Huntington Class of 1957
Alum Passes Away
Andrew G. Dantzler, Jr., a member of R.L. Simpson-Huntington High School's Class of 1957, has passed away at 71. He is survived by his wife of 38 years, Elaine, two daughters and four grandchildren.
The caption under Mr. Dantzler's photo in the 1957 edition of The Huntingtonian, the high school yearbook, states: "Shutter-bug supreme . . . Hunting his hobby . . . Pleasing personality." He began taking photos as a teenager in 1954.
During high school, Mr. Dantzler was a member of the projection squad and the photography club as a sophomore, junior and senior. He played football and ran track as a sophomore. As a senior, he was also a member of the Aqua-Devils, a group of 38 "frogmen" and six "lovely ladies." The Aqua-Devils enjoyed swimming lessons and learning the fundamentals of skin diving techniques and underwater exploration, photography and spear fishing.
Mr. Dantzler was a Halesite Fire Department volunteer before serving a six year stint in the United States Marine Corps. True to the high school yearbook, he was assigned as a combat photographer with the Marines. He eventually studied underwater photography at Florida Institute of Technology and then went on to work for the Grumman Aerospace Corporation's Apollo lunar module project as a motion picture and still photographer.
In 1974, after the Apollo project wound down, Mr. Dantzler moved to Sullivan County in the Catskills region. The Huntington alum worked as a freelance photo-journalist there, taught adult education courses for Sullivan County BOCES and conducted photography workshops at Sullivan Community College. He was involved in local arts organizations and was a photo-journalist for The River Reporter.
Mr. Dantzler also served with the Sullivan County Deputy Sheriff's Department Highway Patrol and was an elected justice of the peace for 12 years.
The 1957 Huntington alum was residing in Union Dale, Pennsylvania at the time of his passing.