Source: Waxhaw's History - Union County Historical Society

For many years, Ella Mae King Alston stood at the front of a Union County classroom, helping generations of children take their first steps into reading, writing and learning.

Born in Union County on April 6, 1906, Ella Mae was the daughter of William King and Elizabeth Cunningham King. In 1927, she married Dr. Charles Macon Alston, a respected Monroe dentist and community leader. Yet Ella Mae built a meaningful legacy of her own through education.

A 1943 newspaper listing places Ella Mae in a first-grade classroom alongside fellow teacher Annie Chresfield. She later appeared among the faculty of Winchester Avenue School, Monroe’s school for Black students during segregation. Ella Mae was a professional educator who spent years teaching Union County children during an era when Black schools operated with fewer resources and opportunities.

Her influence cannot be measured simply by titles or newspaper headlines. It lived in the children who entered her classroom, the lessons she taught and the families who trusted her with their youngest students.

Ella Mae died on April 17, 1989, at the age of 83. She was laid to rest beside her husband in Hillcrest Cemetery in Monroe.