Los Angeles
County
Biographies
DR.
DAN T. WILLIAMS
In
1958, after twenty-seven years in elementary, high school, and junior college
administration in California, Dr. Dan T. Williams was honored by the State Legislature
with a citation, signed by the Speaker of the Assembly and the State Clerk of
the Assembly, commending his outstanding achievement in carrying out an
impressive, well-planned, and well-coordinated program of expansion and school
construction and modernization. Dr.
Williams was superintendent of the Garvey School District from 1945 to June,
1958. In addition to his work with
architects on modernization and building of schools in the district, Dr.
Williams added many services during his term as superintendent, a few of which
were: creation of a guidance department,
re-establishment of music supervision, increase of transportation, institution
of parent-teacher individual and group conferences. The “Dan T. Williams School” on South Del Mar
was erected in 1958 and named in his honor.
Dr.
Daniel Thomas Williams was born in Malad City, Idaho, on December 27,
1892. He is one of the nine children of
William D. and Hannah (Thomas) Williams.
His father came to the United States at the age of nine from Cardiff,
Wales; he was engaged in agriculture and was also a musician. As a teen-ager Dr. Williams’ father freighted
dynamite from Ogden, Utah, to Butte, Montana, by oxen—always under threat of
attack by wild Indians of the Blackfeet Tribe.
Dr. Williams’ mother was born on the bank of the Mississippi River on
the trip West in a covered wagon. Her
family was the first to settle in Malad, Idaho.
Dr.
Williams attended Lewiston State Normal School in Lewiston, Idaho, in 1919, and
received his Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Utah in 1929 with
high honors. He received a teaching
fellowship in economics at the University of California at Berkeley in 1929,
and completed the requirements of his Master’s degree there in 1931. In 1943 he was granted his Doctor of
Education degree at the University of Southern California.
He
came to the Garvey School District well prepared for the position he would
assume. He started his career in 1916 as
an elementary teacher and principal in Malad City. From 1920 to 1922 he was a teacher and coach
at Malad High School, and served as superintendent of Ammon and Burley Schools
in Idaho from 1922 to 1929, after which he came to California. Dr. Williams was principal of Wheatland Union
High School in Wheatland, California, for two years; he then served for five
years as vice principal and principal of Taft Senior High School and Junior
College. From 1938 to 1943 he was
superintendent of the Hawthorne City Schools, and then spent two years as
superintendent of the El Segundo Unified School District.
During
World War I Dr. Williams was a member of the Four Minute Men.
The
former Miss Gladys Mills became Mrs. Daniel T. Williams on September 16, 1912,
in Malad, Idaho. The Williams’s are the
parents of three children: Hortense
(Williams) Williams has two married children, Kenneth D. Williams and Kathleen
(Williams) Fielder; Hortella (Williams) Smith who has
a son and a daughter, Thomas Lee and Sandra; and Dr. Keith D. Williams, a
dentist, has a daughter, Carolyn Jean.
Dr.
Williams is affiliated with Phi Kappa Phi, a national scholastic honor society,
and with Phi Delta Kappa, an educational fraternity. He is a life member of the National Education
Association and was included in the 1945 edition of “Who’s Who in American
Education”. He also served as a member
of the California Teachers’ Association—Southern Section representative. A member of the Rotary Club in Hawthorne for
five years, he served as its vice president for one year. He was also a member of the Taft Kiwanis Club
for five years and is a past president of that organization. He is presently a member of the Garvey Lions’
Club as well as being a Mason in the Taft Lodge Number
516. Dr. Williams completed one term as
president of the Hawthorne Co-ordinating Council and
served as president of the Southern Centinela
District Council of the Boy Scouts of America, in Los Angeles County.
Since
his retirement Dr. Williams has been enjoying fishing and hunting. He has been a golfer for many years and is an
amateur photographer.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Historical Volume & Reference Works Including Alhambra, Monterey Park,
Rosemead, San Gabriel & Temple City, by Robert P. Studer,
Pages 592-593, Historical Publ., Los Angeles, California. 1962.
© 2013 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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