Transfer of Will J. Pitner, area director for the Bureau of Indian Affairs at Anadarko, Okla., for the past nine years, to the national office of the Bureau at Washington, D. C., and appointment of Leslie P. Towle, superintendent of the Pine Ridge Agency in South Dakota, to succeed him, were announced today by the Department of the Interior.
On August 18, Pitner will become chief of the branch of land operations, Succeeding Evan L. Flory, who recently retired. Towle's transfer will be effective August 26. His successor at Pine Ridge has not yet been named.
Towle, 61 years old, has been superintendent at Pine Ridge since 1957. He joined the Bureau in 1933 as an auditor accountant at Billings, Mont. In 1938 he transferred to the national office of the Bureau as senior administrative assistant in the branch of roads and five years later was named assistant director of the branch. In 1946 he moved to Portland, Oreg., as district administrative officer and three years later was promoted to assistant area director. After six years in this post he transferred to a similar position at Aberdeen, S. Dak., and stayed there two years before becoming superintendent at Pine Ridge. He was born at Littleport, Iowa, and was graduated from the University of Iowa in 1922.
Pitner entered the Indian Service in 1940 after being graduated from the University of Nebraska. He served with the Marine Corps in World War II and saw action in China. After the war he returned to the Bureau as soil conservationist at the Winnebago Agency, Nebraska. After a year there and one at Rosebud Agency, Rosebud, S. Dak., he transferred to Albuquerque, N. Mex., in 1948, as area soil conservationist and in 1952 returned to Rosebud as superintendent. Two years later he was promoted to area director at Anadarko. He was born in Atwood, Kans., in 1914, and attended public schools in Stratton, Nebraska.
