The Pride Online -Spring 2004

Page 13


How about some memories from the ‘30s, she asks
I’ll admit there are not too many alums still around to remember the ‘30s, but those of us who are, have wonderful thoughts of those fun filled days, and I think this generation should know how it was then! What fun we had!! Only three girls social clubs existed then: Kalirs, Les Choisites, and Tooanoowes; and two guys clubs: Friars and Ogimas. Many all-college dances were held in the old Cub Gym, and of course each club had an annual dance with long, long stag (a word out of use today) lines. We had to get a permit from the dean to attend. That was to keep outsiders from attending, I presume.	Lucile as a school beauty in 1931
The gym was usually extravagantly decorated with crepe paper for the annual club dances, and the girls invited many boys that made up the stag line, assuring us of getting great “rushes.” In 1934 the Kalirs had decorated the day before our Valentine dance. The following morning one of the custodians, thinking the dance had been held the night before, tore down the decorations. Our professors dismissed us Kalirs from our classes so we could redecorate. We also had live bands, and the dances were over by 11 p.m. One year the bus for the invited band, the Louisiana Nighthawks, broke down, and they were very late arriving. President Whitley allowed us to go later that night. It was a great time to be young and energetic. I attended in 1931 and ’32, chosen a Beauty in ’31 and May Queen in ’32. Then I got a teaching job in Cooper, my hometown, and later married Wade Bledsoe, the captain of the 1932 Lions football team. Wade was superintendent of schools in Cooper for 22 years. We both had master’s degrees from ET, as did our son Tom. Our son Joe Bob attended two years there and then graduated from Texas U. He is now an educator in Ohio where our two granddaughters are carrying on the tradition as teachers. Texas A&M University-Commerce was a wonderful school then also, and it has been good to us. Lucile Hendricks Bledsoe (BS ’37, MED ’55)

1930-1959

Don Wade (BA ’54, MBA ‘74) is a retired security specialist who has authored two western novels, Return to Rio Diablo and Vengeance in Blackstone. Don lives in Rockwall, TX, with his wife of 49 years, Dionne.

After 41 years of teaching in Mesquite and at Stephen F. Austin State University, Dr. Jerry Irons (BS ’56, MED ’58, PHD ‘67) is in his seventh year of teaching full time at the University of Dallas. His wife, Mary Tucker Irons (BA ’57), retired from teaching after 32 years. She volunteers at the Dallas Junior Forum, and the couple spends most Saturdays working on their cattle farm in Mount Pleasant. Both Jerry and Mary’s parents were Alumni of the University, as are Mary’s sister and brother-in-law.

1960-1969

Donald Petty (BS ’60) is a public speaker who was a research scientist for Frito-Lay and helped develop snack food products such as Tostitos and Santitas tortilla chips. He established churches in Lahore, Pakistan, and Tehran, Iran, and founded a mission learning center. Don recently had his first book signing at Barnes and Nobles in Plano, TX, for his book How to Catch—and Keep—a Man.

Former ET tennis standout Wayne E. Hirst (BS ’65) recently was inducted to the Oklahoma Tennis Hall of Fame. He was inducted to the A&M-Commerce Athletic Hall of Fame in 1995.

David Blanchard (BS ’66) is the new Chair of Church Council, United Methodist Church, Richardson, TX. He is a chartered financial consultant and owns the insurance and retirement planning agency, Blanchard & Associates. He and wife Helen have two sons, Todd and Rob, and two grandsons.

Dr. Jack Lassiter (BBA ’68, MS ’69, EDD ‘78) will become chancellor of the University of Arkansas at Monticello in July. He has been serving as executive vice president of the University of Arkansas System. From 1980 until 1997 he was a vice chancellor at the University of Arkansas at Monticello.

Jack
Jack

1970-1979

Byron Lee Bass (BS ’70, MS ‘85) and his wife, SuFran Lee Bass (BS ’70, MS ‘74), recently retired from their work in education. Byron retired after 30 years from teaching and coaching. Presently he is the music and youth minister at Purley Baptist Church in Mt. Vernon, TX. SuFran retired after 32 years, most of which she spent teaching P.E. and music. Last year she received the Mirabeau B. Lamar Award for Excellence and the district’s Extra Mile Teaching Award. She is now the activity director at the Mt. Vernon Assisted Living Complex, and she also helps Byron as music and youth minister. They have two grown children and two grandchildren.

Leslie Cole (BS ‘ 70) retired from ExxonMobil Pipeline Co. after more than 27 years there. He spent the last 11 as vice president and manager of the Wolverine pipeline company in Michigan for ExxonMobil. Leslie and his wife, Betsy Redmond Cole (BS ‘ 70), make their home in Portage, MI, but travel to Texas frequently to visit their two children and five grandchildren.

Robert Crittenden (BBA ’72, MBA ‘77) is director of Marketing for Zaxby’s Franchising, Inc., which is a franchisor of casual restaurants based in Athens, GA. Robert joined Zaxby’s in 2001 from NCR Corp., where he was director of Hospitality Industry Marketing. He currently resides in the Atlanta area with his wife and two children.

Alumni Association board member Mick Trusty (BBA ’72) wed Wanda Crowson in Carrizozo, NM, on Nov. 24.

Dr. Brad Chilton (BS ’75, MED ’77, EDD ‘81) has been named the executive director of the Office of Planning, Evaluation and Institutional Research at Tarleton State University. A member of the Tarleton faculty since 1982, Brad has chaired the Department of Computer Information Systems since 2001. That year The Texas A&M University System selected Dr. Chilton as a Regents Professor, which goes to faculty members who have made exemplary contributions to their university and the people of Texas.

Patsy “Pat” June Fletcher Holder (BS ’76, MS ’78) is the vice president of marketing & public relations for The Elegant Texan magazine. She was the first employee and personnel manager for the H.D. Lee Company (Lee Jeans, etc.) Her experience includes: assistant dean of Continuing Education for A&MCommerce, vice president of marketing with Kanaly Trust Company, advertising manager at Ultra Magazine and a number of years in the publishing world with other magazines.

Pat
Pat

Lynne Liberato (MS ’76, Distinguished Alumna ‘02) has been named to the South Texas College of Law board. She is a partner at the Houston offices of Haynes and Boone, where she specializes in appellate law and trial procedure. She is a past president of both the State Bar of Texas and the Houston Bar Association. Currently she is on the board for the United Way of the Texas Gulf Coast.

David Mason (BS ’78) recently transferred to Langley Air Force Virginia. He is assigned to Air Combat Command Headquarters’ Plans and Programs division. He plans to retire in 2006, when he hopes to return to Texas.

1980-1989

Larry Goddard (BA ’80, MS ’91) has just completed a nine-month around the-world tour that took him to seven continents. He was employed by the University for 17 years and now resides in Tyler, TX.

Ken Camp (BA ’81) has been named managing editor of the Baptist Standard. He leaves the news office of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, where he has been since 1984. Ken has won numerous awards for his stories, including coverage of healing in Texas communities after hate crimes, the 1999 shooting at Wedgwood Baptist Church in Fort Worth, and the Texas death chamber in Huntsville. He recently wrote a book on the history of Texas Baptist men called Anyway, Anytime, Anywhere.

Martha Flores (MED ’82) is a guidance counselor for the Laredo (TX) ISD and maintains a private practice as well.

David Chapman (BS ’85) is the director of development for the North Texas Food Bank. He was the Senior Field Director for the Longhorn Council in Fort Worth of the Boy Scouts of America.

Cleatus Rattan (EDD ’85), Texas’ 2004 Poet Laureate, did a reading at WordSpace in Dallas recently and afterward was featured in an article for the Feb. 18 issue of The Dallas Morning News.

Dr. Janie Humphries (EDD ’86), a professor of family and child studies in

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Dr. Robert Alvin Rix Jr.

The University’s 1987 Distinguished Alumnus, Robert Alvin Rix (BS ’37), passed away in November. A longtime physician, Dr. Rix was a leader in neurology.

He was also a writer, publishing a number of articles for medical journals. Writing was a skill he honed at the University as an editor of both The East Texan and T he Locust.

Robert Alvin Rix
Alvin’s yearbook photo

After graduating in 1934 as valedictorian from the Training School, Alvin entered East Texas State College in 1937 at the age of 16. He would be editor-inchief of the student newspaper and an assistant editor of the yearbook.

He then pursued his education in medicine and became Dr. Rix in 1941. He served in the U.S. Navy Medical Corps, then went to Oklahoma City, where he spent the next 39 years in medicine as a private practitioner and a professor.

He was named a Clinical Professor Emeritus at the Oklahoma University Health Sciences Center.

His father was head of the agriculture department at A&M-Commerce for more than 30 years, and a scholarship endowment in his memory has been established for students in Agricultural Sciences.

Dick Tarter

James R. “Dick” Tarter (BS ’44, MS ‘48), a former director of Alumni Relations, passed away in November.

Dick graduated from the Training School here in 1941 and then received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees here from East Texas State Teachers College.

He was a WWII vet who served in the occupation of Nagasaki immediately after the atomic bomb caused the surrender of Japan.

He returned to Commerce in 1975, where until 1976 he was director of Alumni Relations.

In 1986 Dick retired as dean of vocational programs for Odessa College in Odessa, TX.