Superintendents
and Presidents
From its beginnings as
Pearl River County Agricultural High School up to the present Pearl River
Community College, this institution has had at its helm, two superintendents
and nine presidents. (Click on the pictures
for full size image.)
T. M. Kelly
1909-1911
T.M. Kelly served
as superintendent of Pearl River County Agricultural High School from its
founding until his resignation in 1911.
Will Jacobs
1911-1917
Will Jacobs, Sr. was born
in Waterbury, Tennessee on May 28,
1880. Jacobs, a teacher, married Cornelia Grissom Bass of Linwood,
Tennessee. Jacobs had previously accepted a position in Laurel, Mississippi
when he asked for Miss Bass’ hand in marriage. After they were married
on August 29, 1906, they left for Mississippi and Jacobs’ job as principal
of West End School. Jacobs stayed in Laurel for only one year when
he was offered the Superintendent’s position at Louisville City Schools.
Jacobs stayed there from 1907 until May 1911 when he accepted the position
of Superintendent of Pearl River County Agricultural High School (PRCAHS).
Jacobs replaced T. M. Kelly, PRCAHS’ first Superintendent.
Jacobs, at 31, came to Poplarville
at the end of a long, dry spell. When the agricultural high school
law was declared unconstitutional in 1909 because it did not provide equal
accommodation for African American children, PRCAHS was put in a difficult
place. Poplarville businessmen came to the new school’s rescue, signing
a banknote for enough money to last the school until a new agricultural
high school law was passed. When the new law was passed in March
of 1910, the Board of Trustees began looking toward the future by hiring
architects to design a much needed administration/classroom building and
a girls’ dormitory. Construction was begun on the administration/classroom
building (later named Jacobs Hall) in 1911, and the girls’ dormitory was
let for bid the following year.
When Jacobs was announced
as the new superintendent, Board of Trustees member M. N. McCoy received
a letter from J. C. Hardy, President of Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical
College (present day Mississippi State University). He wrote:
I have
just learned that Prof. Will Jacobs of Louisville, Miss., has been elected
as principal of your Agricultural High School there.
Your pupils are
to be congratulated on securing the services of such a man as Prof. Jacobs.
I was in his school at Louisville two weeks ago and made a thorough investigation
of his work.
I regard him as
one of the best school men in the state.
This was certainly not
the last recommendation of note that Jacobs would receive. Jacobs
had been superintendent for less than a year when the school was visited
by Dr. Phalindar P. Claxton, the United States Commissioner of Education,
the equivalent to the present day U. S. Secretary of Education. The Poplarville
Free Press newspaper’s explanation for Claxton’s interest in PRCAHS was,
“. . . this visiting was brought about by our great State Supt.Of Education.
Mr. Powers said that he met Dr. Claxton in Jackson, and asked him where
he was going. The Doctor said that he was going over to the A. &
M. College to study our system of Agricultural Education. Prof. Powers
told him if he wanted to study an agricultural school that was reaching
right out to the people, for him to just come right down to the Piney Woods
of South Mississippi and visit the Pearl River County A. H. S. This
Dr. Claxton agreed to do provided Mr. Powers would come with him, and to
this Mr. Powers readily agreed.” (“A.H.S. Notes.” The Free Press,
April 11, 1912)
In an address to the students,
the Commissioner Claxton, a farmer himself, was reported to have said that
the time had come to fit the school to the child rather than the reverse.
Powers said that of the state’s 19 agricultural high schools, Pearl River
was the best.
These accolades would not
go unnoticed. Leaders in Jackson became aware of the tremendous institution
that Pearl River County Agricultural High School was becoming.
Something of particular importance
occurred during Jacobs’ third year and the school’s fifth session.
Pearl River County had begun the task of consolidating its county schools
in 1911. Prior to consolidation, students were receiving their first
eight grades in one room schools scattered throughout the county.
This was not a problem confined to Mississippi rural schools but was prevalent
throughout the United States in the early twentieth century. Consolidation
had been tried in some parts of the country, but with little success, so
it was notable that Pearl River County had a working system of consolidated
schools as early as 1914, and only 24 years after its founding. These
consolidated schools were situated in new buildings, many of them brick,
and under the leadership of a principal who was college educated, which
was unusual in that day.
By consolidating the schools,
the county developed a progressive system of education that benefitted
the students, placing them in centers of learning where they were taught
by better trained teachers under the leadership of a college educated principal.
Transportation to and from school was provided. Wagons and later
“trucks” were used to transport the children. This consolidation
program earned the county national interest from the nation’s educators.
The State Superintendent of Education was particularly proud of Pearl River
County’s progress, and he often brought national visitors to see the county’s
system of schools.
The success of this county-wide
system of consolidated schools and the county’s progressive agricultural
high school could largely be attributed to the forward-thinking residents
of Pearl River County. Not only did they support this program, they
fostered it. The agricultural high school was the talk of the local
residents; they took great pride in its accomplishments and the success
it was having in the lives of their children. They willingly took
on the extra tax burdens in order that the county’s children could have
a better life through education. This type of thinking speaks volumes
about the progressive attitude of the responsible adults in the poor county.
The students followed in
the footsteps of their parents, yearning for a quality education and the
rewards they knew such an education would bring. Jacobs and his teachers
were fostering this desire to learn. One example of this was John
Lumpkin. When Lumpkin came to PRCAHS, he was older than his peers
by several years and had received little prior education. The first
graduation held May 23, 1912 included a declamatory (speech) contest that
was held the morning of the graduation exercises. John Lumpkin earned
the first prize, a gold medal, and John Napier took second. Poplarville’s
newspaper The Free Press, had this to say, “. . . it might be well
to state that Mr. Lumpkin was practically grown and having little education
when he entered this school, had the pleasure and distinction of carrying
off the first gold medal ever offered a pupil of this institution.”
(“A.H.S. Closes Term, Six Graduates Receive Diplomas, Brilliant Exercises
Held.” The Free Press, May 23, 1912.) This desire to
learn did not go unnoticed by the interested educators who came to Mississippi
to observe the educational advancements the southern farming state was
making.
One such visit was paid by
the Secretary of the General Educational Board of the Rockefeller Foundation,
who visited in early April, 1914. Dr. Wallace Buttrick would
write an article for the magazine, Outlook, concerning what he observed
that spring day. The article, some three pages in length, would praise
the foresight of the people of Pearl River County and Mississippi officials
for their encouragement.
University of Mississippi
professor, J.C. Fant, in a letter requesting that Will Jacobs attend the
High School Conference at the University in mid-June wrote in a post script:
“Dr. Buttrick is praising your school throughout the nation, and of Miss
Rowan he is unstinted in her praise. I wish you could have heard
him eulogizing your school at Louisville, Ky., last week.” A week
after visiting Pearl River’s agricultural high school, Buttrick appeared
at the Southern Educators Conference in Louisville, Kentucky, and highly
praised the educational system at PRCAHS. Buttrick “stated publicly
that he had visited schools in most every state in the Union and in other
parts of the world but that our school came nearer the Ideal School than
any other school that he had ever seen.” (“A.H.S. Notes.” The Free Press,
April 30, 1914.) Buttrick was not only impressed with the A.H.S.
but with the consolidated schools in the county as well. The newspaper
article’s author proudly editorialized, “It seems to us, if our judgment
may be trusted, that we have one of the finest school systems to be found
anywhere. People have come into our county this year from most everywhere
to study our educational progress.” (Ibid.)
That same year, at the Educator’s
Conference in Louisville, Kentucky, Mississippi State Superintendent of
Education W. H. Smith recommended that the conference foster a Model County
School program as an experiment in progressive rural education. Buttrick
spoke up and offered that the Rockefeller Foundation would fund such an
experiment, but suggested that it be held in Mississippi. It took
better than one year for the details of the experiment to be ironed out,
and in the fall of 1915, nine counties bid on the experimental Model County
School program—including Hinds, Jones, and Harrison. The Pearl River
County delegation was led by Professor Will Jacobs. Two weeks later,
Pearl River County was named the Model County School.
The Model County School program
began on January 1, 1916. The Rockefeller Foundation program provided
for a county agent, home economist, a county school doctor and nurse, and
an assistant superintendent of education. The program was run out
of the county courthouse and the agricultural high school. During
the summer of 1916, a summer program was undertaken. In two-week
segments, corn clubs and tomato clubs were held, culminating with a two-week
adult continuing education camp. The first year, the agricultural
high school’s dormitories were used to house the campers, who numbered
more than 1,000.
In the midst of this wonderful
Model County School experiment that was gaining national attention, Will
Jacobs answered the Governor’s call to another position. Theo Bilbo
became governor for his first term in 1916. He was an education minded
governor who had his ear toward progressive thinking, so he turned
his attention toward providing for the orphans and the state’s young offenders
with the Mississippi Industrial and Training Institute in Columbia.
Jacobs stayed at the Columbia
school for seven years, from 1918 until 1924. By this time, the Jacobs
household had grown. When the fourth child was born in 1918, the
Jacobs family had to struggle to make it on an educator’s salary.
When a fifth child came in 1921, it put a greater burden on Jacobs’ salary.
In 1924, Jacobs decided to better provide for his growing family and moved
to Jackson, Mississippi to take a job as a general agent with the Great
Southern Life Insurance Company.
For a three year period,
Jacobs worked with the Federal Housing Authority (FHA), serving as the
state office’s head for a year and a half.
During Will Jacobs lifetime,
he became a Mason while in Poplarville, was Chairman of the Board of Deacons
at First Baptist in Poplarville, made Shriner while in Columbia, was a
charter member of the Columbia Rotary Club, and was on the Baptist Hospital
Board for 30 years. He was also on the Board of Trustees of the Children’s
Home Finding Society and the Board of Trustees of the Salvation Army.
In Jackson, he became a life member of the Board of Deacons of First Baptist
Church and was a member of the Board of Trustees of Universities and Colleges
of Mississippi.
The Jacobs had nine children:
Mattie Sue (born June 30, 1907), Will, Jr. (born April 27, 1909), Kathrine
(born January 9, 1912), Roland Bass (born September 13, 1918), Harry (born
October 1, 1921), Frank (born July 18, 1924), Sarah Elizabeth (born April
11, 1929), Robert and Rebecca (born September 23, 1930).
The Jacobs family lived at
936 Morningside Drive in Jackson. Will and Cornelia celebrated their
50th wedding anniversary there in 1956. Will Jacobs died in March
1957.
(Background information
provided by Sarah Jacobs Woodrow, Rebecca Jacobs Barlow, and Robert Jacobs.)
James Andrew Huff
1917-1926
James Andrew Huff, Pearl
River Community College’s first president, was born on
July 22, 1868 in Jasper County, Mississippi. The son of Francis Duckworth
and Phillip Huff, he was the youngest of nine children.
The son of a prosperous farmer,
Huff was educated in a private school, completing his early education at
Sylvarena Academy in Smith County. (Sylvarena Academy was a tuition
supported school established by William Harris Hardy in 1856.) He
then enrolled in Mississippi A. & M. College, then, later, at the University
of Mississippi, and finally, at the University of Illinois. After
he finished his undergraduate degree, he enrolled in a six-year correspondence
course in education.
On September 16, 1891, Huff
married Julia May McCurdy of Claiborne (Jasper County), Mississippi.
Five children were born to the Huffs: James Hatton, Lillian 
May,
Howard Payne, John Charles, and Virginia McCurdy.
He went back to his alma
mater at Sylvarena Academy as his first teaching assignment as an assistant
there. From 1892 until 1896, Huff was the county superintendent of
education for Smith County. His salary was $18 per month. In
1896 he served as principal of Raleigh High School in Raleigh Mississippi.
By 1898, he had become the superintendent of schools in Forest, Mississippi
where he remained until 1912. During this time (1903-1916) Huff was
engaged by the state department of education in institute and normal work.
In 1912 Huff accepted the superintendent’s position at the newly formed
Harrison County Agricultural High School in Perkinston, Mississippi.
In 1917, Huff accepted the
superintendent’s position at Pearl River County Agricultural High School.
Huff was instrumental in helping organize Pearl River Junior College, and
served as the first president of the College from 1922 until 1926.
During World War I, Huff
acted as food dispenser of Pearl River County and also sold Liberty Bonds.
While at Forest, Mississippi, Huff served as both mayor and alderman.
He also served on the board of directors of the Farmers & Merchants
Bank of Forest. He served as alderman of Poplarville as well.
While serving in the alderman’s position, Huff was involved in an accident
with the Sheriff of Pearl River County while in pursuit of a bootlegger.
The incident appeared in the Friday, Feburary 15, 1924 edition of the Gulfport
Daily Herald:
Huff Injured
in Auto Wreck
Former Harrison County
School Man gives Chase to Booze Car With Serious Results
Poplarville, Miss., Feb.
14—Professor J. A. Huff, superintendent of the Pearl River Agricultural
High school, is in the Pearl River county hospital in a serious condition
from the loss of blood as a result of injuries caused in an automobile
accident in which Arthur J. Smith, sheriff of Pearl River county, also
was a victim but who only received minor injuries.
Sheriff Smith received
a message notice that a booze car was coming through Poplarville.
The sheriff got his auto ready and deputized Professor Huff, who is also
a member of the board of alderman of town of Poplarville to go with him.
On the failure of the alleged booze car to stop, the sheriff pursued it
in his car and for six miles the wild chase went on.
Shots from the sheriff’s
revolver failed to stop the suspects and on rounding a curve about six
miles from Poplarville one of the tires of the sheriff’s car blew out and
the sheriff who was driving the car lost control of it and it smashed into
a pine tree with such force that it threw Mr. Huff through the windshield,
cutting him up badly about the face, fracturing one of his ribs and mangling
one of his hands while the sheriff, holding tight to the steering wheel,
came up with cuts and bruises on his face.
The tree, which was about
ten inches in diameter, was torn up by the roots and split nearly half
in two half why (sic.) up. The auto was demolished. The booze
car got away.
Huff was an active member of
the Baptist church, serving as deacon and Sunday School teacher.
He was a member of the Poplarville Chamber of Commerce and the PTA.
When he lived in Forest, Mississippi he was a Royal Arch Mason and served
as Master of the Lodge and High Priest of the chapter. He was a member
of the Woodmen of the World and the Knights of Pythias as well. For
a period of time, he served as the superintendent of Pearl River County
Hospital.
Huff found time to venture
into business enterprises, owning and cultivating one of the “desirable
farms of the county and has made investment in two business blocks in Poplarville.”
(History of Mississippi: The Heart of the South, Chicago-Jackson,
The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1925.) Huff was also the
director of the Pearl River County Canning Company, whose plant was located
in Poplarville.
Huff was an active Democrat,
serving on the Smith county executive committee from 1895 until 1898.
In 1924 he was a delegate to the state Democratic convention.
After 36 years of marriage,
Huff’s wife Julia passed away. Two years later, Huff remarried.
Huff’s second wife, Lucille Page of Covington, LA remained with Huff until
he died in 1931. This article appeared in the Stone County Enterprise
on Thursday, July 2, 1931:
J. A. Huff, Educator,
Dies After Long Period of Illnesss (sic.)
Poplarville, Miss—J. A.
Huff, 63, native of Smith county, died at his home at Poplarville following
a long illness. Funeral services were held at the Huff home, the
Rev. J. P. Culpepper officiating. Burial was in the Poplarville cemetery
with Masonic honors. G. W. Holloway of Carson, district grand lecturer
of Mississippi Masons, acted as worshipful master.
Mr. Huff’s life’s activities
were in the field of education. When a young man he was elected superintendent
of education of Smith county. For 14 years he was superintendent
of the schools at Forest and was the mayor of Forest for 12 years.
Later he was superintendent of the Harrison-Stone County Agricultural high
school. He came to Poplarville in 1917 as president of what is now
Pearl River Agricultural college. For the last five years he was
engaged in other business activities.
In his young manhood he
married Miss Julia McCurdy, who died here in 1927. To this union
were born two sons and two daughters, Charles Huff of Poplarville; Hatton
Huff of Crystal Springs; Mrs. J. S. McKewen of Yazoo City, and Miss Virginia
Huff of Poplarville. In March, 1929, Mr. Huff was married to Miss
Lucille Page, of Covington, La. To this union was born one daughter,
Jimmie Lucille. Besides his widow and children he is survived by
one brother, Dr. John Huff of Pineview, and one sister, Mrs. James Horne,
of Bay Springs.
Huff’s two sons (Howard Payne
died at 13 months), James Hatton and John Charles both earned Ph. G. degrees
from the University of Mississippi and returned to Poplarville where they
opened a drug company (Huff Bros.). Lillian May, attended the Mississippi
State College for Women, graduating in 1916, earning a Bachelor of Science.
Virginia McCurdy was still a resident of Poplarville when Huff died in
1931.
It was during James Andrew
Huff’s tenure that the board of directors decided to add freshman college
classes, and in 1921, the first junior college in Mississippi, the first
in the gulf south, the second in the deep south, and the 31st in the nation
was born. Huff served as President from 1921 until his resignation
in 1926. During this time, Huff Hall, Crosby Hall, the President's
home, and College Hall (Moody Hall) were built. Huff has been honored
as an educational pioneer in Mississippi.
Simeon Lafayette Stringer
1926-1932
Simeon Lafayette
Stringer was born October 22, 1879 at Bay 
Springs,
Mississippi, the son of Fannie Flanagan and Joseph C. Stringer. He
was educated at the Lake Como Academy, earning his high school diploma
in 1896. After graduation, he entered Southern Normal University
in Huntingdon, Tennessee where he received the L.I. and B.S. degrees in
1899. Stringer then enrolled in the Western Kentucky State Normal
College and earned his Bachelor in arts degree in 1902. Later, Stringer
would spend a full year (1928-1929) at the University of Mississippi as
a graduate student earning his Master's degree.
Stringer began his teaching
career at the Macedonia school in Perry County, Mississippi. After
serving
a term there, he went to the Petal Consolidated School, serving as superintendent
from 1903-1904, and Bay Springs Consolidated Schools from 1904-1905.
In 1905, Stringer served as superintendent at the Louin Separate School
District, remaining there until 1911.
In 1908 he married Shellie
Estelle McNair of Brandon, Mississippi. They had no children.
From 1911 until 1919, Stringer
served as superintendent of the Richton Schools. During 1919-1920,
he was superintendent of the Webb-Swann Lake Consolidated School.
In 1920, Stringer served
at the Picayune City Schools. In 1926, he went to Pearl River County
Junior College where he was instrumental in building the college.
During Stringer's term, White
Hall (for college girls) was constructed. With the previous construction
of College Hall, Pearl River now had two buildings devoted primarily to
the junior college. With the construction of Pearl River Hall in
1933, Pearl River Junior College would have three buildings devoted exclusively
for college use.
In 1932, Stringer assumed
the president’s position at Clark Memorial Junior College at Newton, Mississippi,
remaining there until 1935. In 1935, Stringer organized the Crosby
Special Consolidated Schools, and as “commissioner” directed the school
until 1941.
Stringer served for 13 years
(during the summer term) in the capacity of extension representative of
Mississippi Southern College. He served as one of the early president’s
of the Mississippi Junior College Athletic and Literary Associations.
Stringer was very instrumental in the growth and development of the Mississippi
Education Association, serving in various capacities on committees, the
board of directors, and as president (1940). Stringer was also a
life member of the National Education Association.
Stringer was a member of
the Baptist church, serving as deacon and Sunday School teacher.
He devoted thirty-eight years to the Rotary Club, was a member of the Woodmen
of the World, was a Mason, a Knights Templar, and a member of Phi Kappa
Alpha.
Joseph Forrest Stuart
1932-1937
Joseph Forrest Sturart
was known to fellow PRCAHS class and team members as "Rat" when he attended
school at Pearl River in 1917. A respected member of the football
team, Forrest (as he was called in the classroom) attended Mississippi
College, where he earned his Bachelor's degree. He came back to Pearl
River in 1925 and his first job was the football team, where he replaced
the legendary coach, Edwin W. "Goat" Hale. His academic duties were
in the History classroom. During the 1926-1927 school year, he began
doing graduate work through Missouri University. That year, he began
teaching Social Sciences, including Economics, Sociology and Education.
In 1927 Stuart left Pearl River, Returning in 1932 as the college's president
(Currently researching).
Arthur Benjamin Nicholson
1936-1937
Robert Edward Lee Sutherland
1937-1942
Robert Edward Lee
Sutherland was born on May 1, 1878, in 
Booneville,
Mississippi, the son of Dr. W. W. Sutherland and Annie Naomi Nelson Sutherland.
He graduated from Boonville High School and received his Normal Degree
from Peabody College (Nashville, Tennessee) in 1905. He earned his
Bachelor of Science in 1929 and his Master of Arts in 1930. Sutherland
married Ollie Wallace on October 16, 1910.
Sutherland began his career
in education in Pisgah High School receiving his Normal Degree. The
following year (1906) he taught at Wheeler High School. From 1908
until 1916, he served two terms as the Prentiss County Superintendent of
Education. (Editor's Note: There is a discrepancy here concerning
time as Superintendent of Education. Since this biography was edited
from The Mississippi Public Junior College Story (©1978) by Young
and Ewing, we will use their dates until such time as research can be done
and revisions are made.) In 1917 he became the superintendent of
Alcorn County Agricultural High School at Kossuth, Mississippi, where he
served for two years. During this time (1918-1922) he served a four-year
term in the Mississippi Legislature, and served as the chairman of the
education committee.
Sutherland was appointed
to the faculty of the Smith-Hughes High School (later known as Hinds Agricultural
High School) in 1917 (see Editor's Note above). In the spring of
1918, the present superintendent of Hinds AHS resigned due to illness in
his family and R. E. L. Sutherland was appointed acting superintendent
and later was elected to the position. It was under the guidance
of Sutherland that Hinds added college course work to its curriculum.
1930 found Sutherland as
president of the Mississippi State College for Women where he served for
the next two years. During this same time period, he was a member
of the Board of Trustees for the Mississippi State Teachers College (USM)
in Hattiesburg. In 1932 he served as superintendent of Wheeler
High School. In 1934 he was a district supervisor of adult education
in Tupelo, Mississippi.
In 1937, Sutherland was elected
president of Pearl River Junior College, where he served until 1942, at
which time he retired. His retirement was short lived, however.
When he returned to Prentiss County he served his third term as Superintendent
of Education (1948-1952). Upon his second retirement at age 74 he
was honored by the state department of Education at a special ceremony
for his 50 years of service to education in Mississippi.
Sutherland was a member of
the National Education Association, the Mississippi Education Association,
and Kappa Delta Pi. Sutherland was also listed in Who’s Who of America
in 1936 and in Leaders in Education in 1941.
Sutherland died in Prentiss
County in 1961 at the age of 83.
Reese Dermont McLendon
1942-1953
Reese Dermont McLendon
was born May 23, 1905 to Rosier
Alexander McLendon and Mary Ann McLemore McLendon. He was educated
at Clark County Agricultural High School, graduating there in 1924.
He received his B.S. from Mississippi Southern College in 1929 and his
Master's Degree from the University of Texas in 1938. In 1938, he
married Corinne Hipps.
McLendon began his career
in education as coach and principal of Leakesville High School in 1929,
where he remained until 1931 when he took the same position at Waynesboro
High School. He was coach and principal of Madison High School from
1933 until 1936 when he became Superintendent of Lumberton City School,
staying there until 1941. From 1941 until 1942 he was the Superintendent
of Woodville High School. Then in 1942 he became president of Pearl
River Junior College, serving until 1953. In 1953, McLendon became
president of Northwest Mississippi Junior College where he served until
he retired on July 1, 1974.
McLendon gave 45 years of
service to the education of Mississippi Students. During this time
he served two terms as President of Mississippi Junior College Association,
a member of the Editorial Board of the American Association of Junior Colleges,
and a member of the Board of Trustees of Institutions of Higher learning
for sixteen years.
He was a Methodist lay leader
and Sunday School teacher and a member of the Rotary Club and Chamber of
Commerce. He was honored to be selected as a charter member of the
Hall of Fame from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1987.
Garvin Howell Johnston
1953-1967
Garvin
Howell Johnston was born on November 17, 1909 in the Hub community just
outside of Columbia in Marion County. He received his education in
Marion County Schools and attended Pearl River Junior College. Johnston
went on to earn a degree in Mathematics at the University of Southern Mississippi.
He later earned his doctorate at the University of Alabama.
After graduating from USM,
Johnston began his career as a Mathematics teacher in Poplarville.
In 1937, he became the Principal of Poplarville High School. After
serving as a first lieutenant in World War II, Johnston became the principal
of Sylacauga Schools in Alabama. He returned to Mississippi as the
state high school supervisor with the Mississippi Department of Education.
Johnston became Pearl River
College’s seventh president in 1953. During his term here, he brought
with him fresh ideas concerning the development of vocational and technical
education. Under his presidency, he oversaw the termination of Pearl
River County Agricultural High School as he transferred the Junior and
Senior high school classes to the newly formed Poplarville Special Separate
Municipal School District. This move ended a 50-year institution,
but allowed the administration to focus its complete attention toward moving
Pearl River Junior College ahead and into the second half of the 20th century.
While Johnston was president,
an unprecedented building boom began. In 1957, Johnston addressed
the college’s vocational-technical needs by constructing a building for
the metal trades. This building currently serves as the Visual Arts
Building. In 1961 he addressed the need for more dormitory space
by building Lamar Hall. This building was followed by providing the
students a place to gather when he built the student center, which, after
remodeling, became the new Alexander Administration building. He
addressed the college’s academic needs by building a new science building,
which is now the Science and Mathematics building. He provided Wildcat
football fans with a suitable home for athletic events when he built Dobie
Holden Stadium in 1965, and he again addressed the growing vocational-technical
needs when he built the 44,000 square foot Vocational-Technical Education
building that same year. Before he left, he began the groundwork
for construction of a new library and a new academic building.
In 1967, Johnston was nominated
by the Mississippi Democratic Party to run as the party’s candidate for
State Superintendent of Education. Johnston submitted his resignation
to Pearl River College, contingent on his being elected. Johnston
took office in 1968 as the state’s 15th Superintendent of Education.
Johnston faced a troubled
situation the year after he took office. Tokenism desegregation was
being practiced in the south. Hard line segregationists in power
fought hard to maintain a separation of the races. With the United
States Supreme Court’s Alexander decision, Mississippi was made the testing
ground for sweeping desegration. This immediately put the state’s
white population in a panic. Private academies sprang up overnight
and threw the state’s public education program into complete chaos. Segregationists
in the state legislature threatened to withhold funding from the Department
of Education and, according to Johnston, the states public education system
hung by “a slender thread.”
Johnston immediately went
to work. First, he convinced the majority of white parents that a
poor state like Mississippi could not survive without a strong public education
system. Next, he went to the legislature, who had threatened to “starve
public schools”. The legislature was convinced that white students
would “flee public education in droves.” Johnston convinced the legislature
that this would not happen and managed to convince the legislature to fund
public education. When, in 1971, white enrollment reached 92% of
the previous year’s enrollment, the hard-won battle was over, but the war
to “scuttle” the public education system went on for years.
Johnston was honored over
the years for his public service. He was twice president of the Pearl
River County Education Association, President of Mississippi Association
of Colleges, Poplarville’s Citizen of the Year in 1967 and the PRJC Alumnus
of the Year in 1965.
Johnston died January 27,
1978 at the age of 68.
(Quotes from “He Saved The
Schools” by Bill Minor, Editor of Capitol Reporter, Jackson, Mississippi)
Marvin Ross White
1968-1986
Dr.
Marvin Ross White was born in Poplarville, Miss. on Aug. 6, 1921.
He attended school at Poplarville Grammar School, Poplarville High School,
and Pearl River County Agricultural High School. After graduating from
high school, he enrolled in Pearl River Junior College. While at
PRJC, White played football and was the captain of the football team his
sophomore year. He was also a member of the college’s Reserve Officers
Training Corps (ROTC) unit and achieved the rank of Cadet Major.
Because this was a time of
war for the United States, White, along with his classmates, was encouraged
to enlist in the Inactive Enlisted Reserve Corps, which he did. White
graduated from Pearl River Junior College in 1942 on a Sunday and was at
Camp Shelby in Hattiesburg for active duty on Monday.
White was shipped to Fort
Eustice, Va. for his basic training and then on to Fort Stewart, Ga., for
training with the anti-aircraft corps. He was dissatisfied with the
unit’s inactivity and wanted to see action like many of his friends from
college. Hoping to become active, White enlisted in the infantry
and was sent to Fort Sumter, S. C. A bulletin board flyer asking
for volunteers for the paratroopers caught White’s attention, and he immediately
signed up. He was sent for training to Fort Benning, Ga. After
completing his training, he was sent to Fort Bragg, N. C., with the 13th
Airborne Division.
White’s unit was shipped
overseas to France, where he served for nine months. After Germany
surrendered, White’s unit was shipped back to the U. S. to await orders
for the Pacific theater. However, the atomic bomb was dropped on
Nagasaki and Hiroshima during his 45 day furlough, and Japan surrendered.
While he was on furlough, White married his sweetheart, Marjorie Lee Daniels
on Sept. 2, 1945.
Now a family man, and with
the war ended, White looked to further his education. His wife worked
while he attended Millsaps College in Jackson, Miss. using his G.I. bill
to pay for his education. While at Millsaps, White played football
and majored in mathematics. He graduated from Millsaps and began
his career in education by going to work teaching five mathematics classes
and coaching football and basketball at Ocean Springs, Miss. A year
later, he and his wife returned to Poplarville, where he also taught math
and coached at Poplarville High School. In his second year at Poplarville
High School, White received a message from the Armed Services commanding
him to report to Fort Hood, Tx., for duty in Korea. His initial enlistment
in the Inactive Enlisted Reserve Corps had unexpectedly placed him on the
rolls for service.
Besides having his career
disrupted, White had to leave his wife and 2 month-old daughter, Lyda Sue,
who was born August 15, 1950. He reported for duty and trained for
10 days, but instead of going to Korea, the Army sent him to Ft. Myer,
Va., because he had training and experience in teaching. From there,
he was sent to Ft. Belvoir, Va. He was only on active duty there
for nine months when he was honorably discharged. At Ft. Belvoir,
his son, Calvin Ross, was born on Dec. 5, 1951
White continued teaching
methods courses at Ft. Belvoir but in a civilian position, when he received
a call from Garvin Howell Johnston, then-President of Pearl River County
Agriculture High School and Junior College. Johnston offered White
the principal’s position in the High School department and White readily
accepted.
White remained as Principal
for six years. During this time, White earned his Master’s degree
in school administration from the University of Mississippi. Then,
the city of Poplarville made plans were made to build a new high school
complex and transfer the 11th and 12th grades to the new school.
For the first time in 59 years, there were no high school students on the
Pearl River campus. White became Registrar of the college and was
later appointed to the Academic Dean’s position. He occupied that
position for six years.
When Johnston was nominated
by the state’s Democratic Convention to run for State Superintendent of
Education, the college’s Board of Trustees elected White the new President
of Pearl River Junior College.
For many years, Pearl River
Junior College was primarily an academic institution, offering a near-by
and inexpensive alternative to the higher costs required by the first two
years of a four-year degree. Many fine leaders had begun their college
experience at Pearl River, including Johnston and White. The college’s
inexpensive cost, individualized instruction, and commitment to excellence
had been a reason for many collegians from Pearl River’s six-county supporting
district to begin their college education there.
During Johnston’s term, the
college began redirecting its efforts toward vocational education.
With the return of World War II veterans at the close of the war, industry
had a need for trained manpower to run the nation’s factories. As
the nation turned toward its educational system to provide the necessary
training, Mississippi turned toward her junior colleges. This new
training was the precursor to today’s careers technical training.
Johnston began by placing
a state and federally-funded vocational education building on the front
of the college’s campus. This new building was completed under White’s
term. Also begun during this time of growth were a new library and
academic building. White also oversaw the completion of these structures.
During White’s term, a number
of events changed the face of the college forever. One of those changes
was integration. As with most public schools and colleges in the
south in the 1960s and 1970s, Pearl River Junior College was faced with
federally mandated integration. White faced this crisis without incident
during his first year, 1968, due in part to excellent cooperation of the
College Board of Trustees, administration, faculty, students, and the community.
The first year of African-American attendance saw an outstanding black
athlete on campus. Willie Heidelburg, a charter member of the PRCC
Sports Hall of Fame, helped to break the ice by endearing himself to white
Pearl River football fans.
Another campus-changing event
that occurred during White’s term was Hurricane Camille. When Camille struck
on Aug. 17, 1969, Pearl River Junior College reeled under the storm’s 190-mile-per-hour
winds. White, who stayed in the President’s home (present-day Development
Foundation/Alumni building) during the hurricane, walked out during the
storm’s calm to find Batson Hall’s roof sitting in his front yard.
Winds and wind-driven rain inflicted roof damage to every building on the
college’s campus, as well as other destruction. The final bill for
the destruction was more than three-quarter million dollars.
Over the next several years,
renovation and reconstruction sounds were heard all around the campus.
Moody Hall, dedicated as College Hall in 1926, underwent renovation.
The auditorium windows were sealed and a new stage and balcony added.
This remodeled building was rededicated as a fine arts and nursing complex.
A new sports arena was added in 1974 at a cost of $810,000 and was dedicated
in honor of White at his retirement. Huff Hall, the campus’ oldest
building, was also renovated in 1974. A new Automotive complex was
added on the north end of campus in 1975. Over the next three years,
the Diesel Mechanics shop and the Masonry shop were added. In 1976,
an addition to the Library provided space for a viewing room, remedial
laboratory and study rooms. From 1972 until 1982, a total of $4,874,360
was spent on construction, renovation and satellite centers. In addition
to all the changes made at the school, White made time to return to school
himself, earning his Doctorate in Education with an emphasis in College
Administration at the University of Southern Mississippi.
In 1970, White answered Forrest
County’s need for a vocational-technical center in Hattiesburg, the district’s
most industrialized area. At this time, Forrest County was assigned
to Pearl River Junior College by laws, but did not provide any revenue
for the college or have any representation on the college’s Board of Trustees.
The Forrest County Board of Supervisors agreed to pay the college “X” number
of dollars to build and operate a high school Vo-Tech and adult education
center. The educational programs at the Forrest County Center grew
rapidly, with facilities for academic programs, health related programs,
Workforce programs, administrative offices and continuing education programs.
The Forrest County Board of Supervisors put in place tax millage in support
of Pearl River College and received two active board seats on the Pearl
River Community College Board of Trustees.
The Forrest County Vocational-Technical
Center was built on a 12-acre campus, two miles south of Hattiesburg.
Also during this time, centers were added in Hancock, Lamar and Marion
counties to provide high school educational assistance in the career-technical
arena.
In 1986, White retired from
the longest tenure (18 years) of any Pearl River College President.
After serving the college as high school principal, college Registrar,
Academic Dean, and finally as President, he ended a 33 year career at Pearl
River Junior College.
The greatest compliment that
could be paid was that White served his college well. His activity
did not stop there. He also held memberships in clubs and organizations,
including Mississippi Junior College Registrar’s Association, four years,
President, one year; Mississippi Junior College Dean’s Association, six
years, President, one year; Mississippi Junior College President’s Association,
18 years, President, one year; Poplarville Rotary Club, 34 years, President,
one year; Poplarville Lions Club, three years, President, one year; Pearl
River County Republican Party, three years, President, one year.
White currently resides with
his wife Marjorie in Clinton, Miss. where their daughter, Lyda Sue, and
her family live. Lyda Sue is a sixth-grade teacher in the Clinton
Public Schools. Their son, Calvin, resides in Ada, Ok., with his
family, where he has a veterinary practice.
Ted J. Alexander
1986-2000
A native of Scott
County, Alexander graduated from Central High 
School
in Jackson, attended Millsaps College where he was a talented athlete,
and began his career in education as a classroom instructor at Murrah High
School in Jackson.
A year later, he moved to
Meadville where he served for 10 years as a teacher, coach, counselor,
and principal.
Having completed his work
on a masters degree in education, Alexander was chosen as the state's second
Hardin Foundation scholar, a program sponsored by the Phil Hardin Foundation
of Meridian which funds doctoral work for promising young professional
educators.
Alexander received his doctorate
in educational administration from the University of Southern Mississippi
in 1972, at a time when he was serving as principal of Pascagoula High
School.
From Pascagoula, Alexander
accepted the post of Superintendent of Education of the Newton Public Schools
in 1973, and he was named Superintendent of Schools in the McComb District
in 1976, a post he held for 10 years.
During his time at McComb,
the District was recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as a National
Model School for America.
Dr. Alexander came to Pearl
River as President in 1986 from McComb.
Alexander served two
years as chair of the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges
and he is also a board member of the Mississippi Economic Council, and
past chair of the Mississippi Humanities Council.
Alexander and his wife, Barbara,
a Poplarville school teacher, have two sons. Bryan lives in Hattiesburg
and Brent resides in Jackson.
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William A. Lewis
2000-Present
