Dr Terrance Hatch

Dr. Terrance E. Hatch
Wellsville, Utah

Dr. Terrance Edwin Hatch, a prominent Utah educator, died on June 25, 2014 in Salt Lake City, Utah. He was born February 4, 1918 in Swan Lake, Idaho, the son of Edwin Pace Hatch and Ethel Gooch Hatch. When he was six years of age, his family moved to Cove, Utah, where he grew up with his siblings on a farm.
He graduated from North Cache High School in 1936, and attended Utah State University for one year. He then served as a missionary for two years, for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, in the North Central States Mission. Upon his return, he continued his education at Utah State University, graduating in 1943 with a Bachelor’s degree. He then served his country as a Naval Officer in the Pacific, where he was Executive and Commanding Officer for a group of Landing Craft Tanks in the Marshall Islands.
Terrance married Helen Michaelsen on August 26, 1944. Together they raised three children. He was a loving husband, father and grandfather, and showed his love with many generous acts of service.
Upon returning to civilian life, he started his career as an educator, first as a high school teacher and counselor, then as a high school principal. From 1951-1954, he attended graduate school at the University of California (Los Angeles) and graduated with a Doctor of Education Degree.
That year he joined the faculty in the College of Education at Utah State University, where he had a distinguished career as a teacher and administrator. He had chaired more graduate student committees than any other University Professor at the time of his retirement in 1984, after a career of more than thirty-five years in public education. Among his students were educators who have served as school principals, superintendents of schools, and one State Governor throughout the intermountain west. His areas of teaching expertise were educational leadership and school law. He published several articles on these topics in leading professional journals and booklets.
During his tenure at Utah State University, he served on the Utah State Secondary School Accrediting Committee for the North West Association of High Schools, Colleges and Universities. In this role, he was influential in improving the quality of secondary education in the state of Utah.
In 1965, he was selected to be Associate Director of the Internship in Secondary School Administration sponsored by the Ford Foundation, in which men and women were selected to serve internships in administrative positions under the direction of Principal of Innovative Schools throughout the United States.
From 1972 to 1983, he served the College of Education as Associate Dean for Educational Outreach, and implemented the Administrative Supervisory Certificate Program (ASC), and served as its director until his retirement in 1983. This program (ASC) is now considered one of the most successful and innovative programs in training school leaders for Utah and the intermountain area. For several years after retirement, he continued to supervise field experiences for trainees in this program.
He was a life-long member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and, at the time of his death, was a High Priest. He served as a home teacher from the age of twelve and as president of Young Men and Sunday School, and as a teacher in various capacities.
He is survived by his wife, Helen, two sons, Dr. Michael Hatch (Carol) and Dr. Robert Hatch (Kristine), one daughter, Susan (Kenneth) Hammond, eleven grandchildren, and 13 great-grandchildren. He is also survived by two brothers, Tarrell (Zona), and Bartley, and one sister, Carrell Thorpe. One brother, Myron Hatch, and three sisters, Agatha Allen, Leona Miller, and Darlene Richman, preceded him in death.
A funeral will be held in his honor at 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, July 2, 2014 at the Wellsville Stake Center, 30 South Center, Wellsville, Utah with a viewing prior from 9:30 – 10:30 a.m. Interment will be in the Hyrum City Cemetery