James Blundell; Educator

A memorial service will be held Friday for James Blundell, 64, described by Oxnard Elementary School District Supt. Norman Brekke as “one of the finest principals the school district has ever had.”

Blundell, who worked 33 years for the Oxnard district before retiring as principal of Lemonwood School in 1988, died Monday after a long illness. He was born June 7, 1928, in Medford, Mass.

During the 1981-82 school year, Blundell was named administrator of the year by the Assn. of California School Administrators, Brekke said. “He was considered by his peers . . . an enormously competent administrator, held in the very highest esteem,” Brekke said.

He graduated from Arizona State College in 1954 and began his career as a fourth-grade teacher at Oxnard’s Brittell School in 1955. Five years later, he became vice principal at Haydock Junior High School.

Blundell first became a principal at Juanita Elementary in 1965 and remained there four years until he was appointed principal of McKinna Elementary School, where he stayed until 1975.

He would later head Haydock Junior High School and Harrington Elementary School before taking the post at Lemonwood School in 1984.

“His real strength was bringing various groups together to work productively,” said Richard Duarte, a vice principal under Blundell for three years at Haydock Junior High and who is now a district administrator for curriculum and instruction.

Blundell is survived by his wife, Shirley Blundell of Oxnard; two sons, Lane C. Blundell of Texas and Michael C. Blundell of Camarillo, and a daughter, Jocelyn P. Contestabile of Mission Viejo.

The memorial service will be at 11 a.m. Friday at Payton Mortuary Chapel in Oxnard.