James Earl Pettigrew

James Earl Pettigrew, recipient of numerous local, state and national honors in his thirty-eight years as a mathematics teacher at Lanier and Central High Schools died Monday, May 28, 2018. A celebration of his life will be held at 2:00 p.m., Thursday in the chapel of Macon Memorial Park Funeral Home with burial in Macon Memorial Park Cemetery with Military Honors. Dr. Mary Patton will officiate. The family will meet friends from 1:00 p.m. to service time on Thursday at the funeral home.

Born in 1940, the son of John Melton and Louise Gresham Pettigrew, Mr. Pettigrew graduated from Lanier in 1958 and was a 1st Lieutenant in the corps of cadets band. He received an AB degree from Mercer University in 1962, an MA in Mathematics from Auburn in 1968, a Master of Education degree from Mercer also in 1968 and an Educational Specialist in Mathematics degree from Auburn in 1970.

Between 1963 and 1965, James Pettigrew was a 2nd Lieutenant then 1st Lieutenant in the US Army Artillery Missile Defense Section. He was promoted to Captain in the Army Reserves in 1968. Mr. Pettigrew as an active member of Theatre Macon, the Macon Little Theatre and the Backlot Players. He was a member of Ingleside Church.

In 1983, James Pettigrew was the first teacher in Georgia to win the Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching Mathematics. That same year, he was Bibb County Teacher of the Year and second runner-up for the State of Georgia Teacher of the Year. He was also a five-time winner of the Bibb County Star Teacher competition and the district Star Teacher competition. In 1976, he and his Star Student, Theresa Newberry, were first runners-up in the competition for the State of Georgia Star Student and Star Teacher.

Between 1962 and 2000 when he retired, Mr. Pettigrew taught math to more than 3,500 Bibb County high school students and to many hundreds of night students in vocational school programs. From 1990 to 2000, he was Chairman of the Central High School Mathematics Department and was, for many years, the athletics business manager for Central.

James Pettigrew was well known in the Duplicate Bridge community Central Georgia. He became a Life Master in 1986 and in the years that followed, he was Director for hundreds of duplicate bridge sessions in Macon and Warner Robins. He played in numerous regional and sectional tournaments and in 1994 he and his bridge partner, Joe Sherwood represented Unit 114 (Georgia and the Carolinas) at the national completion in Reno, Nevada.

Mr. Pettigrew was a resident of Carlyle Place and served as a member of the Resident Advisory Council.

James Pettigrew is survived by his sister, Edith Pettigrew Lavender; his nephew, Leighton Todd Lavender (Shawn) and several great nieces and great nephews.

Visit www.maconmp.com to share condolences.

Macon Memorial Park Funeral Home and Cemetery has charge of arrangements.