Francis Wolle was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on February 22, 1889. His large family was active in Bethlehem’s Moravian community. His grandfather, a botanist, received the first patent for a paper-bag manufacturing machine, and the poet H.D. (Hilda Doolittle) was Wolle’s first cousin. Francis Wolle attended the University of Pennsylvania (1907–1911) where he was active in drama, track, and cross-country. Wolle received his master’s degree in English at the University of Colorado and continued his graduate work at the Sorbonne and at Columbia University.
In 1913, he began teaching at the University of Colorado; he would spend forty-four years on the University of Colorado Department of English faculty. Wolle served six years as chairman of the English department and received promotions from instructor to full professor. He was the cross-country coach from 1919–1946 and the coach of track from 1919–1927. He was associated with more than eighty plays during his time at CU and was the director of University Dramatics from 1914–1940. Between 1917 and 1933, Wolle wrote, produced, and directed fifteen University of Colorado musical comedies. In addition, Wolle belonged to a variety of clubs and associations. He was also the author of Fitz-James O’Brien: A Literary Bohemian of the 1850s, which he began writing as his doctoral dissertation.
Wolle served overseas in the army during World War I. He advanced to the rank of captain. Upon his return to Colorado he was named commander of a company that later became the Colorado National Guard. During World War II this unit was called to service. Wolle chaired a committee that helped with navy training on campus during the war. He married Muriel V. Sibell on October 26, 1945. After Wolle retired from the University in 1959, he became active in youth ministry at the Episcopal Church in Boulder. He was ordained as a priest of the Episcopal Church in April 1973; he was granted special permission to be ordained despite age restrictions, and became the oldest man to receive ordination. After Muriel Sibell Wolle’s death in 1977, Francis Wolle saw her final book, Timberline Tailings, through the publication process. He died October 1, 1979.
From the guide to the Francis Wolle Collection, 1917-1979, (University of Colorado at Boulder Libraries. Archives Dept.)
