STAIRES, E. Harlin

Arizona Daily Sun, Flagstaff, Arizona Thursday, May 17, 2012 E. Harlin Staires, former vice president and professor at Northern Arizona University, died Thursday, May 10, 2012. Staires was 86 years old. He and twin sister Helen (Dethrow) were born Dec. 25, 1925, in Alton, Mo., the fifth and sixth children of Ode Alvin Staires and Eva Lee (Clay) Staires. He left home at 17 to enlist in the U.S. Navy and spent 24 months in the Pacific Theater of World War II as a Hospital Corpsman stationed on Tinian Island and aboard LST 910. Upon returning from the war, he enrolled in college using the G.I. Bill and earned three degrees, including a doctorate in education, from the University of Missouri at Columbia. There he met and married Mary Kathryn (Kit) Stoll on April 5, 1947. During their 65 years together, they had three children, Steven Lee Staires (wife-Rita Faye Staires), Deborah Sue Staires and Phillip Dan Staires, (died in 2009: wife-Ramona Staires). He also has five grandchildren and a great-granddaughter. He is also survived by sister Nellie Archer and twin sister Helen. Staires spent more than 40 years in public education -- a high school principal and Superintendent of Schools in southern Kansas City (Grandview, Mo.), dean of education at Central Missouri State University, as well as university vice president and professor of educational administration at NAU. Staires' family members obtained a total of 11 degrees from NAU. Some of Dr. Staires' accomplishments include overseeing the construction of the Walkup Skydome, the development of South Campus and the construction of the first dormitory built there, McConnell Hall. He also taught graduate-level courses in educational administration and chaired or sat on several doctoral committees. A celebration of his life will be held Saturday at the Sunland Mortuary, 15826 Del Webb Blvd., in Sun City. Everyone who knew him and would like to be part of this celebration is invited. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his name to the Boy Scouts of America, Grand Canyon Council at (602) 955-7747. Share your memories on Facebook at: In Memory of E. Harlin Staires, Ed.D. Cards or letters may be sent to the family via Debbie Staires, 1604 North Date Drive, Tempe, AZ, 85281.