Nearly one week ago, a maverick in the realm of public education and beyond in the Greenville community was laid to rest.
Last Thursday, family, friends, former educators, community members and members of the faith-based community gathered at Delta Memorial Gardens to pay their respects to the late John T. Warren — former educator, administrator and Alcorn A&M College Alumni.
Warren received a Bachelor of Science degree from Alcorn A&M — where he and his late wife Martha met as students — and a Master of Science degree from Tennessee State University.
As a husband, father, deacon, first black assistant principal of Greenville High School and last principal of Lizzie Coleman High School, Warren’s legacy personified the popular Gospel spiritual “May The Work I’ve Done Speak For Me.”
The work he did in service to the Greenville Public School system spans more than three decades while the work he did for the Christian faith spans more than eight decades.
Warren acted as principal of Coleman High from 1964 to 1970 and organized the school’s first typing class.
In addition to acting as assistant principal of Greenville High School from 1970 to 1983, Warren organized and served as president of the Greenville Retired Personnel Organization and was a recipient of the 100 Black Men Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial award.
Warren’s legacy as Coleman High School’s principal is well documented and has come to be admired by many.
The school received superior ratings for its choir as well as its band each year and accumulated a litany of championships in the sport of girls and boys’ basketball, baseball and track and field.
Rev. Albert Calvin Jr., pastor of Mt. Horeb M.B. Church in Greenville, recalled entering into Coleman Junior Senior High School in 1962 as a 7th grader and Warren was one of two assistant principals at that time.
Two years later, Warren became principal after his predecessor was promoted to a position in the central office.
“I went to school under him the next two years,” Calvin said, “but, we later moved to the South side and I ended up graduating from T.L. Weston.”
Calvin and Warren’s paths intersected down the road, somewhat inevitably, as Calvin returned from his post secondary educational studies to teach in the Greenville Public School system.
“In 1983, they transferred me to GHS and of course Mr. Warren was retiring just prior to my getting there,” Calvin recalled.
In 1979, Calvin became the pastor of Mt. Horeb and just prior to that, Warren had transferred his membership from there to Mercy Seat M.B. Church under the leadership of Rev. L.J. Jordan and in 2018, united with Greater Hinds Street M.B. Church under the leadership of Rev. Thomas Morris Sr.
Calvin said in coming to know Warren as a Christian worker in the church, he tried hard to get him back.
“We had a really cordial relationship over the years, we’ve worked in some Christian education endeavors together, but he was really quite involved in religious activities at the local, state and national level,” Calvin said.
When Warren retired, he became an insurance agent for Horace Mann Insurance and even in that capacity, crossed paths often with Calvin as he was acting as the principal of Leflore County High School.
“He was one of my administrative mentors so I treasured and cherished a lot of the things he was able to share with me. When I came back to Greenville in 1992 as the principal of Coleman Junior Senior High, he would come by from time to time and visit with us,” Calvin said. “We would talk and he told me on several occasions, ‘I’m glad to see just one of my former students walking in our footsteps and becoming a principal of their former school.’”
Warren was also a foreign missionary and Calvin highlighted the missionary work Warren performed annually in the Virgin Islands, saying, “He was not one of those persons who just went to school and church on Sundays, but was heavily involved in the church and Christian education especially, that was one of the great things about him.”
Memories, thoughts and expressions shared via social media reflected Calvin’s very sentiments as he said, “I thought quite highly of him and a lot of his former students in the community felt the same way…he was an educator, Christian, mentor and very involved in the community.”
