Hundreds mourn drowned Danville principal

By John R. Crane
Media General News Service

Published: August 4, 2008

Hundreds of mourners at the Westmoreland School athletic field paid respects and shared memories of Samuel Massie, a beloved educator who left an indelible mark on many.

Massie, 54, principal of Langston Focus School, died last week in an apparent drowning in a pond near Goose Pond Road near N.C. 700 in Rockingham County.

Sunday’s ceremony included an opening prayer, music and singing from Nguza Saba joined by Kuumba, Jerome Morris and Singers, and host Jessica Griffith.

“I know Sammie is smiling down upon this,” said Marilyn Gunter, a retired schoolteacher who knew Massie more than 20 years.

Gunter later poured libations in a traditional African gesture to remember ancestors and attendees lit candles of remembrance toward the end of the service. Gunter also played a recording of her daughter, who was student of Massie’s and lives in Chicago, reading a poem of remembrance that she wrote for Massie, “Great Day in the Mourning.”

Adrian Massie, Samuel’s son, said his father “was an amazing individual, an amazing father to his children and amazing husband to his wife.”

“Integrity, commitment and most of all, love,” Adrian Massie said when asked the things he learned most from his father. Dignity, boldness and confidence were other words that came to Adrian Massie’s mind.

During the service, Gunter also told a humorous story about Massie. Two boys were fighting outside his office one day but they stopped as soon as his voice thundered from the window, Gunter recalled. The two students were huffing and puffing to his office, she said.

“He was the only person I saw stop a fight with his voice,” Gunter said.

Though his influence was wide, Massie would not have wanted the praise heaped upon him during Sunday’s service, Gunter said during an interview after the event.

“He never wanted recognition or accolades,” Gunter said.