Page 10

Pat Taylor

Director, Development; Executive Director, Texas A&M University Commerce Foundation

Heritage Garden ready to bloom

The University will host a public “open garden” Friday, April 27, to introduce the Heritage Garden (see photo, right) to faculty, students, and the public—but the day before, on April 26, there will be a special dedication of the garden just for donors. Many of you have given generously to see this beautiful addition to the campus completed. The garden will be dedicated in memory of Faye & Tildon Lyday, parents of Sandra Fernandes. Gary and Sandra Fernandes were major benefactors in the renovation of the Heritage House and Garden. In addition to the lovely plantings and paths, beautiful teakwood benches, tables and chairs will grace the grounds. A sundial and an astrolab will also be located in the center of the garden area. Following the dedication, the garden will be open daily to be enjoyed by students, faculty, and friends. To those of you who contributed to the project, we sincerely thank you.

Spring brings Phon-a-thon, thanks for your response

Our spring phon-a-thon is well under way, and to date we have $18,995 pledged. Calling continues until April 12. More than 30 of our current students are calling our alumni soliciting gifts for unrestricted funds. Thank you for responding to the calls. For those of you who have responded positively, this is a reminder to send your pledge card and contribution in as soon as possible. Scholarship endowments continue to increase Scholarship endowments continue to grow at a rapid rate. Over the past several months we have had nine endowments established to benefit students in nine separate school districts. Two of these endowments were given as a challenge gift, allowing the scholar ships to double by matching the amounts given. The great benefit of these endowments is that they will allow many who need financial assistance to attend A&M-Commerce. In addition to these current gifts, we have received two large bequests that will establish scholarships for future students. If you would like information regarding establishing an endowment or a will, call the Foundation Office today at 1-888-568-3396, and we will be happy to assist you in any way possible.

Boley Crawford/Harless Wade Golf Classic

Friday, June 8 is the date for the annual BC/HW Golf Classic. The tournament is set to be played at Woodbridge Golf Club in Wylie, Tex. The cost is only $130, and that includes green fee, cart fee, prize fund and a barbecue lunch. Tee time is set for 9:30 a.m. and will be followed by lunch and a silent auction. Last year we had 66 alumni participate; our goal this year is to have more than 100 play. Call the Foundation for additional information.

Foundation Board meeting, retreat

The spring Foundation Board meeting will be Friday, April 27 from 2 to 5 p.m. The meeting will begin in the afternoon in order for all board members to participate in the Annual Honors Day program earlier that day. Then on Saturday, April 28, the board will have a one-day retreat at the Metroplex Center in Mesquite. Ann Abbey, noted speaker and seminar leader, will lead the retreat. Board members are reminded to make your reservations for Friday evening in Dallas as soon as possible.

Founder’s Circle member will be remembered

Alumna Ernestine Marie Linck died in February. As a graduate (MA ’55, PhD ’68), a well-known community volunteer and a member of the University Founder’s Circle, she will be recalled by many. She and her husband also established the Charles and Ernestine S. Linck Scholarship. Dr. Linck was a professor of English for the University of Texas at Arlington from 1963 until her retirement in 1983. Recently the Southwest Chamber of Commerce voted her Volunteer of the Year, and she also received the Rotary Club’s Paul Harris Award. Dr. Linck will be missed.

Art of gardening makes comeback on new Heritage House grounds

The Faye and Tildon Lyday Heritage Garden continues a long tradition of beautifying the grounds of the A&M-Commerce campus that date back to the late 1920s.

Lucie Whitley, the wife of third president Dr. Samuel Whitley, was a devoted gardner who personally planted glads, chrysanthemums and other flowers around the president’s home (now the Heritage House) and along the southwest lawn.

Mrs. Whitley loved to decorate her dining room with her homegrown flowers, even requesting that the East Texan photographer take pictures of the flowers arrangements for “posterity.”

The lawn and flower garden had other uses. The Whitleys utilized the east lawn of the Heritage House for the annual summer senior graduation party, the major social event of the year. Mrs. Rachel Treadway Lafferty recalls that “all the seniors and the faculty went. The Whitleys stood at the end of the driveway and greeted us.”

Mrs. Cecille Gee, the wife of fifth president Dr. James G. Gee, also took an interest in flowers and gardens. Mrs. Gee particularly liked white roses and crepe myrtles. Sometime in the early 1950s, the Gees created a formal Charleston garden on the Heritage House’s west lawn by building a brick wall on the southwest side of the lot to provide privacy and planted shrubs on the west and north sides with an ornate iron gate at the north entrace. Dr. Gee occasionally exercised his hunting dogs in the gardens, and the Gees found the garden a pleasant place for a walk in the evenings.

Dr. Whitney Halladay, the sixth president, and his wife, Pat, lived in the Heritage House only a short time before moving to the current president’s home on Highway 24/50 south of campus.

In the 1970s and 1980s the old president’s home and grounds declined into disrepair until the University decided in 1994 to restore the house.

The restoration of the newly named Heritage House, completed in 1995, stimulated interest in rebuilding Mrs. Gee’s Charleston garden, a project started in 1997 and finally completed this year, thanks in part to a large donation from Gary and Sandra Fernandes, alumni of the school.

The new garden includes many of the features of the old Charleston garden, roses and shrubs and walks plus some innovations—a fountain, lighting, underground irrigation system, trees and elegant iron fences.