Martha Pike King
 

"STRENGTH OF CHARACTER, A CHAMPION FOR EDUCATION, AN INSPIRATION TO ALL, THIS IS MARTHA P. KING"

     On February 22, 1902, at Fort Meyer, Virginia, Martha Agnes Pike was born to Lt. and Mrs. Emory J. Pike.  Her father was a graduate of West Point Academy and was to distinguish himself in a military career that ended in World War I.  For his later gallantry, Lt. Col. Pike was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously.  As next of kin, the medal was presented to Martha.  As a result of her father's illustrious military career, Martha personally knew such great men a General Pershing, General Wainwright, and President Taft.  One might have expected such a fitting tribute for a descendant of Zebulon Pike of Pike's Peak fame.

     Martha's early life and education cannot be so easily stated, nor can the courage needed to become a champion for the noble cause of education be minimized.  Her frequent moves, because of her father's military career, made her formal education haphazard at best, yet she succeeded.  She did not enter high school until she was 16 years old.  Conditioned upon passing all of her high school classes by the fall, she would graduate from high school.  She succeeded, and in September 1920 graduated and entered Drake University.  After transferring to Ohio University, she completed college in 1924.

     With a teaching goal, Martha taught in the Cleveland, Ohio, school and then ventured westward to Clifton, Arizona, where she taught for one year and was dismissed because she met and married Ralph King.  Strict rules in the 1920s forbade married women from teaching.  Martha did not teach again until the beginning of World War II when the teacher shortage dictated change.  By this time, Ralph and Martha had moved from Jerome, Arizona, to Boulder City, Nevada. Martha notes that teaching came easy.  Her first year she taught six classes a day, kept the school accounts, manned the ticket booth at all school events, handled the correspondence for the 10th anniversary of the Boulder Dam, and taught adult education classes two nights a week.  She quickly became a champion for education.

     For her labors, she was recognized by her peers as the outstanding teacher for Clark County in 1967.  Martha helped organize the Boulder City C.T.A. and received the C.C.C.T.A. Distinguished Service Award.  She helped organize the Business Social Studies Council.  While these activities exemplify the sense of purpose of life of Martha P. King, she never lost sight of her responsibility to her family and cared for an ailing husband, mother, and eldest son until her work here was completed.

     Martha P. King exemplifies what is right and wonderful about a productive and useful life.  She has earned the respect of her peers; the students who learned from her character, strength, and courage; and from civic and political leaders across the nation.  Martha P. King is an educator as we would want educators to be.  We salute Martha P. King by offering her the highest award the Clark County School District can bestow on a community member- her name placed on this beautiful facility.  Her legacy will remain forever as our benchmark for honor, success, and inspiration to all who walk these halls.