Literacy advocate Beverly Whitfield remembered for devotion to Hopkinsville and children’s reading programs

Beverly Whitfield was the executive director of the Christian County Literacy Council. Her celebration of life will be Sept. 21 at First United Methodist Church.

Beverly Rhodes Whitfield would not have wanted her friends to say goodbye to her at a funeral. Her daughter, Kate Wilson, is certain of that. 

Beverly Whitfield
Beverly Whitfield posed at a community event with mascots for the Hoptown Hoppers and Hopkinsville Parks and Recreation. (Christian County Literacy Council Facebook photo.)

So, Whitfield, who died early this week at her home on South Main Street, will be remembered at a celebration of life Saturday, Sept. 21 at First United Methodist Church. The service will begin at noon, and a reception will follow.

Whitfield, who grew up in Madisonville and moved to Hopkinsville after college, was the executive director of the Christian County Literacy Council. Her death was unexpected. She worked last week and attended a Big Read committee meeting Thursday evening at the Alhambra Theatre.

“She was a book lover from the beginning,” Wilson said. “As she became older, she saw the steps that needed to be taken just to be literate.”

That’s why early education became her focus with the literacy council, her daughter said.

Longtime friend Carolyn Haddock said Whitfield’s shoes will be hard to fill.

“Her dedication to literacy was incredible,” said Haddock, a retired school guidance counselor who worked with Whitfield on the literacy council board. “She was always able to inspire us – even in her emails. She loved our community, and she loved our children.”

One of the biggest projects Whitfield led was the Community Reader Day, which involved dozens of volunteers being recruited and scheduled to read to children in local schools. 

Whitfield adopted Hopkinsville as her hometown in the 1970s and never intended to leave.

Wilson, who lives in a suburb of Atlanta, had learned to not push her mother about moving closer to her.

“She said, ‘They will have to drag me out of Hopkinsville kicking and screaming,’” Wilson said. 

Whitfield had traditional ways. She rarely left the house without dressing up. In fact, most days, she looked as if she were headed to church or an important meeting. She still sent “graceful, hand-written notes” to friends, Haddock said. She would not reveal her age – a tradition her daughter will honor. And she always kept a family Bible, her mother’s, at her bedside. 

Whitfield’s survivors, in addition to her daughter, are her two grandchildren – Madison, 22, a student at Auburn University, and Brady, 18, a high school senior. 

Whitfield was a graduate of the University of Kentucky and taught school for a few years after college. She was a member of First United Methodist Church.

Hughart, Beard and Giles Funeral Home is handling arrangements.

Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. She spent 30 years as a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition.