Willie James Epps

Dr. Willie James Epps, a nationally recognized expert in early childhood education and former Director of the East St. Louis Campus of Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville (SIUE), died on December 27, 2022, in North St. Louis County, following a stroke. He was 76.

Born on January 26, 1946, Dr. Epps was raised on a farm in Tchula, Mississippi, the poorest town in the nation's poorest county. His parents, Jonas and Nancy Ellis Epps, though literate and landowners, had never gone to college but insisted their children pursue higher education.

Dr. Epps attended racially segregated schools, graduating in 1963 from Tchula Attendance Center, which the town's white leadership denied designation as a high school. Majoring in elementary education, he graduated from Mississippi Valley State University in 1966, having worked part-time as a custodian. He then moved to Biloxi, Mississippi, where he taught sixth grade at Perkins Elementary School, the city's only primary school for Blacks, comprised of 400 young children and 30 teachers. At Perkins, he met Barbara Bacon, a 1966 graduate of Alcorn State University, who taught fourth and fifth grade. The two married at King Solomon Baptist Church in Natchez, Mississippi, on August 12, 1967.

While earning a master's degree in elementary education at the University of Southern Mississippi, Dr. Epps served as Lexington Elementary School's principal in Lexington, Mississippi, before being promoted to assistant superintendent of the Holmes County School System. In 1970, he joined the faculty of Alcorn State University for a couple of years, before heading off to Kansas State University to pursue a Ph.D., which he was awarded in 1974.

In the mid- to late-1970s, Dr. Epps worked at the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare in Washington, D.C., and as a faculty member at both Mississippi Valley State University and the University of South Alabama. After being recruited to the St. Louis region in 1980, he was associated with SIUE for more than two decades. Dr. Epps initially was director of the National Science Awareness Demonstration Program and later was named director of the University's Head Start Program in St. Clair County. On behalf of the University, he applied for and received about $15 million annually from state, federal, and private grants.

Dr. Epps assumed leadership of the East St. Louis Campus in 1994, retiring in 2001. During his administration he presided over tremendous growth, including the creation of SIUE East St. Louis Charter School, and securing $27 million for a new facility.

Dr. Epps served as vice president of the Greater East St. Louis Community Fund, vice chair of the Logan College of Chiropractic Board of Trustees, and a member of the Education Commission of the States' Policy and Priorities Committee.

He was a member of West Side Missionary Baptist Church, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., and Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge.

He received numerous awards and honors, including Region V Outstanding Head Start Director of the Year from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Outstanding Leader of St. Louis from the Center for Leadership of St. Louis, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Humanitarian Award from SIUE, and an Illinois State Senate Recognition on his retirement.

Prior to struggling with poor health, Dr. Epps founded Southern Research Associates and became an educational consultant to historically Black colleges and universities. He was a dynamic public speaker, traveling throughout the United States to speak at educational conferences and traveling abroad to consult with educational leaders in South Africa and China. He also visited the Netherlands, Belgium, and France, among others.

He was an avid fisherman and hunter. He loved playing the slot machines on the riverboats. Watching sports on television with family and friends was a favorite pastime.

Surviving are his wife of 55 years, Dr. Barbara Bacon Epps, who retired from SIUE in 2001; a son, Hon. Willie J. Epps, Jr., a federal judge who married Mischa Buford Epps; a daughter, Beatryx Epps Washington, General Counsel of O.C. Tanner based in Salt Lake City, Utah, who married Vincent D. Washington; three grandchildren, Gabriela Washington, Cambridge Epps, and Solomon Washington; two sisters, Dr. Fannye Epps Love and Dorothy Epps; and a brother, Sam Epps. His parents, Jonas and Nancy Ellis Epps, and siblings George Ellis and Alice Mae Epps Watson, predeceased him.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, February 18, 2023, at 10 a.m., at West Side Missionary Baptist Church, 2677 Dunn Road, St. Louis, Missouri 63136.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be sent to Mississippi Valley State University, 14000 Highway 82 W., Itta Bena, MS 38941, noting "Dr. Willie J. Epps Scholarship" in the memo line.