ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Thursday, April 11, 1996               TAG: 9604110066
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-3  EDITION: METRO 
                                             TYPE: NEWS OBIT
SOURCE: BETTY HAYDEN 

FORMER PATRICK HENRY PRINCIPAL DIES EX-PRINCIPAL HAROLD L. SECORD DIES

Harold Leroy Secord, Patrick Henry High School's first principal, died Tuesday at an Alexandria hospital after a heart attack. He was 84.

Secord helped open the school in 1961 after serving as principal at Jefferson High School for four years.

"He did a superb job of bringing the faculty together and establishing one of the first campus-style schools in the city," said Jerald White, who succeeded Secord at Jefferson.

White said the men became good friends during the next 40 years.

Secord ran into former students all over the state who told him how much he had meant to them as a principal, White said.

"He was not hard on students, but he was kind to them."

Secord moved to Roanoke in 1957 to take the helm at Jefferson. He grew up in New York and graduated from New York University. He held teaching or administrative positions in New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Connecticut and eastern Virginia.

He left Patrick Henry in 1965 to open T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria. At that time, Secord had a good reputation in the state for opening new schools, White said.

White said he last saw Secord at a Jefferson High School reunion a few years ago. Secord hadn't changed much over the years.

"He had a way with people of all ages."

LENGTH: Short :   37 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  (headshot) Secord.