Edgar G. Doudna, one of Wisconsin's best known educators and most popular speakers, was born in Viola, Richland County, September 21, 1877. He never attended high school, but taught in a rural school in the county, worked his way through Platteville Normal School, taught at Watertown and Dodgeville, and was principal at Richland Center in 1916 when he received his bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin. A musician himself, he was sometimes credited with starting the first high school band in the United States, at Sextonville, Wisconsin, in 1903.
In 1916 Doudna became head of the English department at Eau Claire State Teachers College, and between 1918 and 1923 was superintendent at Wisconsin Rapids. In the latter year he became secretary of the Wisconsin Teachers' Association, and in 1925 started editing the Wisconsin Journal of Education. His appointment in 1928 as secretary of the Board of Regents of Normal Schools of Wisconsin and Director of Teacher Training established him as an influential educator in the schools of Wisconsin.
Mr. Doudna was well known in the Middle West for his lectures, after-dinner speeches, and commencement addresses. As an example of one year's speaking engagements, he appeared at 15 educational meetings in 5 states, gave 16 commencement speeches in 2 states, spoke to 7 women's clubs and 10 Rotary clubs, and gave 39 talks before various other groups. In the 1930's he presented two series of lectures over WHA radio for the Wisconsin College of the Air: “American Life and Books” and “Wisconsin Territorial Days.” In 1920 he published Our Wisconsin, a history for Wisconsin public schools; and in 1948, he completed a history of Wisconsin for the 1948 Blue Book entitled, “The Thirtieth Star.”
In 1936, Oberlander Trust, a foundation for the development of cultural relations between the United States and the German speaking countries, sent Doudna and others to Germany to study methods for teaching German. Several months before his death, April 16, 1948, Doudna resigned from the state Board of Regents of Normal Schools in protest against the plan to turn the teachers' colleges into liberal arts colleges.
Mr. Doudna was married and had one son, William, who became a reporter and drama critic for the Wisconsin State Journal.
