Logan, Rae, 1885-1970

Simon Rae Logan was born on April 29, 1885 in Rutherford County, North Carolina. He came with his parents to Montana in 1898 and for a time lived near Stevensville, Montana. He attended the University of Montana--Missoula for one year, but graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a B.A. in 1908. From 1909 to 1912, he ranched near Arlee, Montana. He was a manager of Theodore Roosevelt's Bull Moose campaign for Missoula County in 1912. In 1913, he was asked to become school superintendent of District 28, Missoula County, when it included a large area from Pablo to south of Arlee. He was a pioneer in the consolidation of one-room schools into centers that offered schooling through high school. He was also instrumental in the formation of the County and Village Teacher's Association in 1913; the group later became a department of the Montana Teacher's Association. He taught school and was a school administrator in Lake County and was school superitendent in Hardin, Montana, from 1919 to 1926. While there he pioneered methods of individual instruction and conducted short winter courses for adults. During those years he was a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the Executive Board of the Montana Farmer's Union, and the Legislative Committee of the Montana Teacher's Association. He led the fight for a graduated income tax to provide state support for public schools. This measure failed at the time, but gained support in later years.

He then became a school administrator in Winetka, Illinois, in 1926 and remained in that position for 21 years. He believed deeply in citizen responsibility in a democracy, and worked actively to promote democratic citizen education at the junior high school leve. He was active in the Northern Illinois Superintendents' Round Table and headed a committee that studied and reported on conditions in the state's correctional schools. He also taught summer school at the University of Montana, Northwestern University, the University of Nevada, and Brigham Young University. As a longtime member of the Progressive Education Association, he was asked to address the International Education Association meeting in Nice, France.

He retired from school work to homestead at Charlo, Montana, where he raised cattle until he was 80 years old. He received distinguished service awards from the Lower Flathead Schoolmasters' Association and the University of Montana chapter of Phi Delta Kappa.

He was married to Frances Logan; they had five children: Herma Biermann, Eileen Hodges, Katherine Tugendhat, Ernest Logan, and Frank Logan. He died in February 1970. She was later married to Harold Guy Merriam; she died in 1993.

From the guide to the S. Rae Logan Papers, 1897-1971, (University of Montana--Missoula Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library Archives and Special Collections)