Former biology teacher, WWII vet dies at 91

Arthur C. Totten Jr, a longtime Valley Stream resident, Central High School teacher, athletic coach and World War II veteran, died on March 11. He was 91.

Totten was born in Philadelphia on Dec. 6, 1924 and grew up in Scarsdale, N.Y. He briefly studied at the University of Pennsylvania before enlisting in the United States Marine Corps in 1942 at 18. He served as a corporal and was part of an artillery support unit for the bloody invasion and capture of Tarawa Atoll in the Pacific during World War II.

After the war, Totten returned to the university, where he met his future wife, Ellen. The couple got married in 1948 and moved to Albany, where Ellen worked as a teacher and Totten continued his studies at New York State College for Teachers in 1953. He later received a National Science Foundation grant and used it to earn a master’s degree in teaching at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Totten spent his entire educational career teaching biology at Valley Stream Central High School from 1953 to 1988. He also coached varsity and junior varsity wrestling, soccer and bowling. Ellen Totten also taught in the school district. After living in Long Beach for a short while, the couple moved to Valley Stream.

Frank De Mita, who taught math and met Totten while they were both new teachers in Valley Stream, said he convinced his friend to serve as the board’s vice president. The friends vacationed with their wives in Hawaii, Arizona and Florida, and took their children on camping trips to New England. De Mita described Totten as “an honorable, caring individual” who was well-liked as a teacher.

Totten’s daughter, Nancy Hanrahan, of Massapequa, said her father was an avid gardener, who cultivated lush rose bushes and an abundance of tomato plants and other vegetables. “He had a magnificent rose garden,” she said. “At 90, he was on his hands and knees tending his garden.”

Visitation will be from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. on March 25 at the Edward F. Lieber Funeral Home in Valley Stream.