 Devastated, she threw herself into her school work and excelled in her studies.Alma had high hopes for her only child, and although Alma Carthan said that in her day "the girls had one ambition -- to get married", she had encouraged Mamie in her studies.Even though very few of Mamie's peers even finished high school, Mamie was the first black student to make the "A" Honor roll and only the fourth black student to graduate from the predominantly white Argo Community High School.