When Jessie B. Henderson sponsored Threadgill Junior High School’s spelling bee team, there was little question about how her pupils would fare.
“We had no doubt Threadgill was going to win first or second,” said Robert Sims, a retired Greenwood schools administrator who taught with Mrs. Henderson. “She was just that good.”
The English teacher influenced hundreds of children’s lives during her 37 years in the Greenwood Public Schools.
She also possessed musical talents, which she put to use in the community by playing the organ and piano at area churches for more than half a century.
Mrs. Henderson, 77, died of respiratory failure Friday, Jan. 28, 2011, at Greenwood Leflore Hospital.
Services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at St. Luke Church of God in Christ.
Mrs. Henderson was originally from Bessemer, Ala., and began teaching in 1958.
Sims said she was one of the strongest teachers he ever worked with. She would go the extra mile with her students, offering help before and after school in the days before teachers got paid for such work.
“She did it because of her love of the children,” Sims said.
One of her daughters, Jessilyn Henderson of Rochester, Mich., said her mother was a perfectionist who didn’t do anything halfway. That included her speech, handwriting (which Sims said was the best he ever saw), music and impeccable dress.
“She was known as one who could put herself together from head to toe. She wore stiletto heels before they were in style,” Jessilyn Henderson said.
Mrs. Henderson even taught in 2½-to-3-inch high heels, her daughter said.
She was also a skilled organist and pianist, able to both play by ear and read sheet music. She played at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church for 42 years and also played at St. Luke Church of God in Christ.
Jessilyn Henderson said her mother would help churches plan their Women’s Day programs and then play for them. Her daughter, Esther, would direct the choirs.
She maintained an organ and piano in her home and would welcome soloists for extra help to ensure they were comfortable with their parts.
Mrs. Henderson was an active participant in Friendship’s Black History Month march, Greenwood Voters League events and essentially any faith-based community activities, her daughter said.
Along with her husband, Mrs. Henderson took junior high students on much-anticipated bus trips to Libertyland in Memphis for several years.
The Greenwood City Council declared Aug. 27, 2007, Jessie B. Henderson Day for her contributions to the community through education and music.
Her legacy will live on through the Greenwood Mentoring Group. The building on Avenue G is named the Jessie B. Henderson and Inez Beck Learning Center in her honor.
• Contact Charlie Smith at csmith@gwcommonwealth.com.
