Longtime educator and community champion Roy Pullam died Sunday evening after a battle with cancer.
His wife, Velma, sent an email Monday morning that he had died at 6:05 p.m.
In the fall of 2023, Pullam was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer as well as lung cancer after having open heart surgery.
Butch Puttman, one of his best friends who will speak at Pullam’s funeral, told the Hendersonian Monday morning that Pullam was a man “with extraordinary kindness.”
Puttman believed his friend’s kindness was borne from a childhood lived in poverty. Pullam grew up in Providence where he learned the pain of hunger. “I knew the shame of being ragged and I knew how it made me feel…..which was much worse,” said Pullam in a previous Hendersonian profile article about him.
Puttman said that Pullam was a beloved educator because he taught more than what was in books—he taught patience, kindness, empathy and courage, Puttman said.
“These were the tenets he lived his life by,” Puttman said. “He tried to instill them in everyone around him.”
In July, a gathering organized by former students allowed Pullam to say goodbye to his past students and community members he’d worked with for decades. It was estimated that at least 250 people came to speak with him.
They came that day from not only Henderson, Evansville and Providence, but also Louisville, Lexington, East Tennessee and even Florida. A Zoom call was also set up so that those who could not attend the reception in person could still have an opportunity to speak with Pullam. Some waited in line for more than an hour. (Read that past article here.)
In addition to his work in the school system, Pullam also championed many community causes and organizations. According to Puttman, Pullam’s mind never stopped, always thinking about ways to improve the community.
“He was a one-man think tank,” Puttman said.
A list of Pullam’s work includes:
- Taught at Henderson City High School and North Junior High (later Middle) School, where he led many extracurricular activities. Pullam started in 1968 and retired in 2008
- Headed the Jr. Optimist program at North. Pullam estimates that he and his students collected 110,000 canned goods and 8,000 coats throughout the years that went to the less fortunate. He was also the Optimist president
- Started a program to gather and fix bicycles. Bicycles were taken to the Henderson County Detention Center where they were fixed and then moved to the Salvation Army to be given way. Puttman said the program has given away more than 2,000 bicycles
- Started a program to find and clean computers that were also given away. He said that program is responsible for 131 computer gifts
- Member of the Henderson County Public Library Foundation Board
- Member of fundraising board for the Preston Arts Center
- Started the community garden at the Henderson County Detention Center. The garden every year donates produce to the Salvation Army, Women’s Addiction Recovery Manor, the Gathering Place and the Fr. Bradley Shelter for Women and Children, he said.
- He also did work with Riverview School and organized the Salvation Army Golf Scramble
- Started a program at the YMCA that allowed every third-grade student in Henderson County school system the chance to get free swim lessons. In the nine-week program, students were bussed to the YMCA during the school day to receive instruction
- Started and ran Bonnet Productions, in which high school and junior high school students interviewed newsmakers throughout the state. Bonnet Productions video recordings are housed in the public library. They have also been added to the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.
“I don’t know anyone else like him to be honest with you,” Puttman said. “I can truly say without a doubt they broke the mold on old Roy Pullam. Quite a guy.”
Pullam’s funeral arrangements will be handled by Rudy Rowland Funeral Home.
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To read a profile of Roy Pullam that was first published in the December 2023 issue of the Hendersonian, click here.
