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Dr. George A. Farrah, Age 88 |
Visitation Location: |
First Presbyterian Church, St. Cloud, Minnesota |
Visitation Date/Time: |
Thursday, April 3, 2008 from 12 Noon to 1:00 PM |
Funeral Time: |
Thursday, April 3, 2008 at 1:00 PM |
Funeral Location: |
First Presbyterian Church, St. Cloud, Minnesota |
Burial Location: |
North Star Cemetery, St. Cloud, MN |
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DR. GEORGE A. FARRAH, 88
St. Cloud
October 20, 1919 ~ March 30, 2008
A memorial service will be held Thursday, April 3, 2008 at 1:00 PM at First Presbyterian Church, St. Cloud, MN, for Dr. George Alexander Farrah, who died March 30, 2008. The Reverend Dr. C. Edward Morgan will co-officiate with Reverend Robert Cavanna. Visitation will be one hour prior to the service at the church on Thursday. Entombment will be in North Star Cemetery, St. Cloud, MN. A time of fellowship will follow the service at the church on Thursday. Funeral arrangements were made by Benson Funeral Home, St. Cloud, MN.
Dr. Farrah is survived by his wife, Peggy (Hall) Farrah; son, George Joseph (Heidi) Farrah; brothers, Victor (Nioma) Farrah, Bradford (Marty) Farrah, and William (Jan) Farrah; sister, Jean Martha Farrah; seven nieces and nephews; step sons, Mike (Letty) McLaughlin and John (Laura) McLaughlin; step daughter Sandy (Ray) Orton; two grandchildren; five step grandchildren; and four great step grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his mother and father, George John and Lily (Barbour) Farrah; his first wife, Lucille (Petrusha) Farrah; sister, Leona Marie Farrah; brothers, Edward, John, Joseph, and Alexander Farrah; and his niece Cynthia Farrah.
One of seven children, George was born in Cambridge, Ohio. His early years were spent in the central Michigan area. After completing high school in the Detroit public school system, George divided his time between working as an apprentice engineer at Detroit’s Budd Wheel Company and attending Wayne State University at night.
In of March 1942, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, George enlisted in the United States Armed Forces. After only five weeks of basic training, he was sent overseas to join the 41st Infantry Division in Rockhampton, Australia, with General Douglass MacArthur’s Southwest Pacific forces. During his thirty-one months overseas, George participated in four major campaigns: the Papuan, the New Guinea, the Dutch East Indies, and the Southern Philippines Liberation.
For these campaigns, he was awarded five bronze battle stars. Since his honorable discharge in August 1945, and as a veteran with 100% disability, he has been a lifetime member of both the D.A.V. and the V.F.W.
Following his military service, George continued his education at Wayne State University. He married his first wife, Lucille, in 1948, and his son, George Joseph, was born in 1950.
He then completed a doctoral degree in the academic area of research and evaluation, and he since then has worked as 1) a Master Teacher and a school administrator (1949-1968, Detroit Public
Schools); 2) the Director of the Cooperative Teaching Center at Wayne State University; 3) a university professor in the College of Education at St. Cloud State University (seventeen years); 4) Director of Graduate Field Studies at the Center for Administration and Leadership at SCSU; and 5) as professional consultant in Michigan and in Minnesota.
While at SCSU, Dr. Farrah received numerous awards, research grants, and recognitions for his contributions. These included awards to conduct cross-cultural research concerning values and education in England, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, and other European countries, as well as in the United States. His research into the atomization of Western culture cuts across several academic disciplines, including the social sciences, science, and the language arts. Dr. Farrah also collaborated with Dr. Linus Pauling, winner of two, unshared Nobel Prizes. Other awards he received over the years included a “Service Key” for outstanding leadership as past president of the Alpha Omega Chapter of the Phi Delta Kappa society and a grant from the Minnesota Humanities Commission.
Dr. Farrah was active with numerous professional groups throughout his career, including working as a consultant to the U. S. Department of Education, for several school districts in Minnesota, and with educational leaders in Germany, Switzerland, and Spain. As director of Graduate Field Studies and Professor of Educational Research and Leadership, he directed two thousand, seven hundred graduate projects, including doctoral dissertations, over an eighteen-year period. Nine volumes of his research have been collected and can be found in the St. Cloud State University library holdings.
Dr. Farrah’s research and experience over the course of his career contributed to this recently published final work, "Images of the West: Portraits in Diversity; What are Your Choices?" relating to values and other aspects of the American way of life.
Dr. Farrah’s beloved first wife, Lucille, died after a valiant battle against breast cancer in 1981. Following that sad loss, he met and married Peggy (Hall) in 1983. They recently celebrated twenty-five happy years together. During this period, Dr. Farrah became a very active member of the First Presbyterian Church in St. Cloud, as a deacon and an elder. He also worked on several research projects for the church.
Dr. Farrah will always be remembered by family, friends, and colleagues for his personal, academic, and professional achievements. Even more importantly, though, we will all cherish the memory of this kindness, generosity, quick wit, and loving heart. He is greatly missed by all. |
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