You need a Big Cake for These Candles!

If you tried to put all the necessary candles on Stanton Singleton’s birthday cake, you would need a very, very large cake. Because, on October 26, he turned 101.

The Athens Kiwanis Club held a surprise party for Dr. Singleton, giving him cards, tributes and a visit from his son and daughter. He is a long-term and much loved member of the club. He is also internationally renowned in the field of education and is credited with beginning the in-service training program for secondary teachers.

When Dr. Singleton, a native of Cumming, was graduated from UGA, the country was in the midst of a severe economic downtown. There was high unemployment, a decreased number of jobs, and a sense of rootlessness. People protested and banks were under scrutiny.

This was during the Great Depression, not today’s Great Recession. Dr. Singleton earned his master’s at Georgia in 1935 -- he had already earned his bachelor's -- and joined the faculty. He had previously attended Young Harris Junior College and had taught school in Dublin and LaGrange. When he married Margaret Slayton in 1939, he began working on his Ph.D. at Ohio State.

That study was interrupted when Dr. Singleton was called into military service and joined the Navy Air Force. After orientation, he trained as a navigator and won his wings. He became an instructor at the Navy Air Base in Corpus Christi, Texas, where he served for the duration of the war.

Dr. Singleton returned to UGA. There, he taught future math and science teachers and was director of general secondary education. He helped organize the statewide in-service education program for secondary teachers. At one time, the program had more more than 8,000 participants.

He retired in 1978, when he was named  “Emeritus professor and emeritus Director of In-Service Teaching.”

Dr. Singleton has a daughter, Betsy Fussell, of Rainbow City, AL, and a son, Stanton, Jr. an attorney in Atlanta. He has two grandchildren, two step-grand children, and 11 great grandchildren. He resides in Talmage Terrace and is active in as well as the Kiwanis.