William Laurens Pressly ’31

Bill Pressly was born July 24, 1908, in Louisville, Ga., and lived there and in Chester, S.C., before finally moving to Atlanta, where he died Mar. 3, 2001, at the age of 92. In 1927 he entered Erskin College and remained there until he entered Princeton as a junior. After graduation, with his sights set on a career in education, he became a teacher at the McCallie School in Chattanooga, all the while nursing his lifelong ambition. He resigned as McCallie's coheadmaster in 1951 (but remained on as a trustee) to found Westminster schools in Atlanta.

Along the way, Bill earned a master's from Harvard, an honorary doctorate of literature from Washington & Lee, and became a member of the Headmasters Assn. and a representative to the College Entrance Examination Board. Chair of the President's Commission on Presidential Scholars, Bill also received a degree in 1978 from Hangyang U. in Seoul, Korea.

Surviving are his wife, Alice Fletcher McCallie, two sons, Paul '64 and Bill '66 (both Phi Beta Kappa with later honors from both Oxford and Harvard), and one grandson. The class extends its deepest sympathy to the entire family.

The Class of 1931