Ida Brewington Pittman Papers (MS-00243)

Ida Brewington Pittman was born on May 10, 1893 and raised in Macon, Missouri. She studied art and music at the State Teachers College in Kirksville, Missouri. After graduating college she became a music teacher in Centralia, Missouri. In 1915, Brewington accepted a high school teaching position in Tonopah, Nevada where she met her future husband Vail Montgomery Pittman. As a teacher, Brewington organized the first orchestra and chorus in the Tonopah schools. In her spare time she learned how to shoot a variety of guns, and she later won Tonopah's First Turkey Shoot for Women.

Brewington married Vail Pittman on May 20, 1919 in Reno, Nevada. The couple moved to Ely, Nevada on April 1, 1920 and established the Ely Daily Times. It was here that she acquired the nickname "Liz." She assumed many of the responsibilities for the couple's publishing enterprises. Vail Pittman played an active role in Nevada politics. He served in the Senate of the Nevada Legislature from 1925-1929. In 1942, he was elected Lieutenant Governor and became Governor in 1945. The couple sold their newspaper holdings in 1951 and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada where they resided until Vail Pittman died in 1964.

Ida Pittman traveled extensively after her husband's death, joining the Travelers Century Club, an organization open only to those who have visited one hundred countries and island groups. During her travels, Pittman toured Ethiopia, the Fiji Islands, and the South Pole. Ida Pittman died October 11, 1984 at the age of 91 in Chula Vista, California, and was buried next to her husband at Mountain View Cemetery in Reno, Nevada.