1967 Award Winners

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

Dr. J.W. Breukelman

Biology and Science Education Specialist

Kansas State Teachers College

An excellent researcher and writer as well as an inspiring teacher, Dr. John W. Breukelman has been a member of the faculty of Kansas State Teachers College since 1929. His contribution to education in the State of Kansas during those years has been exceptional.

It is generally agreed that Dr. Breukelman is responsible for the education and training of more biology teachers for Kansas than any other single individual. In addition, his work as a writer of biological and science education materials has earned him an enviable reputation. He has written more than fifty five articles, published in a variety of scientific and professional journals. In 1954 he established the Kansas School Naturalist, editing every issue and writing many of them.

During his tenure at K.S.T .C., Dr. Breukelman has served as Head of the Department of Biology and Acting Director of the Graduate School. He holds the permanent rank of Professor of Biology. During 1964-65 he was a Fulbright Lecturer on B.S.C.S. curriculum materials and taught in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. In August, 1966, he taught the same program at Escuela Normal Superior in El Salvador. Dr. Breukelman is fluent in both Dutch and Spanish.

An active member and strong supporter of the Kansas Academy of Science, he was elected President of the Academy in 1945. In October, 1965, he was elected an honorary member of the National Association of Biology Teachers, one of ten biologists who have been so honored in the history of the Association.

Dr. Breukelman received the Bachelor of Arts degree at Yankton College, Yankton, South Dakota, in 1923, and the Doctor of Philosophy degree at the University of Iowa in 1929.

Lois Hogue

English and Social Studies Teacher

USD 382 Pratt

Dedication, in its purest sense, is a term that must be emphasized in any sketch of Miss Lois Rogue's life and work. Her work has been, of course, teaching, forty-one years of it, and it has gained her the esteem that only Master Teachers realize.

Miss Hogue was born in Denton, Texas, to parents who themselves were teachers. The family later moved to Kansas City and then to Pratt, where Miss Hogue graduated from County High School with honors in 1920. One year later she enrolled at Ottawa University and achieved scholastic honors there. She earned the bachelor's degree at Ottawa University in 1925. In 1937 she received the master's degree in English at the University of Colorado.

Since 1925, when she began her teaching career in the rural grade school at Sand Creek, Miss Hogue has been away from teaching only during summer vacations. Eight of these she has spent in graduate study. From Sand Creek Grade School she moved in 1926 to Isabel High School, where she taught English and history. In 1928 she began teaching in Cheney High School, and in 1930 in the high school at Plains. Since 1931 Miss Hogue has been teaching English and social studies in the Pratt secondary schools.

Former students with whom she has worked, in the classroom and in Y-Teens and in youth activities in the First Baptist Church, have been deeply influenced by her teaching. Representative of the comments that many of Miss Rogue's former students have submitted is this one: "Because of her determination, enthusiasm and encouragement, I am what I am today and am thankful that I was one of her pupils."

Dr. Perva M. Hughes

Professor

Kansas State College, Pittsburg

Mrs. Perva M. Hughes has achieved distinguished stature both as a professional educator and as a civic leader. Her friends express amazement at her vast energy, and deep admiration for her outstanding and varied accomplishments in Kansas education and community affairs.

For the past thirty-one years, Mrs. Hughes has been on the staff at Kansas State College, Pittsburg. She began as an elementary supervisor in the Horace Mann Laboratory School in 1936, accepted an appointment on the college level in 1956, and now supervises elementary student teachers and teaches education classes. She attained the rank of Professor in 1957.

Mrs. Hughes grew up in Pittsburg, graduated from high school there, and then enrolled at Kansas State College, where she received a degree in 1919. Later she received the master's degree at K.S.C. , and since then has earned nearly eighty hours of advanced graduate credit at four major universities.

She began her teaching career in 1920 in the Salina public schools, where she was employed as an elementary teacher for two years. Left a widow with two small children in 1934, Mrs. Hughes returned to Pittsburg and, before joining the Kansas State College faculty, taught in the public schools there for one year.

Outside the classroom, Mrs. Hughes has been active in numerous professional and civic organizations. A community project that is very dear to her and one that has consumed much of her extra effort is the group-care home for neglected children, Elm Acres, jn the Pittsburg area. She has been on the Board of Directors of that agency for a number of years and is currently serving as secretary to the Board.

Winifred Jennings

Teacher

USD 512 Shawnee Mission

"To Mrs. Jennings there is no such thing as a 'problem child.' Some children just present a greater challenge than others. Without exception she always manages to win their hearts, and she inspires them to learn." This statement is representative of the many submitted by those who nominated Mrs. Winifred Jennings for recognition as a Master Teacher.

Mrs. Jennings' professional career spans thirty years and contains two stages. She taught in the elementary schools of Kansas City, Missouri, from 1937 through 1942. Married in 1941, she withdrew from teaching a year later to raise a family.

Nine years later, in 1951, Mr. and Mrs. Jennings and their two children moved to Johnson County in Kansas. Mrs. Jennings L returned to teaching at that time. She taught the third, fourth , and fifth grades in Antioch District until 1954, then moved to Shawnee District, where she presently teaches.

Since receiving a baccalaureate degree at the University of Kansas in 1929, Mrs. Jennings has earned graduate credit at K.U., the University of Colorado Kansas State Teachers College, and U.M .K.C., Kansas City.

Mrs. Jennings has served the Shawnee Teachers Association as president, and in various other elective offices and committee chairmanships. She is at present chairman of the Professional Employment Practices Committee. For several years she has been a member of the Kansas State Teachers Association Professional Employment Practices Committee, and has served as leader at many Drive-In Conferences, Little Zone Schools, and KSTA Workshops.

Jean Jones

Head of Foreign Language Languages Department, Spanish Teacher

Washburn Rural High School

USD 437 Washburn Rural

According to her superintendent, trying to keep Miss Jean Jones' Spanish classes from being overcrowded poses an administrative problem. Such a problem and such a teacher superintendents welcome.

Miss Jones is head of the Foreign Languages Department as well as a teacher of Spanish at Washburn Rural High School in Topeka. She has been teaching for twenty seven years, all but three of which have been at Washburn Rural. She began her teaching career in 1940 at Dover High School, where she taught music and English for three years.

Born and reared in Ottawa, Miss Jones enrolled at Kansas State Teachers College after graduating .from high school and received the Bachelor of Science in Music degree at K.S.T.C. in 1940. She received the Master of Arts degree in Spanish at the University of Kansas in 1954. In addition to her work at Kansas State Teachers College and the University of Kansas, Miss Jones has studied at the University of Georgia and Washburn University and has traveled extensively in Mexico.

Miss Jones has been a delegate to the NEA convention three times; has been vice president of the Topeka Section of K.S .T.A.; has held offices, including that of president, in Delta Kappa Gamma; has served as president of the Kansas Chapter of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, and as treasurer of the Kansas Modern Language Association. A talented musician, she devotes much of her "spare" time to the Potwin Presbyterian Church choir in Topeka.

Florence Miller

Kindergarten Teacher

Jefferson School

USD 257 Iola

"Miss Miller's kindergarten" in Jefferson School in Iola has a tradition of excellence. At the heart of this tradition is Miss Florence Miller, who sees each youngster whom she teaches as someone special.

Miss Miller has been teaching kindergarten in the Iola school system for twenty-one years; however, her teaching career dates back to 1922 when she began teaching the first and second grades in Moran. She remained at Moran until 1937.

After conducting a private nursery in Iola for three years and teaching in a nursery in Kansas City, Miss Miller enlisted in the Women's Army Corps of the United States Army, serving from 1942 to 1945. It was after her discharge from the W.A.C. that Miss Miller began teaching in Iola.

Miss Miller has earned her two college degrees entirely by summer session attendance. She began her college work at Kansas State College, Pittsburg, in the summer of 1922. She attended Kansas State University, Manhattan, during one summer session and studied at Kansas State Teachers College during the summer months of 1927, 1930, and 1934. Miss Miller received the bachelor's degree from Pittsburg State in 1950, and the master's degree in 1954. She spent a total of sixteen summers, twelve of them at Pittsburg State, working toward her degrees.

She is an active member of the Iola City Teachers Association, the Allen County Teachers Association, Kansas State Teachers Association, and the National Education. Miss Miller is also a member of the First Christian Church, Delta Kappa Gamma, and the Kindergarten Fair Association.

Cecil E. Smith

English and Social Studies Teacher

USD 382 Pratt

Teacher, coach, supervisor, principal, dean - Cecil E. Smith has served in all of these capacities. During his professional career, which began in a one-room rural grade school in Wilson County in 1923, he has taught students from grade one through the graduate level in college.

Mr. Smith has been Director of Elementary Education in the Pittsburg public schools since 196]. From 1948 to 1960 he served as principal of the Lakeside Elementary and Junior High School in Pittsburg. Before coming to Pittsburg, Mr. Smith was the high school principal at Pratt from 1944 to 1947, a teacher and assistant dean at Pratt Junior College from 1939 to 1943, the director of research and publicity at Garden City Junior College from 1932 to 1938, and social studies teacher in the Garden City secondary schools from 1928 to 1931. He has taught during several summer sessions at Fort Hays and Pittsburg State Colleges.

After graduating from Kansas State Teachers College with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1928, Mr. Smith earned the Master of Arts degree at Ohio State University in 1931. He has done advanced graduate work at George Peabody College, Kansas University, Denver University, and K.S.C., Pittsburg.

Mr. Smith is past-president of the Finney County Teachers Association, Pratt County Teachers Association, Pittsburg City Teachers Association, and the Kiwanis Club.

Dr. Adel F. Throckmorton

State Superintendent of Instruction

In recognition of his long and effective service in Kansas education, the Selection Committee recommended that a special Master Teacher Award for 1967 be presented to Adel F. Throckmorton, who retired in 1966 after seventeen years as State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Dr. Throckmorton's teaching career began more than half a century ago in a rural school in Sumner county. After two years in this assignment, he decided to continue his own formal education at Southwestern College, where he earned a baccalaureate degree in 1920. He received the master's degree from the University of Kansas and holds honorary doctorates from Southwestern and Baker.

After serving as teacher, coach, and administrator in Sedgwick, Little River, and Valley Center, Dr. Throckmorton became editor and publisher of the Clearwater News in 1932. In 1939 he was elected County Superintendent of Schools in Sedgwick county, a position he held for ten years, and one he relinquished to become State Superintendent in 1949.

Anyone who is ·at all familiar with Kansas education is aware of the tremendous change which took place in the public schools of the state between 1949 and 1966. Adel Throckmorton played a key role in instigating and implementing most of those changes.

A member of numerous professional organizations, Dr. Throckmorton has served as an officer in many of them. In addition, he has been active in many non-professional organizations, such as the YMCA, American Legion, and Optimist Club.