1962 Award Winners

Biographies below were included in the program for the year listed here and were current as of that time.

Dr. William A. Black

Psychology Department Head

Kansas State College, Pittsburg

Hundreds of Kansas educators have had their preparation under the guidance of Dr. William A. Black, for the past fifteen years Head of the Department of Education and Psychology at Kansas State College, Pittsburg.

"Bill" Black received both the bachelor's and master's degrees from Kansas State Teachers College and the doctorate from the University of Colorado. He taught at Blue Mound High School, was superintendent at Uniontown, then taught at Fort Scott Junior College. He was an instructor at the University of Colorado for one year, then president of the Pueblo Junior College for three years . For two years he was director of Junior Colleges and Curriculum at Washington State College before he took his present position at Pittsburg.

Dr. Black is a member of many professional organizations and is listed in Who's Who in America. His community service embraces numerous offices in the American Legion, President of the Pueblo Civic Symphony, membership on the Pueblo Hospital Board, chairman of the Crawford County Committee on Mental Health, superintendent of Sunday schools for a quarter of a century.

Dr. Eunice McGill

Head of Department of Education

Sterling College

Sterling, Kansas

Eunice McGill, Head of the Department of Education, Sterling College, graduated from Monmouth, Ill., High School and Monmouth College. She took the master's degree from the University of Chicago, attended the University of California, and completed the work of the Doctor of Education degree at the University of Kansas.

Dr. McGill has ranged widely in her teaching. She first taught in the rural schools of Illinois, then English and Latin at Kirkwood, Ill., then English for five years in the San Antonio, Tex., High School. For three years she was an elementary principal in San Antonio, before taking off eighteen years to rear a family. When she returned to teaching, it was at a Long Island, New York, junior high school. She th en taught high school English at Sterling for two years, going to her present position in Sterling College in 1947.

Dr. McGill is president of the Six College Conference and a past president of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. She belongs to the Daughters of the American Revolution, American Association of University Women, Women's Association of the United Presbyterian Church, and similar organizations. In 1953 Monmouth College bestowed on her the honorary degree of Doctor of Literature.

Nellie McGuinn

Teacher

Lowell School

Kansas City, Kansas

All Nellie McGuinn's achievements seem miner alongside her long teaching career at the Lowell school in Kansas City, Kansas, She has taught there for the past forty-eight years. Nor does it come as a surprise, in light of this long tenure, to learn that she is the community historian, She is secretary of the Wyandotte County Historical Society; and within the past year she has written the history of Kansas City, Kansas, which has been published by the board of education for use in grades six, seven, and eight. She is now compiling a history of the Kansas City school system.

Miss Guinn took a teacher's training course after graduating from high school. She took her bachelor's degree from the State Teachers College, Warrensburg, Missouri, and has done graduate work at several universities.

For many years Miss McGuinn wrote a parody for the annual meeting of the local elementary teachers. She has been co-editor of the Kansas City, Kansas, Teachers Bulletin and as a member of the American Association of the University Women's Writer's Club, she has won several awards. In 1952 she was awarded a prize by the Instructors Magazine for a travel article, "Following Pioneer Trails."

Owen R. McNeil

Principal and Teacher

Peabody Junior High School

USD 398 Peabody

Owen R. McNeil, who has been a junior high principal and teacher in Peabody for the past eighteen years, began teaching in the rural schools of Cloud and Ottawa counties. There he taught eight years, except for one year in the Armed Forces of World War I. Before going to Peabody he was a principal and teacher at Oak Hill and Delphos. By attending summer sessions and night classes Mr. McNeil completed the work for both the bachelor's and master's degrees at Kansas State Teachers College.

Mr. McNeil is a member of the National Elementary School Principals and the Kansas Elementary Principals Associations, Kansas State Teachers Association, the National Education Association, Phi Delta Kappa and other professional organizations. He was a charter member of the Delphos Lions Club, which he served as president; member of the Delphos Presbyterian Church, where he was an ordained elder; and the American Legion. He has been president of the Peabody Kiwanis Club, and in 1957 was Lieutenant-Governor of Division 5 of the Kansas District of Kiwanis International. He has been a delegate to two international conventions. For fourteen years he has been a scoutmaster.

Ella C. Shearer

Kindergarten Teacher

Beloit Elementary School

USD 273 Beloit

A native of Iowa, Ella C. Shearer attended a rural school and graduated from Ransom High School in Ness County. She then taught five years before entering Fort Hays State College, one year in a rural school and four years in a consolidated school at Arnold. She completed work for the B. S. degree at Fort Hays State College; after teaching a year in the Hays public schools, she moved to Beloit where she has been kindergarten teacher for the past thirty-four years.

Miss Shearer has been active in many education organizations on local, state, and national levels. She is now serving or, the Committee of Classroom Teachers. She is a charter member of the Alpha Pi chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma. Miss Shearer is as well known for church work as for public school service; for seventeen years she has taught the nursery class in her church.

Miss Shearer's hobbies are travel and Spanish. She has traveled in forty-eight states and Canada. When the local library organized a class in Spanish, Miss Shearer was asked to teach it. She did - for fourteen years.

Marie Therkelsen

Superintendent

Montgomery County Schools

Marie Therkelsen, Montgomery County Superintendent of Schools, was born in Brenstrem, Denmark. At the age of four, she and her parents and one brother and one sister migrated to Illinois. Later the family moved to Cherryvale, Kansas, where she began teaching in the rural schools of Montgomery County after high school graduation. During the summers she attended Kansas State College, Pittsburg, where she completed the work for the bachelor's degree. She taught sixteen years in the rural schools before going to Independence; there she taught the primary grades for six years before her election in 1950 to the county superintendency.

Miss Therkelsen is a member of many professional organizations, including the Kansas Reading Circle Committee and the William Allen White Committee, two organizations which bring the best in books to the elementary and high school students of Kansas. She is a member of the Independence Christian Church and a board member of the local Red Cross chapter. She belongs to the Chamber of Commerce, American Association of University Women, the Book Reviewer's Club and UNESCO.

William D. Wolfe

Superintendent

USD 497 Lawrence

William D. Wolfe, superintendent of the Lawrence schools, graduated from the Sumner County High School, took the bachelor's degree at the College of Emporia in 1917 and the master's degree at the University of Kansas. He has attended summer sessions at both Harvard and Yale. Mr. Wolfe first taught at White City. Two years later he became a school administrator. He was first superintendent at Viola, then principal and later superintendent at Hiawatha. From 1929 to 1949 he was superintendent at Atchison; since 1949 he has been in his present position.

Mr. Wolfe is a member of many organizations. He belongs to Rotary, of which he has been district governor, the Presbyterian Church, the American Legion, the Kansas Children's Service League, the Kansas Council for Children and Youth.

His honors include an honorary doctor's degree from the College of Emporia, the Silver Beaver award in scouting, the presidency of the Kansas State Teachers Association, the presidency of the Council of Administration, the presidency for the Kansas Society for Exceptional Children, membership on the executive board of the Kansas P. T. A., membership on the executive board of the Kansas Association of School Administrators, and consultant for the National Youth Administration.