Coon, Edith M. (Edith Marion), 1889-1939

Edith Marion Coon was born on March 1, 1889 in Springfield, Massachusetts, the daughter of E. Brownell Coon. She graduated from Springfield High School and attended Mount Holyoke College from 1909-1913, where she majored in mathematics and physics. She was an instructor and reader in mathematics at Mount Holyoke from 1914-1916 and received a M.A. in mathematics from the College in 1916. That same year she left to teach at Women's Christian College in Madras, India, where she was the first American to serve on the school's staff. She worked there as a mathematics teacher, head of the Physics Department and Vice-Principal until her death in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) on June 1, 1939 at the age of fifty.

From the guide to the Coon Papers MS 0525., ca. 1913-1939., (Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections)

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