Wolverton, Max Lee Obituary

Wolverton, Max Lee was faculty at Horace Mann High School in Gary, IN. View the obituary, post a memory, or share a photo about Wolverton, Max Lee.

School Role	Faculty
Date of Passing	Dec 06, 2015
About	Max Lee Wolverton 76, died December 6, 2015 at Porter Regional Hospital surrounded by his family. Max was born on June 22, 1939 in Parke County, IN to Max and Marie Thompson Wolverton. He graduated in 1958 from Brazil High School, Brazil, IN where he was an outstanding talent in his favorite sport - basketball. He received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Science Education and two Master degrees in Counseling and Administration of Education at Indiana State University in Terre Haute, IN. While there, he was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity and a sports writer for the college newspaper. Max was married to his high school and college sweetheart, Jean Brown for 53 wonderful years. He is survived by her and his two daughters Kristen Curtis (Peter) Springfield, IL and Meredith Klemm (Steven) Valparaiso, IN and his three grandchildren Andrew, Matthew, and Amelia. He was a loving and dedicated to his family and proud grandfather. He loved to provide his wisdom and give advice. Max spent 38 years in the schools of Gary, IN. He began his teaching career teaching Science at Roosevelt and Horace Mann High Schools. He became a counselor at Horace Mann and later at William A. Wirt High School. He became their Dean of Students and advanced to Tolleston Middle School and West Side High School as Assistant Principal. He became the Principal at West Side and finished his career as Principal at Horace Mann High School. He was an active member and officer of the Secondary Principals Association. Max was deeply committed to education. He was an administrator that could inspire all his school staff to come and work together to achieve a better common goal with the result that made them proud of their school and in turn made them want to be outstanding educators. He was able to secure grants and find monies to send teachers to conferences and seminars nationwide to learn about new methods of teaching and motivating their students. He encouraged several of his staff members to become administrators and during their first years of their new position, he was their mentor. He was named an outstanding Principal of the Nation and was honored to attend the National Conference for Improvements for Schools at Delaware University. Max's love of education was so infectious in his own family that his daughters and grandson followed in his footsteps to become educators as well. While living in Hobart, IN in his younger years, he was very active in the many projects of the Hobart Jaycees. He also was a member of the Phi Delta Kappa Chapter. Max was an avid sports fan especially of the Chicago Bulls and Chicago Cubs. While living on his lake in Valparaiso, if you couldn't find him home, just go out to see if his boat was gone. He be fishing. He especially loved to fish, play golf, and play cards with his good friends. He really was known for his love of cards. He played bridge online, had his poker buddies, carried an ongoing rivalry of pinochle with college friends, as well as, euchre battles with his family and close friends. Max enjoyed traveling the US from coast to coast with his family. Even though he was wheel chaired bound, he continued to go in his special van. He and Jean could tell you some hair raising hilarious stories about traveling in that van and staying at places that were supposed to be "disability friendly". Max would like to be remembered especially by his grandchildren and others for his courage and perseverance he displaced during his health complicated years of life.