William M. Hadley

Who was William M. Hadley?

William Moore Hadley is credited as being one of the primary early proponents of the middle school movement in the United States, and one of the first such schools carries his name.

Bill Hadley, the youngest child of Joseph William and Pauline Elizabeth Simmons Hadley, was born in Summerdale, AL, on March 21, 1917. He married Wilma Funchess of Mobile, AL. Both Bill and Polly were students at Daphne Normal School in Baldwin County, AL at the time of their marriage. They both completed their teaching training and began their teaching careers in Baldwin County. Bill began teaching in 1937 and Polly in 1938. In 1942, he joined the Merchant Marines and served until the end of World War II. Polly continued to teach in the Baldwin and Mobile school systems and raised their two daughters. At the end of the War, Bill joined his family in Mobile where he and his wife resumed their teaching careers.

In 1948, he returned to the University of Alabama where he completed his B.S. and M.A. degrees. His wife was a principal and teacher in Tuscaloosa County, providing the means for her husband to complete his graduate degree in 1949.