Alumni
| ’41 Mrs. Edith “Deedy” Hawkins Bennett ’41 Drucilla Dickerson DeArmond ’41 Thomas Murphy ’42 Kitty Lus Druck ’43 Bette Rector ’47 D. Glynn Smith ’48 Robert Hale ’48 Carl Hefton ’48 Charles Mitchell ’48 Kathryn Mack Phipps ’49 Samuel Barnes ’49 John Edward Carter ’49 Betty Dean Morgan ’49 Claude Perry Jr. ’50 Virginia Foshee Duke ’51 Marion Pollard Chandler ’51 Bill Farrow ’51 Betty Lynn Laden O’Neal ’52 Billy Spann ’52 Clem Fain Sylestine ’53 Jean Harper Crain ’53 Marie Davis ’53 James R. Sheppard Jr. ’53 Dorothy Tucker Winfield ’54 Edward Anthony Joseph ’57 Carol Luce Howell ’57 Edward C. Kirby ’57 James E. Owens ’58 Paul Branum ’58 Raymond Dupuy ’58 Weldon Rackley ’58 Dennis Redburn ’58 Patricia J. Turner ’59 John Duncan ’59 George Huser ’59 Nelma Laverne Hyde ’59 Nancy Dennis Wilbourn ’61 Walter Ague |
July 13, 2019 April 16, 2019 August 1, 2019 December 1, 2018 October 3, 2018 November 29, 2018 August 28, 2019 December 6, 2018 January 1, 2019 August 5, 2019 March 22, 2019 October 9, 2019 October 12, 2019 November 21, 2019 February 16, 2019 October 19, 2019 February 20, 2019 October 18, 2019 April 22, 2019 May 21, 2019 August 3, 2019 August 3, 2019 September 10, 2019 November 30, 2019 March 31, 2019 November 26, 2019 December 22, 2017 July 4, 2019 January 4, 2019 February 23, 2019 June 2, 2017 March 12, 2019 November 20, 2018 February 5, 2019 August 13, 2019 September 29, 2019 January 7, 2019 January 7, 2019 |
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’61 Patricia McClurg ’61 Clarence Randolph “Randy” Russell Jr. ’62 Kay Baker ’62 Norman Dickey ’63 Lynne Hartman Black ’63 Peter L. Kleinjan ’64 Don Read ’65 Wayne McClure ’65 Judith Castleberry Miller ’65 Nancy Beinke Schwartz ’66 Joseph Cutlip ’66 Susan Freiberg Urbach ’67 Richard Anton “Tony” Levacy ’67 Patsy Merrill ’67 Deane Sadler ’68 David Lander ’69 Jean Menefee ’70 Sam P. Hooper Jr. ’71 Mark Beardsley ’71 Lydia Rodrigues Frias ’72 Isabel Garza Jimenez ’73 Michael Parker ’73 Mary J. Swirczynski ’74 Martha Katharine Brittain ’74 Foy Crookham ’74 Jesse R. “Ray” Thomas ’75 Roger “Kirk” Keller ’75 Mary Jane Willis Briscoe ’76 Matthew Ralph McCord ’77 Johnny Ellis ’78 Preston Thompson ’80 Connie Boone Thomas ’82 Jan Pharis Lindsey ’01 J.L. Chapman Jr. ’03 Lauren Cook ’04 Sarah Francis ’08 Rachel Escamilla ’10 Layne Rylander |
August 25, 201 May 21, 2019 October 17, 2018 April 7, 2019 January 4, 2019 November 4, 2018 March 21, 2019 January 10, 2019 March 29, 2019 July 11, 2019 February 10, 2019 August 30, 2019 March 6, 2019 November 15, 2018 May 9, 2019 September 28, 2019 February 8, 2019 November 12, 2019 November 30, 2019 January 25, 2019 November 19, 2019 May 21, 2019 January 7, 2019 November 24, 2019 May 18, 2019 January 12, 2019 November 2, 2019 October 1, 2019 October 26, 2019 December 25, 2018 April 11,2019 April 1, 2019 January 27, 2019 July 26, 2019 March 11, 2019 February 6, 2019 March 11, 2019 September 29, 2019 |
Friends We Will Miss
Mary Carlson, who served as Secretary and Administrative Assistant to the Dean of Social Sciences for more than 25 years, died January 15, 2019.
Jan Bacon, who worked as Secretary in Abell Library, Communication Arts, and Continuing Education during her 11 years with the College, died August 19, 2019.
Pete Newell, who worked as HVAC Technician from 1982 until his retirement in 1994, died August 22, 2019.
H. Ross Perot, who received an Austin College Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters Degree in 1989, died July 9, 2019.
Austin College Faculty
The Austin College community lost three dedicated emeriti faculty last year who had served Austin College and their students well over several decades. Space does not allow the listing here of their many accomplishments and achievements, but their students and colleagues hold the former educators in high esteem in their minds and hearts. Find their full obituaries on the Austin College website.
Hugh Barnard Garnett Jr.
Professor Emeritus of Economics Hugh Garnett died October 14, 2019. He joined the Austin College faculty in 1981, teaching until his retirement in 2003. He considered Austin College a perfect fit because of the emphasis on educating future citizens. “The highpoint of my career has been the engaged citizenship and professional accomplishments of so many of the students I have been privileged to teach,” he once said. In addition to his expert and insightful guidance in economics, Garnett was passionate about botany, conservation, photography, and birding. He gifted a 7-acre,
native tallgrass prairie, later named Garnett Prairie, to the College as an outdoor teaching and research laboratory for the Sciences.
Dan Schores
Dr. Daniel Mortimer Schores, Associate Professor Emeritus of Sociology, died August 19, 2019. He taught Sociology and Anthropology at the College from 1969 until his retirement in 1994. He described himself as a generalist with a wide range of interests that he felt fit well with the liberal arts experience. During his tenure, Austin College had a Continuing Education Program, and he served as director for many years. Approximately 1,500 community residents attended the 70-80 courses offered each year. He also was director of the College’s Elderhostel program, which brought senior citizens to campus from around the country. He continued to work with the program long after his retirement.
Paul Thomas
Dr. Paul Leslie Thomas, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, died September 16, 2019. He joined the College faculty in fall 1963 and throughout his teaching tenure also served as Director of World Affairs and Field Studies, Director of Institutional Research, Associate Registrar, and Registrar. He retired from his Registrar role in 1992. Beginning in 1992, he served as Assistant Dean of the Faculty and Professor of Psychology, retiring from the College in June 1996.
Austin College Board of Trustees
The dedication and support of these senior members of the College’s Board of Trustees had tremendous impact upon the College in recent decades. These trustees, who happen to be devoted Presbyterian Church leaders also, have made gifts that have been monumental in the life of the College. Find full obituaries on the College website.
Robert J. Wright
Robert J. Wright, longtime friend and former chair of the College’s Board of Trustees, died January 17, 2019. He joined the Austin College Board in 1983, served as chair from 1997 to 2007, and continued on the senior board until his death.
A respected Dallas business leader and philanthropist, Robert Wright’s name is perhaps one of the most recognized at Austin College with the Robert J. and Mary Wright Campus Center a focus of daily life. Bob and his wife, Mary, supported numerous other programs and initiatives of the College. They were particularly pleased to create a number of scholarships and to interact with the recipients. Wright was honored on several occasions by Austin College, his fellow trustees, and its students, receiving the College’s Toddie Lee Wynne Award for Distinguished Service in 1990 and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters in 2006. Upon his retirement as board chair, Student Assembly passed a resolution to name the drive leading to Wright Campus Center as “Robert J. Wright Circle.”
David Fornoff
Senior trustee David A. Fornoff, died April 18, 2019. The Waco business leader and philanthropist was an active member of the College’s Board of Trustees from 1986 to 1993 and remained a senior trustee until his death. In addition to offering his leadership and guidance to the board, Fornoff and his wife, Dorothy, supported various board projects, particularly construction of Wright Campus Center, as well as IDEA Center construction.
Carolyn Harte
Senior trustee Carolyn Harte of San Antonio, Texas, died October 8, 2019. She joined the board in 1986 and remained on the senior board until her death. In addition to providing influence and input, her involvement was one of great philanthropy. She and her husband, Houston Harte, who preceded her in death, were generous benefactors of the College. Among other gifts, they endowed the Houston and Carolyn Harte Middle Income Assistance Endowed Scholarships, specifically to assist students ineligible for federal assistance in meeting the cost of private higher
education. Mrs. Harte also contributed to several other campus initiatives.
Jesse Raymond Thomas III, M.D.
Senior trustee Jesse R. “Ray” Thomas of Carrollton, Texas, died January 12, 2019. Ray served on the Board of Trustees from 2000 to 2013 and remained an active senior trustee until his death. He served as chair of the Academic Affairs Committee for much of his active service and was an integral member of both the Trustee Committee and the Strategic Planning Committee. The esteemed physician and owner of dermatology clinics in Sherman and Plano was a 1974 graduate of the College. He and his wife, Elizabeth (Black) Thomas ’73, made several significant scholarship gifts to the College and supported numerous other projects, including construction of Wright Campus Center.