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Robert McGill
Claremont High School teacher, WWII veteran
Robert George McGill may have been one of the last public high school teachers to bring Latin into the lives of teenagers. Mr. McGill taught English and Latin at Claremont High School during the days when it was housed in the Old School House on the corner of Indian Hill and Foothill Boulevards. For more than 30 years, he taught at CHS, retiring in the mid-80s.
Mr. McGill, a native of Minnesota, died on September 23, 2006 after an 11-year battle with Alzheimer's disease.
Born in Minnesota on January 13, 1920, Mr. McGill moved to Culver City with his family in 1923. He attended a Catholic high school in Los Angeles and graduated from the Catholic University in Washington DC.
On his way to becoming a priest, World War II broke out and Mr. McGill enlisted in the navy. He attended officer's training school in New York City, New York. During the war, he served in the South Pacific, remaining in the Navy Reserves until retiring as Lt. Commander in 1979.
After the war, Mr. McGill moved to Claremont. He earned a teaching credential from the University of California, Los Angeles and began teaching at Claremont High School in 1947. His only child, Robert McGill, went through the public school system in Claremont, graduating from Claremont High School in 1972.
Mr. McGill was an avid reader who found particular enjoyment in the works of Dickens and Shakespeare. He also eagerly read about WWII naval history.
"He was very smart and very nice and had a very sly sense of humor," said his son, Robert McGill. "He was very personable."
Mr. McGill is survived by his wife, Jean McGill of Claremont; by his son and daughter-in-law, Robert and Shirley McGill of Winnetka; by his grandsons, Sean and Paul McGill; and by his brother in Oregon.
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