Lee E. Wickline *69

Lee Wickline, a teacher who later spent more than 30 years with United States government education agencies, died Oct. 3, 2017, at age 91.

Wickline enlisted in the Navy at age 17 during World War II and served on the USS Princeton. In 1949, he graduated from Berea College, and spent several years teaching high school science, mathematics, and physics. In 1954, he earned a master’s degree from West Virginia University, and in 1964 he earned a doctoral degree from Penn State.

In 1958, the U.S. passed the National Defense Education Act, funding teaching of science and mathematics. As part of this, Wickline was a state science specialist with the West Virginia Department of Education, and then with the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare in Washington, D.C., where he created the National Diffusion Network in 1974 and directed it for 16 years.

Wickline was a visiting student at Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School as a mid-career fellow from 1968 to 1969. In 1975, he served as director of the Office of Education Refugee Assistance Task Force, establishing education programs for Cambodian and Vietnamese war refugees. He retired in 1992.

He is survived by his wife of 69 years, Carolyn; two sons; and three grandchildren.

Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.