Carey Southall, 88, father of Wiltonian

Wednesday, 21 October 2009 13:38

Carey Thomas Southall, former professor of education at the University of Missouri, died of natural causes on Monday, Sept. 28, in Columbia, Mo. He was the father of Carole Southall Telyan of Freshwater Lane in Wilton and was 88.

Carey Southall’s personal journey from Palatka, Fla., to his resting place in Columbia reflected the complex growth of a country and a man. He grew up in the segregated South only to celebrate last year the election of Barack Obama as his country’s President, his family noted. Raised in poverty by parents who were illiterate, he pursued his education to his doctorate. An active Marine in World War II, he became a patriotic and proud veteran who deplored war.

Born the fourth of five children, Dr. Southall grew up in a house with no electricity. The backyard had a vegetable patch, an outhouse and a windmill. He dropped out of school in eighth grade but with the help of a former teacher returned and graduated at age 20 as president of his high school class.

He then enrolled at the University of Florida, but, when war broke out in December 1941, he enlisted in the Marines. He saw action in Guam and Okinawa and later was based in Beijing. He was discharged from the service in 1946 and returned to the University of Florida, where he met Lola Jean Rose. They married in 1948.

From 1948 to 1951, Dr. Southall completed his master’s degree while also a high school social studies teacher. As the Korean War heated up, he was recalled into the service and went into the Air Force. Returning to the University of Florida, he completed his doctorate.

In 1957, he accepted a position as assistant professor of education at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. In 1964, he moved to the University of Missouri and became a full professor in 1977. He was named a University of Missouri Teacher of the Year in 1986.

He reluctantly retired in 1997, at age 76, but he continued to teach in the summer at the University of Missouri and later was an adjunct professor at William Woods University until 2006.

Dr. Southall was a proud member of the Rotary Club, attending meetings around the world. He served on the national board of the Association of Teacher Educators and was also a former state president in both Texas and Missouri. He was a board member of the Salvation Army and a volunteer for Meals on Wheels for more than two decades.

He loved to travel by car, and the Southall family vacations were for many years taken in a red and white Volkswagen microbus with a sliding roof and an engine that would barely make it up the steep western slopes, his family recalled. The typical summer vacation was spent in a beautiful university town where Dr. Southall could teach a summer class and use the remaining time to explore. He recorded all vacations and family celebrations on his beloved 8mm movie camera. He ultimately visited all 50 states, plus 36 countries.

Dr. Southall is survived by Lola Jean Rose Southall of Columbia, his wife of 61 years; and his three children and their families. Daughter Carole Southall Telyan, senior vice president with the United Way of Western Connecticut, and her husband, Hermon Telyan, an architect, live in Wilton. Their two children are Taylor, age 20, attending the Art Institute in Chicago, and Harrison, 18, a senior in high school. His son, Thomas “Tom” Carey Southall, a former architect, is a graduate student in the American history program at the University of Missouri. His daughter, Katherine Southall Hansen, a physician at University Medical Center in Princeton, lives in Warren, N.J., with her husband, Peter Hansen, senior vice president with the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. Their son, Christian, 16, is a junior in high school.

As a child of poverty who benefited from receiving clothes and Christmas presents from the Salvation Army, Dr. Southall requested that anyone wishing to make a gift in his memory give to their local branch of the Salvation Army or to the national headquarters.