Leslie p. Towle, assistant area director for the Bureau of Indian Affairs at Aberdeen, S. Dak., has been named new superintendent at Pine Ridge Agency, S. Dak., and John C. Dibbern, an assistant in the resources division of the Bureau's Washington office, has been selected for the similar position at Colorado River Agency, Parker, Ariz., the Department of the Interior announced today.
Mr. Towle, replacing James W. Kauffman, who retires May 31, will take over his new duties June 1. Mr. Dibbern also replaces a retiring superintendent, James M, Stewart, and will take over at Parker on June 2.
A veteran of nearly 24 years with the Indian Bureau, Mr. Towle has been /assistant area director at Aberdeen since 1955 and previously held a similar position for six years in the area office at Portland, Oreg. His earlier career with the Bureau, which started in 1933, included five years as auditor accountant at Billings, Mont.; five as senior administrative assistant and three as assistant director in the roads branch of the Central Office; and three as administrative officer at Portland. He was born at Littleport, Iowa, in 1901 and is a graduate of the University of Iowa.
Mr. Dibbern, born at Los Angeles in 1919, had about a dozen years experience in teaching and in range jobs with the Soil Conservation Service and the United States Forest Service before joining the Indian Bureau as range conservationist at Sells, Ariz., in 1950. After four years in this position, he was appointed land operations officer at Whiteriver, Ariz., and one year later moved to the Bureau's Washington office as program officer. Last August he was designated assistant to the Assistant Commissioner for Resources. He holds a doctor’s degree in plant ecology received from the University of Chicago in 1947.
Mr. Kauffman retires after about 28 years of service width the Bureau, chiefly in Minnesota, and Mr. Stewart after 34 years spent principally in the Southwest. Both are veterans of the First World War.
