Obituary of Wilna Piper

Wilna E. Piper, a lifelong educator and former elementary school principal, died March 14, 2007, at the Oklahoma Methodist Manor nursing home in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She was 89. Miss Piper began teaching at age 19 in rural Arkansas, the daughter of a retired teacher. Her first jobs were in Mansfield and Crosset, Arkansas, before moving to West Memphis in 1947. She taught school full time during the regular term and attended college during summer sessions, earning a bachelor's degree at age 25 from Arkansas State Teacher's College, Conway, and a master's degree at age 35 from University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. Wilna Piper is one of two children born to William Garfield Piper and Rose Buckman of Havana, Arkansas, and half-sister to W. G. Piper's only child by prior marriage to Lydia M. Arnn, a young bride who did not survive her daughter's first year. She was preceded in death by her brother John Buckman Piper, a retired Marine Corps aviator and Northern Virginia real estate appraiser, and by her half-sister Jane Lee of Tulsa, a retired elementary school teacher. Miss Piper moved to West Memphis in 1947 and taught sixth grade at Hulbert-West Memphis elementary. At age 36, she became principal of Bragg Elementary, a position she held 26 years until retirement in 1979. She also was the first principal of Richland Elementary in West Memphis when it opened in 1963, and held both positions concurrently. Both her father and grandfather Piper were teachers. Her mother was the daughter of pioneer farmers in Yell and Sebastian Counties, Arkansas, and one of seventeen children born to Noble I. Buckman and Addie Elizabeth Fergeson. Her grandfather Buckman was widely known in the community as "Uncle Nobe." a man respected for his "honesty and straight forwardness." Nobe's friends wrote of him in 1937: "Most level headed, Mr. Buckman had a keen sense of humor and with a twinkle in his eye he delighted in saying bright things that left no doubt but that his heart was right on public and private matters." These qualities were inherited by his granddaughter Wilna. "God certainly has given a rare gift to you to inspire children and mothers like me to seek high ideals, loyalty and excellence," wrote a Bragg Elementary school parent to Miss Piper in 1978. "Her dedication to truth and duty, kindness, love for her fellow man, humility and responsibility have endeared her to all of her co-workers," reads a tribute to Miss Piper delivered at an annual church event in West Memphis, where she was recognized for her love of young people, her professionalism, and 25 years of leadership in church and youth work. She belonged to the National Educators Association, Arkansas Educators Association, Association for Childhood Education International, and Kappa Delta Pi, an international honor society in education. She was a member more than forty years of Delta Kappa Gamma Society International, a professional honor society of women educators. Miss Piper gave the valedictory address at her high school commencement exercises at Magazine, Arkansas in 1931 at age 17. She was awarded National PTA life membership in 1958, honored by the Virginia Shamblin Guild of First Methodist Church - West Memphis in 1966, received the Madam Elementary Principal Award in 1968 for outstanding principal of the year in a five-state region, and ARTA Achievement Award in 1998 from the Arkansas Retired Teachers Association. At First Methodist Church in West Memphis, she served as Sunday school teacher, Methodist Youth Fellowship leader, Youth Coordinator, Superintendent of Youth Division, member of the Commission on Education, and member of the Wesleyan Service Guild. She was a professional woman in an era when few women sought careers, and a leader during the critical years of school desegregation. When state mandated separate-but-equal schools were federally ordered to become unitary systems, she led her school in the transition. The Board of Directors of the West Memphis School District commended her efforts in 1970. Miss Piper traveled extensively during her career, usually with church groups and co-workers. She traveled by car, bus, and train to many different states in continental USA and Canada (including California, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Virginia, New York, the New England states, and Nova Scotia), and by airplane and ocean liner to Norway and Finland, central Europe, Latin America and Alaska. Miss Piper never married but she is surrounded by children, many of whom know her as Aunt "Bet," a nickname from her childhood in Arkansas. Her late sister Jane Lee's family are grand-niece Leigh Ann Montgomery of Tulsa, grand-nephew David Shales of Tulsa, grand-nephew Gary Shales of Noblesville, Indiana, and grand-niece Lucy Shope of Missouri. Her late brother's family are niece Gwendolyn Bette Piper of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and nephew John B. Piper, Jr. of Ocean Park, Washington; and among these relatives are many great grand-nieces and great grand-nephews living in Arkansas, California, Oklahoma, Indiana, Arizona, New Mexico, and Virginia. Graveside services will be 12:00 Noon on Monday, March 19th, 2007 in the Havana Cemetery in Havana, Arkansas. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of the Ninde Funeral Directors, Woodland Chapel, 5757 S. Memorial, Tulsa, OK 74145. Tele: 918-742-5556 www.ninde.com