Calva Watson Wootton (1886 – August 3, 1961) is an American educator and one of the five founders of the national sorority Alpha Sigma Alpha.[1][2]
Early life
Calva Watson was born in on the Woodland plantation near Crewe in Nottoway County, Virginia.[1][3][2] Her parents were Josephine and Meredith Watson, a lawyer, judge, and chairman of the Nottoway County Republican Party.[1][4][3] Her father died in 1893 and her mother followed in 1913.[3][5]
Wootton's family affectionately called her "Pig".[2] Wootton loved sports and would often go hunting birds with the men.[2] She had three sisters, Rebekah Watson Sutton, Hilary Watson Rolall, and Lois Waton Royal, and three brothers, H. Hunter Watson, M. Leon Watson, and congressman Walter Allen Watson.[6][7][8][9][3]
She was educated by private tutors before attending Farmville State Female Normal School, now Longwood University.[2][1] On November 15, 1901, Wootton was one of the five women who started Alpha Sigma Alpha sorority.[2] She also served as the sorority's historian and secretary and participated in campus literary societies and language clubs.[2][10] She graduated from college in June 1905.[11]
Career
After college, she became a teacher in a one-room school Sheppards, Virginia.[12][2] She continued to teach in Petersburg after her marriage.[1]
Personal life
She married Percy Walton Wootton of Petersburg, Virginia on April 25, 1917, at her sister's home in Richmond, Virginia.[1][6][13] Wootton was a farmer and a wholesale seed and fertilizer salesman.[2] The couple lived in Petersburg at 2020 Matoax Avenue.[1][14] They did not have children.[2]
She was raised a Presbyterian but was a member of the First Baptist Church of Petersburg.[14][3] In 1957, she was one of the founders of Alpha Sigma Alpha honored when a plaque was decidated at Longwood College.[15][16]
