52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 4: Education

Welcome to Week 4 of Amy Johnson Crow's genealogy challenge for the year: writing about 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks (www.amyjohnsoncrow.com).

Week 4: Education

When I looked at the prompt "Education," my first thought was of my grandpa, Edwin D. Pirl. In several ways, education was a cornerstone of his life.

Ed Pirl was born in 1928 in Adah, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, and grew up in a coal-mining "patch" town called Gates. As soon as he graduated from German Township High School, he joined "the service," as he always called it, and he served about 4 years in the Army Air Force, in between World War II and the Korean War. When he returned home he went to college at West Virginia University, thanks to the financial benefits of the G.I. Bill, and he became a vocal proponent of programs like it.

Ed Pirl during his service in the Army Air Force, ~1946-1949

Ed Pirl was a dedicated and respected public school teacher and lifelong union member. He served as the Chief Negotiator for the Marion, Indiana teachers' union in 1978, when they went on strike and made national news. He went to jail for several days to stand up for the rights of teachers and students. He was even the subject of a political cartoon in the local paper. At his funeral, one of his colleagues described my grandpa as the teachers' union's "bull dog" in the negotiation room.

Clippings from my grandpa's files from Marion, IN newspaper,

The Chronicle Tribune, during the 1978 teacher's strike.

My grandpa is the one with his hand on his chin in the foreground of first picture and leading the march to jail in the second picture - a bold choice of pants for a day you're pretty sure you'll make the front page!

In my grandpa's file folder of clippings and notes from the strike, he had a page full of picket line songs. The two below are my favorites, and my kids and I sang them together when their teachers were striking at the beginning of this school year.

What does education mean to you? Leave a comment below - I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading!