Former principal passes away
By Bart Moss
For the FCT
Longtime Russellville school and community leader James Whitfield passed away last Thursday after a two-year fight with cancer. He was 85 years old.
Born in August 1928, Mr. Whitfield was hired as a math teacher at Russellville High School in 1957. Four years later he became the principal of Russellville High School. Mr. Whitfield served as the RHS principal for 16 years before moving to the Central Office as the Assistant Superintendent of Education in 1977. He served as the Assistant Superintendent from 1977 until his retirement in 1993.
Rex Mayfield, current Russellville City Schools Superintendent, was a student at RHS when Mr. Whitfield was principal.
“As a student he was a great principal,” Mayfield recalled.
“He had very strict guidelines but he was very easy to approach. He had a way of correcting you without being harsh.”
Mayfield also says Whitfield offered him a great piece of advice when he became a teacher on how to deal with students.
“When I would get frustrated or upset with a student, he would remind me to remember that I was a student once as well,” Mayfield said.
Calvin Palmer was a student-teacher at Waterloo High School and came to Russellville as the ag teacher in the early years of Whitfield’s time as principal and worked for Whitfield for 18 years.
“Mr. Whitfield was a very dynamic principal,” Palmer said.
“He supported his teachers. He wasn’t ever critical. He wanted to develop teachers and their programs.
“He was always supportive of our ag program. His main goal was always to meet the needs of our students. He was just a super guy. I thought so much of him.”
Dr. Wayne Ray came to Russellville in 1965 as the Golden Tiger football coach while Whitfield was principal. Ray’s career at Russellville was closely tied to James Whitfield. Ray also served as an assistant principal under Whitfield.
“Mr. Whitfield was a great man to work with,” Ray said. “He was laid back but very forceful when he had to be.
“He was always fair with teachers and students. He would enforce the rules, but he was very easy to talk to. He had a lot of respect for the traditions of Russellville High School.”
Ray recalled one humorous event that happened between him and Whitfield.
“We did everything together,” Ray said. “We used to hold the pep rallies behind the stadium, and there was a big oak tree. One night we were having a bon fire near the tree for a big game and a wind came up. The wind blew the flames into the tree and set the tree on fire. Mr. Whitfield and I got up in that tree and got the flames out. From then on we had a fire truck at the bon fires.”
Ray also served with Whitfield in the Russellville Rotary Club where they performed community service work together.
“Mr. Whitfield was a community oriented man,” Ray said. “Every Monday he did the Meals-On-Wheels program himself and delivered meals to people. He was very civic minded.”
Franklin County Probate Judge Barry Moore, current president of the Rotary Club, said Whitfield was the epitome of a community servant.
“Mr. Whitfield was a hard worker and a very loyal Rotarian,” Moore said. “He was very involved in helping the community through the Rotary Club. He was always the first one there and always looked forward to our meetings.”
