Los Angeles County
Biographies
DONALD H. BIERY
Devoting his
efforts to the acquisition and dissemination of useful knowledge; Donald H.
Biery had already registered achievement on the field of vocational education
before entering the United States Indian service in 1931 and his qualifications
for the post of superintendent of the Sherman Institute at Riverside are exceptional. He was born in Florence,
Pinal County, Arizona,
January 4, 1896, a son of Ike Biery, now deceased, who was a native of Des Moines, Iowa, and
attained prominence as a mining engineer, aiding in developing the rich mineral
resources of Mexico and Arizona. His widow, June (Summers)
Biery, a native of San Francisco, in now living
in Los Angeles. Her father, Jesse Summers, was one of the
most prominent of the early judges of Arizona. The mother, Mrs. Sue H. Summers, a pioneer
school teacher of California and Arizona, was known and
loved throughout those states and reached the advanced age of ninety-five
years. Mrs. June Biery has two children:
Donald H.; and Mrs. Joy S. Merchant, of Los
Angeles.
The son attended
grammar school in his native town and the Polytechnic high school of Los Angeles. He was graduated from the State Teachers College
at Tempe, Arizona,
in 1917 and soon afterward enlisted in the United States Army for service in
the World War. He was placed in command
of a battery of field artillery, composed of three hundred college men, and was
stationed at Camp Zachary Taylor near Louisville,
Kentucky. After resigning his commission he returned to
Arizona,
securing employment as a surveyor, and was next a teacher in the schools at
Gilbert, that state. In order to perfect
himself in educational work he enrolled in the University
of California at Berkeley, where he was graduated cum laude with
the Bachelor of Science degree from that institution. In 1924 he was made principal and director of
the part time high school at Vallejo, California, and in the following year accepted a more
desirable position in the Berkeley
schools. In 1927, while in that city, he
became connected with the department of vocational education at the University of California
and afterward was supervisor of vocational guidance and placement in the public
schools of Oakland, subsequently becoming
principal of the Central
Trade Evening
School. In 1931 he became identified with the department of vocational education in the Los
Angeles public schools but resigned April 1 of that year to assume
the duties superintendent of the Sherman Institute, one of the largest and
fines Indian schools in the United
States.
The institute has an interesting history, which is given elsewhere in
this work.
On the 13th of
August, 1920, Mr. Biery was married to Miss Melza Pomeroy, a daughter of Tulma
Pomeroy of Mesa, Arizona, and their children are Joy Leona
and Donald Holman, the former nine and the latter six years of age. Mr. Biery enjoys hunting trips and this also
an enthusiastic fisherman. A prominent
Kiwanian, he served as vice president of both the Oakland and Berkeley Clubs of that
organization. His name is on the
membership rolls of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce and the Riverside
Chamber of Commerce. He also belongs to
Phi Delta Kappa and Alpha Zeta, honorary fraternities, the former an
educational society and the latter of an agricultural nature. Although young in years, Mr. Biery enjoys
high standing in his profession and has a special talent for the important and
useful line of work in which he is engaged.
Transcribed by Bill Simpkins.
Source: California of the South
Vol. II, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 385-386, Clarke Publ., Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 Bill Simpkins.
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