D. ANNA SPEER.
The public owes much to the teachers who have made a life work of their chosen profession. While the teaching profession is used to some extent as a stepping-stone to something supposedly higher and better, or as an opportunity on the part of young people to earn some money in preparation for embarking in some other vocation, there are in the ranks of the profession a considerable number of efficient and painstaking educators who through a deep and abiding love of the work of teaching the youth of the land and a desire to advance themselves high in their profession, have made themselves indispensable members of the community, and have shown by application and actual practice that they are fitted above the rank and file to hold executive positions. D. Anna Speer, county superintendent of schools for Atchison county, is a capable and successful educator whose marked ability has received due recognition from the people of the community in which she was reared.
Miss D. Anna Speer.
She was born in Atchison county, a daughter of Joseph and Mary (Fountain) Speer. Her father, Joseph Speer, was born March 4, 1834, in Leesville, Ind., and was the son of Andrew and Dicie (Kirby) Speer, both natives of Kentucky. Miss Speer’s mother was a daughter of Stephen Fountain and Mary (Clark) Fountain, natives of North Carolina. The ancestors on the side of each parent were pre-Revolutionary colonists of Virginia and the Carolinas. The Speers were among the earliest settlers of Kentucky and the great-great-grandfather of Miss Speer on the maternal side was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Joseph and Mary Speer were married in Indiana and came west in 1859, settling on a farm near Muscotah in the spring of 1860. Mr. Speer invested in a partly improved farm of 160 acres on which they lived until old age required that they leave the farm for a town home in Muscotah. During the Civil war Mr. Speer served in the Kansas State militia and took part in the expedition against the Price invasion. Joseph Speer died March 5, 1900. His wife was born in September, 1833, and departed this life June 19, 1909. To them were born six sons and three daughters: William F., who resides on the home farm; Mrs. Mary J. Long, of Fowler, Kan.; Andrew, present county commissioner and farmer residing near Muscotah; James R., one of the pioneer settlers of Guthrie, Okla.; John W., a farmer of Morrison, Okla.; George T., a resident of Guthrie, Okla., and auditor of the Arkansas Lumber Company; D. Anna; Jesse A., engaged in the livery business at Medford, Okla.; Sadie E., wife of E. S. Woodworth, of Muscotah, a son of Major Woodworth. The Speers are a family of pioneers and are found to be leading citizens of their respective communities. Joseph and Mary Speer reared their large family of children to become useful and influential members of society and God-fearing men and women. Before death called them to the eternal rest they had the satisfaction of seeing the county where their earliest and most arduous labors had been accomplished grow to become a prosperous and populous community.
D. Anna Speer was educated in the rural school of her home neighborhood and the Muscotah public school. She completed a teachers’ course in Campbell College and was graduated, receiving a life diploma from the State Normal College at Emporia, Kan., in 1893. She then taught school for a number of years. During the summer vacations she did post-graduate work in the University of Chicago, Kansas University and Colorado College, at Colorado Springs, Colo., and received the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1911.
She entered the University of California at Berkeley and received the degree of Master of Arts in 1913. Miss Speer is self-educated, having worked her way through college and university while teaching school to earn money for tuition and expenses. She began her teaching career with a few years’ service in the rural schools and in 1893 became a teacher in the Effingham County High School, where she taught continuously for seventeen years. She was then an instructor for two years in the State Normal School at Emporia, Kan., after which she spent one year as a student in the University of California. After receiving her degree from the University of California she served as instructor in Grass Valley, Cal., High School. This was a delightful experience in one of the most beautiful spots on the globe, but she returned home, and on July 1, 1915, entered upon her new duties as county superintendent of public instruction of her home county. That she will make a success of her work is assured.
Miss Speer is affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal church, the Eastern Star lodge and is a member of the County and State Teachers’ associations, and is a member of the National Educational Association. She is a deep and capable student: a thorough and progressive educator, who is familiar with the most advanced methods of teaching and is destined to achieve marked success in her present important position.