Lalla Odom

A devoted elementary school teacher who would eventually have an elementary school named after her, Lalla Odom was born in 1874 and earned her B.A. degree at the age of seventeen in 1891. She continued her education at Waco Female College and Baylor University before she enrolled in the Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati. Her degree from the Conservatory led directly to a position as a teacher of music and mathematics at Willie Halsell College in Vineta, Oklahoma.

After meeting and marrying her husband, Edgar Odom, they moved around and lived all over Texas and Oklahoma before settling in Austin in 1917. Around the same time there was a population boom in Austin, and she was quickly hired to teach at Metz Elementary School. It was unknown at the time of her hiring that she was married and at the end of the school year she was told that the policies of the Board of Education did not allow teachers to be employed if they were married. Fortunately, a superintendent was in her corner and helped to fight the discriminatory regulation and the Board reversed the ruling, making her the first married woman to get a permanent teaching contract in Austin, breaking that barrier for other married women to follow.  

The Allen Junior High was the first junior high school in Texas and Odom was named to head the department of mathematics there. In order to better prepare herself and her professional skills she returned to school, earning her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at the University of Texas, with additional graduate courses in education, government, and English.  

Odom was also active in professional organizations such as the Classroom Teachers Association, Texas State Teachers Association, the National Education Association, and in 1929 she became one of the founding members of the Delta Kappa Gamma International Society (DKG). She brought her experience as a junior high school teacher of mathematics and the desire to banish the discrimination against women in the teaching profession to each of these groups. At this time there was a long-standing custom prohibiting women from meeting as professionals, however the DKG believed in organizing in a way for women who were educators to assist each other in their efforts to become better teachers. The group extended membership to both rural and urban teachers at all levels of education, making weekend trips to the surrounding area to recruit new members. To this day DKG members work together to improve professional preparation, recognize women’s work in teaching, and fund scholarships to those who need support to improve their professional skills.

During the years 1929-1933, Odom was corresponding secretary for the state-national organization and during 1931 and 1932 she was chairman of the Committee on Constitution. Other national committees on which she worked included the Committee for Legislation from 1942-1948 and again from 1952-1956, the Committee for Editing the Constitution from 1956-1958, and she represented the Founders on the National Planning Committee from 1948-1952, as well as the Administrative Board from 1958-1960.

Lalla Odom died on April 14, 1964, in her home and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Austin.