Mary (Dean) Kier Tyler, C. L. Kier, and Andrew Kier

Mary (Dean) Kier Tyler had a teaching career that began in 1954 in a one-room schoolhouse outside of Sacramento. She taught here in Monterey County from 1956 until her retirement in 1975. She taught elementary, severely handicapped, and bilingual students, and was a reading specialist. Mary developed the Head Start program in North Monterey County.

Her first husband, C.L. Kier, worked with her at Logan Hall School teaching developmentally disabled children. Her son, Andrew Kier, worked many years as a marine biologist and for the US Forest Service, but he too went on to become a teacher.

The Kier Memorial Scholarship honors all three by awarding an annual grant to a college-bound senior at Pacific Grove High School. Members of the Kier and Dean families and many friends have contributed to this scholarship.