Sue Eakin
September 17, 2009 (aged 90)
Historian
- Louisiana history
Personal life[edit]
Myrtle Sue Lyles was born on December 7, 1918, to Mary Myrtle Guy and Samuel Pickels Lyles. She was born just north of Cheneyville, Louisiana, in Lyles or Loyd Bridge. Her maternal and paternal families were early settlers in antebellum Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana.[2] When she was 12, she went to a plantation and was given Twelve Years a Slave written by Solomon Northup to read while her father visited with the owner. She was fascinated by the story.[3]
In 1941, she married Paul Mechlin Eakin from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and they settled in Bunkie, Louisiana. They had five children, Russell, Paul, Sara, Sam, and Frank.[2]
Education[edit]
Eakin graduated from Lecompte High School, as well as Louisiana State University (LSU).[2]
She began commuting to LSU at the age of 42 to earn her master's degrees.[4] Eakin was awarded a fellowship by the American Association of University Women and received a master's degree in history from LSU in 1964.[2] Her thesis was about Solomon Northup.[3] The next year, she was awarded a degree in journalism. She received a doctorate in history in 1980 from the University of Southwestern Louisiana.[2]
Later years and death[edit]
After she retired, she continued to write about history.[2] In 2007 she published her definitive version of Twelve Years a Slave, which benefited from source information made available over the previous 40 years.[3]
She died at her home in Bunkie, Louisiana, on September 17, 2009. Funeral services were held at the Trinity Episcopal Church in Cheneyville.[2] She was interred at the church cemetery.[4]