Former WFISD assistant superintendent Dr. Tim Powers has died

A former longtime assistant superintendent of Wichita Falls ISD has died Monday, Aug. 21, in Lubbock.

Dr. Timothy Powers, 68, died after a lengthy battle with cancer.

Funeral services for Powers will be 10:30 a.m. Friday, Aug. 25, at Southcrest Baptist Church in Lubbock with Ted Spear officiating. Family will be available for visitation one hour prior to service.

More: Dr. Timothy Powers obituary

Powers served the Wichita Falls community for 10 years under WFISD superintendents Dr. Dawson Orr, Dr. George Kazanas and Dr. John Frossard.

WFISD staff members who worked with him said he helped shape successful curriculum and instruction, leading to a period of high academic achievement for the district. He helped train and guide many principals and other administrators.

Powers was born in Detroit, Michigan, May 22, 1955, and his family later moved to Muncie, Indiana, where he spent most of his formative years. He came down to Texas on a full scholarship to play basketball at Wayland Baptist University.

Powers said in a January 2023 interview with WBU that coming to Texas and playing for the Pioneers was "a God thing."

"I was getting one of my ankles taped, and the assistant coach said, ‘There’s a school down in Texas that’s interested in you.’ I said, ‘Well, send them the worst tapes that you have on me because Texas is the last place I want to go.’”

However, the Lone Star State grew on him and after nearly 50 years in the state, Powers said earlier this year that, "God had a different plan, for which I am grateful."

Powers said in his life that the God-driven decision to come to Texas made him realize how grateful he was for all that he had, and it lead him to seek a life with Christ.

"It was definitely an eternity-changing decision for me to come to Wayland," Powers said this past winter.

Powers and wife Janice are members of Southcrest Baptist Church. They have two adult children and seven grandchildren.

After getting his Bachelor's Degree at WBU, Powers went on to earn his Master's and Doctorate in Educational Leadership at Texas Tech University.

Powers had a nearly four-decade career in education with the last six years in higher education.

He started out teaching and coaching in Plainview before he and wife Janice moved to Pampa in 1981.

With the Pampa School District, Powers held various roles including vice principal, principal and assistant superintendent.

He came to Wichita Falls ISD in 2003, where he was an associate superintendent, chief academic officer, special projects officer, and interim superintendent until 2013. Powers retired from public education the following year and he and his wife moved to Lubbock.

“He was very dedicated to what he was doing,” said longtime friend Jimmy Thomas in January of this year. “And he has been intentional later in life as far as his jobs, his family, and his faith. He’s been very intentional in everything he’s done. He’s probably the hardest working person I have known in my life.”

Dr. Powers has published two books about training successful educational leaders.

From 2014 until his death, he was an associate professor of education with the WBU School of Education at the Lubbock campus where he served as an Educational Administration Master's Degree program coordinator.

Powers and his family found out in June 2016 that he had Stage 4 prostate cancer. At the time, MD Anderson gave him a prognosis of two or three more years of life. A second opinion from a physician in Houston said four to six years.

Beating the odds, Powers lived seven years and two months after that prognosis.

About eight months ago, Powers said he gives the credit for his longevity since the prognosis to the power of prayer and the love of his family and friends.

“It has been six and a half years, so I think I’m on God’s time,” Powers said earlier this year. “I truly believe it is because I have had so many people praying that God would intervene with this cancer. I don’t know if He is going to cure it. That is up to Him. But I know that if it hadn’t been for people praying for me on a regular basis, I would not be here now.”

“With the challenges he has had over the last few years, you never hear him complain,” longtime friend Kent Snodgrass said of Powers. “He is an absolute warrior and an incredibly intentional person. You are not going to find a harder worker and a more intentional great Christian man than Tim Powers. The things he is involved in are substantial and real.”

The Tim and Janice Powers Endowed Scholarship for Wayland Baptist University was formed about three years ago with the help of some of Powers' close friends. The fund has raised more than $100,000 in that time for WBU students.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Dr. Tim and Mrs. Janice Powers Education Scholarship, Wayland Baptist University-Lubbock, Bobby McCloud, 801 North Quaker, Lubbock, Texas 79416-2408.

This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Former WFISD assistant superintendent Dr. Tim Powers has died