Greer Lingle

Lingle Middle School is named in his honor, and many teachers and administrators in the Rogers Public Schools remember him fondly as a leader, mentor, and friend. Greer Lingle was born January 31, 1918, at Coal Hill, Arkansas, and from 1955 to 1983 he served as superintendent of the Roger Public Schools.

Lingle wanted to be a lawyer. But the Great Depression hit and instead of heading for law school after college, he began to teach. After serving in the Air Force during World War II, he decided to go to work for a steel company in Detroit. But Lingle missed Arkansas. He returned to earn a masters degree from the University of Arkansas and resumed a career in education.

He was principal of the Alma High School, then moved on to Ozark where he was first high school principal and then superintendent. In 1955 long-time Rogers superintendent Birch Kirksey retired after 33 years with the Rogers Public Schools, and Lingle was chosen to be his successor. Soon after arriving in town Greer Lingle posed for this photograph in his office in the Rogers High School .

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Courtesy of Greer Lingle
Over the next three decades he led the Rogers Public Schools through a period of tremendous growth. Not long before his death in 1998, Greer Lingle was interviewed by the Rogers Historical Museum. When asked how he would like to be remembered, Lingle replied, "As a person who was genuinely and sincerely interested in young people and their welfare."