Nellie Pratt Russell

        Nellie Pratt was born on May ?4, 1890 in Macon, Georgia.  In 1907, 
she entered the College of Arts and Sciences of Howard University and was at 
once confronted with and intrigued by the discussion taking place among 
upper-class women with regard to the establishment of a sorority.  She became 
an initiate of Alpha Kappa Alpha in the latter part of her sophomore year, 
Nellie Pratt, Mabel Gibson, Lena Jenkins, Ruth Gilbert, Mary Clifford, and 
Ella Albert Brown were the first group of women initiated into the sorority.  
She remembers the thrill and pride of wearing her plain gold ivy pin.  Like her 
associates, Nellie Pratt was deeply committed to the volunteer activities 
sponsored by the sorority, and with other members of the sorority worked in 
different sections of Washington, distributing food and clothing to the needy
        She graduated from Howard University with a Bachelor of Arts degree 
in English in 1911. Her first appointment was as an English and history 
teacher at Topeka Normal and Industrial School, Topeka Kansas.  She remained 
in Topeka until her father's death in Macon in 1913.  Then, in order to be 
nearer to her mother, she secured an appointment in Lawrenceville, Virginia, 
at St. Paul's Normal and Industrial School (now Saint Paul's College).  She 
taught English at St. Paul's for 50 years.
        In the same year (1913), she met and married her husband, the late 
Dr. J. Alvin Russell, president of St. Paul's College, a position which he 
held for many years.
        The Russells had four sons and one daughter.  Even so, Mrs. Russell 
found time to attend Columbia University and earn the Master of Arts degree.
        As the years passed, more and more faculty members arrived at the 
college wearing ivy leaf pins.  The group organized around Mrs. Russell and 
sought to further the cause of Alpha Kappa Alpha.  Their first project was to 
encourage scholarship through the establishment of honor roll teas.  By 1949,
there were enough interested women at St. Paul's to form a new chapter, 
Gamma Lambda Omega.  Mrs. Russell served this chapter as basileus, grammateus,
epistoleus and historian.  She also served as advisor to Alpha Upsilon 
Chapter, the undergraduate chapter on the campus of St. Paul's College.
        With her associates in Gamma Lambda Omega, Mrs. Russell established a
scholarship loan fund for undergraduate students, supplied milk to indigent 
children in local elementary schools, and initiated a clean-up week on campus.
Gamma Lambda Omega members also worked with the Red Cross.
        Mrs. Russell's daughter and three of her daughters-in-law are also 
members of Alpha Kappa Alpha.  James, her oldest son, was president of St. 
Paul's College from 1971 until his retirement in 1981.
        In 1969, Mrs. Russell received a plaque from her chapter for 
outstanding service to the sorority, and that same year she was elected 
"Mother of the Year" by the local chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity She 
received several other awards.  One of the buildings on St. Paul's campus 
was named in honor of Mrs. Nellie Pratt Russell and Dr. J. Alvin Russell.  
She was similarly honored by the local chapter of the Student Virginia 
Education Association - Student National Education Association (SVEA-SNEA) 
which bears her name.  An annual scholarship award was established at St. 
Paul's College in recognition of her service to the school.
        Nellie Pratt Russell died on December 13, 1979 in Lawrenceville at 
the home of her son and daughter-in-law, Dr. James and Soror Lottye W Russell.
She is buried in Lawrenceville.