Monticello — Former Monticello Inde-pendent School Superinten-dent Vernon Miniard,

Sr. passed away on Saturday, March 27 at the University of Kentucky Medical

Center, after suffering a stroke. He was 83 years old.

Miniard was a well-known and respected educator and was one of the

original seven superintendents in Kentucky who pushed for the state to fund

all schools in the Commonwealth equally. The initiative is now known as

KERA, which created significant improvements in Kentucky's educational

system.

Miniard came to Monticello School in 1959 and was the school's first

principal. He served as superintendent at Monticello School from 1964 to

1990. When he retired, Miniard was the longest serving superintendent in the

state of Kentucky.

In his letter of resignation to the school board in 1990, Miniard noted,

"Monticello is a good school system and I am proud to have been a part of

it. We have a good faculty. The classified employees are good and our

student body can be ranked with the best. I have enjoyed my tenure with the

Monticello School system...I will always have a love of the Monticello

Independent School."

Over the years, Miniard served with 20 school board members and attended

400 school board meetings. An article, published in The Wayne County Outlook

on June 6, 1990, noted that he had missed only one board meeting during his

tenure, due to the death of his mother.

That dedication to Monticello continued long after his retirement, noted

Monticello Superintendent Donnie Robison.

"I never got to work with Mr. Miniard, but I did get to know him very

well over the last 16 years that I have been at Monticello School," said

Robison. "He was always very supportive of the school and he always showed

an interest in what we were doing."

Robison said that Miniard's name was still well-known throughout the

education community.

"Anytime I attend an educational meeting, and they find out that I am

from Monticello, they ask about Mr. Miniard...He is still remembered and he

is very well thought of," said Robison.

"I always thought the world of him, and he was very supportive of me,"

Robison continued. "He will be missed."

Miniard was born in Perry County Kentucky, the son of the late Delano

and Mammie Gross Miniard. He studied at Lee Junior College and Kentucky

Wesleyan. He did his graduate work at the University of Kentucky.

Miniard served in the U.S. Army during the Pacific Campaign of World War

II. He was a member of the Kentucky Retired Teacher Association, a member of

the Masonic Lodge, and the Monticello United Methodist Church.

He is survived by his wife, Frances Alexander Bradshaw Miniard; three

sons, Ralph, James and Vernon Miniard, Jr.

Friends, family, colleagues and former students had the opportunity to

pay their respects to the Miniard family on Tuesday, March 30 in the

facility that bears his name at Monticello Independent School‹the Vernon

Miniard, Sr. Auditorium.

Funeral services were held on Wednesday at the Monticello United

Methodist Church. Graveside military honors were performed by the Monticello

Chapter of the Disabled American Veterans. Burial was in the Elk Spring

Cemetery.

For complete details, see the obituary in this edition of The Outlook.