First Graduation Tuesday
79 Slated for Degrees and 45 for Certificates
May 22, 1953
Lamar State College of Technology will grant its first Bachelor of Science degrees in formal commencement exercises Tuesday evening. It will be the first graduation of four-year students by the college, newest state senior college in Texas.
Seventy-nine students are candidates for degrees in Tuesday’s exercises. An additional 45 are scheduled to receive certificates of completion in terminal programs of two-year work.
The baccalaureate sermon will be delivered Sunday morning at 10 a.m. in the college auditorium by the Rev. W. Wallace Faris, minister of the First Presbyterian Church, Port Arthur.
Graduates and their families will be honored at a reception Sunday afternoon from 2 to 4 p.m. on the patio of the Student Union Building.
Dr. McDonald is Speaker
Commencement will be at 8 p.m. Tuesday in the auditorium with Dr. F. L. McDonald, president of the college, as the principal speaker. He also will present degrees.
Members of the board of regents, governing body of the college, will attend the commencement exercises. They will sit on the stage along with the faculty and John E. Gray, former president of the college, who will occupy a position of honor as a special guest.
A commencement processional from the Lucas Engineering Building to the auditorium will be held. It will be led by Texas and U.S. Flag bearers, followed by the administration, the faculty in caps, gowns, and degree hoods, and members of the Class of 1953.
First Degree
The first degree granted by Lamar Tech will go to the member of the graduating class with the highest scholastic average. This person will not be known until Tuesday evening.
Eight persons, the upper 10 percent of the class, will graduate with honors. The top-ranking student will graduate with the highest honors and five with honors. Two students will graduate with high honors and five with honors.
Candidates for graduation will be recommended for degrees by O. B. Archer, dean and vice-president.
The Candidates are:
Biological Sciences
Harley Egerton Graff, Beaumont; Howard Talley Graff, Beaumont; Robert Charles Judice, Port Arthur; Preston Premeaux, Nederland, and Wilson Robertson, Port Arthur.
Business Administration
Montie Ake, Port Arthur; Herbert Allen, Beaumont; Victor Dale Aubey, Jr., Beaumont; James D. Beck, Beaumont; Weldon Bond, Pasadena; A. V. Brown, Beaumont; Fred Falgout, Port Arthur; Lynn Felps, Port Arthur; Harvey Guthrey, Beaumont; Emery Hebert, Bridge City; Ray Hudson, Nederland; Wilfred Long, Beaumont; Edward Mathews, Beaumont; Robert Miller, Beaumont; Grady Smith, Beaumont; Robert Theriot, Port Arthur; Joe Van Dyke, Beaumont; Charles Westmoreland, Beaumont; Jerry White, Beaumont.
Chemical Engineering
Paul Wesley Aguilard, Groves; Gordon Glenn, Port Neches; Robert Griffith, Port Neches; Ronald Holt, Beaumont; B. D. Knight, Port Arthur; Huron LaBorde, Port Arthur; T. G. Mounce, Jr., Port Neches; William Randall, Beaumont; Dennis E. Wade, Orange; Jack S. Wright, Port Arthur.
Chemistry
Anne LaRue Cox, Port Neches; Raymond Eddy, Beaumont; Harvey Paul Randall, Beaumont; Roland Stansbury, Port Arthur.
Civil Engineering
Edward Adams Keig, Beaumont; Delbert H. Reeves, Port Arthur.
Electrical Engineering
E. Drawhorn, Jr., Port Neches; Bennie Lee Gallien, Beaumont; Roy D. Mazzagatti, Beaumont; Curtis Meynig, Sour Lake; Constance Oliver, Beaumont.
Home Economics
Irma Tuttle Reavis, Beaumont; Dorothy P. Stafford, Beaumont.
Industrial Engineering
Bruce Bishop, Beaumont; Smead Maxwell Braswell, Port Neches; Lloyd Baker Field , Port Arhtur; Lamar Mosley, Orange.
Mathematics
Dorothy Mayhugh, Beaumont; Robert Morriss, Beaumont.
Mechanical Engineering
Don Cash, Jr., Beaumont; Robert E. Johnson, Beaumont; James H. McGurk, Port Arthur; Robert Mauer, Beaumont.
Mechanical Technology
Patti Sue Strickel, Port Neches.
Physical and Health Education
Margie Barnes, Port Neches; Gene Bates, Edinburg; Clyde Blanchard, Port Acres; June Chandler, Orangefield; Peggy Cox, Beaumont; Bob Frederick, Austin; Dick Goerlich, Jr., Beaumont; Cecil Green, Beaumont; Smitty Hill, Beaumont; Buddy Leonard, Austin; Roy Lierman, Rosebud; Bill Lierman, Rosebud; Helen McCutcheon, Groves; Howland Reich, Nederland; Earl Richmond, Beaumont; Jo Anne Sarver, Beaumont; Bill Shaver, Beaumont; Rose Mary Van Dyke, Beaumont; Grover C. Watkins, Jr., Beaumont; Glenda Wheeler, Beaumont; Frances Williams, Beaumont.
Certificates of Completion
Diesel Engines
Gene Ludwig Barkley, Beaumont; Ikey H. Smith, Beaumont.
Industrial Electricity
Vernon E. McClelland, Orange; Ellis Baker Tiner, Beaumont.
Machine Shop
Cecil Donaho, Jr., Beaumont; Jack Otto Silkwood, Port Arthur.
Secretarial Science
Mary Eleanor Bourgeois, Beaumont; Sidney Phil Cleveland, Port Arthur; Mary Jo Englin, Beaumont; Geraline Foreman, Port Neches; Rebecca Garza, Beaumont; Elaine Hille, Vidor; Betty Kelley, Beaumont; Antoinette Marie Morrell, Port Arthur; Jaquline Taylor, Beaumont; Patricia Tobey, Nederland; Norma Torres, Beaumont.
Vocational Nursing
Ethel Andrus, Beaumont; Lurline Barr, Beaumont; Flora Choate, Port Neches; Mary Louise Cribbs, Beaumont; Edna Crozier, Beaumont; Mildred Dale, Beaumont; Ann Davenport, Port Neches; Corine Desmond, Port Arthur; Flora Dryer, Port Arthur; Estelle Giles, Beaumont; Betty Ruth Herford, Beaumont; Nadine Highsmith, Silsbee; Luella Jenny, Beaumont; Viola Kier, Beaumont. Kathleen Long, Port Arthur; Ida Mae McGill, Beaumont; Cecilia McGreevey, Groves; Jewell Maley, Port Arthur; Leona Mitchell, Beaumont; Linda Mueller, Beaumont; Hazel Pierce, Nederland; Willie Robichaux, Beaumont; Eula Walton, Beaumont; Eula Wilburn, Beaumont; Marjorie Work, Beaumont; Bonnie Lee Yates, Beaumont.
Welding
Billy Barnett, Iola; Hugh Short, Beaumont.
An additional 18 students are listed as provisional candidates for graduation in August. Although no formal commencement program is planned at the time, indications are degrees will be conferred in an informal program.
August candidates are: Biological science—Norman DeRuiter, Port Arthur; Chester Drawhorn, Houston; Howard Mallet, Port Arthur; Floyd Pollard, Jr., Beaumont.
Business administration—James Bland, Port Neches; Tom Fortescue, Port Arthur; Slather Gassiott, Port Neches; Mary Louise Martin, Port Arthur; Paul William Shields, Beaumont.
Chemical engineering—Husain Ali Al-Salih, Hosah, Anah, Iraq. Chemistry—Warren Seymour, Beaumont. Geology—Frank Click, Jr., Galveston; Vernon Henry, Jr., Port Arthur; Victor King Jr., Beaumont; Henry Stutzenburg, Port Neches; LeRoy Wessel, Daytona Beach, Fla.
Industrial Engineering—Jerry Kotulan, Beaumont. Physical and health education—Don Smith, Galveston.
Compiled from the archives by Ja'Leigh Cerf.