PFLUGERVILLE – Dan K. Utley, the prominent Texas historian who grew up in Woodville, died last Friday, at the age of 77, in Pflugerville.
Throughout his academic and public career, Utley had served as the chief historian for the state Historical Commission and as president of the East Texas Historical Association. Utley had a long association with the Texas State University of San Marcos, where he taught.
Utley was born Nov. 9, 1948, in Lufkin, to Festus and Blanche Utley, and he grew up in Woodville, and graduated from Kirby High School. He went on to earn his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history from the University of Texas and Sam Houston State University, respectively, and later taught at Woodville High School and at Cypress-Fairbanks.
He also taught at the university level as an adjunct professor and lectured at Baylor University. Utley headed up the Courthouse Preservation Program for THC, beginning in the late 1990s. In 2007, he retired from THC and worked as a contract historian and as an adjunct instructor for TSU.
As a public historian, Utley’s focus was on preserving the histories of communities through oral history and documenting cultural happenings. One publication by Utley in 2016 for The Gulf Coast Historical and Biographical Record documented the promotional and artistic acumen of Heritage Village founder Clyde E. Gray.
A visitation in Woodville, at Stringer and Griffin Funeral Home, is scheduled for 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tuesday, July 21. Following that, Utley will be buried in Magnolia Cemetery.
