7/29/2007

Algernon Mark Primm  Sr.


    BURLINGTON — Longtime educator Algernon Mark Primm  Sr., known as "Al" or "A.M." to his many friends, passed away on July 27, 2007, at the age of 93 after a period of failing health and a prolonged battle with Parkinson’s disease.
    He was preceded in death by his parents, Algernon Archie Primm  and Nellie Gray Choplin Primm ; two brothers, Richard Wesley Primm  and Cletus Primm ; and two sisters, Ruth Kearns and Cleo Green. He was also preceded in death by his loving wife of 46 years, Sarah Thompson Holman Primm  and his devoted second wife of almost 13 years, Jean Walker Sadler Primm .
    Survivors include his daughter, Caroline Baker of Advance, her husband Brodie, as well as his son, A. Mark Primm  Jr. of Mebane, and one sister Gibby Primm-Welch. Also surviving are three grandsons, Kevin Baker of Advance and his wife Melissa, Dr. Brian Baker of Advance and his wife, Marci, and Algernon Mark Primm  III (Trey) and his wife Laura of Elon. Great-grandchildren include Heather Fritz, Debbie-Claire Rice, Brandon Baker, and Algernon Mark Primm  IV.
    He is also survived by Peggy Sadler Vaughn, Pat Sadler Williams, and Jan Sadler Shepard, the children of his second wife, and their husbands and children who formed a large and loving step-family after his marriage to Jean Sadler on Dec. 23, 1990. Born on Dec. 14, 1913, in High Point, Al Primm  moved to Thomasville with his parents as a young man and graduated in 1931 from Thomasville High School. He began attending High Point College that same year, triple majoring and graduating with an A.B. degree in 1935. He would later complete a Master’s Degree at UNC-Chapel Hill and an advanced certificate from UNC-G.
    Primm  began his teaching career in 1937 and would teach continuously until his retirement in 1984, stopping only to join the U.S. Maritime Service during World War II.
    During that 47-year span, he would serve as principal of New Market School in Sophia, principal of Sylvan School in Snow Camp for 19 years, assistant principal of Southern Alamance High School for one year, principal of Elon College High School for one year, and principal of Western Alamance High School for 22 years. After his retirement from full-time teaching he ran for political office, winning two terms on the Alamance County School Board from 1986 until 1994 and served as vice-chair during that time.
    During his distinguished career in education, Primm  was selected as N.C. Principal of the Year in 1973, and given a special award in 1991 by the North Carolina High School Athletics Association. After his retirement, the Alamance County School System named both the Western Alamance High School football stadium and the Mid-State Conference Sportsmanship award in his honor. He taught, among other things, English, French, and History and coached baseball, and both boys and girls basketball. During his career, Primm  awarded more than 5,000 diplomas, and taught countless students, an achievement that prompted the Elon College Town Board of Aldermen to declare Dec. 11, 1990, Al Primm  Day in the town of Elon College.
    Always athletic, Primm  served as a lifeguard in his early years and was a state collegiate doubles finalist with partner Van Stringfield while playing on the varsity tennis team at High Point College. He also played semi-pro league tennis and rallied with the likes of Wimbledon champion Vic Seixias. He continued playing tennis until leg injuries forced him to quit in his early 60s. At that time, he began playing golf, partially in order to spend more time with his family, many of whom play as well. He continued playing golf past his 92nd birthday and was a regular on the Alamance Senior Golf Association Plus 50s golf circuit until his late 80s.
    A patriotic member of what has been called the "greatest generation" Al went to war in 1943. When the Navy would not accept him due to his age, he walked across the street and enlisted at the U.S. Maritime Service recruiting station. For more than two years, he served as a gunner on the British-built troopship HMS Exchequer. During the Battle of the Atlantic, the Exchequer came under submarine attack on numerous occasions, but God spared Al and his ship and he survived to deliver troops to "Bloody Omaha" beach under the guns of the Battleship Texas. He later went ashore where he further perfected his already fluent knowledge of the French language.
    A firm believer in the biblical adage that "faith without works is dead" Primm  served in many civic organizations including Altamahaw-Ossipee Civitan Club which named him a life Civitan, the Boy Scouts of America, where he served as a troopmaster, field executive, and scout director for many years, Meals-on-Wheels, the Elon College Exchange Club, Elon Community Church, the Cane Creek Quarterly Meeting where he served as Clerk of the Quarterly Meeting Western Quarter, and Stony Creek Presbyterian Church.
    Primm  traveled widely during his retirement, visiting, among other places, England, France, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Hawaii, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, New Zealand, Australia, Italy, and much of Canada and the United States.
    Al’s family would like to thank Alma Wood and Frances Harvey for their kindness and support while he lived and the Pavilion staff at Bermuda Village for their loving care and attention.
    Al will be buried next to his wife, Sarah, at Cane Creek Friends Meeting in Snow Camp. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorials be made to the Cane Creek Friends Meeting Scholarship Fund, 719 West Greensboro-Chapel Hill Rd., Snow Camp, N.C. 27349 or to the church or charity of the givers choice.
    The funeral is scheduled for 11 a.m., Monday, July 30, 2007, at Cane Creek Friends Meeting in Snow Camp.
    The family will receive friends at the Rich and Thompson Mortuary in Burlington on Sunday evening from 6 to 8 p.m.
    Condolences may be sent to info@richandthompson.com 3, Algernon Mark Primm Sr.

7/29/2007

Longtime educator, Primm , dies
By Keren Rivas Times-News
keren_rivas@link.freedom.com


    This weekend, Alamance County lost one of its best and most beloved educators.
    A.M. Primm  Sr., who spent almost half his life working with students of all ages, died Friday at the age of 93.
    A native of High Point, Primm  was the principal of Sylvan School from 1941 to 1960, before the high school consolidated at Southern High School. Back then, the school accommodated all 12 grades, from firstgraders to high school seniors.
    "Everything ran smoothly. It was a country school and Mr. Primm  knew all the students and parents," says Times-News managing editor Jay Ashley, who attended the school during the years Primm  was principal. "That meant if you were paddled at school, you’d get paddled again at home."
    Ashley says Primm  ran the school with a firm but even hand.
    "I don’t think I ever heard anyone ever say anything bad about him or complain that he disciplined them unjustly," he adds.
    Monroe McVey, who also attended Sylvan and was part of the last graduating class at the school, says Primm  had a genuine interest in the students and their well-being.
    He says that though there are plenty of stories about Primm  using his paddle when disciplining students, "the thing that stuck the most about discipline is that he really tried to talk with the students."
    He remembers one incident when a couple of students from Sylvan took a stop sign from another school as a prank. When Primm  found out, "He made them take (the sign) back and apologize to the entire student body for taking the sign."
    He adds, "They probably remembered that a lot more than if they would have gotten a spanking."
    During his tenure at Sylvan, Primm  enlisted in the U.S. Maritime Service, where he served for more than two years as a gunner during World War II. When he came back, he continued working at the school, where he also taught French, says Clifton McPherson, who was a member of the first graduating class at Sylvan.
    McPherson says that when Sylvan consolidated in the early 1960s, Primm  went to Southern Alamance High School where he was assistant principal for a year. He served another year as principal of Elon College High School.
    When Altamahaw-Osipee, Elon and part of Pleasant Grove consolidated into Western High School in 1962, he became the principal of the new school, a position he held for 22 years.
    MCPHERSON, WHO GOT to know Primm  better during his numerous years as member of the Altamahaw-Ossipee Civitan Club, says Primm  did a good job at Western, particularly during the integration years.
    "He didn’t have the turmoil that a lot of the other schools had," he says.
    Emogene Kernodle graduated from Western High School under Primm’s  tenure and started teaching at the school the year before he retired.
    "He was easy to work for," the math teacher says. "He expected teachers and students to do their best." She adds that Primm  was an avid sportsman who did his best to ensure the school excelled in athletics.
    "We have a great band and football team," she says. "He put the foundations for all the stuff that makes Western High School a good school."
    In recognition of his service to the school, Kernodle says teachers at Western instituted the A.M. Primm Award after he retired. The award is given every year to a senior who demonstrates academic achievement, appreciation of athletics and has a good character.
    A beloved friend for many and a loving father to his children, Primm  left a mark in the lives of the people he came in contact with.
    "Mr. Primm , I think influenced the lives of many, many people," McVey says. "We probably didn’t realize the impact he had at the time but there’s a lot to be said about the way he did things."
    Others agree.
    "He was a kind man, quick to compliment a scholar on a job well done, and was one of the most respected men in this county," Ashley says. "He’ll remain in my memory."
    Primm  retired from the school system in 1984. After his retirement, he ran for office and served two terms on the Alamance County School Board.
    "He was just a great guy," says Jerry Doss, who served with Primm  on the school board during the late 1980s and early 1990s. "He was a good Christian man who tried his best to do the best for others. He was very well loved."
    But above all, he was a loving father.
    "He was the best father in the world," says his son, A. Mark Primm  Jr. "Every person needs somebody that is always on their side. That was him for me."
    Mark says his father was in great shape for the first 92 years of his life. Though he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease several years ago, Mark says he had learned to live with the disease.
    "He had a playful, youthful personality," Mark says. "He never got old. He just never got mentally old."
    Other than Mark, Primm  is survived by his a daughter, Caroline Baker, and a host of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. One of his grandchildren is Algernon Mark Primm  III, a writer and former editor for the Mebane Enterprise.
    The funeral will be Monday at Cane Creek Friends Meeting in Snow Camp. Visitation will be this evening from 6 to 8 at the Rich & Thompson Mortuary in Burlington. 324