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Teacher Gonzalo Granell dies at 89

He was a star athlete, WWII veteran and a math teacher in high schools and community college.

By MARTY CLEAR
Published September 22, 2006

TAMPA - He milked cows, played baseball and helped countless young minds learn math.

Gonzalo Granell had a choice of career paths. He had been a star athlete at Hillsborough High School and attended the University of Florida on a full scholarship for academics, baseball, football and basketball.

But he interrupted his college career to go to work and help his family through the Great Depression.

"(The school) wanted him back," said his son, Roy O'Bryan. "His coach even wrote a letter trying to get him to come back. But his family needed him so that came first."

Mr. Granell died Sept. 13 at age 89.

It wasn't until he was in his 30s that he started his career as a local math teacher.

He taught math at Brandon, Chamberlain, Clearwater and Jesuit high schools. He retired in 1989 as head of the math department at Hillsborough Community College.

"He was a strict teacher," his son said. "He would not accept from his students anything less than their best efforts. He was that way as a father too. He accepted no less than excellence from us. We learned from him the importance of discipline."

Mr. Granell grew up in Ybor City, the son of Asturian immigrants from Spain. Tall, ambitious and athletic, he was a star athlete at Hillsborough High in the 1930s and excelled in sports and academics during his brief time at UF.

He took several jobs to help support his family during the Depression and for a time played minor league baseball. He was working for the railroad when World War II broke out.

"He didn't have to go to war," O'Bryan said.

"He could have gotten a deferment because he worked on the railroad, but he enlisted in the Army and served in the European theater in an ambulance company. So he was basically in a combat zone for two solid years."

After the war he returned to Florida, earned his bachelor's degree in mathematics from Florida Southern College and began his teaching career. He interrupted his career briefly to get a master's degree in mathematics from the University of South Carolina, then returned home to Tampa for good.

In 1954, he married Elna O'Bryan, whom he had known in Ybor years before. She had a son and daughter from a previous marriage. (Mr. Granell had been married briefly but seldom talked about it, describing it as a "marriage of convenience.")

The family settled in Riverside Heights, and Mr. Granell and his wife had two more children together. The couple lived in Riverside Heights until his death.

It wasn't easy to support a family of six on the salary of a high school teacher, but Mr. Granell was never one to shy away from hard work. He usually had another job besides teaching. During one stint, he milked cows on a Brandon dairy farm.

"I will never forget that smell," O'Bryan said.

He worked at HCC until he was 72 years old. He remained in essentially good health until fairly recently and died of complications from heart surgery.

Besides his wife and son, Mr. Granell is survived by daughters Sandra Reina, Glinda Granell and Glenna Bequer, 13 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

[Last modified September 20, 2006, 13:15:48]