Thelma Mothershed-Wair, Little Rock Nine member, dies at 83
Thelma Mothershed-Wair, the oldest member of the Little Rock Nine Students who desegregated Little Rock Central High School in 1957, passed away at 83 years old due to complications from multiple sclerosis.
ST. LOUIS - Thelma Mothershed-Wair, the oldest member of the Little Rock Nine Students, passed away at 83 years old on Saturday.
Mothershed-Wair became a national hero as one of the nine African American students involved in the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas in 1957. She died Saturday at a hospital in Little Rock due to complications from multiple sclerosis.
Mothershed had connections to the St. Louis area as she received a master's degree from SIUE and taught in the East St. Louis School District for 28 years, serving as an Home Economics teacher and a counselor for elementary career education.
Mothershed is the second member of the Little Rock Nine to pass away after Jefferson Thomas, who passed away in 2010.
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