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From: "Maggie Stewart" <>
Subject: [CO-ROOTS-L] BIO: MRS. ANNA WOLCOTT VAILE
Date: Mon, 30 Aug 1999 15:20:58 -0400


"History of Colorado", edited by Wilbur Fisk Stone, published by The S. J.
Clarke Publishing Co. (1918) Vol. II

p. 62-63
photo p. 61

MRS. ANNA WOLCOTT VAILE.

Mrs. Anna Wolcott Vaile, prominent in the educational field and
as an active worker for interests having to do with the welfare and
progress of community and state as well as with the uplift of the
individual, was born in Providence, Rhode Island, a daughter of the
Rev. Dr. Samuel and Harriet (Pope) Wolcott. Among the Wolcott ancestry
and others from whom she traces her lineage were those who were most
prominent in connection with the colonial history of New England. Her
brother, Edward O. Wolcott, was United States senator from Colorado and
another brother, Henry R. Wolcott, was for years one of the
distinguished leaders of the republican party in this state and is a
most highly esteemed citizen. By reason of his position as speaker pro
tem of the state senate he was called upon to perform the duties of the
chief executive as acting governor of Colorado.

On the 4th of January, 1913, Anna Wolcott became the wife of Joel
F. Vaile, a former law partner of E. O. White and one of the eminent
members of the American bar. He died in California, April 3, 1916.

Mrs. Vaile had been educated in Wellesley College, where she
prepared for that broad sphere of usefulness that has rounded out her
splendid career. She was principal of Wolfe Hall of Denver from 1892
until 1898 and in the latter year became the founder and the principal
of the Wolcott School for Girls in Denver, so continuing until 1913. In
1910 she was elected a regent of the State University of Colorado,
occupying that position until 1916. She has also been a director of the
School of American Archaeology and has at different periods served as
vice president of the Colorado Society of the American Institute of
Archaeology, as a director from Colorado of the General Federation of
Women's Clubs, as state president of the Colorado Society of Colonial
Dames, and as a member of the Civil Service Commission by appointment
of the governor, besides various positions in local societies. She has
been spoken of as "one of the most distinguished ladies of Colorado by
reason of her own merit and as a representative of a broad culture and
high ideals." A contemporary writer has said of her: "Anna Wolcott
Vaile needs no mere recital of distinguished family connections, for
her own life as a lady of gracious manner and prominence as an educator
give her an eminence that is her own."

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