Retired mathematics Professor Nola Haynes died this past winter, just 19 days before her 100th birthday on Jan. 9.
In her memory, the children and family of her late husband, Eli Stuart Haynes, former chair of the astronomy department, made a gift to the Nola Anderson Haynes Scholarship fund at MU. She married Professor Eli Stuart Haynes in 1938, and he died in 1956.
"I married a family," she told a reporter for Critical Points of life with her former professor. Eli Haynes had two nearly grown sons from his first marriage when he and Nola Anderson married. She was proud that her stepsons continued to telephone her regularly.
She was a member of Sigma Xi, Pi Lambda Theta and Pi Mu Epsilon honor societies and was included in the Smithsonian Institution's division of mathematics "American Women Who Received a PhD in Mathematics Before World War II." She was the recipient of the first College of Arts & Science Silver Chalk Award for contributions in teaching.
Dr. Haynes earned her bachelor's in education and her master's and doctoral degrees in mathematics from MU. She taught mathematics for 40 years, with 25 of those at MU. She also taught at Tulane University and at Central College for Women in Lexington.
Sarah Miller, who is the author of a biography on the MU professor, wrote: "Her professional achievements are impressive even by today's standards, which makes it even more remarkable that my great grandmother had received a PhD and was a professor of mathematics by 1930. She was able to succeed in a man's world because she did not focus on her gender disadvantage but instead went as far as she could."
Dr. Haynes was born on a farm in Linn County in 1897 and completed her early schooling in a one-room schoolhouse. She was one of a few PhDs during her time and one of the very few women to hold a PhD.
Dr. Haynes was past president of the Boone County League of Women Voters and was asked to run for the state presidency but declined because of the travel requirements. One of her best friends was Ruth Ellis, widow of MU's former president, Elmer Ellis. "We're just like teenagers," she once said of their friendship. "I love to talk."
Dr. Haynes said the modern department with its many faculty members is considerably different from the three-person department she remembered.