Extracted from The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock, AR)
Dean Horace Whiteside Jr .
BY SUZI PARKER
When Dean Horace Whiteside Jr. began teaching at Crossett in the early 1930s, half his students had textbooks. Later as state textbook director he found himself in a position to ensure every student had textbooks. Whiteside, who spent 46 years in Arkansas education, died Sunday from lung cancer at the age of 83. Whiteside held every position from teacher to school superintendent before joining the Department of Education in 1946, when he began subtly shaping students' lives throughout the state.
When he was appointed coordinator of instruction materials in 1963, Whiteside said he ``didn't like anything about the textbook program.''
``It violated everything I believed in teaching,'' he said.
Because of that distaste, he took the textbook director job and worked at changing state laws.
``He was really into education,'' his son, Dr. Dean H . Whiteside Jr., said. ``He enjoyed his work and loved education.''
Whiteside's argument for better textbooks stemmed from a 1936 law providing for the purchase of basic texts. In 1973, Whiteside accomplished a major goal when the Legislature expanded the 1936 act to include purchasing enrichment materials and audiovisual aids.
Whiteside came to Arkansas from Lufkin, Texas, on a football scholarship to Southern State College, now Southern Arkansas University, in Magnolia. While a student there, he met Virginia Byrd of Bearden, a schoolteacher. Later he transferred to Henderson State Teacher's College, now Henderson University, in Arkadelphia, where he earned his bachelor's degree.
Soon after graduation, he married Byrd and they moved to Louisiana, where Whiteside worked on a master's degree in political science. After graduation, the couple returned to Little Rock, and he began his teaching career at West Side Junior High School.
A year later, in 1938, he became principal of Joe T. Robinson School, a rural school with 555 students in first through 12th grade.
Whiteside next spent three years as principal of Mabelvale. In 1943 the Whitesides moved to Osceola, where he was superintendent of schools. But, the Whitesides missed Central Arkansas and returned to Little Rock, where he began his four decade career with the state.
``He was the county school supervisor for the state,'' his son said. "He traveled around the state examining schools that weren't part of a municipality."
In 1964, Whiteside, who at the time worked not only as textbook director but also as coordinator of educational television, became instrumental in helping form an educational station for the state. He traveled the United States examining various cities' stations.
He said in a 1964 Arkansas Democrat article that ``good usage will be made of educational television only when teachers, students and the lay public see a need for using it. The real key to success is quality programming.''
In 1965, Whiteside traveled to EastGermany on an 18-day Radio Free Europe tour to observe how radio worked in a comniunist setting.
``It was part of his being an educational consultant,'' his son said.
Whiteside also influenced his children to follow his footsteps in education.
``His daughter, Deanna, is retired as director of alumni relations for the University of Montana, and his other daughter, Linda, is a career schoolteacher in Frankfort, Ky., where she has been Teacher of the Year several times,'' his son said. ``I was a psychological consultant for the Board of Education in Memphis before I moved back here.''
Whiteside retired in 1980 and afterward stayed active in the Retired Teachers Association and the National Association of State Textbook Administrators, serving as president for several terms.
Tuesday, September 21, 1993
Former state textbook director
Democrat-Gazette Staff Writer