Robert J. Brannock
 LHS freshman class, 1924 |
 1946 |
 Retirement Open House |
A copy of the following article, hand-identified as being from the Jan. 13, 1957 Times, was found in a scrapbook owned by Town Historian Richard Schmal:
BECOMES CROWN POINT SUPT
BRANNOCK QUITS AS LAKE SCHOOL CHIEF
CROWN POINT -- Robert J. Brannock, who has headed the Lake County School system as superintendent since 1953, will become superintendent of the Crown Point Schools effective Feb. 1.Brannock, who left a job as principal of Lowell High School to head the county schools, will replace Austin Walker in Crown Point. Walker resigned recently to become superintendent of Warren Township Schools in Indianapolis.
Brannock submitted his resignation as Lake County School superintendent to the county board at a special meeting of the board Friday in Crown Point.
AT THE SAME time, Proctor Maynard, county schools elementary supervisor for four years, handed in his resignation. He will leave to become superintendent in an elementary district at Oak Lawn. Ill.
Brannock has BS and MS degrees from Purdue University and has additional grade work from Indiana University and Purdue.
He was a science teacher at Lowell District High School before becoming principal in 1937, a post he held for 16 years.
WHILE BRANNOCK was county superintendent of schools, the personnel was expanded from 349 to 454. A total of 137 classrooms were constructed to care for an enrollment that grew from 10,000 to 14,500 in a three-year period.
Also built were two new junior high schools and two additional senior high schools.
A copy of the following unidentified newspaper article was found in a scrapbook owned by Town Historian Richard Schmal:
Robert J. Brannock Quits County Post To Head Crown Point City Schools
R.J. Brannock, of Lowell, who has served as Lake County Superintendent of Schools since 1953, submitted his resignation last Friday at a special meeting of the County Board of Education. He leaves the county post February 1 to take over the top administrative job in the Crown Point city schools, replacing Austin Walker, who goes to Indianapolis as superintendent of Warren Township schools.Before taking the county position, Brannock served as principal of Lowell high school for 16 years. While at L.H.S., he was instrumental in revising the school curriculum to upgrade the school to a first class commission and membership in the North Central Assn. of Secondary Schools and Colleges.
During his administration of the county schools, the personnel was expanded from 349 to 454. A total of 137 classrooms were constructed to care for an enrollment that grew from 10,000 to 14,500 in the three year period. An additional 136 classrooms are now in process. Two more junior high schools were built and two additional senior high schools. The superintendent's office staff increased from six to 14 full time workers.
A resident of Lowell, all of his life, Mr. Brannock and family plan to move to Crown Point. While local folks are reluctant to have them leave, everyone joins in wishing them much happiness. Mr. and Mrs. Brannock and their children, Sue Ann and Dennis, freshmen at L.H.S., have been leaders in the community and are highly esteemed.
Proctor Maynard, county schools elementary supervisor, also resigned last week to become assistant superintendent in an elementary district at Oak Lawn, Ill.
The following undated Star news item was found in a scrapbook owned by Town Historian Richard Schmal::
ROBERT J. BRANNOCK, WHO REITRES THIS YEAR as superintendent of the Crown Point School corporation, is pictured with his sister, Mrs. Richard Nolen of East Chicago, left, and Mrs. Monte Biesecker of Cedar Lake, during the reception and open house held in his honor Sunday afternoon at Eisenhower elementary school.
Principal Emert Graper and his staff of teachers at Eisenhower planned and carried out the party preparations. Friends, relatives and associates came to extend congratulations on a successful career and best wishes for retirement years. Besides many from Crown Point they came from Valparaiso, Lowell, Cedar Lake and East Chicago. Former students were there from Cedar Lake, Lowell and Valparaiso.
Speaking with pride of the fact that all of his 42 years in the field of education had been done in Lake County, Mr. Brannock recalls that his professional career extends from its beginning with seven years as a classroom teacher and then in administrative work 35 years, first as supervising principal in Lowell, where he had been graduated from high school in 1927 before going to Purdue, for 15 to 20 years as a superintendent of schools, 16 of them in the Crown Point system.
He and his wife, the former Miss Eleanor Henderlong, live in the family home on South Court. They are parents of a daughter and son and have four grandchildren. Their daughter, Sue, is Mrs. Russell Sloane. She, her husband and their three girls -- Debra, Christy and Diane -- live at Garland, Texas. Son Dennis, his wife and their son, Timothy, are in Crown Point.
The Brannocks have no definite plans for their coming retirement, but are definite in saying they will continue to live here.
Go to Robert Brannock, "Pioneer History Index," for further information.
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