William Hunt said his father never really discussed how he became such a passionate advocate for people with special needs.

“I think one reason was for practical reasons. It was a field that wasn’t as crowded as some of the others,” William said. “My mother was essentially deaf, so I think they both knew that sometimes people with special needs need a little assistance.”

James W. Hunt died May 20 at age 96. He will be best remembered for his pioneering work in the field of special education, including starting the special education program at Mississippi University for Women, as well as his tireless support for programs throughout Columbus and the state to provide special needs children and adults with opportunities — from work to recreation.

Above all else, he was an ever-present comfort for young parents trying to grasp the implications of being a parent to a special needs child.

“When you didn’t know where to turn, you turned to Dr. Hunt,” said Alma Turner, a special needs mom, retired educator and frequent collaborator with Hunt. “I never met a person who was more committed and more determined in the field of disabilities than Dr. Hunt.”

Entering a field that in the early 1960s was something of a new frontier, along with his experiences with his first wife, Allie, who died in 1991, may have stirred his passion for the field to which he devoted his life.

But the seeds of his career choice may have been planted far earlier, back to his childhood in Laurel.

Hunt’s devotion to those most vulnerable may have been a function of empathy.

He was, said his son, a vulnerable child himself.

“His father was an alcoholic and he had a pretty tough childhood,” William said. “He dropped out of school in the eighth grade to go to work and support his family. He was the oldest of four kids and really played the role of father at a very early age. He didn’t have a very long childhood.”

James went to work at a wholesale grocer in Laurel. At first, he was assigned the task of roasting the coffee from beans delivered from New Orleans.

“My dad told me one day he almost burned down the whole building roasting coffee, so they decided they needed to put him in a safer job,” William said. “They decided that he would drive the truck and pick up produce, coffee beans and supplies in New Orleans and drive it back to Laurel.”
James was just 14 years old at the time.

He celebrated his 20th birthday fighting in the Battle of the Bulge, an experience he would recount in his book, “What is Brave?” chronicling the battle along with dozens of other soldiers who had participated. It was one of four books Hunt would write, including a volume of poetry he wrote with his son.

James returned home after the war and earned his general equivalency diploma through a provision in the G.I. Bill, which he used to also earn a bachelor’s and master’s degree in education.

In a 2014 interview with The Dispatch, James recalled the day his career path shifted from administration to special education.

In the early 1950s, James was a principal at a Jackson elementary school when he was informed of an incident involving one of the children in the school’s special education class.

“I had no idea what to do in that situation, no training,” he recalled. “I realized I had children in my school that I didn’t know how to deal with, how to treat them.”

‘See a need and try to fill it’
Determined to learn how to reach special needs students, he enrolled in a Ph.D. program at Ole Miss designed specially for him.

In 1963, he came to MUW and quickly implemented the university’s first special education program for education majors.

It was then that Turner first encountered James. She was an education major in elementary education and administration at MUW. In 1971, Turner and her husband became first-time parents. Their daughter, La Chun, had suffered from a brain injury that left her disabled.

In an effort to learn more about how they could help her child, Turner began taking some of James’ classes. The benefits, she quickly realized, went beyond the classroom.

“I was so stressed, just having issues,” Turner recalled. “I was thinking, ‘What are we going to do? We have a child born with a brain injury and I didn’t know how to care for her.’ I didn’t know where to turn. It was just overwhelming. My husband and I were both working and going to school, and it seemed like more than we could bear.”

After class one day, the emotions spilled over as she recounted her fears to James.

“I started crying,” she said. “He was so comforting. He encouraged me, helped me find resources, even arranged a trip to the North Mississippi Rehabilitation Center in Tupelo where I was able to meet other parents.

“From that point, there was never a time I couldn’t go to him,” she said.

That relationship continued after Turner graduated. Together with Connie Tilley, the director for Columbus Community Programs, the three used grant money to criss-cross the state, providing information and resources to parents of special needs children.

In fact, wherever there was an effort to improve the lives of those with special needs, James always seemed to be in the middle of it, from a summer camp for the disabled to the ACT Center, which provided jobs for adults with special needs, to a group home in Columbus that now bears his name.

Had James confined his efforts to training education majors in the field of special education, it would have been considered a significant contribution. That he went beyond the classroom to serve special needs children and their parents represents the finest qualities of a teacher.

“Dr. Hunt’s legacy is that he helped make Mississippi a better place for children and adults with special needs,” MUW President Nora Miller said. “He would find each person’s special abilities to find their pathway to learning. We were fortunate to have him lead MUW’s efforts to provide these much-needed services.”

William, now an engineering professor at Georgia Tech, said his father’s life was a testament to unselfish service.

“What my dad did was a service to the community,” he said. “He wasn’t out there trying to grab attention or be recognized. He would just see a need, try to fill it and move on to the next thing. It was never about what was good for him, but what was good for others in the community, especially those with special needs.”

Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].