SUTHERLAND, WILLIAM OWEN SHEPPERD, JR. – CAPTAIN, U.S. ARMY
Class of 1938Service: U.S. Army
Service Dates: 1942-46
Rank: CAPTAIN
MOS: CORP OF ENGINEERS
William Owen Sheppard Sutherland was born on January 19, 1921, in Wilmington, North Carolina, the second child and only son of William Owen Sheppard Sutherland, Sr. and his wife, the former Mary Owen Green. He grew up in Wilmington, graduated from New Hanover High School, and attended the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. After graduating in 1942 with honors in English, he briefly worked in the Wilmington shipyards before entering the Army later that year. He spent World War II in the Army Corps of Engineers, building roads and air fields in India, China, and what was then called Burma. Upon returning home in 1946 as a captain, he began graduate work at UNC, where he met Madeline E. Cooley in a playwriting class. They were married in Minot, North Dakota on September 12, 1947.
Bill received his PhD in English in 1950. He stayed on at UNC to teach for a year, before moving to Northwestern University. In 1954, he accepted a position at UT Austin, which would be his professional home for the rest of his career. He rose through the ranks to become a Professor in the Department of English as well as the Robert A. Law and Thomas H. Law Centennial Professor in the Humanities. He retired from the university in 1999, after 45 years on the faculty. https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/statesman/name/w-o-s-sutherland-obituary?id=11418580
Accolades: He spent World War II in the Army Corps of Engineers, building roads and air fields in India, China, and what was then called Burma. Upon returning home in 1946 as a Captain
Accolades: He spent World War II in the Army Corps of Engineers, building roads and air fields in India, China, and what was then called Burma. Upon returning home in 1946 as a Captain