2,000+ line up to remember Brookville High School principal

A local community comes together to remember a lost leader.

Brookville High School principal Jim Whorley died Saturday morning in a boating accident.
   
The Department of Game and Inland Fisheries says Whorley and his friend Terry Reid were killed after their boat capsized in Buggs Island Lake.

Family of Jim Whorley greeted a line of students, teachers, parents and anyone the high school principal touched in years of serving the community.
   
Stretching from the auditorium, through the halls, into the cafeteria and outside, over 2,000 people came to pay their respects.
“Who wouldn’t be somewhat taken back by the people coming out, then again I know how special he was to everyone,” Sid Martin said, Whorley’s stepson.
 
A bluegrass band playing in the background strummed and sang keeping the tempo upbeat as so many passed through.
   
From the video of Jim Whorley playing in the hall it’s clear he loved his family and sports.

“He’s at all of the basketball games, all the girls and boys sports, anything related to the school he’ll be there supporting the school a 100 percent ,” Zack McCray explained, a Brookville Junior.

When Jim wasn’t on the sidelines coaching or cheering he picked up his gun and headed for the woods.  One of his hunting buddies recalled his favorite story of the principal.
“We were down at the cabin he hunted at and we were going to take a photo.  Jim said, ‘no, don’t take a photo of me, I think I’m supposed to be at a meeting,’” said Keith Johnson, a friend of Whorley.

Johnson hugged his daughter, Hope, a sophomore at Brookville High School.
   
While her dad will miss his friend, Hope will miss a leader.
“It’s a big loss, it’s going to be hard to fill his big shoes,” Hope Johnson said.
   
Like the sophomore students look for ways to remember and keep a memory alive.

Jim Whorley’s memorial service will be Tuesday at Brookville High School at 2 p.m.  Everyone is invited.