Ann Brewington was born in Clarence, Missouri, on July 22, 1889. Her parents thought a woman’s place was in the home, so she did not attend college after graduating from high school. She worked for coal mining companies for seven years. Perhaps it was when she saved up enough or grew tired of the work she was doing that she enrolled at State Teacher’s College (now Truman State) in Kirksville, Missouri.
1920 yearbook
She was a member of the Alpha Beta Chapter of Alpha Sigma Alpha. The sorority’s 1918 convention, elected Brewington as editor of The Phoenix of Alpha Sigma Alpha.
After leaving Kirksville, she earned a Bachelor’s in philosophy and a Master’s at the University of Chicago. She joined the faculty at the University of Chicago in 1923 and worked there for 31 years. For 16 of the summers at Chicago she taught summer sessions around the country. She retired from the institution in 1954.
Brewington authored several books including Direct-method materials for Gregg shorthand and Lessons plans for teaching Gregg shorthand by the direct method.
LA Times, June 1, 1931 National Education Association meeting
Her younger sister Ida Brewington Pittman, also an Alpha Sigma Alpha, was the the First Lady of Nevada. That may have been why Brewington moved to Nevada after she left Chicago. She helped established the School of Business at the University’s Southern Regional Division when the branch was founded at Las Vegas in 1954. She retired again, this time from the University of Nevada in Las Vegas at the age of 70.
In 1981, Brewington became a “Distinguished Nevadan” for her work with the University of Nevada in Las Vegas. The UNLV archives includes a collection of items she donated.
Imperial Beach Star-News (Imperial Beach, CA), June 18, 1981
At her 98th birthday (Courtesy of the UNLV collection)
Brewington died on August 21, 1993 at the age of 104.
