‘Pig,’” said her niece, Ruth Wootton Fraker. “She was married to my uncle Percy. I had forgotten that her name was Calva!” Something else that you might not know about Calva is her love for sports. She also enjoyed a good hunt with the men. “They hunted birds. She was a good shot,” said Fraker. On Nov. 15, 1901, Calva was one of the five young women who dreamed of beginning their own sorority at Farmville State Female Normal School, so that they could remain forever joined together in the bonds of Greek sisterhood. She led Alpha Chapter in scholastic achievement and served as historian and secretary. It seems funny to think of a novice chapter creating the position of historian. How much history could they have accumulated in the span of one or two years? Yet, on the other hand, creating the position of historian so quickly shows our Founders’ faith in our sorority’s surviving over time and their understanding of SPRING 2008
the need to record everything for the benefit of future generations. She looked younger than her classmates and, despite her quiet demeanor, participated in the campus literary societies and language clubs. Calva went on to be one of the women who signed the charter for incorporation on Feb. 13, 1903. That was very powerful for those times. Women did not even have the right to vote in the United States until August 1920, yet the Founders of Alpha Sigma Alpha went through the court system, with the help of Judge George J. Hundley, Juliette Hundley’s father, and created the charter for incorporation for Alpha Sigma Alpha. In 1904, Calva graduated from Farmville State Female Normal School, now known as Longwood University, and became a teacher. She taught in a one-room school house in Virginia before marrying Percy W. Wootton on April 25, 1917 in Nottoway County. They made their home in Petersburg, VA. Percy was a wholesale seed and fertilizer farmer, running his own company. He traveled the area selling seed and fertilizer. “He was big, fat and jolly,” laughed Mrs. Fraker. “Calva continued teaching throughout her marriage,” commented Mrs. Fraker. Calva and Percy had no children of their own, but she loved her school children. “She loved children! She loved the ones she taught and claimed every one of them as her own,” said Fraker. Calva passed away on Aug. 3, 1961, at the age of 75, and is buried in Blandford Cemetery in Petersburg, VA.
joined together in the bonds of Greek sisterhood.
PHOENIX OF ALPHA SIGMa ALPHA
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