Outstanding Women of New Brighton: Rosa Mae Willis Alford

Rosa Alford was born on February 1, 1912, in Clarksdale, Mississippi to Hezekiah and Carrie Willis.

A bright student, she was encouraged and supported by her parents to pursue a goal in higher education. She accomplished this goal by graduating in 1947 from Tuskegee University with a degree in Home Economics. The president of the school at the time was Booker T. Washington, and Dr. George Washington Carver, a scientist and inventor, was a professor.

To earn money for tuition, Rosa worked as a skilled technician repairing the training planes used by the Tuskegee Airmen cadets. These African-American men exhibited their bravery while flying as a unit in World War II. She has been honored as the only female whose name is inscribed in perpetuity on the Tuskegee Airmen Memorial located in the Sewickley Cemetery.

After graduating, she found a teaching position in Easton, Maryland. It was here she met her future husband, William J. Alford from New Brighton and the couple settled in his hometown.

Rosa’s first job in New Brighton was with The Lighthouse for the Blind. In mid-1950 she was hired by the New Brighton School Board as the first African-American teacher. She taught in the Home Economics Department.

Reaching another goal, she received a Master’s Guidance Counseling Degree from Michigan State University in 1960. With this degree, she began her position as Guidance Counselor at the Beaver Falls High School. She held that position until her retirement. During her career, she also taught at The Christian School in Beaver Falls.

She was a life-long member of the National NAACP, the Schomburg Society for the Preservation of Black Culture, New York, and the Southern Poverty Law Center in Alabama, and has received numerous honorary awards for her service throughout the years. An avid traveler, she visited many European countries, Israel, China, and Africa. She also toured the United States.

She passed away in 2011 at the age of 98. She had no children and is buried in Sylvania Hills in Rochester.

(Some information courtesy of Milestone)