Arthur Douglas Memorial Today

Arthur Douglas

(1916 - 2010)

A Memorial Service will be held on Monday, September 27

5:00 p.m. in the St. Mark's Chapel

A reception in the Green Library will follow.

All are invited as we celebrate Arthur’s life

and his many contributions to our community.

Arthur Douglas was born in the Yorkshire town of Bradford

on June 1, 1916. As a boy, he kept birds and developed his artistic skills. In 1932, Arthur won a national scholarship and matriculated to the Bradford College of Art and Crafts, from which he graduated in 1937. After Bradford, Arthur taught at the Leeds College of Art and Drawing and the Shipley School of Art (1937-1940), Avoncraft College (1940-1946), the Dudley Grammar School (1946-1949), and Victoria College on the Isle of Jersey (1949-1955).

In 1955, Arthur followed Victoria College colleagues D.G. Thomas and Norman Blake to join the St. Mark’s faculty. He taught six days a week, instructing students in art, Spanish, English literature, and handwriting (then a required course through sophomore year). Within three years, Arthur transferred to the Science Department where he taught 1st through 8th grade science on the second floor of Davis Hall. By 1960, a new science center was built with a greenhouse. Arthur became officially responsible for designing the new Greenhouse containing a room of bromeliads and succulents, a tropical room, and a room specifically for cacti. Beginning in 1963, Arthur devoted much of his time to seventh grade life science, a course he would teach for the next two decades.

Cecil Green, who was President of the Board from 1964 to 1966, admired Arthur’s work and asked him to design the planting for the Math/Science courtyard. Arthur used part of his own plant collection to illustrate the four natural growing areas of Texas. In 1969, Arthur developed and implemented plans for the Aviary. For his vast knowledge in the natural sciences, P.O’B. Montgomery, Jr. ’38, President of the Board from 1974-1976, appointed him “Curator of Living Materials,” a title he held until his retirement. In 1972, the senior class also recognized Mr. Douglas by dedicating the Marksmen yearbook to him.

Without seeking it, Arthur’s knowledge of ornithology and the natural sciences made him internationally renowned. From the 1960’s through the 1980’s, he wrote articles and regularly appearing columns for the English weekly magazine Cage and Aviary Birds. He wrote and illustrated articles for The Canary & Finch Journal and The Journal of Yorkshire Cactus Society. For his research on the artificial feeding of insectivorous birds in captivity, he was elected a Fellow of the London Zoological Society in 1969. Arthur wrote numerous articles and translated Seventeenth century ornithological works into English from Italian and French. In 1978, he was invited to make a presentation at the 1st International Symposium on Birds in Captivity. He was a member of the Avicultural Society, the Royal Horticultural Society, the Arizona Native Flora Society, the Audubon Society, the National Wildlife Association, and the American Museum of Natural History.

In 1963, Arthur met Alice Taliaferro, a substitute teacher at St. Mark’s. They married in 1965, and he helped raise her two children Alan Douglas of Dallas and Anne Poole of Muenster. Alice died in 2000 after thirty-five years of marriage.

He retired from teaching in 1982, but Arthur continued to be an important member of the St. Mark’s faculty. He took care of and gave tours of the Greenhouse and Aviary, instructing boys on the wonders of the natural world. Faculty and students alike appreciated Arthur’s encyclopedic knowledge, English wit, and considerable charm. For fifty years, Arthur Douglas embodied St. Mark’s commitment to the pursuit of excellence and taught by example what it meant to be an inspiring teacher, a caring mentor, a true gentleman, and a great friend.

Arthur Douglas died on September 14, 2010. May he rest in peace.