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MONTY F. COTTINGHAM
Vol. 3, p. 1099

The rural problem-i.e. the problem of maintaining in our farm and
village communities a Christian civilization with modern American
ideas of happiness, efficiency and progress-is the fundamental
question Prof. Monty F. COTTINGHAM is assisting to solve by devoting
his schoolroom time to its many angles. It is an established fact
that the rural school is the foundation stone of our educational
system, and it is therefore, to the rural school that the rural
problem must go. Character is taught both in the home and in the
school, and it is character that Professor Cottingham seeks to
implant in his students, feeling that this quality in the years to
come will bring about the realization of the importance of a rural
civilization.

For eight years Mr. Cottingham has given his time and energies to
the teaching of rural schools in Texas and Oklahoma, and at the
present time is superintendent of the Wade schools with four teachers
under his direction. During the summer months he attends the summer
school of the Southeastern State Normal School of Durant, in order to
keep in touch with the educational brotherhood and to note the
various advances constantly being made in the profession.

Monty F. Cottingham comes of pioneer Texas parentage and was born in
Collin County, Texas, at Graybill, January 28, 1887. His parents. P.
and Theodosia (WHITE) Cottingham, natives of Alabama and Texans for
forty years, settled first in Red River County, Texas, where the
father was engaged in farming until his removal to Collin County in
the same state. There he also followed farming for many years, and
won success through able management and constant industry. He married
in Collin County Miss Theodosia White, and they became the parents of
five children, as follows: Artie, who became the wife of Dr. L. W.
WATKINS, a practicing physician of Leonard, Texas; Nettie, who became
the wife of John LEAGUE, now of Albany, Oklahoma; Vernon, who is a
resident of Eastern Texas; Monty F., of this review; and Oma, who is
the wife of Guy THOMPSON of Leonard, Texas.

The paternal grandfather of Professor Cottingham was a soldier in
the Confederate army with three of his sons. Professor Cottingham was
educated in the common schools of Texas, and was graduated from the
East Texas Normal College with the degree of Bachelor of Science in
1909. In securing his normal course, Mr. Cottingham taught school
during the winter months in order that he might secure the means to
pursue his studies in the summer, making a specialty of mathematics.
Since he has been teaching, however, history has grown more important
in his mind, and at present Oklahoma history occupies a foremost
place among his favorite departments of research. Professor
Cottingham came to Oklahoma in 1911, and immediately began to devote
himself to the teaching of the rural youth. In 1914 he was elected to
fill the superintendency of the Wade schools, and in 1915 was re-
elected to succeed himself in that position. In his school career he
has seen his salary advanced from $40 to $100 a month. He is a
general favorite with teachers, pupils and parents, and possesses not
only that rare faculty of being able to impart his own broad
knowledge to others, but has also executive and business ability of a
high order. With such qualifications, he should rise much higher in
his chosen vocation.

In 1906 Professor Cottingham was married to Miss Lorena BLANKENSHIP,
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. T. Blankenship, and to this union there
have been born four children. In addition to his labors as an
educator, Mr. Cottingham has also been busily engaged in ministerial
work, being a minister in the Missionary Baptist Church. He began to
preach when only twenty years of age, and has preached in various
communities, where he has always made a favorable impression, being a
concise, convincing and forceful speaker. He is at present serving as
clerk of the First Bryan County Baptist Association. As a politician,
he is a stanch democrat, and uses his influence for the advancement
of good citizenship and clean government.

Typed for OKGenWeb by: Dorothy Marie Tenaza, November 24, 1998.