San Miguel Mission & An Obituary for Dr. William Poytress

Arroyo Grande, CA.

    This photo was taken from "the other side of the tracks" to give some idea of the large size of Mission San Miguel.

    While it's not evident from this perspective, a great deal of restoration work is underway on the back of the mission, especially the roof. But a somewhat newer building to the rear of the mission had a good-sized crowd for Tuesday-night Bingo as I drove to the local branch of the San Luis Obispo Library.

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William H. POYTRESS
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Obituary
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Thursday 28 January 1987 San Jose Mercury News, p. 7B
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William Poytress, Former SJS Prof
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    William H. Poytress, 95, a professor at San Jose State for 40 years who headed the social science department in the 1940s and 1950s, died Monday at a San Jose convalescent hospital after a brief illness.
    An economics professor, he retired form the faculty in 1963. He came to San Jose from San Mateo, where he had taught at San Mateo Junior College.
    He was born in Birmingham, England, and came to America in 1905 with his parents. They settled in the Fresno area and farmed.
    Highly regarded as a political scientist, Prof. Poytress was often called upon by business people and others to speak on current events. He would, during the four decades he taught at San Jose State, speak out on controversial issues at the drop of a hat. Many of his public remarks were reported in the newspapers.
    For example, on the evening of Feb. 18, 1941, Dr Poytress was called upon to address a Junior Chamber of Commerce "Americanism Banquet" in Hollister, at which he declared, "Let's be realistic. We are in a war now." He was to prove prophetic. Ten months later the United States was, indeed, in war with Japan, Italy, and Germany.
    Dr. Poytress held degrees from the University of California and did his post-graduate work at Stanford University. A scholar, he had studied Latin for 13 years and Greek for five years.
    He is credited with estabishing SJS's public relations curriculum in 1948.
    Dr. Poytress was well-liked by SJS students, and in 1966, three years after he had retired, he was named the San Jose State College's homecoming grand marshal by the SJS student body. On homecoming day he led the parade through downtown San Jose and presided over half-time activities in the football clash between Idaho and State.
    He was a memnber of scores of professional organizations during his tenure, but was also proud of being a leader of the Villages Garden Club. He became an avid gardner upon retirement, at one time expressing a fondness for the shovel, a tool he often used during the days he grew up on a ranch near Fresno.
    "I never pull weeds," he reported in a 1978 interview published in the Mercury News. "I shovel them out. None of this bending."
    He is survived by his wife, Maude Horn Poytress of San Jose, a son, Dr. Richard W. Poytress, a Los Gatos anesthesiologist; nine grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. Funeral arrangements were handled by the Neptune Society of San Jose.
    Memorial services are pending.

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    My late father's favorite story about "Wild Bill" Poytress, as he called him, came from an economics class in 1937. [Recall that the stock market topped in 1929, bottomed in 1932, and topped again in 1937.] After apparently listening to a radio broadcast as to what the stock market was doing late in 1937, Dr. Poytress entered the classroom and announced, "The Bears have the Bulls by the balls." Presumably there were few if any women in the class. I'm certain that the many talks I saw announced in the Santa Cruz Sentinel by Dr. Poytress before civic clubs, many of them women's clubs, were done in a different verbiage; for the women at some of his talks would have been aghast at such a description of the stock market struggles between the Bulls and the Bears.

    Even though Dr. Poytress was still teaching while I was an undergraduate (1957-61) he still sought other venues at which to express himself. I recall hearing him talk about events of the day at a San Jose junior high school which was part of the adult evening education program.

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    While it's somewhat unclear whether Dr. Poytress was an adviser to Tau Delta Phi, he is shown in 1938 and 1939 La Torres as if he were a student member with no label other than his name next to his photo. My guess is that "Wild Bill" Poytress was indeed the TDP adviser in the late 1930s.

F 21 Jan Route: Morro Bay - San Luis Obispo - Arroyo Grande - Pismo Beach