George Robert Summers

George Robert Summers of Grand Chain, Illinois moved to the Philippines to help establish the public school system. He was in Fulton, Missouri when he received his appointment in October 1901 to teach in the islands, at an annual salary of $1,000. He was initially assigned to teach in Cauayan, Ilocos Sur. He stood 5 foot 8 inches tall and had dark brown hair and brown eyes. In Ilocos, he met a young lass from a prominent local family, Trinidad Guerrero Agcaoili — whose older brothers benefited from the Pensionado Act of 1903 and were able to pursue engineering degrees at Cornell University. The couple eventually moved to Manila where he took on the role of Superintendent of Schools and Asst. to the Director of Public Schools. His address is recorded to be 512 San Luis, Manila. He accompanied the Philippine National Track and Field Team to the 3rd Far Eastern Championship Games held in Tokyo, Japan in May 1917. He returned to the United States with his family when he retired. Upon his death, his daughter Helen Summers-Brown took his extensive collection of Filipiniana books as the “seed” with which she founded the Filipino American Library in Los Angeles.