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| Clarence and Barbara Mahler |
A memorial service was held on Saturday, October 4 for Clarence Mahler, professor emeritus, Department of Psychology, who died September 18, 1998 in Chico. His wife, Barbara, professor emeritus, Child Development, wrote the following history.
Clarence liked to tell the story that he was born a triplet on the Fourth of July, 1917, on a homestead near Pompey's Pillar, Montana, a landmark on the Lewis and Clark expedition. After his mother died in the 1918 influenza epidemic, the family moved to Lodge Grass, Montana, where the three boys grew up and played championship basketball with Crow Indian teammates.
He began his college education at Billings Polytechnic (now Rocky Mountain College) and went on to graduate from Northern Colorado University in Greeley. He taught high school in the tiny town of Hingham, Montana. He served in the Army for three years, where his captain was Hugh Bell, after whom the Bell Memorial Union is named. Bell encouraged him to pursue a doctorate. For the next three years he was chief of the Veteran's Administration Guidance Center at the University of Colorado and then earned his graduate degree at the University of Minnesota in 1955.
He taught psychology at Oregon State University for three years before Bell recruited him to come to then Chico State College. He remained for thirty years as a professor of psychology. His specialty was group counseling in schools. His book on the subject in 1969 was one of the first. He taught courses and offered workshops on group counseling at numerous universities in the United States, Canada, England, and Tokyo. At Chico State he was on the counseling center faculty and served as chair of the Psychology Department. He was president of the California Counseling Association and was the first elected president of the Association of Specialists in Groupwork.
In addition, for ten years he had a program of group counseling for clergy in Northern California, led state-wide trainings for the California Employment Service, carried out a program of group counseling for felons, and was part of NDEA English Teachers Institutes. He was voted outstanding teacher at CSU, Chico in 1981. Six consecutive years he was honored at a dinner for local mental health professionals.
Clarence's passions were fly fishing, travel, and group counseling, for which he said his deepest training was in having been born a triplet.
He married Margaret Woodrow in Iowa, in 1943. In 1970 he married Barbara Child Johnson. He is survived by his wife, Barbara; three children, Judy Tuttle of Nevada City, Nancy Mahler of Chico, and Don Mahler of Ashland, Oregon; and three stepchildren, Eric Johnson of Redding, Megan Johnson of Chico, and Julia Zafferano of San Carlos. There are five grandchildren and five step-grandchildren.
Memorial contributions may be sent to Rocky Mtn. College, 1151 Poly Dr., Billings, MN 59102, or the National Ataxia Fnd., 2600 Fernbrook Ln., Suite 119, Minneapolis, MN 55447.