Stephen B. Luce ES/HS History

Opened: 1954
Closed: 1976

A teaching couple, Q.R. Wright and Jean Wright, opened Stephen B. Luce School in September, 1954. The school was located at Tsoying Naval Station, forty miles south of Tainan and accommodated 44 students. It was named after Stephen Bleecker Luce, who became commander of the Naval Academy. Thomas Marshall was the principal of Stephen B. Luce with three teachers and 103 students in 1955. By 1956, the student body had reached 174 in grades one through eight. One teacher supervised the ten or more high school students who were enrolled in correspondence courses.

Additions were made to the school several times, including three rooms in 1959. Clarence Bush was principal from 1956-1959 when he was replaced by E.J. England. H. E. Brown was a teacher-principal in 1961. He was succeeded by William Dwyer in 1962. Clarence Allen assumed the teacher-principalship from 1964-1966.

In November 1965, a new Stephen B. Luce School was completed. During its construction, classes for all eight grades were held in “Britton Hall”, a large open Quonset hut which was the community center, movie theater, and church. Margaret Want became teacher-principal in 1966-67. By school year 1967-68, three teachers and the teacher-principal, Douglas Campbell, served fewer than ninety students in grades one through eight. In December 1975, the school graduated its only senior under the University of Nebraska correspondence program. The principal of SBL school for school year 1975-76, was Hal Jacobson.

Based on information from DoDDS-Pacific Region 1946-1986

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