[Reading-hall-of-fame] Fwd: Dr. Durr

[P. David Pearson]

Colleagues,

A sad piece of news from the president of the Michigan Reading  
Association

David


Dear Friends,
It is with great sadness that I pass on this information to you,
Lynn Bigelman






  William K. Durr



  William K. Durr Haslett William Kirtley Durr, age 85,  passed away  
on March 13, 2009. He was born on February 5, 1924, near   
Independence, Kentucky, and lived in Haslett since 1955. He was the  
only  child of Robert K. and Viola (Klein) Durr. Surviving are his  
wife of 58  years, Shirley, their three sons and their wives: John and  
Teresa, Bill  and Ellen, and Jim and Cathy; and nine grandchildren:  
Mary and her  husband, Dustin Derrick, Simone and her husband, Gary  
Adams, and Joel,  Fynn, Adam, Rory, Sean, Tyler, and Jason Durr; one  
great-grandchild,  Deacon Derrick. Also surviving is an extended  
family of Vicki and Rod  Marinez and their children Katie, Mike and  
Joe. In 1943 he joined the U.S.  Army Air Corps, became a fighter  
pilot, and flew sorties in a P51 Mustang  between Iwo Jima and Japan.  
After World War II he was an  Information-Education Officer for the  
Seventh Fighter Command on Iwo Jima,  Saipan, and Guam. He left the  
Air Force in 1946 as a First Lieutenant and  attended the University  
of Kentucky before transferring to Butler  University. He received a  
B.A. Degree in Elementary Education in 1949 and  taught third grade in  
Indianapolis for two years. While there he met  Shirley Melvin and  
they were married in 1950. He completed his M.A. Degree  in Elementary  
School Administration at Butler in 1951, moved to St.  Joseph,  
Illinois, as Elementary Superintendent of Schools, and enrolled in   
the graduate program at the University of Illinois. In 1955 he  
received  his doctorate in education and entered the professional  
ranks at Michigan  State University. He prepared reading teachers and  
elementary teachers  before retiring from Michigan State in 1981.  
During his tenure at Michigan  State he was also the senior author of  
the Houghton Mifflin Reading  Program. This series of reading  
textbooks for grades kindergarten through  grade eight helped teachers  
develop students' reading abilities. It was a  basal reading program  
in Lansing and Detroit and was one of the most  widely used reading  
programs in the United States. In 1964-65 he was the  president of the  
Michigan Reading Association. In 1972-73 he was president  of the  
International Reading Association. This is a professional   
organization of over eighty thousand educators dedicated to the   
improvement of literacy throughout the world. He was a member of the   
Reading Hall of Fame and a past-president of that group. During his  
career  he was a member of the Usage Panel of the American Heritage  
Dictionary. He  authored two professional books, contributed chapters  
to others, and was  published widely in professional journals. In  
addition, he gave  professional speeches to educators in each of the  
fifty states and on five  continents. Services will be held on  
Wednesday, March 18, at 2:00 p.m. at  the Haslett Community Church,  
1427 Haslett Rd, Haslett with the Rev. Kurt  Kirchoff officiating.  
Entombment will be at the Chapel Hill Memorial  Gardens. The family  
will receive friends at Gorsline Runciman Funeral  Homes, 1730 E.  
Grand River Ave, East Lansing, on Tuesday, March 17, from  2-4 and  
6-8. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Haslett   
Community Church in his memory.
  ------ End of Forwarded Message

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
P. David Pearson
Professor and Dean
Graduate School of Education
1501 Tolman Hall #1670
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley CA 94720-1670
GSE Office: 510 643-6644
LHS Office: 510 642-7753
5519 Research Office:  510 643-5004
fax 510 643-8904
speakerphone 510 643-6739
email:  ppearson at berkeley.edu
other e-mail: pdavidpearsondean at gmail.com
website for presentations:  www.scienceandliteracy.org
website for photos:  http://gse.berkeley.edu/faculty/pdpearson/pictures/pdpportraits.html
website for articles: hhttps://bspace.berkeley.edu/portal/site/~189290/ 
page/fc6f1431-1058-4118-80f1-9249dd68c3b6
*******************
Home:  851 Euclid Ave
Berkeley, CA  94708 -1305
Home #: 510 526 6986
Cell:  510 543 6508
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