William Curtis Dallis was born in Columbus, Ohio in 1896 and, becoming orphaned, he was raised by the Meadows family and graduated with a bachelor's degree in education from Tennessee State University.

Rebecca Huey was born in Connersville, Indiana in 1896; she had a brother, Virgil, and a half sister, Harriett. She married Curtis Dallis December 23, 1923 in Rogersville, Tennessee while she was attending a black school, Swift Memorial College in Rogersville. She received her Tennessee state department of education elementary teaching certificate on May 23, 1924. Swift was a very small private school with a total enrollment in 1950 of only 53 black students.

couple came west to Phoenix in 1929, where Curtis operated the Dallis Funeral Home until 1932. Their next movements are ill-defined, but Rebecca is reported to have taught school at Mobile, Arizona from that year until 1939. A measure of her outstanding character is manifested by her achieving her Master of Arts degree from the University of Arizona in 1934, a difficult and unusual accomplishment in those days. Over time she also took post-graduate courses in Administration at Arizona State and at USC.

sabel Hankins Gipson, a former pupil, considered Mrs. Dallis to be a "superb" teacher who was very strict and thorough, and who managed to cope with the second-hand materials she was given, such as used chalk from the white school and used books with missing pages. She was assisted by Mr. Dallis in teaching high school subjects, except algebra, which she taught. Some of these classes were conducted on the Dallis' screened front porch.

people of Stanfield opened a new school for black children in 1947, which was later named the William Huey School in honor of Rebecca Dallis' father ... There were fifty-eight students in all.

Because of continued growth in the Casa Grande black population, a new East School (now Palo Verde) was built ... and was occupied in February, 1952. Rebecca Dallis' talents were recognized by her being named head teacher. She was assisted by Essie White and Mrs. Amanda Bell, and they were all proud to announce the graduation of twelve students in the spring.

C. Dallis was listed as principal of the William Huey School at Stanfield that same year. He had Geraldine Hankins to teach first and second grades, and John Henry to take care of third, fourth and fifth; Dallis did sixth, seventh and eighth.

A sad boy ... Curtis Dallis was mesmerized by exploits of Teddy Roosevelt in his big-game hunts, and he decided that he also would hunt big game some day, a pretty tall order. Rebecca supported him in his dream and, somehow, they set aside sufficient cash to make it a reality in 1958 when he went on an African safari.

the year 1960 the school board had officially recognized Rebecca with the title of Principal at East School. Her faculty that year included Osceola Garlain, Mary Thompson, William Eddings, Hazel Brown, Essie White and Doris Hill. .. Rebecca reached the Casa Grande Elementary School mandatory retirement age of 65 in 1962.

Rebecca passed away Feb. 3,1971, having remained active up until the last. Curtis was never the same after her death and he died Dec. 29, 1976 after spending his final years in the Hoemako Hospital long term care facility."

Some Key Events in Casa Grand's History

1687 Father Kino passed through the Valley on a missionary journey, holding mass at the location of the Casa Grande ruins.

1853 Land south of the Gila River was added to the United States through the Gadsden Purchase.

1875 Pinal County was created and, two years later, the Desert Land Act provided 640 acres to those who would irrigate and live on the land for three years.

1880 Casa Grande consisted of eighty buildings centered on the railroad. Mining was the primary commercial enterprise that sustained the town.

1909 Arizona law permitted school districts to segregate "African" students from white students.

1912 Arizona became a state. A year later, Casa Grande's first elementary school opened.

1929 Coolidge Dam was completed. Casa Grandeans wrestled with the Great Depression and with taking over responsibility for $190,000 in delinquent sewer and paving bonds in order to keep the good name of the city.

1933 As a result of the migration of Black families whose primary jobs were picking cotton on the farms around Casa Grande, a one-room separate colored school was built and opened at the SW corner of the South School ground.

1954 A house numbering system was adopted to simplify locating residents and facilitating delivery of mail.

1960 Rebecca Dallis was named principal of East School.

1963 Martin Luther King, Jr. addressed