Ex-school official aided integration

John Fortenberry faced many challenges as a school administrator, but in the 1960s, his primary goal was to help desegregate the Little Rock schools.

“Maintaining a solid education program was no easy task and he had a lot to do with holding the system together and maintaining an atmosphere for children to learn,” said retired deputy superintendent Paul Fair.

Fortenberry died Saturday at Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock from stroke complications. He was 85. At four years old, Fortenberry and his family moved from California to Arkansas, the state where his ancestors had settled during the early 1800s, said his wife, Maxine Fortenberry. In 1997, the couple published a 500-page book, titled The Fortenberry Family in Arkansas, which is at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

“The Fortenberry family was one of the first four pioneer families to come to Arkansas,” his wife said. “He was proud of his family.”

Fortenberry served in the U.S. Navy for a year in 1945, but the most action he saw during his time in the service was on a trip to the San Diego Zoo.

“A tiger got out and everybody was in a panic,” his wife said, adding it was safely guided back to a pen.

From 1951 to 1962, Fortenberry worked in the Jonesboro public school system, including as a band director.

While some hotels may not be thrilled to have a band of adolescents with loud instruments spending the night, a hotel in Hot Springs once wrote Fortenberry, asking his students to “please come back,” his wife said.

“He was pretty strict, there wasn’t much monkeybusiness going on,” Maxine Fortenberry said. “But the children loved him.”

In 1962, Fortenberry became the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction in the Little Rock public schools.

“During that time, the achievement level according to the tests, exceeded the national norm,” Fair said. “That was attested to his dedication and performance.”

Fortenberry was always looking for new programs to implement, from a district radio station to an exchange program with Bolivia and Germany, Fair said.

Even during the era of desegregation, Fortenberry provided calm leadership.

“I remember one time he was called in the middle of the night and [a man] threatened to kill him,” his wife said. “But it wasn’t something that worried him much, because he knew who the fellow was.”

Aside from the stresses of his career, Fortenberry faced tragedy in 1966 when several of his relatives were killed. His father died when he was six years old.

“His older brother and his family, and his mother died in an explosion in his brother’s house in North Little Rock, two days after Christmas,” Maxine Fortenberry said. “He grieved every year, especially on that day.”

In 1983, after serving as superintendent in Jonesboro, he was named administrator of the Instructional Microcomputer Project for Arkansas Classrooms for the next seven years.

“He was involved in putting computers in schools all over the state,” Maxine Fortenberry said.

In his free time, Fortenberry enjoyed listening to classical music, especially in Europe.

“We’re both music nuts, so we would go to the symphonies and the operas in London and Paris, Vienna,” his wife said. “The music was really outstanding.”

An active member of Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church, Fortenberry shared his faith through actions rather than words, his wife said.

“If people needed something or were in trouble, he was there to help out,” Maxine Fortenberry said. “[His faith] was something that was there and a part of his life, all of his life.”