California Obituaries
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Redlands Daily Facts; Submitted by Peggy Hooper

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James Pearce had heart for students, teachers
By JOY JUEDES, Staff Writer
Posted: 09/09/2009 08:45:37 AM PDT


REDLANDS - When Ivy Shamblin walked into her classroom at Smiley Elementary 
School, the desks and chairs were not where they were the day before. 

The mischief was courtesy of principal James Pearce. 

"I remember one day I came to work and he had switched the furniture around in 
all the classrooms - it was all askew," she said. "I told him when I visited him a 
few months ago, `That really made me mad,' and he said, `I know you were.' 

"He liked to play these kinds of practical jokes on teachers," said Shamblin, who 
has taught at Smiley for 25 years. 

Pearce, a longtime Redlands educator known for his sense of humor and heart for 
students and colleagues, died Aug. 31 of cancer. He was 62. 

"He had the biggest heart imaginable - when it comes down to it, you'll see the 
impact he had on students he taught, faculty," said son Brandon Pearce of Redlands. 
"People loved him because he just had a big heart." 

Pearce started at the Redlands Unified School District in 1969. He worked with the 
Special Education Resource Network and children with special needs. He also taught 
middle school science and became principal of Smiley in 1984, a post he held for nine 
years. 

"He seemed to know the names of every child on campus - he spoke to everyone, 
everyone knew him," said Molly Morris, who has taught kindergarten at Smiley 
since 1972. 

Pearce also worked at Kingsbury Elementary and at Fallsvale Elementary School in 
Forest Falls. He returned to working with the district's special education department 
until his retirement in 2007. 

"I truly admired Jim's passion for kids," said former district superintendent Robert 
Hodges, who started working for the district the same year as Pearce. "Obviously 
(for) those of us who worked in public education that should be a requirement, but 
Jim truly lived his passion for kids and especially special needs students. He was 
a real advocate for equal opportunity for all kids." 

Pearce distinguished himself from the beginning, according to former colleague 
Patrick Smith. 

"We were both on the same interview panel (in the late 1960s) - I still remember. He 
had this huge handlebar mustache, a great big tie on - he was a character," said Smith, 
who worked with Pearce at Smiley and the district office. 

One of Pearce's memorable inventions at Smiley was a gorilla suit he wore to reward 
students who met goals in a school reading program. 

"He was quite famous for the gorilla costume every year - he'd get up in a tree and 
read books," Smith said. 

Pearce also played practical jokes on his staff - Smith said he once put crime scene 
tape on his office door - and devised ways for them to bond, including holding functions 
at his house. 

"I think he's the one who gave the `Smile' to Smiley," said Shamblin, who said Pearce 
had staff members take personality trait tests. "I think ever since he started he made 
Smiley what it is today. The staff has always been close-knit He made it a fun place 
to work." 

"People even told us when they came on campus there was an atmosphere that was 
positive - it was just a good place to be," Morris said. 

Brandon Pearce said his father's students were the most important thing to him as 
an educator, followed by his faculty. 

"He led by doing - he was never afraid to roll up his sleeves and get in there," said 
Smith, now coordinator of special services for the school district. "He took on so much." 

Shamblin, who teaches third grade and started at Smiley the same year as Pearce, 
said Pearce made sure his staff was taken care of - he even got her a swamp cooler 
for her classroom when it heated up in summer. 

"We really bonded as a staff and it seemed the school ran really smoothly when he 
was there," Morris said. "He did little things like acknowledge everyone's birthdays - 
there was always a little note in the bulletin whose birthday it was." 

Cindy Andrews, who was principal at Cope Middle School when Pearce was at Smiley 
and worked with him in the district office, said Pearce encouraged his staff to "work 
hard and play hard." 

Morris said Pearce made all the requirements of working in education easier. 

"He was an extremely positive person and his energy and positive attitude was 
contagious and was very important during the time he trained staff to work with 
special needs kids," said Hodges, who was a principal at the same time Pearce 
was. 

Pearce's dedication to students with disabilities had personal roots. 

"My dad actually had a learning disability - he felt he found a lot of common ground 
with people who needed his assistance the most," Brandon Pearce said. "He could 
relate to them very, very well." 

For all his dedication to students and fellow educators, Pearce's first love was his 
family. 

"His family was priority 1 - my mom and brother and I," Brandon Pearce said. "His 
second passion was the school district." 

After Jim retired, he and his wife, Connie, traveled and spent a majority of their time 
with their five grandchildren. They would often go to the Colorado River to fish and 
water ski. 

"He was a really great family man - his family was extremely important to him. They 
always did a lot together as a family," Andrews said. 

"You hear a lot of platitudes about people when they die but it was true for him," 
Smith said. "He lived a full life - he and Connie did a lot of things together." 

His family wrote that "his love for his two sons Brandon and Bryan opened the most 
important chapter of his life. Jim was a loving dad, soccer coach, shuttle bus driver, 
mentor, listener, and example setter." 

"Everything Jim did was with Connie and the boys in mind. Jim's impact on the boys' 
friends was immense and Jim was `dad' to so many people." 

Connie Pearce said many people told her her husband was "such a great listener." 

"He became a mentor to me - he kind of quietly provided guidance and wisdom as 
he saw the need," Smith said. 

Smith said he remembered a newspaper photo of Pearce walking a kindergartner 
to class his first day as a school administrator. 

"He was an extremely dedicated guy - the intangibles are hard to replace," he said. 

Pearce was born April 16, 1947, in Santa Monica. In June 1959, he was ranked as 
one of the youngest Eagle Scouts and was invited to meet President Dwight 
Eisenhower at the White House. In July 1964, he used his scouting skills to save 
the life of a man who was in a traffic accident. 

He attended Poly High School in San Fernando Valley and the University of Redlands, 
where he earned his bachelor's degree in 1969 and master's in '73. He was a member 
of Kappa Sigma Sigma. He also met his wife, Connie, at the university, and they were 
married July 12, 1969, in Redlands. 

They moved to Hawaii and returned to Redlands a year later to start a family and be 
near friends. 

Pearce is survived by his wife of 40 years, Connie; son Bryan of Tucson, Ariz., and 
granddaughters Isabella and Sienna; son Brandon and his wife Wendy of Redlands, 
and their children, Owen, Payton and Quinn. 

Services are 1:30 p.m. today at Trinity Church, 1551 Reservoir Road, Redlands. In lieu 
of flowers, send donations to the Redlands Community Scholarship Foundation, P.O. 
Box 1683, Redlands, CA 92373. Note James Halsey Pearce in the memo - donations 
will be designated for children with special needs. 

Condolences may be posted at www.caringfuneralservice.com. 

E-mail Staff Writer Joy Juedes at jjuedes@redlandsdailyfacts.com