Beloved CSUEB alumna, Ida Cotton, passes away

• November 2, 2011 5:00am

Beloved CSUEB alumna Ida Cotton '10 passed away peacefully in her sleep on October 6 in Oakland. She was 86 years old.

Cotton fulfilled her dream of obtaining an education when she graduated with a master's degree in counseling and gerontology from Cal State East Bay at the age of 85.Miss Ida – as she was known around campus- endeared herself to all students when she lived the last three years of her degree program in Pioneer Heights student housing. Her plight to find housing after graduation was covered by CBS-5 (KPIX).

"I was always interested in reading, knowing about more than I did know," Cotton said. She born to sharecroppers in the South during the Great Depression and worked around her school schedule to help her struggling family. After working the 11pm to 7am shift killing and cleaning chickens, Cotton still attended high school classes at 9am.

When her husband died in 1977, and with her children grown, she found an opportunity to return to school and pursue her education regardless of being at the age of 51.Cotton was the first one in her immediate family with the opportunity to go to college, and wasn’t willing to let her education go to waste. She shared her inspiring story on the "Bay Area People” KTVU Channel 2 television program in July 2010. 

Miss Ida was a living example of how there is no time limit when it comes to pursuing one’s dreams.

Her daughter has requested that anyone wishing to honor her mother should make a donation in Ida Cotton’s memory. 

To donate online: select Unrestricted Scholarships, and type “In memory of Ida Cotton” in the special instructions section.  

To donate by check: Donors should make a check out to the Educational Foundation and write “Scholarships in memory of Ida Cotton” in the memo section. Mail checks to Education Foundation at California State University, East Bay, 25800 Carlos Bee Boulevard, Hayward, CA 94542 USA.

TG