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Wilma Bullard White, a veteran teacher in
the Shawnee Mission Schools, died June 4, 2004, at Carondelet Manor
after a long struggle with Parkinson's disease. She was born April 28,
1914, to Alphia and Eugene Bullard in Kansas City, MO. Her earliest
ambition was to be a teacher; as a youngster, she would come home from
Swinney Grade School and teach imaginary children on her front steps.
After Swinney, she attended Westport High School, Kansas City Missouri
Junior College and K.U., where she earned a Phi Beta Kappa key and a
B.A. in French and English. During her subsequent six years teaching
in Olathe, she completed a masters degree in English at Northwestern
University in Evanston; she then began a 38- year career in the
Shawnee Mission Schools.
Early in her tenure there, Dr. McEachen asked her to design a fourth
year English program, which she envisioned as an expository writing
course, with emphasis on wide reading and the use of evidence to
support a central idea. She and her colleagues expanded this program
into the well-known "Senior English" course, which has prepared so
many students for prestigious colleges and the professions. Her
philosophy, however, was inclusive, not exclusive. She strove
constantly to enhance the skills and confidence of all her students.
One of them, James Tate, won a Pulitzer prize for poetry, but she
valued the others no less.
In her view, every student had the potential for success. Her
enthusiasm for the classroom never waned; she loved young people and
believed intensely in the necessity for all of us to explore new ideas
with clarity and without prejudice. She also had strong social views.
She believed in the brotherhood of man and the kinship of all living
things. She revered nature as the essential basis for our own survival
and also for the inherent worth and beauty of life. She was a
conservationist and a vegetarian. She rescued spiders and wasps. She
took in stray animals and sometimes stray people. She was generous to
those in need and fierce in defense of the helpless. She campaigned
against cockfighting, wars, cruise missiles and logging in national
parks. She was a loyal and forgiving friend. She met every day with
joy and every problem with courage. She was indeed "a pulse in the
eternal mind."
There will be no memorial service. Burial will be at Park Lawn
Cemetery and those who wish to honor her memory are encouraged to
contribute to organizations such as World Wildlife Fund, Sierra Club,
Greenpeace, Gorilla Foundation, Natural Resources Defense Council,
City Union Mission, Planned Parenthood, Amnesty International, Wayside
Waifs, Animal Haven or Salvation Army. She thanks her colleagues,
friends and students for the happiness and inspiration they brought
her and hopes that in some small way she may have reciprocated. All of
us who love her will miss her, but we take comfort in knowing that a
part of her lives in each of us. Dust that falls upon a star To make
it shine, fall Thou on me. Give me a mass so singular That I shall
blaze for all to see. And as I spend my glory vast I hope that I shall
ever be Mindful of my dusty past And grateful for Thy legacy. When at
the end, my fire burns out and dust is all that's left of me, I want
my dust to float about And light stars through eternity. Wilma has
shed her legacy on each of us; we will shine the brighter for it.
Published in the Kansas City Star on 6/7/2004. |
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