Papers of Clara Fish Roberts

Born September 3, 1876 in Tucson, Arizona, to Edward Nye Fish, a merchant and landowner, and Maria Wakefield Fish, a teacher, Fish was the first student to matriculate (enter) at the University of Arizona in 1891, where she later became a founding member of the University’s alumni association in 1897, the only woman in the graduating class of 3. Before attending the University of Arizona, Fish attended Mills College in Oakland, California, until health problems compelled her to return to Tucson. At the University of Arizona, Fish studied mining (one of only two majors, alongside agriculture. Although she did not graduate with the first UA class, she eventually graduated with a B.S. in 1897. She began teaching as a substitute in Tucson area public schools before becoming the principal of the Congress Street School. In 1903, she became a teacher at Northern Arizona Normal School in Flagstaff (now Northern Arizona University). In 1905 she returned to Tucson to take care of her mother. That same year she married Frederick Carlyle Roberts, a civil engineer. In 1917 she became the first woman elected to the Tucson School Board. She served a three-year term, and was president of the board for two of those years. She also fought for Old Main when University President Dr. Alfred Atkinson wanted to destroy it. Fish was also active in many Tucson area organizations including Daughters of the American Revolution, the League of Women Voters, the Tucson Women’s Club, the American Association of University Women, and the Arizona Pioneers’ Historical Society. In 1959 she moved to Sherman, Texas, where she died on October 26, 1965 at the age of 89.