An Official Publication of Texas Wesleyan University Spring 2010

120Celebrating Years of Excellence

2 Celebrating 120 Years of Excellence:A Look Back at Wesleyan’s Past

7 President’s Honors Concert

8 Bobby Bragan: Baseball Great Leaves a Legacy of Friendship and Giving

10 Wesleyan Legend Inducted into Golf Coaches Hall of Fame

11 Millikan has Athletics on the Rise

12 Championship Dynasty

14 A Harbor of Hope in Port-Au-Prince

15 Texas Wesleyan University Receives State Education Award

16 Glick House Community Counseling Center Making a Difference

18 Law School Celebrates 20 Years

20 Mark Hanshaw: A 360˚ View of Life

23 Tribute Gifts

24 A Stepp Forward for the Theatre Arts Department

26 Alumni News

27 How does Your Garden Grow?

28 In Memoriam

28 Joe Mitchell: A Leading Light in Education

29 Trustee Robert Klabzuba

30 An Educator with a Passion for the World Around Him

31 A Joyful Member of the Texas Wesleyan Family

32 Margaret Parker: A Leading Light in Fort Worth Conservation

TABLE OF CONTENTS | SPRING 2010

For more information, call 817-531-4404.

A new sign at the corner of Rosedale and Wesleyan greets visitors to the campus.Photo by Darren White

UNIVERSITY PRESIDENTHarold G. Jeffcoat

EDITORLaura J. Hanna

CONTRIbUTINg WRITERSAmy BathejaBill BowenDan BrothersHerb CharlesLaura HannaJosh Lacy

DESIgN AND PHOTO EDITORLinda Beaupré

PHOTOgRAPHYSargent N. HillTom PenningtonDarren White

OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS OFFICE OF ALUMNI RELATIONSTexas Wesleyan University 817.531.42201201 Wesleyan Street 817.531.7560Fort Worth, Texas 76105-1536 alumni@txwes.edu817.531.4480www.txwes.edu

Wesleyan is an official publication of Texas Wesleyan University for alumni and friends. It is published semiannually in the fall and spring by the Wesleyan Office of Communications. The views presented are not necessarily those of the editors or the official policies of the University.

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION bOARD OF DIRECTORS2009-2010

Barry Baker ’84Daphne Brookins ’01, immediate past presidentDennis Camp ’64Patsy Clifford ’55Karen Cole ’99 MBA ’04, treasurerMartha Earngey ’77Larry Kitchens ’63, presidentDr. Ray Lewis ’80David D. Martin MBA ’04, vice presidentCheryl McDonald ’87Gladys Moore ’73Sharon Roberson-Jones ’96Wanda Russell ’64, secretaryAmy Tate-Almy ’95Glen Tuggle ’85Jorge Vivar ’76Kathy Walker ’97

TExAS WESLEYAN STAFFJoan S. Canty, vice president for university advancementGina Phillips, director of development and alumni relationsDeAwna Wood, assistant director of alumni relations

Chuck Burton, assistant vice president of marketing and communicationsLaura J. Hanna, director of communications

Quentin McGownCristina NoriegaLouis Sherwood, Jr.Angela SmithPaul SturialeDarren White

Dear Alumni and Friends,

Springtime at Wesleyan is wonderful: New life is blossoming everywhere, and it’s not just the Bradford Pear trees, although

they are beautiful.

The President’s Honors Concert saw record attendance, which some attribute to the growing fan base of Wesleyan’s numerous Facebook pages. More to the point, I believe it’s the established reputation of outstanding performances that draws music lovers from near and far.

Incidentally, concertgoers were among the first to see our new lighted monument sign that establishes a grand entrance to the University. It joins nine kiosks that have sprouted up around campus, providing directional signage as well as information on upcoming events.

The Claudia Stepp Scene Shop has been in constant use since its opening in November. Stage sets used in the February production of MacBeth were created in the shop, as they will be for future productions, including Working, our 56th annual musical.

Each day brings more activity on the site of the Morton Fitness Center, too. Right now, it’s the excavation crew who is getting a workout. By the fall semester, it will be our students working out.

And make no mistake; we are all about our students . . . and graduates. Case in point: In November, the School of Law attained a Texas Bar Exam pass rate of 93.29 percent. That gives Wesleyan the third highest pass rate of the state’s nine law schools and the highest in the school’s twenty-year history.

Students are driving school spirit, too. The Blue Cru helped rally fans of our basketball team, which once again made it into the NAIA Finals. And I’m especially proud of our students and the many departments and organizations that came together to form the Hike for Haiti. Proceeds from this event benefit American Red Cross earthquake relief efforts.

As we celebrate our 120th year, it is with sadness that I note the passing of a friend, baseball great Bobby Bragan. We are fortunate that his memorabilia and collections will live on at Wesleyan, and we’ll keep a special place in our hearts for the man who lived by the motto, “Giving is forever.”

Cordially,

Harold G. Jeffcoat, Ed.D., LL.M.

Ex-OFFICIO MEMbERS E. Frank Leach ’53Dr. Carl G. Schrader, Jr.

www.txwes.edu2 

hen Texas Wesleyan began in 1890, it was a far different time and place than today. But there are enduring symbols that harken back to those early days. The school that began as Polytechnic College is enmeshed in Fort Worth history and has stood in the same location for 120 years.

A stake was driven where Ann Waggoner Hall stood, just east of the fountain on the mall, and classes began in a single building in the fall of 1891.The first Polytechnic College Catalog espoused values that still hold true today:

“A college education not only increases the chances of material success and length of days, but, under Christian influences, it refines, elevates and enables character . . . . It is the enrichment of character. It is the broadening of prospect . . . . Some men get the results without education, but most of us can not secure the results without the education.”

Situated on the natural heights 140 feet above the Trinity River, Polytechnic College was established on 25 acres that had been offered by local landowners and Methodist leaders A.S. Hall and W.D. Hall along with George Tandy.

Throughout the 1890s, the college managed to grow despite the nation’s financial crisis that began with the Panic of 1893.

Hiram A. Boaz was named president in 1902 and the school, with the help of George Mulkey and J.M. Benbrook, retired its debt while adding an administration and instructional building, a fine arts conservatory, a new dormitory, a gymnasium and a science hall.

President Boaz challenged Texas Methodists to create a flagship Methodist college west of the Mississippi to rival Vanderbilt and Emory and urged them to make Polytechnic that school.

“The Educational Commission of the Methodist Conferences in Texas, formed in 1910, voted otherwise. The Southern Methodist University envisioned by Boaz was founded in 1910 in Dallas,” according to Texas Wesleyan University: A Centennial Album 1890-1990.

The Educational Commission then decided to convert Polytechnic College in to the premier women’s Methodist college in the state. In 1914, Texas Woman’s College opened to female students only.

WCelebrating 120 Years of Excellence: A Look Back at Wesleyan’s Past

Spring 2010 3 

Mrs. Ann Waggoner, the college’s major benefactress since the early years of Dr. Boaz’s presidency made a gift in 1917 to build a new dormitory named in honor of her husband, famed Texas cattleman Dan Waggoner. In 1925, she gave more funds to add a classroom wing to the former Polytechnic Methodist Church and additional funds to refurnish the facility that became known as the Ann Waggoner Fine Arts Building.

When the Great Depression hit, the college was ill-prepared and the difficult times prompted a dramatic change. The Board of Trustees considered closing the school but instead voted to make the college coed and changed the name to Texas Wesleyan College in 1934.

“When the first class of boys arrived at the school that had just changed its middle name from ‘Woman’ to ‘Wesleyan,’ the boys,

girls and school had one thing in common: Everybody was broke,” wrote Jack Butler.

In 1935, a most important decision was made by the board of trustees, electing Law Sone as president of Texas Wesleyan College. He went on to serve for 34 years and took on some of the college’s most pressing needs: paying off overdue bills, obtaining regional accreditation, recruiting

faculty, renovating the physical plant and creating a retirement system.“Perhaps Dr. and Mrs. Sone’s greatest legacy to Texas Wesleyan

was not buildings, but the students they influenced and the men and women they encouraged to invest their interests, money, and talent,” according to Texas Wesleyan University: A Centennial Album 1890–1990.

As Wesleyan reached the 1950s, the school had 1,600 students and Mr. and Mrs. O.C Armstrong led a $1 million campaign for new residence halls, a dining hall and a library.

The 1960s were marked by academic accomplishments, including the School of Education attaining national accreditation for its teacher education program and Wesleyan developing its first Bachelor of Business Administration degree.

In 1968, the Houston Endowment gave Texas Wesleyan its largest — and one of its most unique gifts — an 18-story downtown office building worth $3 million.

The end of ’60s were marked by Dr. Sone’s retirement and the 1970s started a decade of leadership with Dr. W.M. Pearce as president of Texas Wesleyan.

During that time, the Sid W. Richardson Athletic Building was constructed, the Annie Y. Hughey estate added to the retirement program, and the Boaz Student Union Building and Music Rehearsal Hall, the former Polytechnic College gymnasium, were renovated.

During Dr. Jon H. Fleming’s tenure as Wesleyan’s fourteenth president in 1979, the University reorganized into four schools: Business, Education, Fine Arts and Science and Humanities. Eunice and James L. West donated $12 million for a new library.

The 1981 school year started with the announcement that Wesleyan was making plans to move the campus. Trustees approved going forward with the move in 1982 and negotiations to purchase additional acreage in west Fort Worth to supplement donated land commenced with a $125 million campus plan unveiled.

But the move was thwarted by economic conditions and the plan unraveled under the weight of an economic recession. Ultimately, the Trustees determined to keep the University on its historic campus and work with its neighbors to reunify and rebuild its namesake neighborhood.

In May 1985, Dr. Jerry G. Bawcom became the fifteenth president of the University and faced with the twin challenges of refinacing $5.2 million in debt and reducing the $2.7 million annual budget deficit. With improvements in Wesleyan’s financial situation, campus improvement continued. Construction began on the West Library and when the Ella McFadden Charitable Trust was distributed in 1985, the $14.7 million gift essentially doubled Wesleyan’s endowment.

After a decade of financial upheaval ended on firmer footing, the name of the college was changed to Texas Wesleyan University on Jan. 9, 1989. A year later, the University launched its Centennial Celebration bringing students, alumni and the campus and local communities together to mark the second century of service to Fort Worth and North Texas residents.

And it was also 1989 when the law school had its humble beginnings as the Dallas/Fort Worth School of Law, originally located in Irving and only offering night classes. Day classes were added in 1991 and Texas Wesleyan officially acquired the law school in 1992. Five years later, it moved to its current home in downtown Fort Worth. The school was granted full accreditation by the American Bar Association in 1999.

Dr. Jake Schrum was president of the University during the acquisition of the law school, serving from 1991 to 2000. In August of 2000, Dr. Harold Jeffcoat succeeded him as president.

During Dr. Jeffcoat’s tenure, the University has seen growth in not only the physical campus, but also in enrollment. The last decade has brought an apartment-style residence hall (Wesleyan Village) and several new buildings, including the Ed and Rae Schollmaier Science and Technology Center, the Louella Baker Martin Pavilion, the Center for the Graduate Programs in Nurse Anesthesia and the Claudia Stepp Scene Shop as well as a Burleson site. The University also partnered with local developers to renovate the historic Polytechnic Main Street commercial center adjacent to the campus.

www.txwes.edu4 

The Story Behindthe

Bricksand

Mortar

compiled byLouis Sherwood, Jr. BA ’89

Ann WAggoner HAll

This building was constructed in 1891 and was the original college building. It housed the administrative offices of the college as well as classrooms, a library and apartments for female faculty. It was added on to and remodeled in 1905

to convert it into a dormitory for women. It was named for Ann Waggoner, a member of a pioneer Fort Worth family

involved in the ranching and oil industries. She financed the construction of the original building as well as the 1905

addition. The building later became a faculty office building. When it was closed in 1990, it was the oldest continuously

used college building in Tarrant County. It was demolished in May 1991.

ed And rAe ScHollmAier Science And TecHnology cenTer

The Schollmaier building was built in 2007 and offers state-of-the art technology in the classrooms. It also houses faculty offices and a student lounge.

5 

oneAl-SellS AdminiSTrATion Building

This building was constructed in 1902-1903 of rock acquired from a quarry in Dublin, Texas. Then called it the main building; it was used primarily for instruction. In 1909, the building was remodeled and enlarged again using rock acquired in Dublin. The building was then large enough to house classrooms as well as the administrative offices of the college, the library, the college store, and an auditorium.

Ann WAggoner Fine ArTS Building

The auditorium wing of this building was built in 1909 for Polytechnic Methodist Church. It was designed by Sanguinet and Staats, a firm who designed many commercial buildings in Fort Worth. Ownership of the building was transferred to Texas Woman’s College in 1923 when the congregation moved into a new building located at the northwest corner of Avenue E and Wesleyan Street (now a parking lot), next to Dan Waggoner Hall. A $35,000 gift from Ann Waggoner financed construction of the north wing and it was named after her. The Fine Arts auditorium was renovated in 1965 with a donation from Otho C. and Elizabeth Means Armstrong. The whole complex was renovated again in 2001-2002. The Fine Arts Auditorium was renamed Nicholas Martin Hall in honor of Nicholas Martin, husband of trustee Louella Baker Martin.

dAn WAggoner HAll

Constructed in 1917 as a dormitory with funds donated by Ann Waggoner of Fort Worth. It is named in memory of her husband, Dan Waggoner. The building was designed by Sanguinet and Staats, a firm which designed many other commercial buildings in Fort Worth, including the W. T. Waggoner building built by Mrs. Waggoner’s son. The latter was the tallest building in Fort Worth in 1920. Dan Waggoner Hall was renovated in 1979-1980 to house the School of Education. This structure was renovated again in 1999.

BAker-mArTin HouSe

Designed by Charles Barnett, a Dallas architect, for James B. Baker, president of Baker Brothers (a nursery business) in 1928. It was originally located at 3101 E. First St., in the Riverside section of Fort Worth. Louella Baker Martin, a trustee of the college and granddaughter of James B. Baker, and her husband Nicholas Martin, donated it to the college. It was moved to the campus and renovated. When it opened in 1998, it housed the Office of Freshman Admissions. After a few years, it became the Office of the Provost. It now is home to the Office of University Advancement.

neneTTA BurTon cArTer Building

Constructed in 2001 with the help of major gifts from the Amon G. Carter Foundation, The William and Catherine Bryce Memorial Fund at Bank One, and some anonymous donors. It is named in honor of Nenetta Burton Carter, the second wife of Amon G. Carter and co-founder of the Amon G. Carter Foundation.

AlmA mATer Words by J.C. denney

Hail to Thee, dear Texas Wesleyan From the heart I give my praise.In the paths of high endeavor, Fame and fortune crown your days.Streaming forth a line of splendor, Stalward sons and daughters fairLiving testimony render, To the worthy name you bear.

WeSleyAn VillAge

The BOKA Powell architectural firm designed this apartment-style residence hall, which opened in the summer of 2005.

BroWn-lupTon cAmpuS cenTer

The Brown-Lupton Campus Center opened in 1981. It was made possible by grants from the Amon G. Carter Foundation, The J. E. and L. E. Mabee Foundation, Inc. and the T. J. Brown and C. A. Lupton Foundation, Inc.

lou’S plAce

With generous funding from Louella Baker Martin and Nicholas Martin, the University opened a pavilion that is used for social and academic gatherings. The first event was the President’s Honors Concert reception in 2007.

polyTecHnic uniTed meTHodiST cHurcH

The church was built in 1951-1952 because it outgrew its building at Avenue E and Wesleyan Street. It was designed by Wyatt C. Hedrick and is in the collegiate gothic style. This firm was chosen because Wyatt C. Hedrick developed a master plan for the college in 1949 and the church wanted its building to fit into the planned design of the campus. The college was allowed to use classrooms in the building during the week. In 2005, the second and third floors were renovated for faculty offices and classrooms. The School of Arts and Letters and the chaplain’s office reside there.

BAker Building (THe Scene SHop)

A commercial building in 1927-1928, it originally housed 5 businesses. Two of them faced Rosedale. The other three faced Wesleyan Street. The first tenants included a dry cleaner, a grocery store, and the First State Bank of Polytechnic. Other tenants included the Polytechnic Herald. It served as a scene shop for the Theatre Arts Department for many years. In 2008, the building was renovated and now serves as a community center and is home to the Coffee X Spot.

oTHo c. ArmSTrong HAll

A dormitory for men constructed in 1956-1957. It is named for Otho C. Armstrong, a trustee of the college from 1957-1970 and husband of Elizabeth Means Armstrong. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from Texas Wesleyan College in 1960. Designed by Wyatt C. Hedrick.

dorA roBerTS HAll

A dining hall constructed in 1956-1957. It is the gift of Dora Roberts of Big Spring, Texas. She was a friend of Dr. Law Sone. Designed by Wyatt C. Hedrick. The dining facilities were renovated in 2007 and is a popular dining spot for students, faculty and staff.

Sid W. ricHArdSon pHySicAl FiTneSS cenTer

Completed in 1970. It was funded by a $1 million grant from the Sid W. Richardson Foundation and other substantial gifts as well. It was designed by Preston M. Geren as well.

nurSe AneSTHeSiA Building

Completed in 2003, the building is home to the Graduate Program of Nurse Anesthesia.

STellA ruSSell HAll

This three-story building was constructed in 1966 and opened in 1967. It was originally a women’s dormitory but later became co-ed. It is named for Stella Russell of Houston, a former student of Texas Woman’s College who studied music and became a benefactor and friend of the college. It was designed by Preston M. Geren, a Fort Worth architect.

lAW Sone Fine ArTS cenTer

This building was originally constructed to serve as the sanctuary for Polytechnic Baptist Church. Charles T. Freelove designed the facility, which opened in 1947. It served the church until it relocated to far East Fort Worth and changed its name to East Meadows Baptist Church. Texas Wesleyan University purchased the property in 1989. It was renovated shortly afterwards with funds donated by the Moncrief Family Trust. In 2003, the auditorium, known as Hillard Hall, was turned into a black-box theatre with funds donated by Thad Smotherman, a student at Wesleyan from 1967-1969. The performance space was constructed in 13 days and named the Thad Smotherman Theatre in honor of Thad Smotherman. The building is named for Dr. Law Sone, president of Texas Wesleyan from 1935-1968.

Boyd HouSe

Built around 1895 by Dr. M. J. Boyd, a local physician. Members of his family continued to live in the house until 1968 when it was purchased by Texas Wesleyan College.

dilloW HouSe

It was constructed in 1912 for S.S. Dillow, who owned the first business in Polytechnic Heights, The S. S. Dillow Grocery Store. Mr. Dillow also served as a president of the First State Bank of Polytechnic and as president of the Polytechnic School Board. The house remained in the Dillow family until 1979 when his daughter Audrey Dillow, a 1925 graduate of Texas Woman’s College, willed the house to Texas Wesleyan. She died in 1981. The property was restored and renovated in 1982.

ArmSTrong-mABee BuSineSS Building

Constructed in 1957 with funds donated by Mrs. George W. Armstrong of Natchez, Mississippi, in memory of her husband, Judge George W. Armstrong. Judge Armstrong’s father, Rev. R. C. Armstrong, was a Methodist minister who served on the committee that established Polytechnic College in 1890. Wyatt C. Hedrick designed it. The building was renovated 1989-1990 with money from the J.E. and L.E. Mabee Foundation and turned into the home of the School of Business Administration. It originally served as the college’s library.

Fire STATion THeATer

Built around 1913 on land donated to the City of Polytechnic by S.S. Dillow, a local grocer, for construction of a fire station. It served in this capacity until 1939. In later years it served as the Polytechnic Health Center and as Partlow’s Bakery. Texas Wesleyan University purchased the building and turned into a theater. The college later discontinued use of the building as a theater and it is now a storage facility.

eunice And JAmeS l. WeST liBrAry

This building was completed in 1988. It was funded by a gift of Tandy Corporation stock from Eunice and James L. West of Fort Worth. Mr. West was an executive with the Tandy Corporation. He started working for Hinckley-Tandy Leather Corporation (a forerunner of Tandy Corporation) in 1930 and continued to rise through the ranks of the organization, eventually being chosen as president of Tandy Corporation in 1964. In 1980 he and Mrs. West gave $16 million in stock to several Texas colleges, $12 million of which came to Texas Wesleyan for construction of the library.

elizABeTH meAnS ArmSTrong HAll

A dormitory for women constructed in 1956-1957. It is named for Elizabeth Means Armstrong, a 1920 graduate of Texas Woman’s College (now Texas Wesleyan University). She and her husband, Otho C. Armstrong, gave money in 1956 for the construction of the two dormitories bearing their names. They also gave money in 1962 for the renovation of the Fine Arts Auditorium. In 1981, she established the Elizabeth Mean Armstrong Fine Arts Scholarship. Designed by Wyatt C. Hedrick.

The fourteenth annual President’s Honors concert, held Friday, Feb. 5 in Martin Hall, showcased the talents of Wesleyan’s top music students. Concert attendees were treated to a variety of performances, including piano, voice and flute. The musical selections included Sure on This Shining Night by Samuel Barber, Gretchen am Spinnrade, D. 118 and Love Went A-Riding by Frank Bridge. A reception was held after the event in Lou’s Place. Photos: Sargent N. Hill

L-R: David Jobe, Rosemarie Jobe, Marie Jeffcoat, Harold Jeffcoat, Quentin McGown, John Fisher

L-R: Harold Jeffcoat, Marie Jeffcoat, Louella Martin, Nicholas Martin

L-R: David Riddile, Quentin McGown and Trish Hill L-R: Jan Fersing, Marie Jeffcoat and Kelly Flynn

L-R: Bill Bleibdrey and John Fisher L-R: Matthew Peeples and Selena Stewart

Back Row, L-R: Keith Critcher, Harold Jeffcoat, president of Texas Wesleyan, Marie Jeffcoat, David Gast, Justin Mikulencak, David Riddile, Nevin Nichols, Ryan Amador, Rosemary and David Jobe, and Quentin McGown. Front Row, seated: Eileen Downey, Leslie Rodriguez, Ashlie Averyt,

Rebecca Mitchell, Caitlin Fanning, Mary-Margaret Meyer, and Katreeva Phillips.

President’s Honor Concert

www.txwes.edu8 

Spring 2010 9 

H e was a Brooklyn Dodger back when there was such a thing. In 2005, at the age of 87, he came out of retirement to manage the Fort Worth Cats, making him the oldest manager in

professional baseball history. Of course, just like the old days, he was ejected after the third inning.“He was a showman,” said President Dr. Harold Jeffcoat, who

first met the then-Texas League president Bragan in 1969 as a player. “He was a throwback to the great sportsmen entertainers like Casey Stengel, Leo Durocher or Tommy Lasorda.”

They called him “Mr. Baseball,” “Fort Worth’s Ambassador to Baseball,” and a host of other nicknames involving the game he spent most of his adult life playing, managing and promoting.

But more than any of that, he was a friend to many. A great friend.When Bobby Bragan died in his home at the age of 92 on Jan. 21, he

left more friends than enemies, more laughter than tears, and so many stories and tall tales that it’s hard to believe he lived only one life.

“Bobby studied baseball and he studied people,” Dick Smith, executive vice president and general manager of the Fort Worth Cats, said. “He never met a stranger — in no time, he was like one of your long-lost friends.”

His motto lives on: Giving is ForeverDr. Ron Ballard, professor of religion, sits at his office desk and writes with a pen Bragan gave him that has “giving is forever” printed in green letters on its side.

“He had the ability to make people feel good about themselves better than anyone I ever met,” Ballard said. “And he was a giver like no one in the world. He was always giving you something.”

That generosity is evident on the Texas Wesleyan University campus. There is the Betty and Bobby Bragan Fellowship Hall in Polytechnic United Methodist Church and the Bobby Bragan Collection in the Eunice and James L. West Library, a treasure trove of memorabilia — photos, jerseys and many other select pieces from a career that took him from Philadelphia to Atlanta, but always brought him back to Fort Worth.

“He was a longtime supporter of Texas Wesleyan,” Allen Henderson, provost and senior vice president of Texas Wesleyan University, said. “He cared about young people — they were one of his passions.”

Dr. Bragan — a deserved honorIn 2004, Texas Wesleyan gave Bragan and his wife, Betty, doctors of humanities degrees. Bragan was thrilled by the honor.

“A bright spot was the honorary doctorate from Texas Wesleyan,” Smith said. “For a kid who grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, and played baseball all his life, it was one of the biggest joys of his life.”

Bragan started his major league career with the Philadelphia Phillies. He played with them for three seasons before being traded to the Brooklyn Dodgers.

He wasn’t a great player — he batted a .240 average during his professional career — but he was a good one. But the trade to the Dodgers changed Bragan’s life. It was there he met Branch Rickey, the legendary general manager.

Rickey hired him as player/manager of the Fort Worth Cats in 1948, and Bragan would prove to be a skilled manager. As Jim Reeves reported in his ESPN.com article, “Mr. Baseball” Bragan dies at 92, the Cats never finished below .500 while he was manager. He would also later work for both the Dodgers and Pirates organizations.

Fort Worth became his home and his community for decades. He was active at the First United Methodist Church of Fort Worth — where Ballard taught a Bible class Bragan was in for 15 years.

“He never missed a class,” Ballard said, “and he always found something worth commenting on.”

A born charmerBragan was always quick with a kind word. His wife, Betty, shared with Ballard that Bragan’s last words were kinds words about her. After his funeral, a piece of paper hung in his typewriter. On it, a list of all the things he loved about Betty.

“Have you ever heard of a husband who would do that?” Ballard said. “Bobby did it all the time.”

That was Bragan’s charm — a kind heart inside a born entertainer; he could recite a poem, tell a joke or sing a song. When Smith recalled a joke Bragan made during a speech decades ago, he couldn’t help but imitate Bragan’s excited, raspy voice. Everyone has a story about Bobby Bragan, the fun-loving entertainer.

“Bobby Bragan did one of the best versions of ‘Casey at the Bat’ I ever heard,” Henderson said.

He talked the talk and walked the walkHe was a showman, from his umpire-teasing ways as a manager to his skill with music and voice.

That joy — the overflow of fun and warmth — was more than just talk for Bobby Bragan. He loved to help others, and he loved to give of himself.

The Bobby Bragan Youth Foundation began awarding scholarships in 1992. By their own estimates since then, the organization has offered more than $1 million in scholarships to eighth-grade students for their first year of college. The foundation will continue in honor of Bragan’s legacy.

He was a baseball man, one who seemed to enjoy playing catch in the back yard or helping out with the Arlington Heights High School and Wesleyan baseball teams as much as he did playing with the Dodgers.

Unlike the mighty Casey of the poem he loved to recite, thanks to Bobby Bragan, there is joy in Fort Worth.

Enjoy a wonderful 17-minute video interview with Bobby Bragan by visiting www.txwes.edu/mediaservices/BobbyBragan.

Baseball Great Leaves a Legacy of Friendship and Giving B Y   D A R R E N   W H I T E

“He had the ability to make people feel good about themselves better than anyone I ever met.” Dr. Ron Ballard

Professor of Religion

Bobby Bragan (front row, third from left) began his career with the Gadsden, Alabama team (circa 1935). (Left) Bragan with Cleveland Indians outfielder Minnie Minoso (circa 1958)..

Wesleyan legend Inducted Into

golf coaches Hall of Fame

The Golf Coaches Association of America inducted seven coaches into its Hall of Fame at the GCAA Hall of Fame Reception and Awards Banquet at Las Vegas’ Riviera Hotel and Casino in December. Former Texas Wesleyan

head coach and NAIA golf legend O.D. Bounds, Jr. ’41 was among those honored.Bounds, who passed away in 2004, at the age of 85, received the honor post-

humously. Widely considered the father of the NAIA men’s golf championship, Bounds served as golf coach and a professor at Texas Wesleyan for nearly 40 years (1946–1985), while accumulating an extraordinary coaching résumé. Among his 109 tournament victories were three national titles which came in 1964, 1969, and 1975. Bounds led Wesleyan to seven runner-up and five third-place finishes at the NAIA Championships. The Rams won district championships in 36 of 40 seasons and claimed 26 conference titles. Bounds was named NAIA National Coach of the Year in 1975. Six of his golfers claimed NAIA medalist honors, and 33 players were named All-American.

a man of many firstsBounds is the first NAIA coach to be inducted into the GCAA Hall of Fame; how-ever, he already had membership in two other halls. He was also the first coach inducted into the NAIA Golf Hall of Fame (1972) and was the first person inducted into the Texas Wesleyan Athletic Hall of Fame (1976).

Bounds’ successor and Texas Wesleyan’s current head coach Bobby Cornett ’72 spoke for Bounds at the GCAA banquet. “I was really grateful for the opportunity to talk about O.D.,” Cornett said. “He was a special person in my life and a special person at Texas Wesleyan, and the more people who know about him the better.” Cornett played for Bounds from 1968–1972, earning All-American honors in 1972, before taking over as head coach in 1985. “O.D. and his wife, Maurice, were both eternal optimists who always looked for the good in people. That was one of the attributes I admired most about him and a quality that stayed with him throughout his life. I am glad that I got to recognize some of the coaches in attendance that O.D. would have recognized. He was a leader at our school, an outstanding educa-tor, and an outstanding human being.”

Bounds’ winning spirit lives onThe program that Bounds built has continued to thrive under the guidance of Bobby Cornett and Kevin Millikan ’98. While qualifying for the NAIA National Tournament in 48 out of 55 years of membership, Texas Wesleyan is tied for the NAIA record with six national titles while taking a record nine runner-up finish-

es. The team has never missed the cut at the national tournament and finished out-side of the Top 10 on only three occasions. Nine Rams have won national individual medalist honors while 71 players have earned All-American status.

Entering the spring semester, the Rams are ranked 13th in the NAIA Coaches’ Poll and 8th in the Golf World/Nike Coaches’ Poll after taking three second-place finishes in five tournaments this fall.

— Josh Lacy

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M I L L I K A N   H A S A T H L E T I C S   O N   T H E   R I S E

by Josh Lacy

Texas Wesleyan Athletics has thrived over the past five years, and Athletic Director Kevin Millikan’s efforts have kept the department on the rise.

Many will point to the 2006 Men’s Basketball National Championship as a turning point for all sports at Texas Wesleyan. That was Millikan’s first year as Athletic Director after serving one year as Interim Athletic Director. Millikan continued to serve as head golf coach until turning over his coaching duties to Bobby Cornett ’72 this year and focusing all of his attention on his position as AD, and the department has already seen results.

Millikan announced this fall that the department will expand to include men’s and women’s cross country and track in the fall of 2010 as well as expanded junior varsity opportunities in men’s basketball, baseball, and men’s soccer. He has hired Natnael Amare, already an accomplished collegiate coach, to head both programs.

Millikan was excited about the addition of cross country and track, commenting that Texas Wesleyan will now be eligible to compete in 14 of the NAIA’s 23 national championships. “These sports are a natural fit in terms of travel as it relates to class time as well as conference and national competition,” Millikan said. “We feel that we can be competitive at a national level with all of our sports.

“I think that Texas Wesleyan is a great fit for the NAIA. We have a similar profile to many of the successful programs in the NAIA. We have a lot of top programs in the region that prepare us for competition at the national level. That, along with direct qualification from our conference to the national tournament level, is an advantage for us in recruiting student athletes who want to compete at a high level.”

Beginning with that national title in 2006, Texas Wesleyan’s athletic teams have won 12 conference championships, made 14 national tournament appearances, and won five national titles in four years.

Last year alone, five of Texas Wesleyan’s nine varsity sports advanced to a national tournament. The women’s soccer, men’s basketball, and golf

teams all won Red River Athletic Conference Championships. The Table Tennis team won its sixth consecutive NCTTA National Championship, while the basketball team reached the NAIA Sweet-16 and the golf team finished as the NAIA runner-up. Meanwhile the baseball and women’s soccer programs made their first ever NAIA National Tournament appearances.

A great part of Texas Wesleyan’s athletic success can be attributed to a tremendous coaching staff. Four coaches currently hold the school record for career wins: Terry Waldrop (212 — men’s basketball), Stacy Francis MEd. ’04 (132 — women’s basketball), Shannon Gower ’04 (122 — softball), and Josh Gibbs ’03 (42 — women’s soccer). Head baseball coach Mike Jeffcoat is also poised to surpass the school wins mark this season. Jeffcoat entered this season tied for second on Wesleyan’s coaching list with 258 wins. The current record is held by Frank Fultz at 283.

The coaching staff only grows more impressive when you add an Olympic Medal winner in table tennis coach Jasna Rather and a three-time NAIA National Coach of the Year in Bobby Cornett.

Even the Rams’ latest hire, Nat Amare, has a tremendous résumé. In six years at Northwood University, Amare won six Red River Athletic Conference championships in men’s cross country and six more in women’s cross country. He also notched six runner-up finishes in women’s track and three more in men’s track while competing in limited events.

“One of our strengths is the stability of our coaching staff,” Millikan commented. “Eight of our nine coaches have held their position at Texas Wesleyan for at least four years while four of them have been here for at least nine years. We have people who understand what it takes to be successful at this level, and that is a great advantage for our University and our student athletes.”

Gaspar Martinez

Danielle parks

josh Gibbs

stacy francis

hector Mukweyi

“WE fEEL THAT WE CAN BE COMpETITIvE AT A NATIONAL LEvEL WITH ALL Of OuR SpORTS.”

Kevin Millikan, Athletic Director

www.txwes.edu1 2 

Championship DynastyPerhaps the best way to describe Table Tennis at Texas Wesleyan by herb charles

Spring 2010 1 3 

Texas Wesleyan’s Table Tennis program has brought home national collegiate championships every year since its inception in 2002. First singles in 2002 and 2003, and then singles and team championships in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009. Get the picture?

Fueling this dynasty is a head coach with a fierce competitive spirit. Jasna Rather is a national collegiate champion, a veteran of four Olympic competitions, and an Olympic bronze medal winner. Not content with Wesleyan’s phenomenal track record, she continues to strengthen Wesleyan’s standing as America’s premier collegiate Table Tennis program.

shareD VisionThe winning formula began in 2000, when golf coach Bobby Cornett ’72 shared his long-held belief about table tennis with a newly appointed university president. “Bobby’s vision was in line with what I believed Wesleyan needed,” noted Dr. Harold Jeffcoat, “a unique sport that we could quickly dominate. One we could use to establish not just a national, but an international reputation.”

And thus it began. Jasna Rather became Wesleyan’s first player in 2002. Originally from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Rather won the bronze in 1988 and competed again for Yugoslavia in the 1992 Olympics. After moving to Michigan in 1996 and becoming a U.S. citizen, she played for the United States in the 2000 and 2004 Olympics.

riGhtinG a wronGIn 1988, Rather brought her bronze medal home to her grandmother in Bosnia. When civil war broke out, the medal was lost forever. Last year, Dr. Jeffcoat, a board member of the governing body that oversees the U.S. Olympic team, petitioned to award Rather a replacement. “There’s no way our table tennis coach won’t have her Olympic medal,” Jeffcoat said.

“Amazingly, the Swiss foundry that casts the official medals was able to locate the original die from the 1988 Seoul Olympics,” he added.

During the ceremony in October when Team Wesleyan received their 2009 National Collegiate Championship rings, Jeffcoat presented the newly cast Olympic bronze medal to coach Rather. A crowd of Wesleyan supporters and members of the public broke into enthusiastic applause and cheered when Rather received the replica of her long-lost medal.

the quest continuesIn December, 2009, coach Rather successfully won the bid to stage the National Team Trials at Wesleyan. “We hosted the best players in America,” said Rather. “Winning here means they will represent the U.S. at the World Championships in Moscow.” Rather strategically scheduled the Leone Texas Wesleyan Open immediately following, so these top players could stay and compete with international players for $9,000 in cash prizes.

And it just gets better. Mark Hazinski, Wesleyan’s national collegiate singles champion and 2004 Olympian, took top honors at the National Team Trials and will compete in Moscow this May.

With the success of the Team Trials and with a Wesleyan Olympian at the World Championships, Rather is now preparing for an even greater challenge. She has her sights set on making Wesleyan home to the 2012 USA Olympic Team Trials.

With her winning track record, all that can be said is . . . reserve your seats early.

For videos and results of the 2010 National Collegiate Championships in Waukesha, Wisconsin, April 8-11, visit www.txwes.edu/tabletennis.

photos, left to right: President Jeffcoat presents Table Tennis coach Jasna Rather with a duplicate of her 1988 Olympic Bronze Medal.

“. . . Definitely the highlight of my table tennis career,“ is how Mark Hazinski put it to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram after winning the National Team Trials.

Wesleyan’s table tennis team entertained over 19,500 fans during half-time at a Dallas Mavericks game. Players Aldis Presley, Chance Friend, and Mark and Sara Hazinski were invited to the locker room after the game to take on the Mavs in table tennis. Presley then beat coach Carlisle in a game of Horse! Photo courtesy of Daniel Rutenberg

Wesleyan champs Chance Friend and Mark and Sara Hazinski played alongside Dallas Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle and Dirk Nowitzki at an exhibition benefiting pancreatic cancer research. Also pictured, Jasna and William Rather.

Members of the Wesleyan Table Tennis Team, including coach Keith Evans and manager David Livings, received their 2009 National Collegiate Championship rings in a ceremony in October.

The stats don’t lie.

www.txwes.edu1 4 

Our initial journey to Haiti began on January 18, six days after the devastating earthquake.

Dr. Nagaraj Kikkeri, our chief anesthesiologist at White Rock Anesthesia in Dallas, made contact with Grace Flight of America, which provides transportation for family members during medical emergencies. Private travel into Port-au-Prince was off limits, so we landed in Jacmel, almost two hours southeast of the capital.

Our group, along with surgeons and nurses from Houston, boarded U.S. Air Force helicopters the next day and traveled to Port-au-Prince. We traveled from the airport to CDTI hospital.

On our trip through downtown Port-au-Prince, we first glimpsed the devastation. The situation was far worse than any of us could have imagined.

The “tent cities” were multiplying rapidly throughout Port-au-Prince. Many families were reluctant to leave the areas where their homes once stood. On our way to the hospital I saw helplessness,

hunger, thirst and despair, but not one act of violence.

Nothing could have prepared me for Haiti. My group was assigned to the emergency room/operating room — where three to four surgeries were in progress at all times. Because the oxygen supply was scarce, general anesthesia was not an option; we

were forced to perform nerve blocks supplemented with intravenous sedation, which worked well.

Anesthesia of any type was lacking in some of the makeshift area hospitals and many procedures were performed with little or no

anesthesia. One surgeon reported that whiskey was being used as a numbing agent and to fight infection.

The majority of the procedures performed at CDTI were orthopedic in nature, mostly amputations. For me, the most disheartening reality was that one-half of the amputations involved children. Many of the amputations could have been prevented if the appropriate orthopedic equipment was available.

On January 21 — my birthday — our worst fears were realized.

An aftershock with a magnitude of 6.0 occurred in the early hours of the morning. Later that day, while in the operating room, another aftershock shook the building. Some of the cracks in the walls became wider before our eyes. All surgeries were postponed while the building underwent inspection.

For our second visit to Haiti, we again obtained transportation directly into Port-au-Prince through Grace Flight. Armed with anesthetizing agents and other supplies, we arrived to much-improved conditions within the hospital.

Living conditions within the city and surrounding areas, however, had not improved. Adequate shelter is a very serious issue in Port-au-Prince. There are an estimated 100,000 individuals in one of the tent cities. Many of these tents are made from bed sheets and offer little protection from rain.

In light of the lack of sanitation and the undetermined number of bodies which remain buried beneath the buildings, the rainy season also presents a threat for the spread of disease.

Adoptions are projected to take two years in order to ensure that all efforts to locate family members have been exhausted. Who will protect the children with the government in chaos?

A HARBOR OF HOPE IN PORT-AU-PRINCEA Texas Wesleyan DNAP student provides care in a city torn apart by the 2010 Haiti Earthquake

By Angela L. Smith ’01, CRNA Doctoral Candidate, Doctorate of  

Nurse Anesthesia practicephotos courtesy of Angela Smith

If you would like to help victims of the Haiti earthquake, please go to http://clintonbushhaitifund.org/ or http://redcross.org/.

On March 27, the Texas Wesleyan Spring ’10 Freshman Success Class sponsored the Hike for Haiti walkathon to raise funds for relief efforts.

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) honored Texas Wesleyan University with the 2009 Employers for Education Excellence (EEE) Award. The award was presented in Austin on Friday, Nov. 20, in recognition of Wesleyan’s outstanding work with the Fort Worth Independent School District (FWISD).

The Gold Level award was given to Carlos A. Martinez, dean of the School of Education, and Marcus Kerr, chief information officer, who represented Wesleyan at the November State Board of Education meeting. The award is given in bronze, silver and gold levels, with gold being the highest level.

“We are delighted to be recognized by the Texas Education Agency,” Harold Jeffcoat, Texas Wesleyan University president, said, “and we commend our School of Education for their continued excellent performance.”

The EEE Award “honors employers who implement a policy to encourage and

support employees who actively participate in the activities of schools.” Fort Worth ISD also nominated Texas Wesleyan for the award.

Eleven Texas employers were recognized by the TEA for this year’s EEE Award. Texas Wesleyan University was honored for its Campus Outreach initiative to FWISD — especially Polytechnic High School (PHS)—through youth and family summits, career fairs, sports events and the Sycamore Park Educational Alliance for Knowledge — a University Partnership (SPEAK-UP), which currently allows 11 PHS graduates to attend the University with no tuition cost.

The TEA also recognized Texas Wesleyan University’s bilingual teacher assistant program, grant collaboration, and events such as the annual Highlander/Wesleyan Jazz Festival, Expanding Your Horizons in Science and Mathematics conference, and Chemistry Camp for Kids, all of which have advanced academic and social success for FWISD students.

Texas Wesleyan University joins other Fort Worth Gold Level winners: the City of Fort Worth; Huckabee & Associates, Inc.; Johnston Legal Group; and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“This is well-deserved recognition for these companies and businesses that encourage their staff members to attend parent-teacher conferences, mentor students, assist with special projects, and volunteer in many other ways in our public schools,” said Gail Lowe, chair of the State Board of Education. “The entire board joins me in commending these employers for their visible commitment to public education.”

tEXas WEsLEyan UniVERsity RECEiVEs statE EDUCat ion aWaRD

1 5 Spring 2010

“We are delighted to be recognized by the Texas Education Agency, and we commend our School of Education for their continued excellent performance.”

Harold Jeffcoat, Texas Wesleyan University president

Glick House Community Counseling Center Making a Difference By Bill Bowen | Photos by Darren White

www.txwes.edu1 6 

Blair Danz has learned a lot while working with Glick House Community Counseling Center clients who are seeking help with depression, drug abuse, relationship counseling and other problems.

“It’s important for people to know that it’s okay to not know what to do,” Danz said, adding that, in her role as counselor at the Texas Wesleyan University facility, it has been jarring to discover that she doesn’t necessarily know what is best for clients, either. “The client is actually the expert in their own life. It just takes some help sometimes to know what to do, to find the solution.”

It’s a not an uncommon sentiment at Glick House, where Texas Wesleyan University graduate students seeking accreditation for a the Licensed Marital and Family Therapy or Licensed Professional Counselor

designations, begin the challenging work of guiding clients through some of life’s most difficult problems.

“It’s been very hard for me,” said Brisa Zemperich, who is in the pre-practicum phase of her training as she prepares to work with real clients. “I had this crazy idea that I was going to listen to people tell me their problems and then I would say: ‘Here’s what you need to do.’”

Jennifer Burgess, who is also in her pre-practicum training, said the program has been an academic jolt. “It’s very scary,” Burgess said. “You’re out of your comfort zone. It’s raw. It’s emotional. At the same time, it’s been the best learning experience I’ve ever had.”

Glick House has operated for only two and a half years, but its operations are already changing the views of students and the outlook of a growing number of clients. It is also giving Texas Wesleyan an important and growing presence in the community.

Named for Marie Glick, who donated the property to the University, Glick House opened as a counseling center in September 2007 after undergoing an $85,000 renovation to convert it for its new purpose. Glick lived in the home with her husband, former Texas Wesleyan Dean Walter Glick, until his death in 1960. She continued living there after the donation in 1988 through an agreement with the school. She celebrated her 100th birthday less than two months after the opening of the counseling center in 2007.

H O u R S   O f O p E R A T I O N Monday – Thursday, 1–9 p.m.(Last appointment scheduled for 7 p.m.)

Saturday, 9 a.m.–5 p.m.(Last appointment scheduled for 3 p.m.)

Closed Friday and Sunday

For more information, contact Scott Methvin at 817-531-4859 or smethvin@txwes.edu or go to http://www.txwes.edu/mapc/glickhouse.htm.

Jennifer Burgess

Mark Chaney and

Jessica Reta-Gomez

C O u N S E L I N g   S E R v I C E S

n  Individual

n  Marriage and Family

n  Adolescents

n  Anger Management

n  Parenting

n  Grief

n  Substance Abuse

n  Supervised Parental Visitation

n  School-Related Issues

n  Parole/Probation Counseling

n  Partner Violence Counseling

Since the opening, the center has seen growth in the number of graduate students in the counseling programs and a steady rise in clients.

The center began operations with a small cadre of graduate psychology students that has grown exponentially, said Scott Methvin, director of the counseling center and supervisor of the student’s counseling work.

“We started out with eight,” Methvin said recently. “Now we’ve got 29.”

That group saw 2,568 clients in 2009, and conducted 1,495 client therapy and counseling sessions that included 1,000

individuals, 165 couples and 317 families. The list also includes 26 Texas Wesleyan students.

The Counseling Center client population comes from Wesleyan students, staff and faculty who receive the service without charge. Other referrals come from community groups, including John Peter Smith Health Center, the Family Resource Center of the Fort Worth school district, Mental Health Mental Retardation Services of Tarrant County, Catholic Charities and others. Those community clients are charged on a sliding scale, depending on their ability to pay.

“We don’t turn anyone away,” Methvin said. All clients pay at least a nominal fee, which gives them a financial incentive in approaching the therapy seriously.

Those problems run the gamut and the client pool seems to grow, thanks in part,

due to the fact that the stigma of seeking help for mental health problems has largely dissipated, Methvin said.

Many of the student clients are dealing with the transition to college life, being away from home and facing the pressures of the world on their own shoulders for the first time, Methvin said.

“Right now, many of the clients we are seeing are dealing with self-esteem issues and depression,” he said.

Many of the clients from the community speak Spanish, so graduate students who speak Spanish help the counseling center serve a part of the community that might otherwise go underserved.

Other referrals include people with marital or relationship problems, uncontrollable children, issues with addiction or other destructive behaviors.

“This is for real here,” Methvin said. “This is dealing with people with real-life problems.”

For their part, the students often bring considerable real-life experience. Many are returning to school to get their advanced degrees after working in related fields. Even those who have worked in unrelated fields bring a broader perspective and worldview that would not have been possible when they were completing their undergrad work.

Amee Marr is a good example. She got her Bachelor of Arts in psychology in 1998 and has been working as an investigator for the Mental Health Mental Retardation unit at the Denton State School. There, she investigates allegations of abuse and ensures that procedures and policies are followed to ensure proper treatment of very vulnerable clients.

She will graduate in May with an M.A. as a licensed professional counselor and as a licensed marriage counselor and therapist. She wants to work with elderly clients who are adapting to the changes and isolation of advanced age.

“They are really interesting,” Marr said. “They have lived a lot of life and are now losing their friends, getting lonely and dealing with the physical impairments that come with age.”

She plans to build an independent counseling and therapy practice.

Blair Danz is another. She worked in the health-care industry as an ultrasound technician, an echographer. “I spent a lot of my time helping the people I worked for,” Danz explained. “I’m a helper.”

She is now finishing up her master’s and the journey has included working with a number of clients. Some of the lessons have been necessary, but tough, she said. She thinks of the client that she felt she had to confront about honesty.

“She left and never came back,” Danz remembered. “I wonder if I should have waited.”

Still, she knows that only those who are ready to change will find the power necessary for real change. And she has learned how to deal with every client with “empathy and unconditional positive regard.”

“This is a growth program,” she said. “It’s about your own growth, too; self-reflection, learning what you’re good at.”

Success, she says, is when friends of current or former clients come in to get help.

“That’s when you know you’ve made a difference for someone.”

1 7 Spring 2010

Scott Methvin

www.txwes.edu1 8 

Law SchooL ceLebrateS

20 YearS

From humble beginnings as a part-time, evening program in Irving, Texas, to an ABA-accredited, vibrant, modern institution

of superior legal education in downtown Fort Worth, Texas Wesleyan School of Law has covered a lot of ground in its first 20 years. Now

home to 750 students and with more than 2,800 graduates practicing law, the law school is a major player in the Fort Worth and Tarrant County legal communities.

A Brief HistoryTexas Wesleyan School of Law was founded in 1989 as the Dallas/Fort Worth School of Law. The school was located on the Dallas Province campus of the School Sisters of Notre Dame convent in Irving and shared space with a boarding school for 11-year-old girls, mainly from Latin America. The first semester, all classes were held in the main chapel sanctuary, with other rooms in the complex developed for classroom uses beginning with the second and later entering classes.

At first, the school offered only night classes. Frank Elliott, the first permanent dean and currently professor of law, recalled that there was a market for people who wanted to go to law school but couldn’t afford to go to day school.

“They had jobs, families, whatever, and almost every place else in the U.S. there was at least one night law school, and here there wasn’t,” Elliott said.

After beginning the day school division in 1991, the law school looked to expand, and eventually relocated to the former campus site of Recognition Equipment, Inc. in Irving. The next year, Texas Wesleyan University officially acquired the law school, in an effort spearheaded by Bob Harmon, BS ’79, JD ’96, trustees Loren Hanson, Rice Tilley and Walter Fortney, and Wesleyan president at the time Jake Schrum.

In 1996, the law school learned it would not be able to renew the lease with REI. It had one year to find a new home. “I was a little bit panicked,” Jim Hambleton, then the director

of the law library and now associate dean for budgeting and planning and professor of law, said. “I had visions of being in the parking lot under a tent with the books.” The law school moved to its current home in downtown Fort Worth in 1997 and was granted full accreditation with the American Bar Association in 1999.

“At 20 years, we’re still building,” Judge Joe Spurlock II, professor of law and director of the Asian Judicial Institute, said. “We really are in infancy still. We’re still new, we’re still making traditions. . . . I’d love to be around twenty more years or thirty more years to see what we really become.”

Read more from four founders of the law school in the latest Wesleyan Lawyer alumni magazine, available on the law school’s web site: http://bit.ly/aAN28D.

A Preview of the Chief Justice Joe Greenhill CollectionOn Friday, Sept. 25, 2009, the law school community as well as family and friends of Chief Justice Joe Greenhill were treated to a special preview of Greenhill’s memorabilia in the law school’s Bernie Schuchmann Conference Center.

In 2008, Greenhill selected Texas Wesleyan School of Law to receive his donated personal papers and memorabilia to establish an archive for the use of researchers interested in public policy.

Dean Frederic White provided the opening remarks during the event and was followed by speaker Michelle Rigual, director of the Dee J. Kelly Law Library and professor of law.

by Dan Brothers, Cristina Noriega and Amy Batheja

Dee J. Kelly, Martha Greenhill and Dean Frederic White

Spring 2010 1 9 

Rigual said the library will be creating a special collections room for the Greenhill memorabilia that will include gavels, awards, bench chairs and other items from his tenure in the legal profession. When completed, the 430-square-foot study room will provide long-term storage of the collection and act as a space that will allow researchers to use the materials. Karin Strohbeck, law school circulation librarian who is also certified in archival administration, will be processing and indexing the collection.

Dee J. Kelly and John H. Cayce, Chief Justice of the Second Court of Appeals, also spoke about their experiences with Greenhill during the event.

Kelly noted that Greenhill had received “every award that can be given to a lawyer or judge.”

Born in 1914 in Houston, Greenhill received his B.A., B.B.A. and LL.B. degrees

from the University of Texas. Greenhill has been active in the Texas legal profession

for many years, including 25 years on the Supreme Court of Texas. In 1950, he was one of the co-founders of Graves,

Dougherty & Greenhill in Austin. He was appointed to the Supreme Court of Texas in 1957, and in 1958 was elected to the court.

For more information about the special collections room or to make a donation, contact Casey Dyer Oliver at 817-212-4145 or cdyer@law.txwes.edu.

Anniversary Year Kicks Off in StyleMore than 250 members of the law school community were on hand to celebrate the law school’s 20th anniversary kickoff event held at the Ashton Depot in Fort Worth on Friday, Sept. 25, 2009.

Texas Wesleyan School of Law Dean Frederic White provided the opening remarks for the evening and recognized all the former deans of the law school: Frank Elliott, Frank Walwer, Richard Gershon, Frederick Slabach and Interim Dean Cynthia Fountaine.

“Each one of these individuals played an important part in shaping this school into what it is today,” Dean White said.

Dr. Harold G. Jeffcoat, president of Texas Wesleyan University, congratulated the school of law on its 20-year mark during a

prerecorded video message that was played during the event.

Chuck Noteboom, of Noteboom — The Law Firm, received the Steve Chaney Friend of the Law School Award, and Fountaine received the Richard Gershon Leadership Award. Texas State Rep. Phil King, JD ’94, the first student admitted into the law school 20 years ago, presented a proclamation from the state legislature commending the law school on its anniversary.

The event ended with a historical video presentation

celebrating the law school’s first 20 years followed by a champagne toast.

Honoring the Founding ClassesThe founding classes of the law school — the graduating classes of 1993, 1994 and 1995 — were honored with a luncheon and a new plaque on Friday, Dec. 11, 2009. During the luncheon, Judge Joe Spurlock II, professor of law, spoke about the 20-year history of the school and the importance of the founding classes’ dedication to the law school prior to ABA accreditation. Dr. Bob Leone, JD ’94, currently practicing with the Lanier Law Firm in Houston, reminisced about his time at the school, including starting up the school’s first legal fraternity, Delta Phi Delta.

“All we had to do to get accredited — I never had any doubts,” he said. “I knew it was just a matter of time. The best thing I ever did was choose to go to Texas Wesleyan School of Law.”

After the luncheon, attendees gathered in the second-floor hallway where the plaque, which lists each graduate’s name from the classes of 1993, 1994 and 1995, was unveiled to a champagne toast.

The Celebration ContinuesThe 20th anniversary celebrations will conclude this May with the naming of 20 distinguished alumni and a black-tie gala event. Visit www.alumni.law.txwes.edu or call 817-212-4145 to learn more.

L–R: Dean Emeritus Frank Elliott, Dean Frederic White, Rita O’Donald Noel, Dean Emeritus Frederick Slabach and Dean Emeritus Richard Gershon. Below left: Decorative pillars were stationed throughout the venue and displayed unique aspects of the law school’s history.

Bob Harmon, BS ’79, JD ’96 and Texas State Rep. Phil King, JD ’94

www.txwes.edu2 0 

By Paul Sturiale | Photographs by Mark Hanshaw

Ask Assistant Professor Mark Hanshaw’s 90-plus students

what they find most fascinating about his classes on

religion and they’ll probably say it’s the 360-degree

way he looks at things.

Mar

k

Hanshaw

A 360˚ View of Lif

e

clockwise from top left: Protective deity on a temple in Chennai, India; Hanshaw with Indian students in Nagpur, India; The Louvre Museum in Paris; An Alpine musician in Innsbrook, Austria; Tibetan Buddhist Monks enter a monastery for morning prayer; Bavarian King Ludwig’s castle in Germany.

Spring 2010 21 

That’s fitting for an educator who has circled the globe multiple

times. Texas Wesleyan’s Assistant Professor of

Comparative Religious Studies uses his travels as the basis for classroom dissections of the world’s religions and value systems. This semester, Dr. Hanshaw is teaching classes on Ways of Being Religious, World Religions and Introduction to Buddhism.

His emphasis is teaching students to apply and contrast the theoretical underpinnings of

the world’s great religions to their perspectives. But his approach is anything but theoretical.

“I like to stimulate my students to actively participate in discussion and conversation in class, as a way of helping them wrestle directly with the viewpoints and beliefs held by those from other cultures. I want them to be able to apply what they learn to their own experiences so they develop a broader sense of the social and cultural priorities that motivate individuals from around the globe. I want them to see that the way they perceive a situation or experience may not be the same for one coming from a different

culture. Yet, once we understand the perspective of our global neighbor, we can come to respect, appreciate and learn

from that different perspective,” Dr. Hanshaw says in carefully chosen words that reflect his studied,

thoughtful approach to most issues.As part of his work and to satisfy a natural

wanderlust, the former journalist-lawyer-minister-politico has visited more than 50 countries. He has lived in the United Kingdom, India, and the United States and studied with religious leaders in such diverse regions of

the globe as South Asia, North Africa and the Persian Gulf. Each visit has created new revelations

about himself and a greater understanding of and appreciation for the universal truths that underlie the

world’s major cultural and religious systems.“I have always viewed myself as a citizen of the world. I have

worked in the realms of politics and the law. And in each area, I focused on framing attention on the human condition. I have always been drawn to issues that had trans-national dimensions,” Dr. Hanshaw explained.

A sharper focus on religion and the lawHis academic career reflects his wide-ranging interests. It includes Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and a Juris Doctor from the University of Tennessee; an L.L.M. at the University of Manchester in England; an M.T.S. from Brite Divinity School; and his latest degree, a Doctorate in Comparative Religion & Ethics from Southern Methodist University.

Likewise, his professional career mirrors his interests in religion, the law and the impact on society of the two, even when they appear to clash.

“Religion is the most important of the systems because of its broad social impact. If we look at cultural systems, we see that religions and religious practices shape the way we see others and how we interact with them . . . and sometimes how we shape society in general,” Dr. Hanshaw said. “For example, in Texas,

the role of government can be shaped by religion and religious ideas because they influence who is placed in decision-making positions.”

His career has included stints as a journalist who wrote everything from daily news to a book on H. Ross Perot Jr.’s professional activities; a senior executive for one of Austin’s premier political consultancies; a clergy member for a Hurst congregation; and a professor in religious studies for Southern Methodist University and Richland College before joining Texas Wesleyan’s faculty in 2008.

This spring, Dr. Hanshaw will join the ranks of a new profession: scholarly author. His first book, Muslim & American? Straddling Islamic Law and U.S. Justice, takes a cross-cultural look at Muslims living in Western countries.

Driven to explore and engage You would think that this event might provide most men with a reason to relax and reflect on their accomplishments. But (obviously) Dr. Hanshaw isn’t most men. He is filling the time with preparations to lead a group of 27 students and 3 faculty members from Texas Wesleyan on a two-week summer study program in India.

Typical of the way he views most things, he is excited about this trip because it is cross-disciplinary. The party includes students and faculty from the University’s schools of Education and Philosophy & Religion. So he sees it as an educational opportunity that will engage students with different perspectives to explore common events.

“I hope that the end result will be that each student understands the other’s perspective and, in turn, they understand their own perspectives and themselves better,” He says with a knowing smile.

Though he will miss his wife of 14 years, Yvette, and son, Mark Jr., the trip will be worthwhile because of the opportunity it gives this self-described “citizen of the world” — a chance to use his world and world views to help someone else see their world and themselves in a new light.

“I have always viewed myself as a citizen of the world.”

clockwise from top left: A street market in New Delhi, India; Hanshaw with his wife in Rothenberg, Germany; A snake charmer in Mumbai, India; Hanshaw on the steps of an 8th century temple complex in Southern India.

A Legacy of ExcellenceYour planned gift assures that our 120-Year tradition of excellence will continue.

The Ella C. McFadden Circle is a giving society for families and individuals who

have named the university as a beneficiary in their wills or who have established

some other planned gift that will provide long-term benefits to the university.

Through bequests, gift annuities, charitable remainder trusts, and charitable lead

trusts, funding is provided for student scholarships, faculty development and academic

programs. If you would like to learn more about planned giving and the benefits that

you would enjoy as a donor, please contact Mac McLain (817-531-4494; lmclain@

txwes.edu) or Gina Phillips (817-531-4420; gphillips@txwes.edu).

we verY much appreciate all that our donors do in making a difference in the lives of our students.

The FuTure STarTS Now“Through my annual and planned gifts, current and future generations of Wesleyan students will be able to fulfill their educational goals. Please join me in investing in Texas Wesleyan University. Your planned gifts do make a difference in the lives of our students.”

— Jan Fersing

Spring 2010 23 

T R i B u T e G i f T R e c o G n i T i o n

A gift to a charitable organization is a wonderful way to recognize someone of importance in your life.

Texas Wesleyan is honored to receive gifts in memory or honor of alumni, faculty, staff, students and friends. These gifts acknowledge the relationship individuals have with the University and the community. We are pleased to recognize these gifts and acknowledge the role each honored person and donor has in the lives of our students.

We gratefully acknowledge the following donors for their tribute gifts received from 10/1/09 through 2/28/10.

In Honor of

“Our Friends” for the 2009 Holiday Season to the Wesleyan Fund

George Ann Carter Bahan“Friends” for the 2009 Holiday Season to the Wesleyan Fund

Anne Street Skipper ’78 Excellent Faculty Chamber Music Recital

Patricia N. Barr ’52Dan Boulware ’68 to the Law School Annual Fund

Ken ShetterJames & Richard Lind ’03, ’04 to the Wesleyan Fund

John & Barbara LindJohn H. Maddux ’59 to the Tribute Scholarship Fund

Kay Kennell ’60 John H. Maddux ’59 to the John Maddux Endowed Scholarship fund

Madelon L. BradshawAnn Reed ’82, MEd ’84 to the Adam & Ron Reed Scholarship Fund

Rebecca, Wade, Dane & Gaby PhlegerDr. Victor Test ’86 to the B.C. Deaton Endowed Alpha Chi Scholarship

Actelion Pharmaceuticals US, Inc.Joshua Wilde to the School of Business Annual Fund

Jan Pettigrew Wilde ’94 Our friends and family to the School of Business Annual Fund

Jan Pettigrew Wilde ’94

gift in Kind

Dr. & Mrs. Stuart RosenkrantzJim R. Michaels ’52

In Memory of

Howard F. Barr ’53 to the Music Scholarship FundPatricia N. Barr ’52

Dr. Donald W. Bellah to the Tribute Scholarship Fund

Dr. Euel H. Belcher ’50

Mary Helen Wakefield Bridges ’55 to the Hart/Bridges Endowed Scholarship Fund

Gerald & Dorothy Baum ’54 Rodger & Carla BruceDr. & Mrs. V. Eugene Burge ’54, ’54 Mr. & Mrs. Mel Chapman ’53Patsy Warren Clifford ’55Joanne S. LucasRoger L. & Susanne M. LucasBarbara & John Robertson Mr. & Mrs. Pat Simmons ’54, ’56 Patricia J. Spencer ’54 Joni & Charles D. Wilson

David E. Catterton ’42 to the David E. Catterton Endowed Scholarship Fund

Gladys CattertonJames L. CattertonLois F. Wasoff

Juanita Cowan ’29 to the Vivian & Law Sone Scholarship Fund

Beverly Elbert & Lamar Smith ’52, ’50 Will W. Cunningham ’47 to the Wesleyan Fund

Katherine Cunningham ’43 Ennard (Gordon) Doggett ’68 to the Alice Wonders Scholarship Fund

Anne Street Skipper ’78 Alta Lewis Dollar ’66 to the Alta Lewis Dollar Endowed Scholarship Fund

David Dollar ’86 Ervin M. Gathings ’43 to the Music Scholarship Fund

Nelda W. Gathings ’46 Benny “Lynn” Gray ’42 to the Tribute Scholarship Fund

Shari GustafsonMerlene Ogle Grossman ‘64 to the Wesleyan Fund

Maxine Ogle Lange ’64 Peggy Joy Harmon to the Tribute Scholarship Fund

George Ann & Bill Bahan Dorothy Sue Hart ’47 to the Tribute Scholarship Fund

Evalee Bell Miller ’50 Slidell & Patricia Harvey to the Wesleyan Fund

Daphne Brookins ’01 Homer R. Kluck ’49 to the Tribute Scholarship Fund

Ben & Kaye Younger ’63

Frank Magers ’43 to the School of Arts & LettersNina M. Magers ’44

Forrest Markward ’90 to the Wesleyan FundGilbert & Dorris Ferrell ’44, ’47

Dr. Joe E. Mitchell to the Tribute Scholarship FundSabra Doggett ’70 Bill & Carolyn Swinnea Fairbairn ’65 Dorris & Gil Ferrell ’47, ’44 John H. Maddux ’59 Lynn & Larry MitchellEdward C. & Frances S. Olson

Dr. Richard Penna ’68 to the Music Scholarship FundDavid & Rosemary Jobe ’66, ’66

Adam & Ronald Reed to the Adam Reed Scholarship Fund

Ann Reed ’82, MEd ’84Timothy A. Russell ’64 to the Wesleyan Fund

Wanda Russell ’64 Frank Walwer to the Law Review Endowment

Stephen & Judy Alton JD ’94

Gifts made by Bob and Shirley Corley to the Carol Corley Employee Library Fund

L. D. BatchelorBobby BraganL.W. (Bell) DrechselDell ParishLida Winter

Gifts made by John F. & Jacqueline McIntosh ’68, ’69 to Student Scholarships

Ennard (Gordon) Doggett ’68Dr. Richard G. Penna ’68

www.txwes.edu2 4 

A Stepp Forward for the Theatre Arts Department BY DARREN WHITE

Spring 2010 25 

t sits on the corner on the Avenue C and Binkley Street, elegant green and grey siding and expansive windows at the top of the frame. The landscape invokes a resourceful, independent sensibility.

Inside, that independent sensibility is also evident. Students are welding, painting and using table saws. Classic rock hits from Boston, Aerosmith and The Beatles blare from a portable boombox on a sidewall of the large, open work area.

Suffice it to say, The Claudia Stepp Scene Shop is more than a learning space — though it’s that, too — it’s a working set-building studio and teaching laboratory on the campus of Texas Wesleyan University. These students are working on Working, a musical set to run a little later in the spring semester.

“It has put an excitement and positive energy into the program,” Bryan Stevenson ’01, assistant professor of theater and technical director, said. “The students built the tables

and the racks in the storage here, which gives them a sense of full ownership.”The 4,030 square-foot building, which was unveiled in a ribbon cutting on November 19, was designed by Fort

Worth architects Gideon Toal based on drawings done by Stevenson, who had first started brainstorming plans when he was a student.

The scene shop was made into a reality thanks to a generous donation from Board of Trustees member and arts patron Claudia Stepp ’72, who also helped shape the area’s appealing landscape, the attractive fence surrounding the rear of the property and an outer sitting area where students can take a break and relax.

“To have Claudia share her generosity with her undergraduate alma mater has been great,” Joe Brown, professor of theatre and speech, said. “She really helped make the Scene Shop a showcase for the department and the University.”

Students love working in the climate-controlled space. Before the scene shop was completed, much of the work was done across campus from Thad Smotherman Theatre—where the often-bulky set pieces are placed—in a cramped warehouse space without restrooms or central heat and air.

“It’s so much easier to work here,” Andrea Allmond, senior theatre arts major, said. “We’re closer to the space and we have plenty of room to work.”

Theatre Arts at Texas Wesleyan is renowned for allowing students to experience theater first-hand. While many other schools have large staffs and graduate students who often do most of the work and perform, Texas Wesleyan’s Theatre Arts department allows a hands-on role for all students.

“This is such a good department,” Tommy Fogle, freshman theatre arts major, said, “and this shop is great, too. We have a prop room, a metal area and a space to do woodwork. We don’t lose as many materials in here”

The shop is buzzing with activity. Some students are loading sets into the back of a pickup truck and others are painting. The air is full of the youthful excitement of creation. Fogle looks around at the shop and says, “This is beautiful.”

Penn Gaines, claudia Stepp, Stella Gaines and Steven A. Daniell with Davis Gaines (center), who performed as The Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera on

Broadway. The group recently toured the new facility.

A Stepp Forward for the Theatre Arts Department BY DARREN WHITE

I

Tommy fogle

www.txwes.edu2 6 

Births

Brandon W. Weaver BBA MBA ’00 married Katherine Allen on Sept. 19, 2009 in Regensburg, Germany. Weaver is an attorney at the Benenati Law Firm, PC in Bedford.

Marriages

Alumni News

Nancy (Bransom) Arnold,’69 received The 2009 Arizona Book Award for Children’s Fiction (The Glyph) for her book, Patriotic Pups.  The book will also be a part of the 2010 Mamie Eisenhower Library Program, which provides patriotic books to schools and libraries.  Nancy and her husband reside in Scottsdale Ariz., where she is the Creative Writing Teacher for Benchmark School.

Dr. Diana K. Ivy ’78, also a professor and textbook author, is now the host of a talk radio show called “Call Me Ivy.” The show focuses on communication, gender issues and relationships.

Yoknyam Love Dabale ’06 was featured in a Raleigh News & Observer article titled “Getting a taste of fasting,” published on Sept. 19, 2009. Dabale also graduated from Duke University with a master’s degree in divinity.

Stan Graner ’81 performed in One Thirty Production’s Sanders Family Christmasat Bath House Cultural Center in Dallas from Dec. 2 to 19, 2009.

Chaplain David McKee, BA ’71, has been awarded “Board Certified Clinical Chaplain” status by The College of Pastoral Supervisors and Physiotherapists (CPSP). McKee has been working as a hospice chaplain and bereavement coordinator for Heritage Care Hospice, Harker Heights, Texas for the past 2-and-a-half years. McKee is also a Board Certified Pastoral Counselor and holds a Masters Degree in Counseling from Luther Rice Seminary, Lithonia Ga.

Margaret Mitchell BA ’87 co-authored the book Making the Scene: A History of Stage Design and Technology in Europe and the United States. The book was published in Feb. 2010

Matthew “Crash” Rose M.Ed ’03 called 2009 a “banner year,” and for good reason.

Rose, who is a science department chairperson and head tennis coach, also teaches a class called “Environmental Systems” that helps

students that have failed the TAKS science test at least once.To kick things off, the tennis team was hot off the heels of its eighth district

championship. He was selected as the campus Teacher of the Year for Arlington Heights High School in January. And Rose and his wife had their third child, Wyatt.

“All of this and a newborn baby — what else could a guy ask for?” Rose said in a letter to Allen Henderson, Texas Wesleyan University provost and senior vice president.

Rose then found out that almost all his Environmental Systems students passed the TAKS test. In fact, because of Rose, Arlington Heights leads the district in passing rates, and many even pass with commended scores.

But it gets better. Rose was selected as the 2009 Fort Worth ISD Teacher of the Year, complete with a dinner to Del Frisco’s, Ruth’s Chris Steak House, a car from Sewell’s Lexus for his use for three months and a cash award. It also came with a banner that reads, “Home of Matthew ‘Crash’ Rose, FWISD Teacher of the Year 2009.”

It doesn’t end there, though. Rose was also honored with the RadioShack Chair for Teaching Excellence in Secondary Science, which is an endowed chair with a $5,000 honorarium, and of course, another banner.

As if that wasn’t enough, his tennis team recently won its ninth district championship. A banner year indeed.

Macey Jane Myers was born Monday, March 22, at 12:31 am. Proud parents are Michael and Christina Myers. Michael obtained his BS in Biology in 2002 and is currently enrolled in the M.Ed. program. Christina (Hesse) Myers earned her undergraduate degree in 2003 and her M.Ed. in 2007. Both teach

at D. McRae Elementary School in Fort Worth ISD. Sandy Myers, the ecstatic grandmother (a.k.a. Gammy), received her M.Ed. from Wesleyan in 1998 and has worked in the School of Education since 2000. Aunt Becky Myers is currently at freshman at Wesleyan.

Spring 2010 27 

It’s nice to see a Texas Wesleyan alumnus with green thumbs getting a little praise for his fine efforts to beautify the world.

Steven Williams ’66 and his wife, Sylvia, were recently profiled on KLRU’s Central Texas Gardener. Their Bertram property, purchased in 1998, is a captivating mix of natural Texas and a master gardener’s — Sylvia’s — careful hand.

“It was Sylvia’s idea, I’m a city boy — Dallas, Chicago, Houston, Austin for 20 years,” Steven says in the interview. “We got married and Sylvia said she

wanted a home in the country. I figured she meant a house with a yard.”

The home started as a weekend getaway home, but after they sold their Austin home in 1999, the Bertram

property became their prime residence. “I was ecstatic,” Sylvia says in the same interview.

Sylvia planted hedges, added walkways and placed flower beds in the garden,

and both the architecture of the potting shed — designed

by Sylvia — and the garden’s plants reflect the quiet strength of central Texas.

The shed has a stone exterior, and the old barn-wood interior was obtained by Sylvia from a local farmer. The plants Sylvia selected are durable enough to stand up to the hot central Texas summers.

The property’s richness has been noticed by others as well. That beautiful stone potting shed has also been featured in Debra Prinzing’s book, Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways, published by Clarkson Potter/Random House in 2008.

You can view the Central Texas Gardener clip at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4ar0zO0aGM.

How does YOUR garden grow? by Darren White

www.txwes.edu

W.f. (“Bill”) Smith B.A. ‘50. Sept. 7, 2009, Quanah. | Smith was the CEO of the First National Bank of Quanah as well as a highly involved civic supporter who was involved in organizations ranging from March of Dimes to Red River Authority. He was a former Board of Trustees member at Texas Wesleyan. He also loved restoring antiques, woodworking and golf. Smith often spent his summers in Vail, Colo.

Wiley g. Thomas, BA ’37. Sept. 28, 2009, fort Worth. | Wiley received his bachelor’s degree from Texas Wesleyan College, and

later received a master’s degree from Texas Christian University and a Ph.D. from North Texas University. Wiley was the Birdville ISD superintendent for 36 years. After his retirement from BISD, he taught public school finance at Texas Wesleyan.

L.W. (“Bill”) Drechsel, BS ’50. Oct. 5, 2009, fort Worth. | Bill graduated from Baylor College of Dentistry in 1953. He served as a dentist aboard the USS Philippine Sea aircraft carrier for 14 months. Bill practiced dentistry for 40 years, and was a lifetime member of First United Methodist Church in Fort Worth.

Jean painter Lee, BS ’68. Oct. 11, 2009, Dallas. | Jean taught special education in Colorado and later in Fort Worth and Arlington. She also enjoyed many crafts ranging from cooking to needlepoint, and sewing. Jean also had many dogs which she adored.

Cecile Laverne fields, BS ’46. Oct. 13, 2009, Amarillo. | Cecile served as president of her senior class at then-Texas Wesleyan College. Cecile was a schoolteacher in Briscoe and Shamrock and was instrumental in the creation of the Pioneer West Museum in Shamrock. She taught Sunday school and was a member of United Methodist Women at First United Methodist Church in Shamrock.

Dr. Eugene f. Jud. Oct. 13, 2009, Waco. | Dr. Jud received a bachelor of arts degree

from Baylor University in 1935, and a master’s degree in administrative education from Baylor in 1938. He enlisted in the Navy during World War II, and did additional post-graduate work at the University of Southern California and the University of Texas. Dr. Jud received his honorary Doctorate of Laws from Texas Wesleyan University in 1958.

gussie (“gus”) Spencer Weber, BS ’49. Oct. 14, 2009, Houston. | Gussie served in the U.S. Army from 1943 to 1945 and received two Purple Hearts. He attended Texas Wesleyan College on a basketball scholarship and worked for Texaco in the land department after 31 years and retired in 1986.

Mary Martin pinkerton, BS ’90. Oct. 16, 2009, Arlington. | Mary attended Arlington High School and graduated from Texas Wesleyan University with summa cum laude honors. She was a member of St. Maria Goretti Catholic Church and a longtime associate of the Christian Community of God’s Delight in Dallas.

Dr. Jack Martin, BS ’53. Oct. 30, 2009, fort Worth. | Jack was a Fort Worth native who graduated from Baylor Dental College with a doctor of dental surgery in 1957. He served aboard the USS Natoma Bay and USS Guadalcanal as a member of the U.S. Navy during World War II. He was a member of the Thunderbirds Club, a local radio-controlled airplanes club.

In Memoriam

Joe itchell: leading light in educationby Darren White

When he first came to Texas Wesleyan in the spring of 1960, Dr. Joe Mitchell, professor emeritus and former dean of Education, said, “The spirit of the place and the warmth of welcome to

a newcomer impressed me.”In the nearly half a century Dr. Mitchell spent associated with the University, he would become a

mentor, teacher and friend to many at Texas Wesleyan, radiating his own warmth and welcome. “He brought the School of Education into the modern age,” said Allen Henderson, provost and senior

vice president of Texas Wesleyan University.Mitchell, a native of Kosse, Texas, died Feb. 1, 2010. He was known as a voracious reader, often

reading two to three hours every day — anything from fiction to biographies to detailed history — and he encouraged the same type of learning from his friends and peers.

He loved to learn — new ideas, new stories, new words. After learning a new word, he would often make a point of working it into classes, faculty meetings and conversation, sending his students — and his peers — running for the dictionary, Henderson said.

“He amassed a faculty of learners, and he was truly ahead of his time,” Henderson said. “The ripple effects of his time here are still evident.”

His contributions to the School of Education were great. He was one of the first educators in the area to understand the importance of bilingual education, and he helped make Texas Wesleyan a leader in that field.

Dr. Mitchell retired in 1991, but he continued to teach for many years in the School of Education as a professor emeritus. Even as he taught less and less frequently, he was still remembered as a tireless advocate for the faculty.

In a 1999 article penned for this magazine, Mitchell said, “This catalog of programs and buildings would be meaningless, if it failed to mention the faculty and staff who have manned the barricades between barbarism and civility. They kept the faith and ran the course. Today that cloud of witnesses may look upon us and ask, ‘How stands the University? How stands the School of Education?’ We can answer in firm response: ‘It is well!’”

28 

Spring 2010 29 

Kevin Mcgreevey ’70. Nov. 5, 2009 | Kevin was born in Brooklyn, NY, where he graduated from Central Islip High School before coming to Texas Wesleyan in fall 1965. Kevin was a member of the varsity baseball team and a member of the Alpha Phi Omega fraternity. He entered the mass transportation field and became an industry leader in the transportation of elderly and disabled passengers in mass transit systems. His stops included Texas Bus Lines in Dallas/Fort Worth, Transportation Enterprises of Atlanta, GA, METRO of Houston, TX, and finally Project Manager for Stratagen Systems, a Seattle, WA-based company that specializes in mass transit software.

Doris patterson Weaver, BS ’48. Nov. 8, 2009, Dallas. | Doris worked for Republic Bank. She and her husband, the Rev. Dr. R. Bruce Weaver, were very active in the United Methodist Church for many decades. She also traveled to Switzerland, Germany, Russia, Great Britain, Canada, Hawaii and many U.S. destinations.

Dorothy Sue Rowe, BA ’47, M.Ed. ’55. Nov. 10, 2009, North Richland Hills. | Dorothy spent over 33 years teaching in public school systems in Fort Worth, Birdville and Falls Church, Va. She also received an Ed.S degree from George Washington University.

Merlyn Walter Dahlin, BS ’51. Nov. 12, 2009, fort Worth. | Merlyn served in the U. S. Army for three years during World War II and was honorably discharged Dec. 30, 1948. He graduated with honors from Texas Wesleyan College and later attended Texas Christian University, where he earned a master’s degree in business and accounting. He started a private accounting practice, which would become Dahlin, Fitch, Alexander and Seymund, P.C., in 1957. Merlyn was an active member of the Moslah Shrine Patrol, of which he was president in 1979.

Kathlyn Robinson Bice, BS ’55. Nov. 14, 2009, Waco. | Kathlyn graduated at the top of her class at Texas Wesleyan and later earned master’s degrees in education and business from Texas Christian University. Kathlyn was a computer pioneer who installed the first computer in Fort Worth while working for IBM. She would later instruct Morton H. Meyerson and Ross Perot on computer language.

Doris Donilane Reves Miller. Nov. 19, 2009, fort Worth. | Doris met her husband, John Miller at Texas Wesleyan, and the two were married in 1947. She was a member of Eastern Star for nearly 50 years and was a member of the First Baptist Church of Watauga.

James foster Smith, JD. Nov. 27, 2009, fort Worth. | James was a retired Fort Worth police sergeant and attorney, who also held a degree in criminal justice from Texas Christian University.

William Lee Connell, Jr. Nov. 26, 2009, Corpus Christi. | William attended Kilgore College and Texas Wesleyan and was employed for many years at the Frito Lay Company. William also served as a master sergeant in the army during World War II in the New Guinea campaign.

Bennye gray, BS ’42. Dec. 8, 2009, fort Worth. | Bennye was the daughter of Texas Wesleyan’s bursar, Mrs. Loyne Brooks. She graduated from Texas Wesleyan and later earned a master’s degree from Texas Christian University. Bennye taught in Frost, Fort Worth and Castleberry schools. She was also a National Spelling Bee sponsor. She accompanied a Texas champion to Washington D.C., in 1974 and 1975.

Juanita Irvine Cowan, BA ’29. Dec. 12, 2009, fort Worth. | Juanita was a professor of Spanish, English and French at Texas Wesleyan College. She was an active member of Altrusa Club of Fort Worth, Business and Professional Women and the University Place Book Club.

Katie Lowry Echols. Dec. 24, 2009, Arlington. | Katie graduated from Paschal High School in 1936 and attended Texas Wesleyan. She was a Cub Scout den mother, Bluebird leader and PTA president. She also worked as the receptionist of her husband’s architectural firm, Preston M. Geren & Associates for 17 years.

Billy Joe Weatherly, BS ’50. Jan. 6, 2010, fort Worth. | Billy Joe graduated from North Side High School and served in the army during the occupation of Germany after World War II. He was a member of the Texas Wesleyan College men’s basketball team and he worked in the insurance industry for more than 50 years.

frank K. Walwer. Jan. 11, 2010, Bradenton, fla. | Frank was Texas Wesleyan School of Law’s second dean, where he served from 1994 to 1999, during which time the school received both its provisional approval and its full approval from the American Bar Association.

Lucy Mae Williams. Jan. 12, 2010, Sherman.| Lucy attended Texas Wesleyan College and was a lifelong member of First Methodist Church of Tom Bean. She ran the family gas station, Lucy’s Station, until 1986, which was a hub of activity in Tom Bean.

John B. Ross. Jan. 16, 2010, Lake Worth. | John grew up in Lake Worth and graduated from Lake Worth High School in 1957. He attended Texas Wesleyan and served in the army from 1963 to 1966. He was married to his wife, Joy Lynn Williams, for 46 years.

gladys Juanita Winchester. Jan. 26, 2010, fort Worth. | Gladys finished her education at Texas Wesleyan and Texas Christian University. She started her teaching career at Pleasant Run Elementary School.

Bobbie Joyce Wolfe, BS ’77, MA ’87. feb. 7, 2010, Arlington. | Bobbie was a teacher at Butler Elementary School in Arlington for 35 years. She was awarded the Arlington ISD Teacher of the Year Award in 1989. Bobbie was a member of University Christian Church in Fort Worth.

Donald D. Martin. Jan. 24, 2010, Camarillo, Calif. | Donald attended Texas Wesleyan College and served as a radar operator in the Air Force during the Korean War. He retired as a quality assurance manager at Lockheed Martin after 37 years with the company.

RobERT KLAbzubA , who died Nov. 20, 2009, in Fort Worth, made his fortune as an oilman, but his mark as a philanthropist.

“He was the kindest, most gracious person you could ever know,” the Rev. Lamar Smith ’50 HON, member of the Board of Trustees and an asso-ciate minister at First United Methodist Church, said, “and in business, he was kind to partners and competitors alike.”

Mr. Klabzuba served as a naval aviator in World War II and flew in the Pacific theater of combat. But it was while stationed in Pensacola, Fla., that he started to pay attention to geological formations in that area. Klabzuba, who had loved geology since he was a child, helped develop the Jay Field in that area, the last onshore oilfield in the lower 48 states.

Through the Klabzuba Family Foundation, he contributed to Texas Wesleyan University, the University of Oklahoma — his alma mater — and Harris Methodist Hospital, as well as countless other organizations. He was a member of the Texas Wesleyan Board of Trustees, and was known as an advocate for both health and education.

“He was just an incredible guy,” Smith said. “He’s a joy to remember.”

www.txwes.edu3 0 

An Educator with a Passionfor the World Around HimEnnard “Gordon” Doggett ’68 had a natural curiosity about learning, history and the

world around him.“Being married to Gordon was never dull,” his wife of nearly 40 years, Sabra Doggett

’70, said. “He always wanted to learn more about others.”Doggett, who died January 6, 2010, was born February 18, 1945 in Hope, Arkansas.

He received a bachelor’s degree in religion from Texas Wesleyan College as well as a teacher’s certificate. He also met his wife, Sabra, at Polytechnic United Methodist Church. They were married there — by Dr. Alice Wonders, chair of the Division of Philosophy and Religion.

Doggett received a master’s degree in elementary education from North Texas State University. He also taught education courses at Texas Wesleyan, from 1998 to 2001.

He taught at the elementary level as well as in the gifted and talented program. He was also a school administrator in the HEB Independent School District for 28 years. He was also an avid scrapbook keeper, who kept records of decades of his family’s life in his books.

Mr. Doggett was also chairman of the Historical Committee for the city of Bedford, and was instrumental in both restoring and saving the now 95-year-old “Old Bedford School,” a space that hosts meetings, weddings and is home to a restored 1915 classroom as well as other historical artifacts. He also moved and restored the 1924 Mosier Valley School house to his property. For many years, he ran a school supply business out of the building.

He had a love for history as well as the world around him. In the ’60s, he was a tour guide at Glacier National Park, a place his father had been a tour guide at in the ’50s. Gordon would eventually establish a summer home there, which he visited for 20 years.

He was an active member of William C. Martin United Methodist Church in Bedford, where he was a Sunday school teacher, a leader in the Martin Community Outreach Program and a founder of the church’s Lord’s Acre Celebration.

l–r: Gordon and Sabra Doggett: Sadie Hawkins Day, Texas Wesleyan, 1967. Glacier National Park. Gordon and Jeff (son and Wesleyan alumus) Doggett. Gordon and Sabra Doggett: Traveling through Texas 2007

Spring 2010 3 1 

Mary Helen Bridges ’55, who died January 8, 2010, was a proud member of the Texas Wesleyan family. Her brother and sister attended Wesleyan, and she met her husband, Jim Bridges ’54, a Rams

basketball star who received the prestigious Guardian of the Golden Shears Award, on campus. A 1952 graduate of Itasca High School, Mary received a bachelor’s degree in education in 1955.

She and Jim were married — a marriage that lasted 55 years — and together, they founded Jim Bridges Sporting Goods, a business they ran for more than 30 years. Bridges was also a teacher in the Fort Worth Independent School District.

Texas Wesleyan pride ran deep in Bridges blood: three grandchildren graduated from Wesleyan and one of them, Neal, works in the admissions department as an admissions counselor. Five Bridges have graduated from the University. Mary even handwrote the lyrics to the Texas Wesleyan school fight song for Neal to share with his co-workers. She regularly attended campus events and followed Texas Wesleyan sports.

“She was a very positive person, always laughing and joking,” Neal said, “and she loved to cook. I don’t remember ever being at her house when she was not cooking something for someone.”

She was an avid bridge player who played in the same group for more than 25 years. She was also active at her church, Trinity Presbyterian in Mansfield. She and Jim split time between Lake Whitney and Mansfield after they retired. She also loved to travel — she visited locations across the U.S. and Europe.

A Joyful MeMber of the texas Wesleyan faMily

•

•

Mary Helen Bridges

Jim and Mary Helen

Mary Helen and her freshman friends

www.txwes.edu

She came to Texas Wesleyan (then called Texas Women’s College) from Decatur with a violin purchased out of a Sears, Roebuck and Co. catalog.

She became the second violinist of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. That was Margaret Parker.

“She was one of a disappearing sort — genteel, educated and very polite,” said Suzanne Tuttle, manager of the Fort Worth Nature Center.

If there was something that could be done — or needed to be done — she did it. She was a conservationist, a volunteer and helper to many in Fort Worth.

Margaret Parker died on Nov. 4, 2009, at the age of 99, but she lived a life full of helping and compassion for both others and the environment.

She graduated from Texas Women’s College in 1931 with a bachelor’s in music education. She also developed a love for bird watching, and she became a longtime member of the Fort Worth Audubon Society.

While she was the group’s president, she joined together with other residents to convince the city to spare the trees near Greer Island in Lake Worth, which were in danger of being cut down. The city listened, and instead, they turned the land into a wildlife refuge. That area became the Fort Worth Nature Center and Wildlife Refuge, where she volunteered for more than 15 years.

The refuge is now more than 3600 acres, making it one of the largest city-owned nature centers in the United States.

Parker was elected the first president of the Friends of the Fort Worth Nature Center in 1974. As a member of the Fort Worth Conservation Council, she was able to help get a state law passed that protected public parkland from being taken away for any use barring a public hearing.

For Margaret Parker, volunteering was as much a part of her life as breathing. She volunteered at John Peter Smith Hospital for 17 years, with the Junior League of Fort Worth and helped found the Bethlehem United Community Center in near south Fort Worth and the Fort Worth Volunteer Center. She was also very active at University Christian Church.

Even after she moved to North Carolina, she still sent handwritten letters commenting on the Nature Center’s newsletter and becoming a pen pal to Tuttle.

“She was incredibly eloquent,” Tuttle said. “She had a wonderful vocabulary and a terrific way of writing as well. I have a file cabinet full of her correspondence.”

In 2005, Parker received the Distinguished Alumni Award for her volunteer and philanthropic efforts in the Fort Worth area.

In November 1970, Parker gave a presentation to the Texas Parks and Recreation Society. She discussed her love of bird watching and the importance of preserving the natural character of our land.

“No doubt in the future there will be great pressure brought to

bear to ‘develop’ our refuge — for housing or some other revenue

bearing [enterprise],” Parker said. “The ‘development’ concept ought to receive a very hard critical look

from any person concerned with the quality of the human environment.

There are revenues to be gained other than monetary from leaving land

undeveloped — namely the health —physical, mental, and spiritual health

of the people.”

M a r g a r e t P a r k e rbY DARREN WHITEa Leading Light in Fort Worth Conservation

Margaret Parker, 1970

2 Celebrating 120 Years of Excellence:A Look Back at Wesleyan’s Past

7 President’s Honors Concert

8 Bobby Bragan: Baseball Great Leaves a Legacy of Friendship and Giving

10 Wesleyan Legend Inducted into Golf Coaches Hall of Fame

11 Millikan has Athletics on the Rise

12 Championship Dynasty

14 A Harbor of Hope in Port-Au-Prince

15 Texas Wesleyan University Receives State Education Award

16 Glick House Community Counseling Center Making a Difference

18 Law School Celebrates 20 Years

20 Mark Hanshaw: A 360˚ View of Life

23 Tribute Gifts

24 A Stepp Forward for the Theatre Arts Department

26 Alumni News

27 How does Your Garden Grow?

28 In Memoriam

28 Joe Mitchell: A Leading Light in Education

29 Trustee Robert Klabzuba

30 An Educator with a Passion for the World Around Him

31 A Joyful Member of the Texas Wesleyan Family

32 Margaret Parker: A Leading Light in Fort Worth Conservation

TABLE OF CONTENTS | SPRING 2010

For more information, call 817-531-4404.

A new sign at the corner of Rosedale and Wesleyan greets visitors to the campus.Photo by Darren White

An Official Publication of Texas Wesleyan University Spring 2010

120Celebrating Years of Excellence