State of Arkansas House Memorial Resolution

1 84th General Assembly
2 Second Extraordinary Session, 2003 HMR 1001
3
4 By: Representative Edwards
5
6
7 HOUSE MEMORIAL RESOLUTION
8 MOURNING THE DEATH OF JAMES T. WHITEHEAD AND
9 HONORING HIM AS A CHAMPION OF EDUCATION.
10
11 Subtitle
12 MOURNING THE DEATH OF JAMES T. WHITEHEAD
13 AND HONORING HIM AS A CHAMPION OF
14 EDUCATION.
15
16

17 WHEREAS, the accomplished writer, poet, and teacher, James T. Whitehead
18 of Fayetteville, Arkansas died Friday, August 15, 2003, at the age of sixty-
19 seven (67); and
20
21 WHEREAS, Mr. Whitehead was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on March 15,
22 1936, grew up in Jackson, Mississippi, and stood six feet five inches (6'5")
23 tall by the time he went to Vanderbilt University on a football scholarship,
24 where he met William Harrison, the budding writer who became his life-long
25 friend and associate; and
26
27 WHEREAS, as a student Mr. Whitehead had a keen intellect, a firm sense
28 of justice on the race issue that was roiling the South at the time, and a
29 fully formed ferocity on a broad range of thought from the painting of
30 Vermeer to the theology of St. Augustine; and
31
32 WHEREAS, Mr. Whitehead left Vanderbilt with a bachelor's degree in
33 philosophy and a master's degree in English, graduated from the Creative
34 Writing Program at the University of Iowa, and then joined William Harrison
35 to found a similar program at the University of Arkansas; and
36

12-11-2003 15:53 DLP VJF985
1 WHEREAS, at the University of Arkansas Mr. Whitehead began a love
2 affair with all things "Razorback" and was one of the most ardent supporters
3 of both men and women's athletic programs; and
4
5 WHEREAS, the Master of Fine Arts Program Mr. Whitehead established at
6 the University of Arkansas in conjunction with his friend and poet, Miller
7 Williams, became one of the nation's most acclaimed, with students including
8 Barry Hannah, Ellen Gilchrist, and others who have made their mark in
9 fiction, poetry, translation, and film; and
10
11 WHEREAS, in 1971, Mr. Whitehead, then a poet and teacher at the
12 University of Arkansas, published the story of Sonny Joiner, an oversized
13 former football player and a man of excesses, intellectual and otherwise,
14 passionate about history, theological discourse, painting, politics,
15 quarreling, literature, and sports -- much like himself; and
16
17 WHEREAS, this coming-of-age novel "Joiner", Mr. Whitehead's only
18 published novel, about segregationist Mississippi has received critical
19 acclaim; and
20
21 WHEREAS, Mr. Whitehead, known as a skilled sonneteer favoring a
22 conversational style that drew on his affection for the country Southerner,
23 also published four (4) books of poetry, namely "Domains", "Local Men",
24 "Actual Size", and "Near Hand",
25
26 NOW THEREFORE,
27 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE EIGHTY-FOURTH GENERAL
28 ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS:
29
30 THAT the House of Representatives mourns the passing of James T.
31 Whitehead, and honors his years of service to the state and community as a
32 writer, poet, teacher, and champion of education.