OLIA PITTS
Teacher
Olia Pitts came to Monroe in 1950 at age 24 for her first teaching job. She grew up on her daddy’s farm and graduated from Bentonville State University in North Carolina. At that time North Carolina was reluctant to hire inexperienced teachers, so she moved to Monroe for her first job at Fellowship School in Good Hope and married a year later. She was one of three teachers to teach black students in grades 1-7. During the time of integration in 1969, she came to work at Monroe Elementary and eventually went on to teach at Carver Middle School where she retired 51 years later. She raised four children (two children and two grandchildren). She’s 89 years old and still sharp as a tack.