USAO mourns death of Bill Wallace

Noted author and USAO Alumni Hall of Fame member Bill Wallace has died at the age of 64.

“Like the very best career educators, Bill and Carol Wallace have spent their lives inspiring young people, not only to learn but to excel,” said USAO President John Feaver. “For his wonderful imagination as an author, and his love of teaching and learning, Bill’s legacy at USAO will extend for generations. His presence will be missed but his work will be a lasting voice.”

Bill Wallace graduated from the Oklahoma College of Liberal Arts in 1971 with a degree in elementary education. He received his master’s degree from Southwestern Oklahoma State University in 1974. Bill also studied professional writing with William Foster-Harris and Dwight V. Swain at the University of Oklahoma.

A longtime Chickasha resident, Bill and his wife Carol taught children in the area for many years. Bill taught fourth grade, kindergarten, served as assistant principal at the Chickasha Ninth Grade Center and was the principal and physical education teacher at West Elementary.

Bill’s first book to be published, A Dog Called Kitty, was written during his days as a fourth grade teacher in Chickasha. The book won the Oklahoma Sequoyah Award, the Texas Bluebonnet Award and the Nebraska Golden Sower Award.

“I began writing to keep my fourth graders quiet after lunch recess. When they listened to the stories and behaved, I kept writing. The kids also talked me into finding someone to make “real” books out of the manuscripts. Danger on Panther Peak was the first book I wrote, but the third published. A Dog Called Kitty was the third book I wrote after Trapped in Death Cave, but it was the first to be published,” Bill said.

In 2000, he received the Arrell M. Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award from the Oklahoma Center for the Book. He authored nearly a dozen more books that won awards from Oklahoma, Utah, South Carolina, Florida, Kansas, Wyoming, Maryland, Connecticut, Arizona and Canada.

In recognition of Bill Wallace’s contributions to education, the Chickasha Public Schools changed the name of West Elementary School to the Bill Wallace Early Childhood Center in honor of him.

The Wallaces were named together into the USAO Alumni Hall of Fame in fall 2008.