The state of Arizona has always been uniquely suited for adventurous men and women willing to think creatively and blaze new trails. This pioneering spirit is reflected in the lives of the following famous people. Some grew up in Arizona, others moved here later in life, and a few were just passing through, but they all left their mark on our state. Each of them was self‑educated or schooled at home.

John Wesley Powell (1834‑1902) was born with a keen interest in science and nature. Beginning in early childhood, he studied botany, zoology and geology without the aid of a teacher. As a youth, he went on many collecting and exploring trips throughout the Midwest. After serving in the Civil War, Powell became a museum curator and lecturer on natural history. In 1869, Powell embarked on his first voyage down the Colorado River to explore the Grand Canyon. Powell surveyed and mapped the region while naming many of its features.

John Muir (1838‑1914) was born in Scotland, but grew up in the backwoods of Wisconsin. From the age of 11 to 21 he worked on his father’s farm, where he developed a love for nature and animals. Muir received no formal schooling during this time but taught himself math, geometry, literature and philosophy. He became especially interested in poetry and botany. For a year during 1905‑1906, Muir lived in the Petrified Forest region of Arizona and wrote a letter to President Theodore Roosevelt asking him to protect it. Muir is also given credit for helping to save the Grand Canyon.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858‑1919) was taught at home as a child in New York. His parents offered him a wide choice of reading material and did not force him to study any particular books. Roosevelt also traveled extensively with his family. During the Spanish‑American War, Roosevelt was lieutenant colonel of the Rough Rider Regiment that contained about 200 men from Arizona including Bucky O'Neill, former mayor of Prescott. Between 1901 and 1919, President Roosevelt worked to preserve more than 170 million acres as national parks and monuments. Roosevelt’s legacy of preservation in Arizona includes the Grand Canyon National Monument, Montezuma Castle, Petrified Forest National Monument, Roosevelt Dam, Tonto National Monument and Tumacacori National Monument.

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867‑1959) was homeschooled at the kindergarten level by his mother, who took an active interest in his education. Although Wright never attended architecture school, he became America’s most famous architect. In 1939, he built Taliesin West in the foothills of the McDowell Mountains northeast of Scottsdale. Wright lived and worked there during the winter months for the next 20 years.

Sharlot Hall (1870‑1943) attended a couple of brief terms in a log‑and‑adobe schoolhouse four miles from her family’s Lynx Creek homestead, then boarded in Prescott for one year of school in town, but most of her schooling took place on the ranch. Largely self‑educated and highly literate, Sharlot was a poet and newspaper reporter as well as Territorial Historian, the first woman to hold a public office in Arizona.

Henry Fountain Ashurst (1874‑1962), one of Arizona’s first two U.S. Senators, was born into a pioneer ranching family. Ashurst briefly attended public school in Flagstaff, but most of his education was obtained from ranch hands of various backgrounds. His learning was enhanced by reading the classics. Ashurst was well known as a gifted and colorful orator who loved to quote Shakespeare. George F. Sparks, the editor of Ashurst’s diary, explained: “His real teachers were the centuries of eloquence, the classical writers whom he never tired of reading. ... From them he acquired the long view across the sea of politics, and the loving command of rich language that flowed through a lifetime of oratory.”

Ansel Adams (1902‑1984) was homeschooled as a child by his father and aunt. The boy’s studies included the English classics, Greek, algebra and field trips to the ocean, dunes and rocky beaches near San Francisco. One year, his daily visits to the Panama‑Pacific International Exposition provided a rich source of informal learning about the world. At age 12, Adams taught himself to play the piano and read music. Adams was also self‑taught in photography, a medium that he made into an art form. Adams traveled extensively around the Western United States including Arizona, where he photographed the Grand Canyon, Canyon de Chelly, Saguaro National Monument, San Xavier Del Bac and Hoover Dam. In 1975, Adams co‑founded the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona.

Sandra Day O’Connor (1930‑ ) was born to a ranching family. The isolated location of their cattle ranch near Duncan, Arizona, made formal education difficult. At first, O’Connor was taught at home by her mother. She read profusely, went on long nature walks and learned valuable lessons from everyday life. Then she was sent to a private school for girls in El Paso, Texas, where she received the majority of her education. O’Connor later acknowledged, however, that she would have rather spent her days “reading and riding” on the ranch. O’Connor went on to a long career in Arizona state government until1981 when she was appointed by President Ronald Reagan as the first woman justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Pat McMahon grew up in a show‑business family and was homeschooled on the road using Calvert School curriculum. McMahon starred in the “The Wallace and Ladmo Show,” which aired on KPHO‑TV from 1954 to 1989. He played a variety of characters, most notably Gerald, the spoiled rich kid. The one‑hour show was on five days a week for a record‑setting 35 years, the longest running locally produced children’s television show in history. Three generations of Arizona kids grew up with Wallace and Ladmo. The show’s fans included Steven Spielberg and Alice Cooper.