Former Augusta County Schools superintendent Edward Clymore leaves lasting legacy
MINT SPRING — While Edward Clymore was superintendent of Augusta County Public Schools, he would stop by the bus garage every morning to have coffee with the staff there.
That summed up Clymore's personality, said his daughter, Dianne Moody.
"He had just as tight a bond with the custodial staff as he did with the administrators," she said. "And he made the rounds at the school. I remember sitting in a class in high school and my dad would walk in to see us."
That made skipping school nearly impossible for the Clymore kids, although Dan Clymore tried when he was at Riverheads. He and a friend showed up at Fort Defiance. It wasn't five minutes before they got caught, recognized by half the staff as Ed Clymore's son.
Skipping wasn't impossible though. Clymore's daughter Denise Revercomb remembers forging a note from her mom and leaving school early to shop downtown.
"I ran into dad going to lunch with colleagues and he asked why I wasn’t in school," she said. "I calmly told him I was doing errands for a teacher during study hall. I got away with that fib."
Clymore, who served as superintendent for 17 years, died on Thursday, March 7. He was 88.
On Saturday morning, Dianne and Dan, along with their siblings Dusty and David Clymore, talked with the News Leader about their dad. Revercomb wasn't able to be with her siblings during the interview Saturday morning and talked with The News Leader later in the day.
David said being the son of a superintendent is like being the preacher's son.
"I always felt like I had to be on my best behavior," he said.
Revercomb remembers when her history teacher would call on her in class, he would say said, "Hey, boss’s kid."
As kids of the superintendent, the Clymores were pretty popular on nights when it was snowing. Friends would call the house at all hours asking if their dad had canceled school yet. David remembered one friend calling at almost 11 p.m. The family was already in bed.
"It didn't go over well," David said. "I had to tell my dad which one of my friends it was and I'm pretty sure he had a talk with him the next day."
Born in Tennessee, Ed Clymore left his hometown of Columbia in 1956 to serve in the United States Army. While stationed in Germany, he met Becky, the woman who would become his wife.
Family was everything to Clymore. On the Monday before he passed away, he was outside in a wheelchair with his daughter, Dianne.
"He looked up at me and said, 'You know, I am so proud of our family,'" Dianne said. "Everybody thinks of our dad as this educator, that that was his whole life. But we can all tell you that wasn't his life. He had five children. He had 13 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. His No. 1 legacy is his 64 years of marriage to our mother."
Dianne said her mom is really having a difficult time dealing with the loss of her husband. The children wanted to tell his story, partly as the voice of their mom.
"Her whole identity, in many respects, followed my father's career," said Dan. "She was always there, always involved, often in the background without any accolades, but she was always supporting him in everything he did."
After graduating from Tennessee Tech, Clymore began teaching at Jo Byrns High School in Adams, Tennessee. He left there to come to Virginia, starting his long educational journey in Augusta County. He taught and coached at Augusta Military Academy before taking a teaching and coaching position at Fort Defiance High School. He was the head football coach at Fort in 1968 and 1969.
The family moved from Fort Defiance to Mint Spring when Clymore became assistant principal at Riverheads High School.
"I had just finished elementary school in the Fort Defiance community and had been through orientation for eighth grade," Dan said. "At first I thought it was the end of the world leaving Fort Defiance. We adapted quickly."
Dianne said the family never looked back, a diehard Riverheads family ever since. His memorial service was held Sunday, March 10, at Riverheads High School. One of the last public events Clymore attended was in February when Riverheads named the high school office after the late Dennis Case. Dianne said her dad wouldn't have missed it.
The family also said that those wishing to make memorial donations in Clymore's honor can do so to the Riverheads High School Booster Club or Mint Spring United Methodist Church.
Revercomb said her dad was offered a job as superintendent in Rappahannock County maybe two years before getting the Augusta County top job, but that connection to the Riverheads was pretty tight.
"He discussed this with us as a family and my sister and I were not happy about the prospect of moving," she said. "We were so happy at Riverheads with our friends and activities. He turned the job down to keep us in the community we loved."
Even though Clymore loved Riverheads High School and that community, he did return briefly to Fort Defiance as assistant principal and then was named principal at Wilson Memorial High School in the years before moving to Central Office.
He had a very special connection to the Wilson Memorial staff and the school also.
"He had wonderful years as principal there," Dianne said. "He had strong bonds with that faculty. I think Wilson molded him as an administrator. He was very proud of the tight faculty he had there."
In 1976 he joined Central Office and, over the next four years, performed several roles there before being named Augusta County Public Schools superintendent in 1980, replacing S. Gordon Stewart. Both men now have schools named after them, located next to one another in Fort Defiance.
In October, 2022, Clymore Elementary School honored its namesake with a spirt day, including a parade. Dianne said that meant the world to her dad.
"I cannot tell you what that did for my dad," Dianne said. "My dad had been ill. Had been in the hospital. Dusty (his son) and Fonda Morris (Clymore principal at the time) worked together and they had a celebration for my dad. A lot of those little kids just think it's a picture hanging in the lobby and, honestly, a lot of them didn't realize he was alive. They had a celebration day for my dad and it meant more to him than you can imagine."
As superintendent for 17 years, Clymore has a lasting legacy in Augusta County. At the time of the superintendent's retirement in 1997, Tom Long, the then president of the Augusta County Education Association, told the News Leader that Clymore would be remembered for improving teacher and staff salaries and the capital improvement program that saw the renovations and construction of several schools.
At Thursday night's Augusta County School Board meeting, on the same day as Clymore's passing, current Superintendent Eric Bond said that the entire school division wanted to express their sincerest condolences to Clymore's family.
"His legacy of leadership endures throughout our school division," Bond said. "He was a colleague, mentor, and friend to so many of us. Our hearts and prayers are with the Clymore family and words cannot express how grateful we are for his leadership and service to our students."
Dan remembered the work ethic of his dad, saying he feels he got a lot of his own work ethic from watching him. While he was still superintendent, he had Dan read over a speech he was going to give to the school board. It was written on a yellow legal pad. Clymore barely, if ever, used a computer, his kids said.
Dan remembers reading that speech and the last sentence still sticks with him.
"His last words to the school board were, 'Rest assured, this job will get done,'" Dan said. "And that was just my dad."
After he retired from Augusta County, Clymore returned to the role of superintendent four times on an interim basis, serving Fauquier, Highland, and Craig counties, and Staunton City Schools.
Tom Goforth, a retired teacher and former head football coach at Stuarts Draft High School, came to Augusta County from Southwest Virginia in 1990 during Clymore's time as superintendent.
It was a connection between the Tazewell County superintendent and Clymore that resulted in Goforth ending up at Stuarts Draft. The two superintendents were friends and Clymore mentioned that Draft was looking for a football coach. Goforth's name was the first one the superintendent suggested.
"I think the thing I most admired about him was that he was always a straight shooter," Goforth said.
Goforth was the fourth different coach in four years at Draft and his first season he finished 4-6. Clymore had contacted him about meeting, and Goforth figured there would be a fifth coach the next season. But instead, Clymore told the coach that he liked the way he interacted with the student-athletes and, as long as he continued to do that, the superintendent told Goforth he had his back.
"That meant a lot to a young coach," said Goforth, who went on to coach another 13 years before becoming the school's athletic director.
About 10 years ago, Clymore wrote letters to all his children with specific instructions to open upon his death. David said he thinks he's the only one who actually obeyed his dad, saying some of the kids had opened the letter before they were out of the driveway that day.
But not David. He opened his Thursday after the passing of Clymore. He said one quote stood out.
"The many good times, our fishing trips, our deer cleaning, our problems and most of all our closeness are far more rewarding than my professional accomplishments," Clymore wrote. "My monument to this world rests with my children."
That, all the children said, was who their dad was. His legacy starts and ends with family.
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— Patrick Hite is The News Leader's education reporter. Story ideas and tips always welcome. Contact Patrick (he/him/his) at phite@newsleader.com and follow him on Twitter @Patrick_Hite. Subscribe to us at newsleader.com.
This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Edward Clymore, former Augusta County Schools superintendent, remembered
