Linda P. Starr
Linda Pernell Starr, owner and operator of child care centers, is a 1960 graduate of Andrew Lewis High School in Salem, Virginia, where her extra-curricular activities might well have predicted her future success. Linda Pernell belonged to Jr. Y-Teens, Future Teachers of America, Sports Club, and served as homeroom treasurer, secretary, and vice president. In the Salem Christmas Parade she was Holly Queen and was the Andrew Lewis candidate for Snow Queen in the Roanoke Christmas Parade. And, no wonder she made the May Court—she was named Best Looking in the Senior Mirror.
She then began preparation for her career in teaching. Linda received a Bachelor of Science degree in English, history and social science from Longwood College in Farmville, Virginia. This was followed by a Master of Education in guidance and Counseling from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro which also granted her a Ph.D. in Child Development and Family Relations.
Linda and her husband William (Bill) Starr live in Greensboro, North Carolina; they have two daughters: Misty and Monica and a stepdaughter, Renee.
Though presently the owner of only two child care centers, over the last 24 years, Linda has started four that have served over 15,000 children. Child’s World in Roanoke, Virginia, and Creative World of Greensboro are owned, operated, and managed by this talented educator, the former for 20 years, the latter for 10.
Her doctoral dissertation compared the quality of child care in varying sized groups of infants. The training manuals that she developed regarding age-appropriate curriculum for the classroom has been sued by over a thousand staff members and have become the center philosophy of quality child care.
The National Association for Education of Young Children, the Southern Association for Children Under Six, and Omicron Nu Sorority (sorority for academic achievement), each claims her as a member, as do the alumnae associations of Longwood College and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
In recognition of her outstanding career achievements, in 1996 Linda Pernell Starr was among the charter members inducted into the Salem Alumni Hall of Fame established by the Salem Educational Foundation and Alumni Association.
