Scotland has long since claimed the honors of birth of numerous men and women distinguished in foreign lands, and especially in the field of education has she been well represented by those who, having first seen the light of day under her bonnie skies, have gone forth to wrestle with some of the most serious problems of life, and to assist in the progress of the world to broader, higher and better things. Among such educators who look back with pride to the land of Scott and Burns, and forward with anticipation to the new Republic of Longfellow, Emerson and Horace Mann, is Arthur Durward, A. M., the scholarly principle of the Bonita Union High School at La Verne. He was born near Aberdeen on December 23, 1870, and when one year old was brought to the United States, where he was reared on a farm near Boulder, Colo. For a while he attended the public schools of his locality, and when old enough went to the State University at Boulder, from which well-known institution he was graduated with the Class of '93, with the degree of B. S. He next attended Harvard University at Cambridge, Mass., where he took a course in science and engineering, and still later he did some graduate work there, and was assistant instructor in physics in the same university, receiving his Master of Arts degree in 1897.
The same year he arrived in California and for a year he taught at St. Matthew's Boys' School at Burlingame, a military academy, after which he taught for four years in the Hanford High School. Coming to Pomona in 1902, Mr. Durward was vice-principal of the Pomona High School for another four years. In 1907, luckily for the Bonita Union High School, he became its principal, and this position of responsibility Mr. Durward has filled to the satisfaction of the community ever since. He has not only been placed at the head, but he has been a large factor in the school's development. A number of new and important courses of study have been added, and these include manual training, domestic science, agriculture and music.
Mr. Durward served for four years as city trustee for La Verne, and during that time, for two years, he was president of the board. The bond issue was then carried, and a municipal water system was provided. Good roads were then built, and many streets were paved. Besides being a member of the Board of Trustees, Mr. Durward has been active in the First Methodist Church, and as an educator, a man and a fellow-citizen, he has shown his intense interest in and loyalty to Pomona Valley.
Mr. Durward has also embarked in orange culture and now owns two groves; one, of ten acres, lies to the south of the Pacific Electric Station; the other, of seven acres, is near the Bonita High School. Associated with others, he has developed water by sinking wells and put in pumping plants, from which they irrigate their ranches.
While at Pomona, on November 30, 1899, Arthur Durward was married to Miss Clara Pitzer, a native of Iowa and the daughter of S. C. and Alice Pitzer, pioneers of Pomona. Three daughters have blessed this union, and they bear the names of Ruth, Lois and Alice. Mr. Durward is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, also the Council of Education of the southern section of the California Teachers Association.
History of Pomona Valley, California, with Biographical Sketches
of The Leading Men and Women of the Valley Who Have Been
Identified With Its Growth and Development from the Early Days
to the Present
Published in Los Angeles, Cal., by the Historic Record Company
1920
Transcribed by Linda Jackson 10/26/08, Pages 625-626
Los Angeles County Biographies ~ Archive Biography Index ~ Archive Index
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