Alma S. Metcalf (b. Stone) (1828-1896) was born in Oxford, Massachusetts, and died in Chicago, Illinois. She married Thomas Metcalf, a professor, in Sherborn, Massachusetts, in 1851, and by 1870 they were living in Normal, Illinois. Alma Metcalf was healed using Christian Science treatment through prayer by Sarah F. Bickford, a student of Mary Baker Eddy, and first studied Christian Science with M. Bettie Bell, another student of Eddy, around 1887. Metcalf then became a student of Eddy herself, completing the Primary class in February 1889 and the Normal class in May 1889. She became a member of the Christian Scientist Association in March 1889, and she was also a member of the National Christian Scientist Association. Metcalf joined The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 31, 1892, and she was also a member of a Christian Science branch church in Bloomington, Illinois. Many of her family members were also members of the church, including her brother-in-law Albert Metcalf (who also served a term as president), his wife Mary C. Metcalf, their daughter Mary M. Neal (b. Metcalf), and Mary's husband James A. Neal, who had been in the same Primary class as Alma. Metcalf was listed in the directory of The Christian Science Journal as a Christian Science practitioner and teacher in Normal from 1890 to 1894 and in Chicago in 1896.

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