Little is known about Alice Spencer Geddes' early life as per her own design; the author and educator was known to reject any questions on the subject leaving it shrouded in mystery. Alice Spencer Geddes was born in
Athol, Massachusetts, on November 13, 1876, to parents William E. Geddes and Ella Mary Bowker Geddes. The family would end up moving to Boston not five years later, where they would stay until Alice Geddes would move to New Hampshire in 1914. She would later study at
Radcliffe College dropping out twice; the first in 1896 and the second in 1900. In 1898 Alice would begin working as a journalist for the
Cambridge Chronicle, publishing a supplement to the newspaper titled ''Woman's Column
, the first of which would be included in the November 26, 1898 edition. The article would receive such positive response from both readers and the editors alike that the Woman's Column
would become a permanent supplemental section in the newspaper titled The Woman's Chronicle,
curating content made by women and for women.'' In 1903 she purchased the publication
The Cambridge Press, partnering with two friends to give the publication a drastic update and aggressively marketing it to provide a "frank and free criticism" of events of local interest. It would be during this time that she would meet Andrew Lloyd, the then advertising manager of
The Cambridge Press, and the pair would later marry on February 16, 1914. Conflicts with the citizens and local leadership in Gilmanton influenced the decision of the Lloyds to move and by the fall of 1915 they had moved to Ivis,
Knott County, Kentucky, with the goal of improving social and economic conditions. Their initial work involved provision of health care, educational services, and agricultural improvements to the
Appalachian region, funded by donations from
East Coast states. Together with
June Buchanan, a native of
Syracuse, New York, whose host
Ralph Edwards made a direct fund-raising plea on her school's behalf, resulting in a large influx of donations which totaled nearly $250,000. In 1997, the college's director of marketing and communications at the time, Stephen Reed, told a journalist, "We've still got people on our mailing and donor list who saw the show." A statue of Lloyd was dedicated on October 10, 2009, during a ceremony at the college. In 2013 Alice Spencer Geddes Lloyd was resurrected by the Kentucky Humanities Council's Kentucky
Chautauqua program, an educational dramatization centered around Kentuckians who have made valuable contributions. ==References==