James Goldsworthy

James William Goldsworthy was a 1931 graduate of Keyser High School and was the school's first graduate to become its principal. He began teaching at Piedmont in 1936 and went to Keyser Junior High from 1937 to 1940. He taught at the high school from 1941 to 1951 when he became assistant principal, then became the principal in 1959. He retired in 1971. James William Goldsworthy passed away in 2003 at the age of 89.

The following was told to his son, James N. Goldsworthy, of the Cumberland Times-News, when he asked his father what integration was like at Keyser High School:

"My dad said integration went as smoothly at KHS as anything he'd ever seen. He and some of the other educators in the (Mineral) county could see that integration was coming, so they got ready for it ahead of time by seeing to it that kids in the black schools were able to come to dances, games, and other school functions. By the time integration came, they already had white friends in the schools. As far as he and my mom (Ruth Goldsworthy was an English teacher) were concerned, no kids were any better or worse than any other, and none deserved any more or less effort from them and the school system than anyone else. It didn't matter what color you were, what church you went to (if at all), or whether you were a boy or a girl. You were a kid who deserved the best education possible."