David E. Graf in the May 14, 1968, LOOK magazine feature recognizing him as National Teacher of the Year. Photograph by Vincent Nanfria.
On April 30, 1968, a Sandwich teacher stood in the Cabinet Room of the White House as President Lyndon B. Johnson recognized his work. David Edward Graf was the eighteenth National Teacher of the Year, and the first teacher of vocational education to receive the honor.
The national recognition grew from work close to home. Graf taught young people how to use tools, solve problems, and prepare for employment. He also helped create opportunities for adults with developmental disabilities. His classrooms and community projects shared a practical purpose: helping people develop skills they could use in their own lives.
From Sandwich to military service
Born in Shoshone, Idaho, on January 24, 1917, Graf graduated from Sandwich High School in 1935. His wife, Juanita, belonged to the same graduating class. He earned a degree in industrial arts from the University of Illinois in 1939 and later completed a master’s degree in adult education.
World War II interrupted his early teaching career. Graf served with the 90th Infantry Division, and his obituary records his participation in the Normandy invasion at Utah Beach and service in General George S. Patton’s Third Army.
His decorations included the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, and French Croix de Guerre. His obituary also lists two Oak Leaf Clusters. These clusters signify additional awards; they are not separate medals, and the obituary does not clearly identify the decoration to which they belonged.
Graf continued his military involvement after the war. He later retired from the Army Reserve as a full colonel, having also taught at the Army’s Command and General Staff school. That later rank should be distinguished from his wartime service.
Skills for a working life
Graf began teaching in Sandwich in 1946. His work in industrial arts and vocational education connected classroom instruction with the demands of employment.
In 1962, he began the school’s diversified occupations program. Students studied at school and gained experience working with local employers. By 1967, the program included twenty three trainees working in nineteen industries.
A national audience saw that approach in the May 14, 1968, issue of LOOK magazine. Its feature, “Teacher of the Year: David Graf’s Custom Built Classroom,” showed students learning through activities that included surveying, electronics, house design, and floral arranging. Classroom theory and paid work experience supported one another.
The feature also described Graf’s attention to individual learning. He adjusted instruction when a student struggled and broke difficult jobs into smaller steps. His experience studying workshops for people with disabilities informed methods he could use with other students as well.
Teaching extended into family life. LOOK pictured Graf working with his daughter, Cindy, and described “Holler Doller,” a game he devised to help her learn arithmetic with real coins and bills. The photograph records another setting for his patient, practical approach to learning.
Graf works with his daughter, Cindy. LOOK described “Holler Doller,” a game he devised to help her learn arithmetic using real coins and bills. Photograph by Vincent Nanfria, LOOK, May 14, 1968.
Opening doors beyond the classroom
In 1964, Graf helped establish Open Door, a workshop offering adults with developmental disabilities opportunities to work and earn money. Juanita Graf and Virginia and Bill Squier Sr. also shared in its founding, as a later local newspaper retrospective records.
Contemporary reporting brings its beginnings into focus. An April 30, 1964, newspaper article described five trainees starting work in Graf’s basement that February. Later that month, the operation moved to a house associated with the Federated Church at 321 North Main Street.
By the time of the article, seven trainees were working five mornings a week. Local manufacturers supplied assembly work, and community support helped sustain the project. Open Door gave participants a place to develop skills and contribute through paid employment.
Graf’s obituary also credits his teaching career with a role in the founding of the Indian Valley Vocational Center. Together, these efforts show how his interest in vocational education reached beyond any single classroom.
A teacher honored at the White House
President Lyndon B. Johnson honors David E. Graf in the White House Cabinet Room, April 30, 1968. Among those pictured, from left, are Juanita Graf, David Graf, Illinois Superintendent of Public Instruction Ray Page, Senator Charles Percy, and President Johnson.
At the 1968 presentation, President Lyndon Johnson recognized Graf as both an outstanding teacher and an outstanding citizen. He spoke of Graf’s military service, architectural interests, and work establishing Open Door.
The President also placed the award within a larger discussion of vocational education. Graf’s recognition came as the nation increased its investment in programs connecting education with the world of work.
The award was sponsored by LOOK magazine in cooperation with the Council of Chief State School Officers. For Sandwich, it brought national attention to a teacher whose methods were already part of local school and community life.
A lasting lesson
David Edward Graf died in Peoria, Arizona, on November 1, 2005, at age eighty eight. His wife, Juanita, and daughter, Cindy, had preceded him in death.
His obituary recalled a saying associated with his teaching: “He who has a trade, has an estate.”
Those words fit the work documented in his classrooms, employment programs, and community projects. Graf helped people build abilities they could carry with them, into a first job, a new task, or a more independent life.
Companion resource: presidential remarks
President Johnson Honors David E. Graf: Remarks of April 30, 1968
More History Awaits
The story continues every day.
Follow Historic Sandwich, Illinois on Facebook for additional photographs, new discoveries, and everyday glimpses into our town’s past.
Sources
- Free Press, October 19, 1967, pages 1 and 4. Biographical profile of David E. Graf following his selection as DeKalb County Teacher of the Year.
- News-Press, April 30, 1964. Contemporary reporting on Open Door’s beginnings and early operations.
- LOOK, May 14, 1968. “Teacher of the Year: David Graf’s Custom-Built Classroom.” Produced by Daniel Chapman; photographs by Vincent Nanfria.
- Lyndon B. Johnson, “Remarks Upon Presenting the National Teacher of the Year Award to David E. Graf,” April 30, 1968. The American Presidency Project, edited by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley.
- Sandwich Record, January 7, 2004, page 18. Pat Wallis’s retrospective on Open Door’s founding and development.
- “David Graf Obituary,” Legacy Remembers, published November 5–6, 2005. Biographical information on Graf’s family, teaching career, military service, and death.