Dr. Mildred B. Vance

Dr. Mildred Burl �Tony� Vance, 87, of Sedgwick, died Friday, February 1, 2008 at St. Bernards Medical Center. She was born June 17, 1920 to the late Boston Bard Vance and Elsie Ida Elizabeth Crader Vance between Sedgwick and Egypt, she was a lifelong member of Sedgwick United Methodist Church and a graduate at age 15 of Walnut Ridge High School. Vance received her bachelor�s degree from Arkansas State College in 1946 while teaching grade school in the Sedgwick School District, before teaching in the Walnut Ridge School District and in the Wayne County public school system in Wayne County, Mich., where she gained first-hand experience as a kindergarten teacher. She earned a master�s degree at the George Peabody College for Teachers at Vanderbilt University, under the instruction of her mentor, Dr. James. L. Hymes Jr. In 1948 she was a charter member in Nashville of what is now known as the Southern Early Childhood Association. Vance earned her doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin and was promoted to professor of education at Arkansas State College in 1959, having taught at ASC beginning in 1948. During World War II, Vance had worked in J. Edgar Hoover�s FBI in Washington, D.C., where she did fingerprint identifications for soldiers killed in the same war that had captured two of her brothers. She also worked around this time for the American Red Cross in Illinois. Vance would become thought of among Arkansas State University�s education faculty as the founder of kindergarten in Arkansas. Dr. Beverly Gilbert has cited her for �leading the educational and political struggle for state-wide quality early childhood programs, in the form of public school kindergartens for all children in the state.� Vance was credited for initiating and carrying out the creation of four model, or, as she called them, �demonstration� kindergarten classes in Jonesboro in 1948 upon her return from Michigan. The Demonstration School was a success, and Vance�s notion set a standard across the state for publicly funded early education. Vance was one of the first Head Start training officers in the nation, and served as coordinator in Arkansas for implementing the program that began in 1965 as a cog in President Lyndon Johnson�s �War on Poverty� plan. Poverty somehow persisted, but Head Start offered early education opportunities for working class and poor children when their young minds were most retentive. Throughout her career at ASU, Vance accounted for more than $7.5 million in grant money issued on behalf of early childhood education and teacher education. In 1977 she wrote an approved federal grant that created the Arkansas State University Daycare Center. Vance would design and develop three early childhood degree programs for the college of education, of which two were master�s degrees. She also sponsored and led dozens of tours of Europe for ASU students and community members. On May 8, 1989, Mayor Hubert Brodell proclaimed �Mildred Vance Day� in Jonesboro, to honor her �making such a difference in the lives of citizens in Jonesboro, Arkansas and the mid-South.� In 1993, the Eta Delta chapter of Kappa Delta Pi, an international honor society for undergraduate and graduate students in education, presented her with the Eugene W. Smith Point of Excellence Award; and in 1996, she was named Southern Early Childhood Association Outstanding Member of the Year, and led a group of ASU senior faculty in preparing a time capsule document upon the request of President Les Wyatt. The capsule is to be remembered by future generations for strides taken in developing the university in Jonesboro as an accessible means of scholarship and education. She was the first recipient of the ASU Outstanding Faculty Award for Teaching, and was a member of World Organization for Preschool Education; National Association for the Education of Young Children; Southern Early Childhood Education Association; Arkansas Early Childhood Association; and fraternal organizations Phi Mu, Kappa Delta Pi, Kappa Delta Gamma, Phi Kappa Phi and Phi Delta Kappa. Vance�s public relations file at ASU quotes her as saying in 2001, �In teaching kindergarten, I learned how to respond to a person in a positive way and how to help them become the kind of person they wanted to be,� and, �Teaching is the greatest profession. Without teachers, there would be no other professions. Teaching encompasses the imagination and commits one to the pursuit of excellence in yourself and your students.� She authored a book, Reflections: Fifty Years of Teacher Education at Arkansas State University, which concerned the development of a teacher education department that to date has produced more teacher education graduates than any school in the state. In 2001 she was recognized as a Distinguished Alumnus of ASU. At the time of her retirement on Dec. 19, 2002, Vance�s 54-year tenure at ASU stood as the longest career of any professor in the institution�s history. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer�s not long after retiring, and spent her final years in Sedgwick on the farm built by her sister Maxine Scott and brother-in-law Russell Scott. Much of Vance�s non-professional time was spent as an active member and Sunday school teacher at the Sedgwick United Methodist Church. Wherever she traveled or happened to live, Vance and the people of Sedgwick were never separated in spirit. She loved music, art and the imagination, and never ceased to feel them, or to inspire those feelings in all who knew her. Whether known as Dr. Vance, Tony, Millie, Sis, or Mammie, Mildred B. Vance lived a life of inspiration, distinction, and kindness. Survivors include two sisters-in-laws, Wanda Vance of Jonesboro, and Charlotte Vance of Sedgwick; three nieces, Ann Bailey (Don) of Jonesboro, Robin Doyle (Michael) of Sedgwick, and Jean Craft (Rohn) of Jonesboro; four nephews, Gene Vance (Peggy) and David Vance (Alice) all of Jonesboro, San Vance of Sedgwick and Don Vance (Sherry) of Sedgwick. Many great nieces and nephews and other extended family and friends and thousands of former students whose lives she touched and four longtime and loving caregivers, Helen head, Ruby Killian, Tammy Gifford and Gloria Heard and many other colleagues and co-workers. Dr. Vance was also preceded in death by three brothers, Howard Vance, Glenwood �Peck� Vance and Merle �Toby� Vance; one sister, Mary Maxine �Skeeter� Vance Scott; a brother-in-law, Russell Scott; a sister-in-law, Elsie Irene �Snookie� Vance; a nephew, Danny Scott, a great-niece, Fran Bailey and extended family members, Nettie Whitener Alley and her children, Charles Whitener, Jim Whitener and Virginia �Tootsie� Whitener. A celebration of her life will be held on Tuesday, February 5, 2008 at 1:00 p.m. at the Gregg Funeral Home chapel in Jonesboro with Rev. Mark Massey, Rev. Jerry Reed, and Rev. Larry Ross officiating. Eulogies will be given by Dr. Herman Strickland, Dr. Beverly Gilbert, and Mrs. Diana Fraley Owens. Burial will follow at the Jonesboro Memorial Park under the direction of Gregg Funeral Home in Jonesboro. Visitation will be Monday, February 4, 2008 from 5-8 p.m. at the Gregg Funeral Home in Jonesboro. Honored to serve as active pallbearers are Tim Nichols, Frank Owens, Nick Gerner, Darrell Smith, Jeffrey Moskop, Raymon covey and Ben Bush Jr. Honored to serve as honorary pallbearers are all members of the Sedgwick United Methodist church, all former kindergarten students, all ASU education faculty, past and present, all childhood services staff, Mrs. Charlie Mae Granberry and Mrs. Virginia Shepherd. The family request lasting memorials to the Sedgwick United Methodist Church, ASU Childhood Services, Child Development and Research Center; the Dr. Mildred Vance Scholarship, Department of Teacher Education at ASU and the National Alzheimer�s Association.