Julian D. Prince Sr.

1927 - 2025

Julian D. Prince, Sr., Ed. D., passed away on 18 July 2025, aged 98. He is survived by his wife of 76 years, Laverne Baker Prince, and his four children; Joanne Prince of Tupelo, Julian Prince, Jr. of Tupelo, John (Winnie) Prince of The Villages, FL, and David Prince of Oxford. He is also survived by five grandchildren; John (Leigh) Prince, Jr. of Tupelo, Elizabeth (Joe) Johnston of Normal, IL, Wendy (Chip) Frazier of Tupelo, Jacob (Taylor) Prince of Tupelo, and Ashley (Dayne) Swerdling of Atlanta, GA, and ten great grandchildren; Lillian, Annie, Emily, Julian, Maggie, Mary Frances, Avery, Josephine, Glen Arthur, and Rebecca.

Julian was a life-long member of the United Methodist Church and taught Sunday School for almost his entire adulthood. He served his church as a lay leader for years. In his younger years, he was a member of the choir and was noted for his baritone voice, frequently singing solos both in church and at revivals. He was a Boy Scout leader for many years. He loved to take part in community events, singing old songs and playing his string bass.

Julian was born March 5, 1927, in Greenwood, MS, as the only child to Julian Prince and Lois Jones Prince. As a child, he enjoyed hunting, fishing, and swimming and rafting in the Yazoo River. He suffered from dyslexia, a learning disability at a time when learning disabilities were neither understood nor recognized. By the efforts of two teachers, who made him their special project, he was able to excel. In high school, he decided that he wanted to be an educator. He graduated from Greenwood High School and started college as a basketball player/manager at Western Kentucky State Teachers College (now Western Kentucky University).

During his freshman year, he was drafted into the U.S. Army. He was a veteran of World War II, seeing combat with the 32nd Infantry Division in The Philippines in the mountains around Baguio. Since he was the tallest man in the unit, it was decided that he should carry the flamethrower. He didn't speak of his war experiences until later in life when he said, "A 19-year-old should never be put into that situation." After hostilities ceased, he served in the Army of Occupation on the islands of Shikoku and Kyushu in Japan, now leading the 32nd Infantry Division band, and eventually the 29th Infantry Division band, performing for soldiers, officers, and the local populace. He played trombone, baritone, and string bass as needed. Many of the outdoor concerts for the Japanese public routinely had attendance in the tens of thousands. The Christmas concert in predominately Catholic Nagasaki had over 100,000 attendees. He was honorably discharged in late 1946 with the rank of first sergeant and returned to Mississippi to attend Millsaps College. At neighboring Belhaven College, he met Laverne Baker of Aberdeen. He helped her with her science classes and she helped him with editing and typing his papers. On their second date, he told LaVerne of his plans to make her his wife and partner in education and family. She looked at him sternly and said "What makes you think that I would marry you?" He was not discouraged by that remark. They married on January 22, 1949.

After graduation from Millsaps, he began his teaching career at McComb High School. He taught Physics, Biology, Chemistry, and General Science for three years. During this time, he finished his Master's Degree in Educational Leadership from Emory University in Atlanta, GA. He was awarded a Ford Foundation Fellowship Grant to travel the nation to observe good schools in action. At 26, he was named Principal of McComb High School. He was a popular pick for the job and his enthusiasm for education permeated the school. His efforts at the high school led to his appointment as Assistant Superintendent at 30 years of age. One of his first assignments as Assistant was to visit the segregated African American schools in the district. It was here that he learned of the neglected state of education for blacks in Mississippi. He scrambled to find supplies as simple as maps, pencil sharpeners, and newer textbooks. He wrote a report of recommendations for upgrading all schools in the district, but before he learned of its reception, he was selected by Corinth Public Schools to be Superintendent in 1960.

In Corinth from 1960 to 1965, he first had to deal with behavioral problems caused by student emulation of the notorious behavior of the State Line Mob operating in the area. His years at Corinth were some of his most rewarding experiences. As a young Superintendent, he was about to face the tough challenge-- a transition from a segregated South. In 1965, he led the voluntary and uneventful desegregation of the Corinth Schools. Having no teaching experience in elementary education, he learned of first grade students being "not ready for school". Many children did not have the basic skills expected of first graders. In 1964, he wrote a federal grant proposal for preschool education titled "A Head Start". Federal government officials accepted it and claimed ownership of the idea which became the Head Start program. Julian proclaimed that it was his best idea for which he never received credit.

In 1965, McComb asked him to return as Superintendent and to lead the school district in their voluntary desegregation after the violent "Long Hot Summer" of 1964. McComb was a hotbed of racial tension and church bombings. This was an extremely difficult challenge for a school leader. He believed that successful desegregation could only happen if the education of the school children was not impaired, which meant it had to be done in an orderly manner and following a plan. Working with and sometimes against local leaders, civil rights leaders, parents, the FBI, and the federal bureaucracy, integration was achieved without unrest or white flight. While integration was ongoing, the curriculum of the McComb schools was greatly improved to the point that a reporter with a Jackson newspaper called McComb "the best school district in the state". He was also noted for bringing computers (still in their infancy) into schools in the 1960s in cooperation with professors from Stanford University and the scientists of Silicon Valley. Elementary students learned mathematics, and later language skills, from computer stations in each district elementary school. This program was reported both nationally and internationally. When he left McComb in 1976, he said, "We won the classroom, but lost the town". There was still strong resistance in some parts of the white community.

In 1976, Tupelo Public Schools selected Julian to be Superintendent. He came to Tupelo because he saw it as a model for what a great school district and a great community could be. He enjoyed working with community leaders, a superb administrative and teaching staff, and strong parental influence to build the best school in the nation, not just Mississippi. He taught his staff his ideas about what makes an effective teacher. He shared with the community through his weekly column in the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, the concept of "time on task" as a model for school improvement. He worked with community leaders to found the Association for Excellence in Education, a source of funding that aided innovative teachers in doing their job. By the early 1980s, Tupelo Schools led the state in every category that the state Department of Education used to measure student achievement. He pushed and the staff responded. In a district-wide teachers meeting, the then THS head football coach, Ricky Joe Black, said of him, "I hope that the state Department of Education never sends Dr. Prince a letter telling public schools to go to hell, because if they did, Dr. Prince would see that we would get there first." During his time in Tupelo, he earned his Education Doctorate from the University of Mississippi. He served as Superintendent until 1987 when he retired from 38 years in Mississippi public schools. He didn't actually retire, though. Julian accepted the position of Dean of the Orlean Beeson School of Education at Samford University in Birmingham, AL, which he led for 5 years. At the end of his five years, Samford's teacher training program was recognized by U.S. News and World Report as a model school. In 1992, he left Samford and returned to Mississippi and accepted the position of Executive Director of the Mississippi Public Education Forum, a corporate sponsored organization seeking to better education in the state. He stated they he would remain only as long as necessary to pass the Mississippi Adequate Education Program Act. Once this act became law, he retired from education for good.

Julian and Laverne built their retirement home near Tupelo. He played golf and took up gardening and woodworking. He worked for years as the treasurer of the Tupelo Symphony. He became a voracious reader and took long walks in the woods with various and sundry dogs. He continued to teach Sunday school until he was 97. He played his string bass and sang with John and Mary Catherine Stephens in their group, The Nostalgia Delights. He and LaVerne travelled the world. He wrote four self-published books: Porch Stories, a family-only book of family history and anecdotes. Ackia, a historical novel about the pivotal battle of Ackia, which ended French expansion into the lower Mississippi Valley. It was well received by the Chickasaw Nation, who sent interviewers to videotape conversations with him. The Children of One God, a history of The Bible from the Hebrew scriptures to the English Reformation. After he wrote this book, he did many presentations for church groups around the Tupelo area. Last he penned Balancing the Scales: A Turbulent Age of Mississippi History During School Integration, an education insider's memoir of going through desegregation in Mississippi. It was a very personal story that he felt needed to be preserved and remembered.

A Celebration of Life Memorial service will be at 10:00 am Wednesday, July 23, 2025, at Lee Memorial Funeral Home with Bro. Rob Gill officiating and John Prince Jr. delivering the eulogy. Visitation will be one hour prior to the service at the funeral home. Lee Memorial Funeral Home is entrusted with the arrangements.

"No individual has any right to come into the world and go out of it without leaving behind distinct and legitimate reasons for having passed through it."

- George Washington Carver

"Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you have a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you."

- Colossians 3:13