Wilbur Richardson: Music educator and World War II military hero

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Former music teacher and World War II military hero Wilbur Richardson of California.

When Wilbur Richardson stepped into his classroom for the first time, he was already a veteran. During World War II, Wilbur served in the US Army as a member of the 331st Bomb Squadron, 94th Bomb Group.

Wilbur was born in Long Beach, California, on November 17, 1922. He was only 21 years old when he enlisted in the Army Air Corps in the midst of the second World War. While in the Army, Wilbur manned the ball turret as part of the crew of a four-engine B17 bomber. He flew 30 dangerous missions in 79 days, two of them on D-Day. The intrepid airman sustained wounds on his 30th mission over Munich, Germany, in July of 1944. He spent the next five weeks recovering in the hospital. Before the war was over, the future educator earned the Purple Heart, five Air Medals, the Presidential Citation, the Distinguished Flying Cross, and the Croix de Guerre Avec Palm. He earned the latter for dropping supplies to French Resistance fighters.

Once Wilbur was discharged in 1945, he enrolled in college., earning a Bachelor’s degree in Music from Brigham Young University in Utah. He earned his Master’s degree in Education from Cal State Long Beach in California. The the former bombadeir then secured a position teaching music, instruments, and history in the Los Alamitos School District. He worked as an eighth-grade teacher at Oak Middle School. His career as an educator spanned 33 years.

Once he retired from teaching, Wilbur moved to Chino Hills. As a retiree, he became active in a number of veterans groups, the Kiwanis Club, the Chino Valley Community Chorus, and the San Bernardino County Senior Affairs Commission. He also did volunteer work for the Planes of Fame Air Museum in Chino. The heroic educator was named the Chino Valley Outstanding Citizen in 2012.

This Chalkboard Champion passed away on March 1, 2020, in Winchester, Virginia. He was 97 years old. To read more about Wilbur, see this link to The San Bernardino Sun.

Educator Sue King: History teacher and founding member of DKG

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High school History teacher Sue King helped colleagues become better educators through the organization Delta Kappa Gamma.

Many talented classroom teachers are also devoted to assisting their colleagues to become better educators. One of these was Sue King, a high school  history teacher from Texas. Sue worked to provide professional training and support to fellow women teachers through the organization Delta Kappa Gamma (DKG).

Sue was born January 8, 1886, in Pilot Point, Texas. After she graduated from high school, she enrolled at North Texas State Normal School in Denton. There she earned a reputation for a proficiency in languages and history.

After completing her courses at Denton, the novice educator taught history in high schools in Denton and Mineral Wells. Later she taught history in Fort Worth. By all accounts, her students found her inspiring.

During vacation periods Sue read widely for her own pleasure as well as to select supplementary materials for the school library. At one point in her career she served as the Chair of the History Department at the University of California in Berkeley.

In 1929, Sue was one of 12 educators who founded the Delta Kappa Gamma International Society (DKG) in Texas. Because of a long-standing custom in those days, women were prohibited from meeting together professionally. Nevertheless, the group of women believed there was a need for an organization in which women educators could assist each other in their efforts to become better teachers. The 12 co-founders extended membership in their newly-formed organization to rural and urban teachers; preschool, elementary, high school, college, and university teachers; librarians; and school administrators. Today, DKG members still work together to improve professional preparation, to recognize women’s work in the teaching profession, and to fund scholarships to those who need support to improve their professional skills.

Sadly, Sue King passed away May 4, 1930. To read more about this amazing educator, see this biography on the website of the Delta Kappa Gamma Society. To read more about the organization, click on this link: DKG.

April Fools! Teacher Joe Dombrowski pranks his students

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In these days of covid-19 quarantine we’re all looking for something to laughy about. Here’s a video that hits the mark. You’ve just got to love fourth grade teacher Joe Dombrowski of Seattle, Washington. He pranked his students on April Fools Day, earning admiration and gifts from Ellen DeGeneris.

To watch this teacher in action, see the video below:

Adelaide Cumming: Hers was the face of icon Betty Crocker

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The image of Betty Crocker, an American icon in the 1950’s, was actually Adelaide Cumming, an English teacher.

Betty Crocker was an icon of America womanhood in the 1950’s, but did you know the marketing image of the famous housewife was actually that of Adelaide Hawley Cumming, an English teacher?

This remarkable educator portrayed the fictional Betty Crocker on a weekly half-hour television show called The Betty Crocker Show. She also starred in walk-on commercials on the Burns & Allen Show, where comedian George Burns would say to his wife, “I don’t know how to bake a cake, Gracie, but here is Betty Crocker to show us how.”

Adelaide was born in 1905 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. A vaudeville performer and broadcast pioneer, Adelaide majored in piano and voice at the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester, New York. Following her graduation from college, she taught music for two and a half years at the Alabama College School of Music in Montevallo, Alabama.

From 1937 to 1950, the talented teacher was the host of the Adelaide Hawley Program, first on NBC radio and then on CBS. At the height of her career, Adelaide was a nationally recognized figure, second only to First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. According to Adelaide’s daughter, Marcia Hayes, the teacher and actress was a feminist in her private life, and was not especially fond of cooking. “I am merely the manifestation of a corporate image,” she once told autograph-seeking fans. She practiced her autograph as Betty Crocker by copying the signature from the top of the cake mix box.

When General Mills replaced her with a more updated image in 1964, Adelaide went back to school, earning a doctorate in speech education from New York University in 1967. She taught English to second-language learners in Washington state until her death at age 93 in 1998, a career as an educator that spanned nearly thirty years.

To read more about the marketing of Betty Crocker, see this article entitled Betty Crocker: A Brief Biography.

Iowa’s Phyllis Love: Talented educator and successful actress

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Talented educator and former successful  actress Phyllis Love of Des Moines, Iowa.

There are many fine educators who enjoyed success in the entertainment industry before they became classroom teachers One of these was Iowa’s Phyllis Love, a television actress who also taught drama and English.

Phyllis was born in Des Moines, Iowa, on December 21, 1925. Her parents were both small business owners. Her father owned a food market and her mother owned and managed a small restaurant. As a youngster, Phyllis attended first Perkins Elementary School, then Callanan Junior High School, and finally Theodore Roosevelt High School, all in Des Moines. While in high school, one of Phyllis’s close friends was actress Chloris Leachman.

Once she graduated from high school in 1944, Phyllis attended the School of Dramatic Arts at Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh. She earned her Bachelor’s degree there in 1948.

After college, Phyllis relocated to New York, where she honed her skills as an actress at the Actors Studio. Paul Newman and Marlon Brando were her classmates. Her talent earned her roles on Broadway and in the movies. She performed in The Rose Tattoo (1950), The Country Girl (1950), The Friendly Persuasion (1956), The Egghead (1957), A Distant Bell (1959), and Flowering Cherry (1959), and The Young Doctors (1961). She also performed in numerous roles on television, including appearances on Perry Mason, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, The FBI, and Twilight Zone.

After Phyllis retired from acting in the 1970’s, she launched herself into her career as an educator. She taught Drama and English for 15 years at Morningside High School in Inglewood, California.

Sadly, in her later years, this talented educator and actress suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. She passed away on October 30, 2011, in Menifee, California. She was 85 years old. To read her obituary, see this link to the New York Times.