Dayton McCue Kohler, son of Edwin and Bertha Kohler, was born in Pennsylvania on September 24, 1906. The 1910 and 1920 censuses list the family living in Wormleysburg (Cumberland County), Pennsylvania. The younger Kohler graduated from Gettysburg College with a bachelor's degree in 1928 and obtained his master's degree at the University of Virginia in 1929. That same year, Kohler was hired by Virginia Tech as an instructor of English. By 1932, Kohler had been promoted to assistant professor. The 1946 university academic catalog lists him as an associate professor beginning in 1946, and professor in 1957. Kohler married Jean Stewart Ogden in 1937. Kohler retired in 1970 and was named professor emeritus of English. At the time of his death, on February 1, 1972, he was a resident of Fredericksburg, Virginia.
From the guide to the Dayton M. Kohler Papers, 1889-1971, (Special Collections, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Va.)
