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.