Katharine Ferris Nutt

Retired university professor and Tucson resident Dr. Katharine Ferris Nutt passed away at home on September 27, 2019 at the age of 99. Dr. Nutt was born and raised in Wakefield, MA and graduated from Mary Washington College in 1942. She began her teaching career in MA but after five years she moved to Cliff, NM and taught high school before entering the University of New Mexico for graduate study with a concentration in Latin American studies. She spent three years in Albuquerque and a Soroptimist Scholarship enabled her to spend a year doing research and living in Mexico City. Dissertations and orals completed; she was one of the first women to receive a doctorate from the university in 1951. Initially Dr. Nutt worked as a social worker in New Mexico which she felt “rounded out her education” because in her protected life, she had not known poverty and its ramifications which she felt gave her a sense of compassion. She was notified of an opening at a college in Hays, Kansas and Fort Hays State (later the University of Kansas) needed some female doctorates as one of the “measures” to become a university. She was hired to teach history and was the first female in the department. She was also introduced to a new faculty woman and director of the Reading Clinic, Dr. Hulda Groesbeck and they formed an enduring forty-year friendship until her death in 2002.

While on the faculty of Fort Hays, Dr. Nutt was awarded a Fulbright Lectureship in India. She traveled around the country as well as to Nepal, Ceylon and home by way of Korea and Japan. Upon her return from India, she was recruited by Northern Arizona State University and she was a member of the faculty for 20 years. One of Dr. Nutt’s proudest accomplishments during her tenure at NAU was introducing the first course in women’s studies which has since evolved into a degree program. She influenced generations of students during her career as a history professor.

Reflecting on her career as an academic, Dr. Nutt once quipped that it was all about timing and that the initials after her name were more important than her teaching ability when she first started out. Women were paid less than their male colleagues, faculty members couldn’t marry and female faculty were expected to wear skirts and dresses. Dr. Nutt loved to tell the story about the dress code revolution. She felt that given the Flagstaff climate, women faculty should at least have the option to wear slacks. When she approached the university president, it was negotiated that if she could find three more women faculty members who wanted to wear slacks, then the dress code would be changed. And so, it was!

Dr. Nutt was an avid hiker who loved Flagstaff’s proximity to the Grand Canyon, Sedona, San Francisco peaks and the closeness to the Hopi and Navajo reservations. She purchased land in CO and summered in Fairplay for years, in cabins that she and Hulda built themselves.

Dr. Nutt lived a full life that spanned almost a century and as a trained historian, she never lost sight of the past as well as the present. As a student in the south in 1942, she encountered firsthand the injustice of racial discrimination. Her studies in Latin and Mexican history gave her tremendous sympathy for immigrants. Her experiences as a social worker and living abroad gave her insights into plights of others. During her year in India, she was immersed in the Indian culture and it profoundly impacted her own spiritual journey.

After “retiring” in 1982, Dr. Nutt traveled extensively throughout the world and was active with St Phillips in the Hills Episcopal Church, Adobe Corral of the Westerners, Desert Museum, Primavera Foundation and the Nature Conservancy. She wrote poetry, sang in local chorales, attended concerts and cheered on her beloved U of A basketball team. In 1992 she was honored by Mary Washington at her 50th reunion as its most accomplished graduate in her class. Later in her life she began a treasured affiliation with the Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in Tucson and in 2007 she became an Oblate which she said, “enabled me to regain my spiritual path and to know myself better than ever before.”

Dr. Nutt is survived by three nieces, two nephews and their families. A memorial service will be held on November 4th at 2:00 pm at St. Phillip’s in the Hills Episcopal Church. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Primavera Foundation, 151 W. 40th St., Tucson, AZ 85713