FAYETTEVILLE — Harry Vandergriff was a gentleman with a ready smile who always put students first and often took the time to hand-write personal messages to his staff, friends and colleagues said Thursday.
The former Fayetteville Public Schools superintendent died Wednesday. He was 93.
Thelma Thomasson, who was hired by Vandergriff as a kindergarten teacher 52 years ago, called him “the perfect Southern gentleman.”
“I never saw him angry or raise his voice,” she said. “When asked to do something, his response was always, ‘I’ll do what I can.’”
Thomasson teaches kindergarten at Vandergriff Elementary School. It was named after the former superintendent when it opened in 1995.
At A Glance
Services Scheduled
Funeral services for Harry Vandergriff, 93, former Fayetteville school superintendent, will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at the First Presbyterian Church, 695 Calvin St., Fayetteville. A private interment will follow.
Source: Staff Report
Vandergriff was a strong advocate for public school kindergarten in Fayetteville, directing his assistant superintendent, Henrietta Holcomb, to implement the program. Thomasson was one of the teachers hired along with retired principal and teacher Faye Jones, Jones recalled.
“He ran the district very well. He laid the groundwork for what is in place today,” Jones said.
Vandergriff joined Fayetteville School District as an elementary teacher and assistant football coach in 1948. He went on to become head football coach at Fayetteville High School and later a district level administrator and assistant superintendent before becoming superintendent in 1969. He held that post until his retirement in 1982, completing 34 years of service to students and Fayetteville schools.
“He was a gentle, organized, resourceful person who always held students first,” said Rudy Moore, who served six years on the Fayetteville School Board. Four of those years were when Vandergriff was superintendent.
A biographical sketch written on Vandergriff’s induction into the Fayetteville Public Education Foundation Hall of Honor in 1999 stated: “Harry’s tenure as superintendent was marked by the goal that students deserved the best the community could give, and teachers must be encouraged and supported in reaching this goal.”
After retirement, he continued to volunteer at the school named in his honor, said Bert Stark, principal at Vandergriff Elementary School.
“I knew him as a young administrator, and he was already a legend,” Stark said. “As a young administrator, I thought, ‘If I can learn and know a 10th of what he does, my career will be good.’”
The students he tutored looked to him as an energetic grandfatherly type, Stark said.
Don Deweese, retired library services director, said his relationship with Vandergriff goes back to the fourth grade at Washington Elementary School when Deweese had Ann Vandergriff, Harry’s wife, as a teacher.
After earning his master’s degree at the University of Arkansas, Deweese was named library supervisor and worked in the central office alongside Vandergriff, who supported elevating the school libraries with certified librarians.
“The libraries would not have developed had it not been for his support,” Deweese said. “He was a true gentleman who knew how to make you feel good.”