Lydia Ocello Papers

Collection

Identifier: MSS-472

Scope and Content Note

This collection consists of photographs of Lydia Pigott and classmates Polly Milburn, Sarah Young, Harriet Goodrich, Gladys Hamilton, Lucille Wilson, Marvel Milliken, Elsie Dwyer, and Blanche Redus; mementoes from several classmates; Pigott's basketball letter; Pigott's 1922 teacher's contract; and a letter from Pigott to Alfred Thomas Jr. reflecting on her time at TNS, which she recalls as happy, and discussing her life as a para-legal secretary after graduation.

Dates

Creation: circa 1921-1922, 1974

Creator

Ocello, Lydia Catherine Pigott Ostland, 1902-1978 (Person)

Access Restrictions

To view this collection, make an appointment at least five business days prior to your visit by contacting Ask an Archivist. Appointments in the Wurzburger Reading Room at Hayden Library (rm. 138) on the Tempe campus are available Tuesday through Thursday, from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Check the ASU Library Hours page for current availability.

Copyright

Arizona State University does not own copyright to this collection. University Archives recognizes that it is incumbent upon the researcher to procure permission to publish information from this collection from the owner of the copyright.

Biographical Note

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Lydia Catherine Pigott was born to Edward Pigott (1872-1967) and Lydia Catherine (Sauer) Pigott Lewis (1876-1974) on August 24, 1902 in Negaunee, Michigan. She had one sister, Dorothy Margaret (Pigott) Reeves (1909-1977). The family moved to Bisbee, Arizona in the 1910s, where Edward Pigott worked as an electrician for a mining company.

Lydia Pigott graduated from Tempe Normal School in 1922. During breaks in high school and college, she worked for Judge Fred Sutter, who was a practicing lawyer prior to being elected to the Arizona State Legislature in 1927. She moved to Los Angeles, California between 1928 and 1929, where she became a para-legal secretary. During World War II, Lydia worked for the U.S. Attorney's Office interviewing and issuing permits to foreign nationals residing in the United States. She retired in 1969 as the secretary to the chief probate attorney in one of LA's largest law offices.

Pigott married Lawrence M. Ostland on November 16, 1923 in Denver, Colorado. The couple was separated by 1930 and divorced by 1940. She remarried to Paul Ocello in 1941 in California and died in Los Angeles on December 27, 1978.