By Patricia Sheyer
NKyTribune reporter
Edgar Arnett was born in Salyersville, Kentucky in 1895 to a changing world. He grew up witnessing the gradual transition from horses to cars, the assassination of a president, the sinking of the Titanic, the birth of the Boy Scouts, and the unrest of an expanding war in Europe.
Edgar graduated from high school, and worked on his Bachelor’s degree at Eastern University and University of Kentucky. After the war, he would earn his Master’s degree from Columbia.
When the United States entered the war in Europe, and Edgar signed up. He was assigned to the Remount Corp and then deployed to Europe.
“He was originally stationed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and the commanding officer said ‘all you farm boys go over to the stable’,” Edgar’s oldest son, Jan Arnett said. “It was funny, because my dad had never taken care of horses, and they just assumed he did. He was a fast learner, though, and he knew the war in Europe would incorporate a lot of horses and mules, so it was an important job.”
When the war ended in 1918, Edgar stayed in Europe for 2 ½ years, because the horses and mules that had been sent from the States and utilized in the war were too expensive to send back to the states. He was tasked with selling the animals. He later found that while he thought he was selling animals to farmers to rebuild their farms, he was in fact selling many those who owned restaurants. He avoided eating at any restaurant that might have sold horse meat.
After moving back to the United States, Edgar decided to work with the migrant farmers in California, picking tomatoes and other crops. He then moved to Mexico, and taught in a one room schoolhouse.
Edgar eventually resturned to Kentucky, settling in Hendricks, a small town to the southeast of Lexington. There he taught school to students in another one room schoolhouse.
Later, he took a job as principal in a school in Jenkins, another small town to the southeast.
Edgar decided to look for work in Northern Kentucky, where he moved in 1925, getting a job as Principal in the Elsmere schools. During that time, the Erlanger schools were planning a new high school at the corner of Bartlett and Cowie in Erlanger.
Edgar was instrumental in consolidating the two school districts into one, and he became the first Superintendent of the combined school district in 1928.
“He did such a good job of helping to make the two districts into one, that Life magazine came to town and did an article on him and how he consolidated the two districts seamlessly into one,” Jan said. “The picture they took and included in the story was of children in the classroom reciting the pledge of allegiance. At that time, Elsmere was largely black, and Erlanger was white, so the picture of white and black children together in the classroom was ahead of its time.”
While Edgar was superintendent, a post he held until he retired in 1975, he met and married a teacher from Crescent Springs elementary. Since the two were unable to work together in the same school system, his wife started her own Montessori kindergarten and nursery school in Erlanger. The couple had four children, of whom son Jan is the eldest.
When officials knew they wanted to build the new Lloyd high school in the late 1960’s, they realized they would have to float a bond issue. There was uncertainty whether the bong would pass given that Elsmere was largely Catholic and Erlanger was largely protestant.
Father Paul Ciangetti was pastor of St. Henry church, and Edgar enlisted his help to ask his parishioners for their vote. The bond issue subsequently passed and the current Lloyd High School was built.
Jan said his father advised him to get out and see the world and experience all he could before he settled down and got married and had children. Jan followed his advice.
“His philosophy of life was ‘Everybody is equal’,” Jan said. “We all grew up knowing that.”
Edgar was the longest tenured Superintendent in the city, and Arnett Elementary was named for him. He was active in the Good Faith masonic Lodge, past president of the Erlanger Rotary club, a Kentucky Colonel, and a Boy Scout leader. He was a member of Erlanger Baptist Church.
Because of his military service and lifelong service to the community, the city of Erlanger has added him to the military heroes banners that hang throughout the city. His banner is displayed on Commonwealth Avenue, just before Hulbert Avenue.
Edgar Arnett died May 4, 1989.