Cancer claims pioneer black educator Bass at 62

Wednesday, Sept. 8, 1999 | 9:59 a.m.

In the mid-1970s, longtime Clark County School District teacher John Bass landed his first principal post at Paul E. Culley Elementary School.

During his third week on the job, the mother of one of his white third graders called to complain that a black custodian had disciplined her son and demanded to see Bass. The next day the woman stormed into the principal's office and to her surprise saw who she thought was that very janitor sitting at Bass' desk. It was Bass.

Having spent part of his childhood in the racist South and having been recruited to Las Vegas in the early 1960s to teach at predominantly black West Las Vegas schools, Bass knew bigotry. He also had long ago learned not to take little things like a misunderstanding too seriously.

Because of how Bass handled that matter, the woman left his office a friend and a supporter, as did thousands of local students who grew to respect and admire him.

John C. Bass III, a school district employee of 32 years, who as an administrator played a significant role in bringing federal title programs to local schools to help poor children function to their full potential, died Thursday of cancer. He was 62.

"John saw things in human terms and accepted people for their strengths and their weaknesses," longtime friend Tim Harney told a crowd of about 400 mourners at Bass' funeral Tuesday at the Second Baptist Church in West Las Vegas.

"John told the story (of the woman who mistook him for a janitor) many times with compassion, understanding and the humor he saw in that incident."

Linda Young, a school psychiatrist when Bass was principal at Culley, said, "what I appreciated most about John was that if he told someone he would get something done, he took control and did it. You could always depend on John."

Young, who today is the school district's director of multicultural community outreach education programs, said she and others will recommend that one of 17 yet-to-be-built local schools be named in Bass' honor.

She spearheaded the successful drive to get a school named for one of her students, Richard Rundle, when she was principal of Jo Mackey Sixth Grade Center. In the spring of 1987, 11-year-old Rundle courageously pushed a classmate to safety before a drunken driver struck and killed Rundle as they waited for the morning school bus.

"There is no question that John deserves a school named in his honor," Young said. "He was a wonderful role model both in his work and his family life."

Born Aug. 11, 1937, in rural Gillette, Ark., Bass was the son of John Carrolle Bass Jr. and the former Cleophis Palmer. As a youngster, John rode to school on horseback.

The family moved to Seattle where Bass graduated from Garfield High and Eastern Washington State University. He later earned a master's degree at UNLV and was a veteran of the Army.

Bass came to Las Vegas in 1963, three years after Strip hotels were desegregated and Las Vegas was trying to shake off a racist image. He was part of a group of black educators assigned by the school district to teach children in the black community.

Bass worked for a while as a teacher at Matt Kelly Elementary School in West Las Vegas. After serving as principal of Culley, Bass became principal at Twin Lakes Elementary and finally at Cynthia Cunningham Elementary School on East Flamingo Road, east of Nellis Boulevard, from where he retired in 1995.

As president of the Las Vegas Alliance of Black School Educators, Bass worked tirelessly for educational opportunities for at-risk students. He was a longtime coordinator of the title programs, which provided federal funding for free school lunches for poor children and books for them to take home and read.

At his funeral, longtime friend Bruce Chapman called Bass "a man of great character."

"If you look up character in the dictionary, you will see John Bass' image appearing on the page," Chapman said.

He is survived by his wife, Sandra Bass of Las Vegas; three sons, Jon Russell Bass of Sherman Oaks, Calif., Robert Jay Bass of Las Vegas and Kevin Patrick Bass of Murry, Utah; four brothers, Roman Williams of North Hollywood, Calif., Leo Robinson of Sao Paulo, Brazil, Curtis Robinson of Seattle, and Vernon Robinson of San Francisco; his stepfather, Clyde Robinson of Seattle; and two grandchildren.

Donations can be made in Bass' memory to the John C. Bass Scholarship Fund and Candlelighters for Childhood Cancer, Southern Nevada, 3201 S. Maryland Parkway, Suite 512, Las Vegas, NV 89109.

Bunkers Mortuary handled the arrangements. Burial was in Bunker Eden Vale Cemetery.