Thelma Beeler (1904 - 1996)
M.A. in Education, ’57
Named to the Alumni Hall of Fame in 1991

(Text taken from the book From the Fort to the Future: Educating the Children of Kentucky)
A teacher for sixty-five years, Thelma Beeler has been both a witness to and a participant in the many changes in education in Kentucky. Beeler began teaching in 1922 in a two-room school at Mount Zion, near Shakertown. She spent twenty-nine years at Lafayette High School in Lexington teaching speech, drama, and English. In 1976, a remodeled auditorium was renamed in her honor. She received her teacher training at Eastern Kentucky State Teacher's College and later earned an A.B. from Asbury College and a masters degree from the University of Kentucky. Beeler's philosophy, and the message she has conveyed to thousands of Kentucky teenagers, is: "So live that you can live with yourself, and you will become a success in whatever endeavor you choose."

Thelma Beeler passed away on January 2, 1996.