Tehama County

Biographies

 

ROBERT REIFF HARTZELL, A. M.

One of the outstanding figures in educational circles in the Sacramento valley is Robert R. Hartzell, who has served for a decade as principal of the Red Bluff Union high school and has won a wide reputation for the high order of his work. He was born in Pennsylvania, his parents being J. Andrew and Mary M. (Reiff) Hartzell, also natives of the Keystone state. The father, who devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits during the greater part of his active life, passed away in October, 1919. The mother still survives and makes her home in Pennsylvania.

Robert R. Hartzell received his early education in the public schools of his native state, graduating from high school at Perkasie, Pennsylvania. He then took the normal course at the Perkiomen School, Pennsburg, Pennsylvania, from which he was graduated in 1908, and received the degree of Bachelor of Arts from Franklin and Marshall College at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1912. He continued his scholastic preparation at Northwestern University, on fellowship, graduating with the degree of Master of Arts in 1913. Scholarships and fellowships were also offered by Pennsylvania State College and the universities of Pennsylvania, Harvard and Yale. His further educational work consisted of attendance in the department of education, University of Pennsylvania; Army Candidate School, Langres, France; Stanford University; and the University of California.

Mr. Hartzell's teaching and administrative record is as follows; principal of the third ward school in Perkasie, Pennsylvania, 1906-1908; instructor in school methods and management, Perkiomen School, spring of 1912; teacher of history and mathematics in the high school at Yankton, South Dakota, 1913-1915; Blake Tutoring School, New York, summer of 1914; teacher of history in high school at San Luis Obispo, California, 1915-1916; organizer and principal of the high school at Templeton, California, 1916-1918, and member of the San Luis Obispo county board of education; principal of junior high schools at Pomona, California, 1919-1921; and superintendent and principal of the high school at Red Bluff, California, from 1921 to date.

In 1918 Mr. Hartzell enlisted for service in the World war and was sent to Camp Kearney, at San Diego, where he was assigned to Company C, One Hundred and Forty-fifth Machine Gun Battalion, of the Fortieth Division. He went overseas in July, 1918, and was later commissioned a second lieutenant in the Three Hundred and Fifteenth Infantry, Seventy-ninth Division. He returned to the United States in June, 1919, and was honorably discharged.

Mr. Hartzell is a Knight Templar Mason and Shriner, an Elk, a Legionnaire, a Rotarian and a member of the Red Bluff Golf Club. He is a republican in this political views and has always taken a keen interest in public affairs. He is a member of the National Education Association, the Department of Secondary School Principals of the N. E. A., the California Society of Secondary Education and for a number of years has been a member of the Council of the California Teachers Association, Northern Section; having served as its vice president for a term. He is now a member of the State Council of the California Teachers Association.