CENTRAL : GARDEN GROVE : Retiring School Supt. Is Praised

Parents and school officials say they will miss Supt. Ed Dundon, who last week announced his retirement. Dundon was praised last week as a straightforward and supportive administrator who kept the Garden Grove Unified School District financially stable during the 20 years he headed it.

Dundon, 61, told the board last week that he will officially retire on New Year’s Eve, after 32 years with the district.

Leaving after so long, “you miss the people and the kids,” he said after last week’s board meeting. He is most proud “of the people we’ve been able to get together in this district to work as a team.”

Lyn Hamtil, president of the district Board of Education, called Dundon “an outstanding superintendent.”

“He probably more than anyone else will hate all the fanfare” over his departure, she added. “He’s a very private man and if he could walk away from the job without any fuss, that’s the way he’d like to go.”

Dundon joined the district at Garden Grove High School as a math teacher in 1961 after several years teaching in Pennsylvania. He became assistant principal at Garden Grove High in 1965 and was later promoted to assistant superintendent for personnel. In 1973, he took over as acting superintendent after the death of Supt. Donald Walsh. Dundon accepted the post on a permanent basis in 1974.