Chris Adams, Class Of 1952
When the Alumni Association was looking to give away another famous Gold Blazer Award, Chris Adams passed muster.

The Gold Blazer award is given annually by the A&M-Commerce Alumni Association for service to it and the University, and Chris served as chairman of the committee that planned the Air Force ROTC Muster here last fall. This event helped numerous Air Force ROTC alumni reestablish ties with A&M-Commerce.

Chris, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1952,

retired from the Air Force in 1983 as a major general and chief of staff for the Strategic Air Command.

In 1991 he was named a Distinguished Alumnus, and he now serves as chairman of the A&M-Commerce Foundation. Also a Distinguished Alumnus of Tarleton State University, Chris is listed in “Who’s Who in America.” He is the author of two books based on his years in the military during the Cold War and 23 visits to the former Soviet Union after his retirement from the Air Force. His books are Inside the Cold War, A Cold Warrior’s Reflections, and Red Eagle, a Cold War fictional story soon to be released.

He is a Vietnam veteran who logged 1,100 hours as a pilot in combat duty. During his 31 years in the Air Force, Chris logged more than 8,000 flying hours, mostly in heavy bombers.

Following his military retirement, Chris also worked as an associate director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory before going to work in the defense industry.

DELIGHTEDLY DISTINGUISHED ALUM - Dr. Barry B. Thompson (left), Chancellor Emeritus of The Texas A&M University System, shares a laugh during homecoming halftime with Gold Blazer Award winners Chris Adams (right) and Bobbie Fleming Purdy. Barry, who graduated with a master’s degree from here in 1961, is known nationally and internationally for his work in education. The Distinguished Alumnus Citation recognizes graduates and former students for career achievements that have brought honor to their Alma Mater.

Of his award, Chris commented, “I have been fortunate to receive a number of recognitions over time, but none compare to being recognized by my Alma Mater and my peers. I am humbled by this honor. I have a deep and abiding respect for the A&M-Commerce Alumni Association—this group is the bedrock of our loyalty to the University.”

A resident of Liberty Hill near Austin, Chris is married to the former Alene Mitchell, a Texas Tech graduate who taught in the public schools and at the university level. They have four children, Cynthia L. Young of Nacogdoches, Charlotte Adams Larkin of Commerce, Cheri L. Hollis of Burleson, and Christopher Adams III of Austin, and five grandchildren.

Bobbie Purdy, Class of 1967
Bobbie Fleming Purdy danced her way into the hearts of the A&M-Commerce Alumni Association, which showed its appreciation at this year’s homecoming by presenting her with a Gold Blazer Award.

She served as co-chair of the First Last Dinner Dance held in April 2000 and will also be co-chair for the event in 2002. The dinner dances for alumni and former students are reminiscent of the social club dances held on campus in the 1950s and ’60s.

Bobbie has worked with the First Last Dinner Dance Planning Committee since 1992 when this first alumni social gathering was held and she was an administrative assistant in the Alumni Office.

The Gold Blazer Award is given by the Alumni Association for service to it and the University.

Bobbie is a former staff member in the A&M-Commerce Alumni Office who works part time for McCasland Financial Services in Richardson and Hyde Danforth & Company in Dallas. This Commerce resident earned a bachelor’s degree in 1967.

Following her college graduation, Bobbie used her bachelor’s degree in biology and chemistry as a medical technologist for 20 years. She set up the lab in the new Commerce Medical and Surgical Hospital when it opened in 1968.

After taking a break to focus on being a mother,

Bobbie became a medical technologist for Dr. Kenneth White and Dr. Patrick Martin in their Commerce medical practice. She held this position for 14 years.

From February 1988 to April 1997, she joined the Alumni Office at A&M-Commerce. While a University employee, she was invited by Kappa Delta to be an honor initiate and a member of the sorority’s alumnae board. Purdy’s daughter, Meredyth, an A&M-Commerce student and Kappa Delta member,

served as her mother’s “big sister” for the initiation.
Bobbie says she is “very proud and very humbled” to be selected for the Gold Blazer Award. “I don’t really have words to express my appreciation. I am extremely honored when I look at the company I am joining, such as Rheba and Harry Icenhower, Sam McCord, and Dr. Kenneth Lawrence (Rock) Clinton,” she said.

Bobbie’s husband, Arlan, retired from A&M-Commerce in 1998 after 33 years with the University. He now serves as a consultant for Systems and Computer Technology based in Dallas.

Meredyth, who earned her bachelor’s degree from A&M-Commerce and has done graduate work at the University, is a bankruptcy lawyer with Haynes and Boone of Dallas.

The A&M-Commerce award recipient and her husband are also the parents of a son, Matthew, a former A&M-Commerce student and University of Texas at Austin graduate. He is a chemical engineer for Advanced Micro Devices in Austin.