Here - Lamar University

In the wake of RitaNot a single Southeast Texas life was untouched by the fury ofHurricane Rita. All of us have worried, suffered and toiled. Thefour weeks between the anticipated arrival of the storm and theresumption of the fall semester have been difficult and taxing.As you have seen, heard and read, Lamar’s campus was hit hard. But I ampleased that we were able to resume classes on Oct. 19 and will be able to holdcommencement exercises on Dec. 22, allowing our graduating seniors to move onwith their lives, plans and dreams.Not enough thanks can be expressed to our police officers and staff – and especiallyour facilities management and operations employees – for their hard work under themost demanding conditions. The campus was never abandoned. And we reopened intime to complete the fall semester largely because of their extraordinary efforts.As we resume the semester, we understand that many of our faculty, staff andstudents still face tremendous personal challenges because of the hurricane and itseffect on the region. We have come this far with a spirit of mutual support, patienceand goodwill. I encourage those more fortunate to respond with a generous spirit totheir neighbors in need.One way to help is to give to the LU Student Hurricane Relief Fund in theLamar University Foundation. This project is sponsored by our alumni office withthe goal of helping Lamar students keep their college careers on course despite theloss of part-time jobs or other financial challenges resulting from the storm. You canfind more information on the campaign in this issue of Cardinal Cadence and onLamar’s home page.With Cardinal Pride,James M. SimmonsPresidentLamar UniversityFrom the PresidentTHE TEXAS STATE UNIVERSITY SYSTEMBOARD OF REGENTSCharles Matthews, Chancellor • AustinC A R D I N A LCadenceThe StaffCardinal Cadence is published by the Division ofUniversity Advancement, Lamar University, a member ofThe Texas State University System and an affirmativeaction, equal opportunity educational institution.Brian Sattler, Executive Editor, Director of Public RelationsCynthia Hicks ’89, ’93, EditorLouise Wood, WriterChris Castillo, WriterContributors:Matt Bush, Daucy Crizer, Susan Holland,Amanda Rowell, writingDanny Bowden, Michelle Cate, Bobby Chapman,Ofir Farkash, Barry Johnson, Jason Jones, Jerry Lara,James Simmons, Mike Tobias, Rohn Wenner, photographyCirculation includes 54,000 copies distributed to alumni,faculty, staff and friends of Lamar University. If you havereceived more than one copy of this publication, pleaselet us know.Changes of address may be sent to:University Advancement,P.O. Box 10011, Beaumont, Texas 77710, or byemail: mona.halvorsen@lamar.eduDivision of University AdvancementCamille Mouton, Vice PresidentJanice Trammell ’85, ’93, Director of DevelopmentMona Halvorsen ’95, Director of Advancement ServicesLoraine Thibodeaux, Director, University Reception CentersP.O. Box 10011Beaumont, Texas 77710(409) 880-8419 or fax (409) 880-8409email: advancement@hal.lamar.eduLamar University Alumni OfficeWhen visiting campus, you’re invited to stop by theAlumni Office at the John Gray Center, Building B,855 Florida, Suite 102.Juan Zabala, Director of Alumni AffairsLU Alumni OfficeP.O. Box 10005Beaumont, Texas 77710(409) 880-8921, or (800) 298-4839Email: alumni@lamar.eduwww.lamar.edu/alumniLamar University FoundationJanice Trammell, Executive DirectorLamar University FoundationP.O. Box 11500Beaumont, Texas 77710(409) 880-2117Email: foundation@hal.lamar.eduAlan W. Dreeben, Chair • San AntonioKent M. Adams, Vice Chairman • BeaumontDora G. Alcalá • Del RioJohn E. Dudley • ComancheDionicio “Don” Flores • El PasoBernard C. Francis • AddisonPollyanna A. Stephens • San AngeloGreg Wilkinson • PlanoCardinal Cadence (USPS 017-254) is published quarterlyby Lamar University, Division of University Advancement,211 Redbird Lane, Beaumont, Texas 77710-0011.Periodicals postage paid at Beaumont, TX, and additionalmailing offices.2 | Cardinal Cadence September - November 2005

Lamar University recentlyraised the bar to ensure ahigher caliber of student onour campus. This decisionwill carry a price in the nearterm, but it is the right decisionfor the long-term health of the university.By tightening the enforcement of admissions standards, weclosed the door to almost 500 prospective students —substantially more than in previous years. These students areclearly not prepared for the rigors of university-level work.Fortunately, there are other educational options available tothem in the region.Likewise, some 1,400 LU students with grade-pointaverages below the “C” level were notified this summer that theyare on academic probation. These students were encouraged tomeet with their deans or department chairs to develop a plan toget their academic careers on a positive track.Perhaps one of the most significant developments atLamar in a long time was the approval of the university’s firstPh.D. program, the doctorate in chemical engineering. Thecoordinating board’s approval of this program reflects the hardwork of Dean Jack Hopper and the faculty of Lamar’sDepartment of Chemical Engineering.And, I would be remiss in not mentioning a significantmilestone for history professor Ralph Wooster, who on Sept. 1observed his 50th anniversary as a faculty member at Lamar.Congratulations Ralph!In the heart of the campus, construction continues on thenew Dining Hall and the Sports Recreation Center. Both areexciting projects that will add significantly to the quality of theresidential experience at Lamar University.Great things are happening at Lamar because of you. Withhelp from our friends and alumni, the university continues toprovide outstanding programs and opportunities for our students.In a few weeks you will be invited to participate in the2005-06 Annual Giving Campaign. Thank you for helpingmake a difference in the life of a student.With Cardinal Pride,James M. SimmonsPresidentLamar UniversityFrom thePresident2 | Cardinal Cadence September - November 2005C A R D I N A LCadenceVOL. 33 NO. 4 | SEPTEMBER - NOVEMBER 2005DEPARTMENTS4 On campus5 Faculty notes7 Students notesFEATURES8 Walking the talkStudents place Mary Alice Baker in the hot seat10 Cinematic scholarKen Rivers shares love of the silver screen14 News extraBrett Thacker finds thrill in the chase17 Testing the airT.C. Ho focuses on breathing easier18 Born to litigateDavid Beck’s cases lead to top of legal ladder20 Home of the heartIn a land of strife, Yocheved Menashe finds peace22 Guiding the stars in space citySarah Joseph pairs athletes with opportunity24 Craft goes high-techMark Etheridge turns hobby into multi-milliondollarventure26 Rita reboundCampus recovering from hurricane’s devastation. . . welcomes student back30 Moving lock, stock and barrelThe Buxtons are champions in education and arena32 Bring it onJennifer Warren thrives as account director forworld’s largest corporation34 Right time, right placeCharles Snoek counts himself lucky36 Curiosity sets the stagePsychology is the motivation for Brooke HallLAGNIAPPE3 Homecoming 2006 . . . reunion ready12 Cardinal Views51 Cadences38 Arts & CultureInstrumentally Bulow . . . ArtsNotes41 AthleticsGolf . . . Cross country . . . Pitcher turns PadreDesign by Mike RhodesOutside cover photo by Chris Castillo and inside cover photo by Brian Sattler8101420223852 CD now shipping for the gift-giving season53 Postscripts54 Hurricane Rita Student Relief FundHOMECOMING 2006Sorority sisters. Fraternity brothers. Class of 1956.Cardinal alumni. It’s time for Homecoming.It’s time to Reminisce. It’s time for REUNION!Lamar University alumni representing four decades ofLamar sororities and fraternities gather to plan the university’sfirst Greek reunion: from left, seated, are TamaraGlaze Domino ’98, Alpha Delta Pi; Eileen Hall Law ’87,Beta Chi Delta; Michael Truncale ’79, Kappa Sigma; andPat Gafford Coldewey ’70, Alpha Chi Omega. Standing areFreddie Titus ’86, Alpha Phi Alpha; Coquese LoreeWilliams’74, Delta Sigma Theta; Clayton Lau ’69, SigmaNu; and Janet Stewart Thrash ’95, Alpha Delta Pi. Morethan 50 Greek alumni attended an Aug. 24 kickoff. Thesteering committee and Office of Alumni Affairs are lookingfor alumni of these organizations: Delta Tau Delta, PhiBeta Sigma, Omega Psi Phi, Sigma Gamma Rho and Zeta.In 1956 . . .The Office of Alumni Affairs kicked off planning forits Homecoming 2006 Greek reunion Aug. 24 anda slate of events is already in the works, thanks tothe work of the members of the Greek AlumniReunion Steering Committee. “The HomecomingReunion will bring together alumni from the 27social fraternities and sororities who have ever beena part of campus life at Lamar,” said Juan Zabala,director of alumni affairs.When Lamar was established as South Park Junior College in 1923, many localsocial groups began to grow as well. National fraternities and sororities became a presenceon campus in the 1950s.Homecoming 2006, scheduled March 3 and 4, also will feature a reunion of theclass of 1956, which will celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of its members graduationfrom Lamar.The Class of 1956 Steering Committee is hard at work planning golden anniversaryactivities. Members are Belle (Dixon) Collier, Billie (Grisham) Renken, Bobby and Colleen(McDonald) Marks, Burk McGreevy, Burt Lee, Jr., Evelyn (Sweat) Farmer, Frances(Wimberly) Alberto, Gloria (Bourgeois) Dingeldein, Gwendolyn Park, Jack and Shirley(Butcher) Burney, Jerry Jones, Jimmy Booker, John Morrison, Margaret Verrett andShirley (Woodell) Coffman.TENTATIVE SCHEDULE OF EVENTSElvis Presley enters the music charts for thefirst time, with Heartbreak Hotel.Marilyn Monroe marries the playwright Arthur Miller.Nikita Khrushchev attacks theveneration of Joseph Stalin as a“cult of personality.”Bikini Atoll is nearly obliteratedby the first airborne explosionof a hydrogen bomb.Grace Kelly marries Prince Rainier III of Monaco.At New York City’s Copacabana Club, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewisperform their last comedy show together.Mel Gibson is born, Babe Didrikson Zaharias dies.The Searchers, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and Giant are released in theaters.Federal debt: $272.7 billion.Cost of a first-class stamp: 3 cents.A gallon of gas: 23 cents.World Series: N.Y. Yankees defeat Brooklyn Dodgers (4-3).Grace Metalious’s steamy Peyton Place is a bestseller.Yahtzee! is introduced by Milton Bradley Co.I Love Lucy is the top TV show.FRIDAY, MARCH 32:00 pm | Cardinals baseball game– Vincent-Beck Stadium6:00 pm | Tailgate parties andMontagne Center receptions –Montagne Center7:00 pm | Men’s basketball game –Montagne Center9:30 pm | Reunion party featuring“Mid Life Crisis” – Lamar UniversityQuadrangleSATURDAY, MARCH 49 – 11:00 am | Lamar UniversityOpen House/Group reunion events11:30 am | Reunion lunch – LamarUniversity (location TBD)2:00 pm | Cardinals baseball game– Vincent-Beck Stadium

on campusfacultyAdmission requirements tightenedLamar University has tightened enforcementof academic standards for enteringand current students. Of the 500 deniedadmission as of September, 257 wereprospective incoming freshmen. In 2004,97 freshmen were denied admission. About150 applications are still in review.Applicants find acceptance into collegedifficult when they present a combinedrecord of poor high school performance,low class rank and poor scores on theScholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) orAmerican College Test (ACT). Applicantswho are statistically low performers in highschool and on the standardized tests have avery low chance of successful performancein college. “For increasing numbers ofthese applicants, we are recommendingthey complete some work at a communitycollege,” said Jim Rush, director of academicservices.Florence Nightingalemakes appearanceLamar and Christus St. Elizabeth and St. Maryhospitals hosted The Nightingale ExperienceJune 10-11, providing prospective nursing studentsfrom 13 regional high schools with a firsthandlook at nursing and the hospital setting.Lamar hosts riverfrontdevelopment previewLamar’s Center for Public PolicyStudies and the Department of PoliticalScience’s master of public administrationprogram hosted Port NechesMayor Glenn Johnson ’78 and CityManager Randy Kimler Tuesday, June14, in their discussion of the 80-acrePort Neches riverfront developmentproject to be carried out by The SWAGroup, developer of the Kemah riverfront.Citizens may attend town hallmeetings conducted by the developers.Lamar accepts community collegetransfers, and students denied admission tothe university can reapply after completing18 hours at a community college.Lamar also has added more emphasison enforcing standards for current studentswho haven’t performed well academically.This summer, the university sent 1,400 studentsletters informing them that they wereon academic probation, said Kevin Smith,associate vice president for academic affairs.“Lamar has put considerable resourcesinto making academic success a reality forevery student who puts forth effort,” Smithsaid. Among these resources are mandatoryacademic advisement, advising centers, tutoring,developmental classes to make up deficiencies,monitored probation and a careercenter to help students find their niche. “Weare concentrating resources on students whoare here and are trying,” Smith said.EDDY LAIRDBriefcase classroom.Laboratory a very big-small ideaDeaf studies doctoralgraduate and candidate serveon national committeeAndrew Lang, president of the NationalAssociation of the Deaf (NAD), namedEddy Laird ’05, a recent doctoral graduate,and Byron Bridges, a current doctoral student,as members on the newly formedAmerican Sign Language (ASL) and DeafStudies committee of the NAD. The committeeis responsible for updating NAD’scurrent position statement on ASL and bilingualeducation and for reviewing NAD’sresource materials on the subject.The shrinking of electronics and advances in analytical chemistry have yieldedan opportunity to create a laboratory that fits into a briefcase, allowing educatorsto take cutting-edge chemistry research and instruction virtually anywhere.Lamar’s David Cocke, holder of the Gill Chair in Chemistry, has assembled a molecular spectroscopylaboratory that fits in half a briefcase. By choosing different components, one can either have afull-fledged laboratory or the latest in digital pedagogy with a LCD projector and laptop computer.The “lab to go” is part of a drive to bring affordable top-level chemistry education to underservedpopulations.Cocke and Jean Andrews, professor of communication disorders, and College of Arts and SciencesDean Brenda Nichols joined together under a National Science Foundation grant to use the technologyto bring cutting-edge chemistry education to deaf students in American Sign Language, English andSpanish. Participating in the study is the Texas School for the Deaf in Austin, the Alabama School for theDeaf, and the Ruben C. Rodriguez Elementary School in Hidalgo County.Tenure granted . . . Six faculty members earned tenure in2005: Janiece Buck in the Department of EducationalLeadership; Ana Christensen, biology; Martha Rinker,psychology; Zanthia Smith, communication disordersand deaf education; George Strickland, health and kinesiology;and Steven Zani, English and modern languages. . . The speech and hearing program and theTexas School for the Deaf co-sponsored the TexasAssociation of the Deaf 2005 Biennial Conference inAustin June 23-25 . . . A reputation for leadership . . .The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sent Lamarengineering professors Thomas Ho, Hsing-wei Chu andJerry Lin to Taiwan, Hong Kong and China May 23 toJune 1 to conduct air quality workshops and provideexpert advice to the countries’ environmental protectionagencies. They were three of the five U.S. delegates onthe trip and provided expertise regarding theCommunity Multi-scale Air Quality modeling system,which addresses multiple air qualityissues . . . From ice to hardwood, professionalhockey veteran Robert Dirkis warming up to his new position asdirector of the Montagne Center. Hespent 11 years as a player and sevenyears as a coach in Tacoma, Wash.,ROBERT DIRK Saginaw, Mich., and Winston-Salem,N.C., where he won the Coach of the Year Award hisfirst year as head coach. For the past few years, he wasvice president/commissioner and headcoach/director of hockey operations forBeaumont’s Wildcatters . . . Lamar’smusic program has earned reaccreditationby the National Association ofSchools of Music after a three-yearprocess . . . Sandra Richardson, assistant SANDRA RICHARDSONprofessor of mathematics and professional pedagogy, is anational Project NexT Fellow, one of only 60 selectedacross the nation. Project NexT (New Experiences inTeaching) is a professional development program forrecent Ph.D.s in mathematical sciences, including pureand applied mathematics, statistics, operations researchand mathematics education . . .Charles Matthews, chancellor ofThe Texas State UniversitySystem, delivered the keynote forsummer commencement Aug. 13.CHARLES MATTHEWSLamar conferred about 372degrees, including one doctorate and 147 masters’degrees. Graduates hail from seven countries, six statesoutside Texas and 50 cities and towns in Texas.New academicprograms respond toindustry needsFirst Ph.D. now offeredThe Texas Higher EducationCoordinating Board has approved theCollege of Engineering to recruit studentsfor a Ph.D. program in chemicalengineering. The program becomesLamar’ fifth doctoral degree program –but its first Ph.D.“Historically, Texas has granted fewPh.D. programs to comprehensive universities,preferring to house them atresearch institutions. This approval is amilestone and a point of pride for LU,”said Kevin Smith, associate vice presidentfor academic affairs.Jack Hopper, dean of the Collegeof Engineering said the presence of adoctoral-level research degree “providesus with a tremendous advantage inrecruiting new faculty and doctoralstudents.”The program focuses at the confluenceof the chemical and allied industries,the environment, and economics.The U.S. chemical industry is theworld’s largest producer of chemicals,contributing the greatest trade surplus ofany non-defense-related sector to theU.S. economy, representing 10 percentof all U.S. manufacturing and employingmore than one million Americans.Hopper expects the presence of theprogram to have a positive effect on thefunding it receives from such agencies asthe National Science Foundation,National Institutes of Health,Department of Energy andDepartment of Defense.Forensic chemistry now a majorThe Department of Chemistry nowoffers a bachelor of science degree inforensic chemistry. Making forensictraining available will help alleviate theshortage of trained forensic experts inTexas and surrounding states.The program is modeled after ahighly successful program at WestVirginia University, said Wayne Rabalais,distinguished professor of chemistry.Lamar faculty have adapted the curriculumto include the latest problem-basedlearning methods by introducing newanalytical microscopy techniques.Tracking Panamanian fossilsFunding for expeditions this year to Panama’sDarien Rain Forest originated with an LU ResearchEnhancement Grant to Jim Westgate, professor ofearth and space sciences. Westgate joined scientistsfrom the University of Louisiana-Monroe,Mexico’s National Institute for Anthropology andHistory, the College of Charleston and NRBEnergy-Delaware in the search for fossil greatwhite sharks (Carcharodon megalodon) and othermarine species that once inhabited the regionnow known as Panama’s most remote rain forest.The expeditions have yielded 9 million-yearoldfossil finds in a globally significant geographicand geologic setting. Analysis of fossil teeth andotoliths (ear stones) has provided data to reconstructthe ecologic conditions of the ancientseaway known as the Straits of Panama, whichonce connected the Caribbean Sea and the westernPacific Ocean. Today, the Isthmus of Panamais known as the crossroads of the Americas. Itformed 3 million years ago as the chain of volcanicislands fused together and linked Centraland South America. The closing of the Caribbean-Pacific connection diverted the Caribbean Currentnorthward and strengthened the Gulf Stream. Thatchain of events may have led to the onset of theIce Ages, which began nearly 2 million years ago.4 | Cardinal Cadence September - November 2005September - November 2005 Cardinal Cadence | 5

on campusstudentsTeaching the TeacherTrading classrooms for canoesTeachers attending the 2005 TeachingEnvironmental Science Institute tradedclassrooms for canoes as they floatedalong the Neches River to test its watersbefore touring Shangri La BotanicalGardens and the Inland Orange ContainerBoard Paper Mill as well as air-boating inresponse to a mock oil spill as part of thesummer graduate program. The teamalso traveled to Anahuac to study estuariesof Trinity River and Galveston Bay.Grants from industry, governmentand non-profits exceeded $35,000 infunding for the program, which is in its10th year and one of the longest-runningprograms of the 20 institutes comentoredby the Texas Commission onEnvironmental Quality. This year, teachersfrom Rio Grande Valley, Tennesseeand Turkey participated, gaining firsthandknowledge about ecologicalissues to take back to pre-K through12th-grade classrooms. More than100,000 Southeast Texas K-12 studentshave benefited from the institute’sprograms, said Jim Westgate,professor of earth and space sciencesand director of the institute.Ben’s Kids Shine at Camp Bright StarThis summer, the Department of Continuing and DistanceEducation added a ray of light to Camp Bright Star, an annual,four-week outreach initiative for Ben’s Kids youth, ages 12 to 17.Sponsored by Entergy, YMBL, BASF, ENGlobal, H-E-B, BISDand Lamar University, the endeavor is administered by IEA-Inspire, Encourage, Achieve, a program established by Reginaand the late Julie Rogers in 1997 to continue philanthropist BenRogers’ legacy of helping at-risk children achieve dignity andrespect through knowledge, compassion, understanding and love.Under the direction of Richard Bothel, executive director ofthe department, Lisa Cowart and Elton Payne, continuing educationprogram managers, the 44 camp participants golfed, canoedand fished, while also learning about health and hygiene, smokingcessation and prevention, career choices, fine arts and diningetiquette. Tom Abbage ’72, ’74, ’81, an engineer retired fromExxonMobil, delivered a keynote address on life choices at thecamp’s closing.The language of mathMore than 20 high school and middle schoolteachers from across the state were on campusJune 27 through July 1 as part of The TexasState University System Mathematics for EnglishLanguage LearnersInitiative. Themulti-year, multimillion-dollareffortfocuses on developinginstructionalresources toincrease the effectivenessof mathematicsinstructionfor students whoare English-languagelearners (ELL), said Ted Mahavier, associateprofessor of mathematics and mathematicsinitiative representative.Lamar’s mathematics and professional pedagogydepartments received a $250,000 grant toaddress best practices for instructing mathematicsstudents whose native languages are not English.Sandra Richardson and Mary Wilkinson, assistantprofessors of mathematics and professionalpedagogy, havesupervised the collectionof data fromfour focus groupsthat includedCentral, South,Southeast and WestTexas.Paul Dawkinsand Kyehong Kang,assistant professorsof mathematics, aredeveloping web-based resources. Joanne Baker,associate professor of mathematics, developedand wrote problems for a dual-language module.Julie Rodriguez, a bilingual mathematics major,provided translation and voice-over services.Math teachers Daryl Johnson of Fort Worth and Rojean Land of De SotoBusiness mergerThe College of Business hasmerged operations of theInstitute for EntrepreneurialStudies and the Small BusinessDevelopment Center to moreeffectively serve entrepreneursand to better stimulate businesscreation in SoutheastTexas.Though the programs willmaintain their individual identities,both will benefit fromshared resources, better coordinationwith each other and thecollege, and the sharing of ideasand opportunities, said RussWaddill, director of the instituteand director of the combinedorganization effective Oct. 1.The merger comes after theretirement of SBDC directorGene Arnold.Crystal Betar of Beaumont holds critters as she and her fellow teachersinvestigate the Trinity River during Lamar University’s their recentTeaching Environmental Science course. Betar teaches at Hamshire-Fannett Middle School.New Student Orientation welcomed more than 2,500 students andparents to campus during four sessions this summer, a 263 percentincrease since the program began in 2001. Guests tour campus, registerfor classes, meet peer advisors and faculty and gain an in-depthlook at student life on campus . . . Five pre-pharmacy students arethe first to be accepted into the University of Houston pharmacy programthrough a co-op developed this year between Lamar and theUniversity of Houston: seniors Michael Greenwald of Silsbee andKristen Beard, Vidor; sophomores Julie Paciotti and Ollie Belasque,Beaumont; and junior Leanette James, Beaumont. “This agreementprovides our students an edge in getting into U of H’s extremely competitivepharmacy doctoral program,” said Jim Westgate, chair of theuniversity’s medical pre-professional programs and professor of earthand space sciences. The U of H College of Pharmacy’s affiliations withthe world-renowned Texas Medical Center creates opportunities forstudents to learn not only from influential pharmacy research faculty,but also from clinicians who practice in Houston’s medical community. . . University Press editor for the 2005-2006 academic year is BenDuBose, a senior journalism major from Beaumont. Senior KathrynEakens, a journalism majorfrom Port Neches, is editorof the semesterly magazineUPBeat and managing editorof the UP . . . Thirteen premedstudents recently completedfive-week summermedical school programs atUniversity of Texas-Pan American, University of Texas Medical Branchand Baylor College of Medicine. “The experience can help energize ourstudents with real medical school curricula, and, concurrently, providesa five-week medical school ‘pre-interview’ for our students.Those who participate in these programs have a high rate of acceptanceinto medical schools,” Westgate said . . . the LU Rotaract Cluband the Spindletop Youth Soccer Association collected soccer gear forchildren’s soccer teamsin northern Belize,Central America, as its2005 international serviceproject. The itemswere delivered toChunox, Belize, inAugust . . . AmandaShaw, a political sciencemajor from Vidor,and Steven Trahan of Beth Tindall ’03 with children in BelizeOrange, who earned dual degrees in computer science and electricalengineering, earned the Plummer Award as the top academic graduatesof the August 2005 class.Hello ParisNine Lamar University interior design students spent the summer inParis studying Parisian design at the Paris American Academy with SaraJane Eisen, instructor in family and consumer sciences.The study-abroad program was open to majors who participated ina design competition judged at Lamar by the president of the Parisacademy. The students earned six hours credit toward their degree.Two winners were chosen to receive full scholarships to attend theacademy. The other seven paid their own way through fund-raisers andwith the help of a $1,000 study-abroad scholarship from Lamar as wellas $2,500 in scholarships raised through private gifts.Scholarships establishedAugust’s Week of Welcome introduced students andtheir parents to campus life at Lamar. The four-dayprogram is the ticket to an enriched college career.Networking activities, study and exam tips, visitswith faculty and how-to workshops are wrappedaround three main events: Midnight barbecue,karaoke at the Card Rock Café and Beaumont Bound.Producer, celebrity manager and advertising executive Tommy Vanceco-founded LU-llaby of Broadway in 1993. Victor Rogers, who hasfunded five other scholarships to help Lamar students, established theTom Vance Scholarship in Theater to honor Vance’s contributionsto the production since the event’s inception. Rogers announced thescholarship during the 2005 LU-llaby, which benefits theater majors.Vance and his wife, Jo, are longtime supporters of the arts at Lamar . . .Family and friends established the Walter Allan Sutton MemorialScholarship in History in memory of Sutton, who joined the historydepartment in 1963 and taught for 40 years. He lived through many ofthe key events of twentieth-century America, a period that later becamehis area of specialty . . . The Parker Windham Memorial Scholarshiphas been established by family and friends as a way to honor the memoryof Parker Windham, whose greatest passion was music and who lovedall kinds, from “Fish” and Bob Marley to jazz and classical. The scholarshipis open to music or theater majors. Friends of Parker began theendowment, which was completed by his parents, Paige and MorrisWindham, who are longtime supporters of the arts at Lamar University.6 | Cardinal Cadence September - November 2005 September - November 2005 Cardinal Cadence | 7

Other InsightsWalkingthe talkBy Susan HollandMary Alice Baker isn’t above proselytizing.For her, communication is the heart ofevery discipline. Where there are people,there is a need to effectively share ideas,and the sooner her students see that fact asimmutable truth, the sooner they canacquire a skill set for future success.A 15-year speech and competitive debatecoach, Baker has devoted 35 years to the field ofcommunication. In the third year of her career,she was selected Outstanding Young SpeechTeacher of Oklahoma. Her principal encouragedher to attend the conference of the Central StatesCommunication Association in Chicago. Thatwider view opened the door to graduate schooland a long, lively and illustrious career.Baker is the 2005 University Professor,Lamar’s highest honor bestowed on faculty. Shehas earned numerous teaching and serviceawards, including recognition by the TexasForensics Association. She has published widelyand lent her expertise to the Texas TeachersRetirement System as a trustee.Baker has published a widely used publicspeaking workbook, now in its fifth edition.“For communication students, I urge themto learn something about all of our fields: advertising,broadcasting, public relations, persuasion,journalism, etc. Then they are ready to go in whatever directionopportunity beckons.”One of the courses Baker is most widely known for oncampus is interviewing, which she has taught to hundreds ofstudents over the years. Now, two of her former students getto put her in the hot seat.BRIAN SATTLERBrian Richardson, Ph.D.Assistant professor of organizational communication,University of North Texas“When I began my doctorateprogram at the University of Texas atAustin, I was intimidated by mypeers because they had graduatedfrom big-name schools, but I quicklylearned Dr. Baker was well regardedand nationally respected in the communicationstudies discipline. Manyof the professors in my doctorate program knew her, whichhelped me build rapport with them. Could I have made itwithout her training? I don't know, but I’m sure glad I didn’thave to find out!”BR: As you think about your career, what is your greatestsource of pride?MAB: My students. Many have indicated that taking myinterviewing class was the “best course I had in college.”That’s a real reward for a teacher. I hear fromlots of former students and take pride in theirsuccess.BR: What is the biggest misconception peoplehave about speech communication as anacademic discipline?MAB: During my first year of teaching inOklahoma City, an administrator from the centraloffice said to me: “We learn to talk at theage of 2. Why do we need a course in speech?”I guess ever since then, I have been on a lifetimemission to educate the public that whatwe teach and do has real substance. Words arevery important.Why and how theyare spoken is justas important as thewords themselves.BR: What advicewould you offer tocommunicationprofessionals trying to succeed in a career?MAB: Do an internship if they are still incollege. Get some hands-on experience. It’stough to get a job if you have no experience,and it’s hard to get experience without a job. Iwould also advise a professional to first knowtheir craft very well, to network, to find agood mentor, and to go the extra mile.BR: If you were a superhero, who would yoube and why?MAB: Wonder Woman without a doubt! Shewas my favorite comic book character as achild. She was just as strong as the guys.Besides that, she had a great costume and agreat figure.Marion Phillips,New York CityMinister and formermember of PresidentGeorge W. Bush’s andMayor RudolphGiuliani’s administrations“Mary Alice is a special person – myenrolling at Lamar made her my professor; herconcern about me made her a friend!”MP: Tell us about your passion for teaching?MAB: How “passionate” I am depends onthe calendar. Near final exams when I haveloads of term papers to grade, I would have tosay my zeal is not at its best. When the fallsemester rolls around, however, I get excited.MP: Being a country girl from Oklahoma–tellus how you gained your global perspective?MAB: I never really thought of myself ascountry girl, even when I was a child living inteacherages, while my folks taught in tworoomrural schools. Initially, my “global perspective”would have to have come from myparents. Every“It’s when I walk into a class thefirst day and begin to see students’faces and hear them share who theyare and what their aspirations arethat I really get a charge.”evening, it was,“Quiet. Listen!The news ison.” I was just ayoung childduring WorldWar II. Eachevening, I vividlyremember my father listening to the “WarNews” on a battery radio that squealed withinterference. During college, I remember havingan extended argument with my advisorover my desire to take Russian history. Heasked me why I wanted to take a course that Idid not need. I told him that when theRussians took over (remember this was duringthe late 1950s at the height of the Cold War),I wanted to know something about them. I saton the front row in that class and enjoyedevery minute.MP: What makes you such a special personand professor?MAB: Talk about a loaded, leading question!The premise of your question is a highly questionableone that depends on your selectiveperception. To the extent that there is anyvalidity to the question, it is mainly because Ihad great parents who were outstanding teachersand instilled in me the importance of teaching.I’ve also worked with great people overthe years who were good role models andmentors. I love my field and strongly believe astudent needs to become proficient in communicationso he or she can succeed in life.Marcia Painter Davisattorney and former studentWorkmen’s Compensation Court,Oklahoma CityMD: If you could choose a career otherthan teaching, what would it be?MAB: Development, hospitality,administration, law, politics, marketingor finance. Each of these holds someappeal. My whole career, I have recruitedfolks for debate teams, to become amajor, to join an organization, so probablysome kind of marketing would suitmy abilities. I love politics, enjoy thedetail that law requires, and as a TRStrustee have been very stimulated bylearning about the investment world.Kayla Bowerattorney and former studentLabor, Oklahoma CityKB: How did your start in teaching atthe high-school level impact your laterteaching at the university level?MAB: Some of my best “war stories”come from those early years. Startingmy teaching at the secondary level wasvery good boot training for a rookieteacher. Teaching seven or eight periodsa day, fire drills, sponsoring severalclubs, etc., can be a real grind. Talkabout multi-tasking! I learned my craft,and I learned how little I knew. I lookback at those years as a very excitingtime. When one of our majors decidesto become at teacher, I try to share all Ican with them. What they are doing isso important. You really do touch students’lives in a meaningful way.KB: What do you plan to accomplish inthe next 10 years?MAB: I plan to make orthopedic surgeonsvery rich. If they are successful, Iplan to do some more traveling. I have250,000 frequent-flyer miles to use. Iwould love to go back to Italy. I alsohope to do some part-time teaching.Being around college students does helpyou maintain a youthful attitude.8| Cardinal Cadence September - November 2005 September - November 2005 Cardinal Cadence | 9

Cinematicscholar“ForBy Louise WoodKen Rivers’ fascination with cinema beganwith Pinocchio and flourished to take on aworldview, from the French and Italianclassics of Truffaut and Fellini to the MarxBrothers, Orson Welles, Hitchcock andother treasures of the silver screen.“I vividly remember that as a child,the first film I ever saw in a movie theaterwas Disney’s Pinocchio in its 1954 re-release. . . It turned out that Pinocchio was, ofcourse, a timeless classic, and almost everythingelse that came my way fell below thatstandard. In a sense, that’s why I eventuallygot interested in classic films – I wanted tosee the best that had been made, ratherthan just routine movies.”Rivers will have a theater audience of hisown when he presents Lamar University’s19th annual Distinguished Faculty Lecture,sharing insights and experiences reflecting hislove affair with film.“The Meaning of the Movies: 100Years of Cinema in the U.S. and Aroundthe World” will be the topic of the lecture,sponsored by ExxonMobil.The lecture was postponed because ofme, the cinema is not just avisual art, but an extension of theliterary spirit.”– KEN RIVERSHurricane Rita and has been rescheduledfor Jan. 30.“From the ribbon-cutting in 1905 atthe first U.S. movie theater, a humble nickelodeonin Pittsburgh that was featuringThe Great Train Robbery, to the high-techand high-stakes computer-generated epicsof today, motion pictures have affected thelives of countless millions in America andthroughout the world,” said Rivers, professorof French in Lamar’s Department ofEnglish and Modern Languages. “Thiscentennial offers a perfect opportunity toBRIAN SATTLERreflect on the meaning, or meanings,that film has had for usthroughout the past century.”In the era in which Riverslearned to love cinema, manymovies could only be imagined, asthey were unavailable to the public.“It was no easy task to find and view seriousmovies in those days,” Rivers says. “It’s hardfor the younger generation to believe, butway back in the 1960s and ’70s, there wereno DVDs, no VCRs, no cable stations.“I was incredibly fortunate to be studyingat Berkeley, because in that town, all the latestFrench, Italian, German and Japanese films bymaster filmmakers like Truffaut, Fellini,Fassbinder and Kurosawa played all the time.There were a cinematheque and a revivalmovie house that each played at least two differentclassic movies every night. I did somehowfind time to study, but I also absorbedgreat cinema of every era and culture.”Today, says Rivers, things are a lot easier,thanks to the new media. “A Lamar student,or anyone in the community, can rentalmost anything. But a person still needs tohave an idea of what to watch. No one canpossibly catch up on more than a century offilms without being selective. That’s one ofthe reasons I wanted to do a public lectureon this topic,” Rivers said.His favorite film of all time is Napoleon,produced in France in 1927, soon lost butrediscovered around1980. Frances FordCoppella paid to havethe film restored andshown at Radio CityMusic Hall in NewYork. AmongAmerican films, hisfavorite isHitchcock’s Vertigo,which he terms “aperfect example ofhow a director isable to displaypersonal artistrywithin a commercialproject.”Riversattended theCannes FilmFestival in May2003 as a credentialedvisitor,as well as theAlfredHitchcockCentennialCelebration onthe centennial of Hitchcock’s birth in 1999.Among memories of the events are photographingNicole Kidman at Cannes andmeeting Janet Leigh and Eva Marie Saint atthe Hitchcock centennial.Rivers’ expertise is reflected in the popularityof his courses on French and worldcinema, as well as in the many lectures andpapers on film topics that he has presented atconferences during the past 25 years. HisFrench film series is an ongoing feature oncampus and will continue in November with“French Film Fest VIII,” showcasing Frenchdetective and crime films.“It’s truly great to see these recent andclassic films projected on the big screen, andI’ll keep showing them as long as peoplekeep coming out,” he said. “They’re discoveringsomething new and exciting, and thatgives me a great deal of satisfaction.”A Lamar faculty member since 1989,Rivers earned three degrees from theUniversity of California at Berkeley: thePh.D. in French in 1978, master of arts in1973 and bachelor of arts in 1971. He hasserved as president of the East Texas chapterof American Teachers of Frenchand is faculty sponsor of TheFrench Circle and Pi Delta PhiFrench honor society. He wasthe originator of the university’sglobal studies program.Since 1989, he and his wife,Dianna, associate professor ofnursing at Lamar,have led studytours to such European destinationsas Paris, Madrid, Rome,Florence, the Riviera, Provence,Munich, Switzerland and London.Cinema, Rivers believes,“is one more opportunity for expressionavailable to the creative author, just as earlierformats such as the novel, theater and poetrywere opportunities.“My specialty is French literature, and Isee film as fitting in very well with that. Inmy scholarly work, I am doing somethingthat I think has never been done before, andthat is to put some classic film script materialinto a French literature anthology.”During the past five years, Rivers hasbeen rewriting, updating and modernizing afive-volume textbook, A Survey of FrenchLiterature. Three of the volumes have beenpublished by Focus, and a fourth (19th centuryliterature) is in the process of publication.The fifth (20th century literature) – forwhich he received a 2005-06 Lamar ResearchEnhancement Grant – is scheduled forcompletion in early 2006. The project hasinvolved writing mini-biographies of theauthors and introductions to the literary movementsof each century, locating period illustrationsto include and footnoting the texts.“Doing this monumental task covering1,200 years of French writing has made memore aware than ever that literature, like allhuman creativity, is an evolving process, buildingon past achievements but also rebellingagainst the past, striving to do what may nothave been possible before,” Rivers said.“Cinema has enabled creative minds totake one more step forward, doing new things,making new meaning. That is what makes itsuch a vital art and such an influence upon ourlives. It is a force we need to comprehend, as itcontinues to define who we are.”10| Cardinal Cadence September - November 2005September - November 2005 Cardinal Cadence |11

Rosine Wilson with President James SimmonsOn a July evening, guests at thePresident’s Circle dinner weregreeted by red silk, white rosesand golden tableware, arranged inhonor of, and in thanks for, theirsupport. President James Simmonsand First Lady Susan Simmonshosted members of the President’sCircle and Heritage Society for thereception, dinner and report on theuniversity’s progress.Betty and Sheldon GreenbergLamar University athletics director/head basketballcoach Billy Tubbs ’58, right, enjoys the pre-LU-llabyof Broadway reception, ready to applaud this pair ofperformers: his wife, Pat, and Bud Leonard ’50, ’53,’76, who also served as master of ceremonies. Life-long Astros fan and actress hopeful Suzanne Van Velson ’05 sings the National Anthembefore 40,000 spectators gathered at Minute Maid Park for a June 20 Astros game. Shecompeted with 20 individuals in an audition during the park’s Fan Fest to win the honor.The bones of McDonald Gymnasium have been revealed and are ready for theirreincarnation as the new Sports Recreation Center. Construction is underway onthe $18 million-dollar, 129,550-square-foot center, which will sport a cardiovascularand weight training fitness center; rooms for aerobics, yoga, martial artsand dance; a jogging track; five racquetball/squash courts; 40-foot climbing wall;a health food and juice bar, and courts for basketball, volleyball, badminton,indoor soccer, roller hockey and indoor tennis.MIKE TOBIASWalter and Suzanne RiedelLU-llaby of Broadway co-chair Jean Helms, chair Les Warren and pastchair Angela Phares don tropical attire – appropriate for the “Heat Is On”theme – for the reception before the show June 7. The performancebenefits Lamar University theater scholarships.Liesl Biehl, a senior studioart major from Vidor, poseswith the Jackson Pollackinspiredtablecloth shecreated for the auction at LaDolce Vita, which benefittedthe Dishman Art Museum.Vic Rogers and Susan(Williams) Simmons ’68Oscar ’78 and Emogene Polk12 | Cardinal Cadence September - November 2005Clayton ’69 and Georgia (Graeter) ’68 Lau September - November 2005 Cardinal Cadence |13

News extraBy Louise WoodThe space shuttle Columbia was breaking up over EastTexas, while, in a San Antonio newsroom, Brett Thacker’83 was agitating for an extra edition.“It was early in the morning, and I had been straddlingthe fence. But I saw we had the people to get itdone, so I said, ‘Let’s do an extra.’“It was one of those adrenaline days,” says Thacker,then an assistant managing editor at the San AntonioExpress-News.Thacker remembers it as one of those magicalmoments in the news business that makes editors theirmost proud – the news-gathering is tough, if not nearlyimpossible, but the result makes it all worthwhile.14 | Cardinal Cadence September - November 2005JERRY LARA“We had so much fun (at theUniversity Press). We wouldstay up there all night, literally.We were pouring our heartand soul into that publication.We were really clicking.“The shuttle was our first extra since 9-11.We covered the unfolding of the event in EastTexas,” Thacker says. “We yanked it together,and the excitement, the palpable energy in theroom – it’s kind of like Friday night football insports. You have all these people, and everyone’sdoing their own thing, but, somehow, it magicallycomes together.“That day was amazing. You’re coordinatingwith circulation to get the extra out and productionto book the press time, and you’re tryingto add pages for the next day, and you’re tryingto get the stories in and edit them and makesure the headlines and the photos strike the rightchord. Sept. 11 was like that, and capturingSaddam was like that, but this topped them all.”Thacker likes to think that extra edition ofFeb. 1, 2003, helped him cinch his position asmanaging editor of the one of the nation’s majornewspapers. With a circulation of 240,000weekdays and 355,000 Sundays and an editorialstaff of 280, it is the third-largest in Texas.In April, the Express-News earned its firsteverNewspaper of the Year honors from theTexas Associated Press Managing Editors. TheExpress-News was honored the best daily paperin its big-city circulation category, topping competitorsin Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth andAustin.Thacker and his staff had another opportunityto practice over-the-top journalism whenHurricanes Katrina and Rita ravaged the NewOrleans and Southeast Texas-SouthwestLouisiana areas in August and September. (Seestory, page 51)“Throughout the ’80s and early ’90s, for amajor metropolitan daily, this newspaper wasnot held in very high esteem,” Thacker says.“When Hearst purchased us in 1993 – it ownedthe rival San Antonio Light, and it bought usand closed the Light – the company infused us”with resources to have more people, a betterbuilding and raise the quality of our journalism.”Thacker’s career rise has been newsworthyin its own right – beginning with his years inthe Beaumont Enterprise sports department,where, as a 17-year-old rookie still in highschool, his primary daily duties were to answertelephones and call the bait camps to see if thefish were running. “The main question was,‘How is the fishing?’ and the final question was,‘You got any bait?’” Thacker recalls.There were all-nighters at the UniversityPress. “We had so much fun,” he says. “Wewould stay up there all night, literally. We werepouring our heart and our soul into that publication.We were really clicking.”For more than two decades, he and theExpress-News have been clicking in a major way.In a field not known for long-term associations,Thacker has been with the Express-News 22years. He joined the paper in 1983 as a copyeditor – two weeks after graduation fromLamar. And, he says, “Here I remain.”Thacker became assistant sports editor in1988, sports editor in 1997, assistant managingeditor for weekends in 1999 and deputy managingeditor in early 2003. In August 2003, thenewspaper named him its managing editor aftera nationwide search.He supervises the news operation, runningthe news meetings, determining the lineup forthe front page and supervising the different sectionsof the paper with their planning, personneland procedures – “just your chief administrator,basically.”Thacker figures his interest in journalismbegan when, at age 8 or 9, he produced his firstnewspaper on a notepad. “It was two or threepages, and it was called The Unknown News.I could not tell you what the content was orwhat it was all about. It was essentially, here’s aSeptember - November 2005 Cardinal Cadence | 15

masthead, and here are a couple of bogus stories,and here’s a little drawing I did.”Born and raised in Beaumont, Thackergraduated from French High School, where hewas editor of the school newspaper. His mother,Ann ’72, who died four years ago, wasdirector of elementary curriculum with theBeaumont school district. His father, Ike, wasan engineer who worked for 36 years at theMagnolia – later Mobil – refinery. He has threebrothers, Charles ’71, Ike and Ben.For a guy still in his teens, the Enterpriseexperience was a thrill. “That was back in thelate 1970s and early ’80s, and here I was, just akid, with lots of enthusiasm for the job,”Thacker says. “It was the Wild West. I likedworking nights and I liked the satisfaction ofhaving something in front of you the next dayto see what you had done.”Halfway through his first year at Lamar –he had just turned 19 – Thacker was hired fulltime. He was a copy editor in sports, withoccasional stints on state and city desks.His editor, veteran sports journalist JoeHeiling, now retired, was an early inspiration.“It was just too cool because Joe gave me a lotof freedom,” Thacker says. “Then, and evenwhen I came to San Antonio, it was more thana matter of instruction. It was, ‘I trust you. Dowhat you think is best. Make us better.’ It wasan early lesson that stuck with me.“I try to trust people. I try not to be amicromanager. I understand what it’s all aboutnow because some days, a tsunami can get you,and you leave here just boiling. Some days,you’re fine. I’m doing great today. But I’ve stillgot several phone calls to return, and I knowthey’re going to be pretty contentious. Theword ‘editor’ in my title is reallya misnomer. My job is reallymore about putting out fires.”Much of his knack for runninga large-scale news operation,complete with pressuresand unpredictability, might stemfrom early experience jugglingclasses, a full-time job at theEnterprise and working at theUniversity Press.At Lamar, he was aided andabetted by fellow-UP diehardsFrank Conde ’82, now publicinformation officer for the Dallasmayor and city council; DavidHarrington ’82, senior announcer at KUAT-FMpublic radio at the University of Arizona; andDavid Martindale, a freelance writer regardedas a national authority on television reruns.Thacker was still at Lamar (“I was on thefive-year plan.”) when he received his first joboffer from the Express-News. But he opted tocomplete his degree. After graduation, heapplied “to every single major paper in thestate.” San Antonio called, and the rest is history.As sports editor of the Express-News, heimplemented many of the moves he wanted tomake, and the section earned two nationalAssociated Press Sports Editors Top 10 awards.Then came the transition to assistant managingeditor, coordinating Sunday sections. “By thattime, I’d been working in sports most of mycareer,” he says. “I was about to turn 40, and Iwanted to try something that I thought wouldbe more substantial.”He considers the Associated Press“best-in-show” honor a crowning achievement.“APME randomly selects two dates during theyear (for which to submit issues), so you couldbe lucky – and good,” he said. “The two theypicked happened to be pretty eventful for us.The one we picked was out of the ballpark.“A train crash had released a cloud of chlorinegas. Fortunately, it was in a rural area, butit killed four people. We reconstructed the accidentand exposed how our emergency responsepeople didn’t have their act together. Evenmore people could have been killed as a resultof carelessness and lack of training. We concluded:‘If this had happened two miles, oreven 10 miles, up the road, you’d be talkingabout hundreds upon thousands of casualties.’”When he’s not keeping the wheels of thenewsroom turning, Thacker is an avid cyclist,riding his bicycle an average of 80 to 100 milesper week.Another favorite endeavor harkens back tohis time trodding the boards at Lamar Theatre.On and off during the past dozen years, he’sbeen involved – as producer, writer and actor –in San Antonio’s annual Gridiron Show, inwhich local media parody newsmakers and newsevents through sketches and songs. Thacker hasbeen honored as best actor four times, includingin 2003 and 2004. “I have a killer portrayal ofCarole Keeton Strayhorn,” he says.His wife, Tina, who hails from the HillCountry town of Kendalia, is an activist inarchitectural preservation of their historicMonte Vista neighborhood and a leader in literacyefforts, including the Express-News’ bookand author luncheon and children’s readingprogram.Thacker maintains a leadership role in hisprofession, serving on the board of theFreedom of Information Foundation of Texasand as second vice president of the TexasAssociated Press Managing Editors.The San Antonio Express-News has comea long way in terms other than prestige. Asrecently as the 1960s, Thacker says, “They hadcarrier pigeons to carry the film back fromfootball games in outlying areas. Our chiefphotographer had a pigeon roost on the roofof our building.“Now, thanks to the wonders of technology,I’m able to dive into the system from homeat night to look at pages being built, read theheadlines and edit stories every once in a while.I don’t get to edit as much as I’d like, but thethrills of this job are of a different kind.”TestingairtheAs 2005 University Scholar, Thomas “T.C.” Ho is recognized as one ofLamar University’s best in research and scholarly activity.“Dr. Ho is providing exceptional leadership for Lamar University inmany areas,” said Jack Hopper, dean of the College of Engineering. “Hisresearch leadership has made Lamar a nationally recognized participant inair-quality modeling.”Ho, who joined the Lamar faculty in 1982, has done research in manyareas, including waste management, waste incineration, air toxin emissioncontrol and coal combustion. He is director of the Gulf Coast HazardousSubstance Research Center at Lamar and holds the Michael E. and PatriciaP. Aldredge Endowed Chair in Engineering.A registered professional engineer, Ho holds both a Ph.D. and master’sdegree in chemical engineering from Kansas State University. His bachelor’sdegree is from the University of Taiwan.It is perhaps his cutting-edge work in air quality modeling that willmost directly affect Texans. That research is not only addressing the airquality challenges facing Houston and Southeast Texas, but also has takenHo and colleagues around the globe to address China’s growing air qualityproblems as well.At Lamar, Ho has participated in scholarly and creative activities forthe past 23 years, including preparing research proposals, working fundedresearch projects, publishing journal articles and attending national andinternational conferences.During 2004-2005, Ho was principal investigator or co-principalinvestigator on funded research projects totaling more than $2.09 millionfrom the National Science Foundation, the Texas Air Research Center, theEnvironmental Protection Agency through the GCHSRC, U.S.Department of Agriculture, Houston Advanced Research Center and theTexas Commission on Environmental Quality.“His team work approach has paid huge dividends as numerous facultyare participating in each of these Center projects,” Hopper said. He citedHo’s tenure at Lamar as “an example of collaboration and team building.”THOMAS “T.C.” HOIn addition to collaborative work with Lamar faculty,Ho has worked with faculty from Louisiana StateUniversity, Kansas State University and Ohio StateUniversity.He has been the proposal reviewer for many fundingagencies, including the National Science Foundation,Department of Energy, State of Texas, State of Louisianaand American Petroleum Institute. In addition, he hasreviewed scientific papers for many professional journalsand has served as a committee member on organizationsincluding the American Institute of Chemical Engineers,the Department of Chemical Engineering at WestVirginia University and the Department of Engineeringat the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.Ho’s teaching abilities were noted when he receivedthe University Professor Award in 2001. During hiscareer, he has written five book chapters, 69 peer-reviewpapers, more than 150 conference papers, and numerousresearch project reports. Ho has published papers in theAmerican Institute of Chemical Engineers Journal,Combustion Science and Engineering and the Journal ofWaste Management.“He is truly a major benefit to Lamar,” Hopper said.— BKS16 | Cardinal Cadence September - November 2005September - November 2005 Cardinal Cadence | 17

Born to litigateBy Cynthia HicksCompetitive spiritaside, there are fewattorneys in this countrywho relish facingDavid Beck ’61 acrossthe table. He’s beencalled the “go-tolawyer for lawyers introuble.”Some of the biggest clients oftenchoose some of the smallest firms,and those “boutique” firms can zeroin on the attack – or defense, as thecase may be – and focus with laserlikeefficiency on favorable verdicts.David Beck has created just such aniche for his Houston firm, Beck,Redden & Secrest L.L.P. His reputationas a top litigator answers thequestion: When you can afford tohire anyone, whom do you hire? Thebiggest hire Beck.His Dad worked at Gulf refineryin Port Arthur while his motherworked at home to raise five children.Money was tight, and a degree wasmost accessible by attending Lamar.Today, David Beck owns one of themost elite law firms in the country –American Lawyer magazine hasnamed it one of the top five “boutique”firms in the United States.That’s serious accomplishment, and itspeaks highly of an innate entrepreneurialspirit.A little of that spirit and somethingelse he can’t identify sparked anearly desire to be a courtroom lawyer.“That’s just something I knewfrom an early age, and, when I wentto Lamar, I knew that’s what I wantedto do,” he said. He joined the pre-law programvia a bachelor’s in government, theregistration-day suggestion of IrvingDawson, then chair of the governmentdepartment.“He was the first person I met when Ishowed up at Lamar to register. I didn’thave a clue what to major in. He looked atmy test scores and said, ‘You know, youreally ought to look into government andhistory.’ It was a good choice, but I wonderwhat would’ve happened if the head of theengineering department would have saidthat. Professor Dawson was a wonderfulmentor. He knew my economic backgroundand helped me get part-time jobs tomake some money and stay in school. So hewas a tremendous influence on me.”Beck sets objectives and attains them.He graduated from high school on a Fridayand began college classes the next Monday.He became an associate, then partner, thensenior partner at Fulbright & Jaworski.Complacency is not in his vocabulary. At thepoint most people are winding down towardretirement, he was gearing up, starting hisown law firm in 1992 with Joe Redden Jr.and Ronald Secrest. “It just seemed like Ineeded another, as my wife would say,mountain to climb,” he said.He and his wife, Judy, met in highschool and now raise longhorns on theirBlanco ranch. Two of their three children followedin their father’s footsteps. The eldest,Lauren, is a partner with her law firm inHouston and is mother to two boys and agirl. Son David is a lawyer in San Antonio,completing college and law school after atour during the Gulf War as a marine. Theiryoungest daughter, Allison, earned anM.B.A. and is in real estate in Houston.Though he attests to the stellar qualityof Fulbright & Jaworski, the large-firm environmentforced concessions he became frustratedwith making. “It had gotten so bigthat whenever I would be contacted to beinvolved in a major matter, I would be disqualifiedbecause a lawyer in the firm inDallas, for example, had written a will forsomebody. The other thing was I never wasreally able to satisfy the entrepreneurial bitthat I had.”He is extraordinarily proud of buildingthe firm to its current position of nationwiderespect, achieved in just 13 years. “That tooka lot of hard work by a lot of good people,”he said. “It took some of the other firms thatwere on that list [the Top 5 boutique firmsin the country] 30, 40 or 50 years.” Theterm “boutique” refers to a firm that specializes.“We don’t do corporate tax work orestate planning,” Beck said. “When they sayboutique, they really mean a firm that doesnothing but litigation.” And Beck, Reddenhandles high-stakes litigation for corporatedefendants in trouble.For 3M Company Inc., W. Curtis Webbsecured three defense verdicts in product liabilitytrials involving dust masks and respirators.Beck, Redden lawyers “are courageousand unflappable,” says 3M general counselThomas Boardman. “They are steely-eyedgunslingers when you have to go to the middleof the street at high noon,” quoted writerAlison Frankel in the The American Lawyer.The firm is representing Wyeth as leadtrial counsel in hundreds of fen-phen trials inBeaumont. Beck was lead counsel in a numberof trials in the last two years. Two bearmentioning: the $140 million T-Bar-X winconcerning breach of confidentiality andBoren v. Perkins, in which he obtained adefense verdict in Texas state court for abank president sued for civil fraud.Beck’s work ethic brought him to thetop of his game, and he expects the same in“It just seemedlike I needed another,as my wife would say,mountain to climb.”those he hires. The firm normally hires onlyfrom the top 10 percent of a law school class.He looks for a subjective mix of strong workethic, academic credentials and people skills.“You look for that balance. For example,somebody who’s done well academically, hasgood people skills and earned 80 percent oftheir way through school, that’s a real plus.”With 35 lawyers in the firm today, Beckanticipates they’ll be closer to 50 in the nextfew years. Opening offices in other cities is adistinct possibility.According to The American Lawyer,Beck, Redden attained finalist staturebecause it “combines cutting-edge technologies,palpable tastes for risk, and an old-fashionedsense of partnership.” Profits matchthe effort, and clients come knocking withconfidence. The firm’s latest cases includedefending the American Bureau of ShippingInc. in federal court in New York and statecourt in Texas against $2 billion in claims bySpain stemming from a tanker accident andoil spill off the Spanish coast and defendingExxonMobil in Alabama class-actions allegingunderpayment of royalties in an Alabamaoil field.One of his most recent cases ended inirritation for Beck, not because of a loss butbecause a lot of preparation and an eagerconfidence to argue before the jury ended insettlement. Beck believes “if you’re a goodtrial lawyer, you can try anything. So, themore complex a case is to me , the greaterthe challenge.“Part of being an experienced triallawyer is that you develop a sense of whatthe jury’s going to do. Trying a lawsuit isvery much like a chess game: You have astrategy going in; you try to anticipate themoves of your opposition. If you’re well prepared,most of the time you’re successful.Every now and then, you’re surprised, whichmeans you have to make some adjustmentsin your strategy.”Beck likes dealing with people, whetherthey are jurors, witnesses, judges or otherlawyers, and he enjoys being in court. “You’retrying to persuade someone to your point ofview, which, in many instances, is very challengingand sometimes very difficult. But,that’s what makes it exciting,” he said.On his immediate horizon is a year aspresident-elect of the American College ofTrial Lawyers. His presidency of the group –the membership of which is limited to thetop 1 percent of trial lawyers in the countryon both sides of the docket, whether plaintiff,defendant, civil or criminal – will beginin October 2006. He will work with lawyersand judges throughout the United States andCanada to accomplish a two-fold mission: totry to get the best lawyers to work toimprove the system of justice and also to fosterhigher ethical standards.Beck is concerned about the predominanceof marketing in the legal profession.“But I think it’s an area where lawyers, whoare certainly entitled to market and advertise,need to be certain that what they do is wellwithin the structure of our professionalguidelines.” In 2003, he authored “TheLegal Profession at the Crossroads: WhoWill Write the Future Rules Governing theConduct of Lawyers Representing PublicCorporations?” This past year, the lateSupreme Court Chief Justice WilliamRehnquist appointed him to the prestigiousJudicial Conference Standing Committee onRules of Practice and Procedure.For Beck, there is always room forimprovement, always another mountain toclimb, and as one of the Top 10 trial lawyersin the United States – so named by theNational Law Journal – his skill and powersof persuasion will gain him the summit.18 | Cardinal Cadence September - November 2005 September - November 2005 Cardinal Cadence | 19

Homeof theYOCHEVED MENASHE ’01STOOD AT NEBI SAMUEL,THE GRAVESITE OF THEPROPHET SAMUEL, OVER-LOOKING THE CITY OFJERUSALEM — HER HOME.For Jews, Jerusalem is the heart ofIsrael, an ancient land at the center ofconflict and home to many cultures. Asan Israeli citizen and convert to theJewish faith, Menashe couldn’t imagineliving anywhere else. Israel is her land,her place of refuge. And the Jews areher chosen people.As a child, Menashe remembersflipping with excitement throughbooks with photos of the Holy Land.“I am a dreamer. I live halfwaybetween the earth and the sky, and I’mnot above dreaming the impossible,”she said.Before her immigration to Israel,Menashe lived in Port Arthur andworked in continuing education atLamar. In October 2000, she heard apresentation by the Israeli consul generalin Houston at the HolocaustMuseum, where she was a docent. Theconsul discussed the immigration ofAmerican Jews to Israel, known inHebrew as Aliyah, and handed outpamphlets on the subject.“I thought about it all the wayhome, and, when I went to bed, Istarted reading the little book. I finishedit up as the alarm clock rang andit was time to go to work. During thedrive, I thought, ‘I can really do this,’”Menashe said.So her journey began. She contactedheartBy Chris CastilloOFIR FARKASHthe consul general’s office, which put her intouch with the Aliyah office in Houston.She spoke to immigration officials, and thewheels were set in motion.For the Aliyah office to consider heras a prospective Israeli immigrant, she wasrequired to visit Israel for a minimum ofseven days. She made that visit during aThanksgiving holiday. “I did not want tocome back,” Menashe said. In fact, she wasso taken with Israel that she felt homesickwhen she returned to the United States.In her package from the Aliyah officewas information about a master’s programaffiliated with the University of Liverpool,the Israel Ministry of Education and theMunicipality of Tel Aviv-Yaffo school district.The linguistic program required graduatestudents to teach English as an internin an Israeli public school for two years,follow a set curriculum and complete severalpapers and a dissertation. Menasheapplied and was accepted.She began preparing for the move,deciding what to take with her. “I had ahouse full of beautiful antique furniture,dishes and lots of stuff.” She donated herlibrary to the Kollel (an institute of Jewishlearning in Houston). Her other valuableswent to very close friends. “The onlythings I brought with me were my clothes,some special treasures and my holy books.”Shedding worldly belongings gave her asense of freedom, she said.To prepare for her new role in Israel,she took every English as a second languageand English as a foreign language courseLamar University offered. She also tookcourses at LU’s fire training school,receiving certification as a firefighter. Thelanguage courses at Lamar equipped herwith much needed skills. “It prepared mequite well for both my master’s degreeprogram and my work,” she said.Having turned 60 on Nov. 2, shedoesn’t meet the age requirements to jointhe Israel Defense Force. But “I wanted todo my service like every Israeli-born citizen.I wanted to be in the fight,” she said.Because firefighters are the first people torespond to crises such as bombings, shesaid, Yo chose firefighting as a way shecould offer service to her country.Menashe left Texas for Israel Aug. 1,2001. “I came alone. I have no family,” shesaid. After living in Israel three years, shemoved to a Netivot, a small town in theNegev, 15 miles east of the Gaza Strip. Shetaught English at a new high school anddid the same for government employees. InJune, she moved to Jerusalem. “Now that Ihave settled in Jerusalem, I am planning tovolunteer at the fire department soon or atthe police department bomb squad.”Menashe, who now teaches highschool in Jerusalem, said she doesn’t knowwhat it’s like to live in her country duringpeacetime. “When you leave in the morningfor work, the thought does cross yourmind whether you’ll get back home. Whenthere is an attack, I pray that all my studentswill be in class the day after.”She uses public transportation anddoesn’t miss driving. Most bus trips areuneventful, while others are more intense,depending on the day and the destination.Buses traveling in more dangerous areas arereinforced with armor. “I’ve been on busesthat have been stoned, surrounded anddetained until the Israel Defense Force cameto get us out. The day Arafat died, I waitedfor my bus, flanked on either side by two ofIsrael’s finest with their weapons in firingposition, until I was safely aboard.”Despite the situation, she hasn’t beenafraid. “I wasn’t scared. My heart didn’t skipa beat. I am living a miracle. That is theonly explanation I have for that,” she said.Some people living in Israel are fearful,she said. “It’s tense. The more attacks,the more tense it gets. Israelis are attachedto the land. This is our country, and welove it. So, we get up every morning andgo to work every day.”That determination comes with aprice. Many have died in the fighting, yettheir persistence continues.“I have students who have been nearsuicide bomb attacks. Other students havelost parents and/or siblings in suicide bombattacks. And I have students who have hadparents or siblings maimed in bus bombings.They still show up for school everyday.” Despite the danger, Menashe has nodoubt her students will take their place inthe Israel Defense Force and defend theircountry when their time comes.“All Israelis at the age of 18 areinducted into the army, male and female,”she said. “I had three 12th-grade classesthis past year, and all of them were excitedabout their upcoming service.”Her job as a teacher has made her abetter Israeli, she said. “I wanted to servein the army, but I exceeded the age limitfor a volunteer. So my students give mesome connection to that part of me that Icannot fulfill.”And as her students inspire her, shealso inspires them. They feel deep love forher because she chose to immigrate toIsrael. “My Aliyah has been a blessing to somany Israelis, simply because I made achoice to come and stay.”OFIR FARKASH20 | Cardinal Cadence September - November 2005 September - November 2005 Cardinal Cadence |21

MARK ETHERIDGEState-of-the-art, computer-guided machinerybrings consistency to old-world craftsmanship inAdvanced Lab Concepts’ top-drawer designs that meetthe specifications of the nation’s leading architects.Since its founding in 1988, ALC hasgrown so much that its 70,000 squarefootfacilities in north Austin are burstingat the seams.ALC’s laboratory grade wood andlaminate casework and custom millworkdovetails nicely with the quality steel laboratoryfurniture and fume hoods built byindustry partner Mott Manufacturing ofBrantford, Ontario. “Together, we’re ableto offer the full laboratory,” Etheridge said.The Beaumont French High School graduateentered Lamar in pursuit of a degree in pre-medicineCraftgoeshigh-techBy Brian SattlerMark Etheridge ’80 turned his woodworking hobby into a multimillion-dollarventure that now equips the nation’s top research laboratories.while working full time at Mobil. Marriage and parenthoodsoon led Etheridge to night classes and a majorto business after he tallied the cost of years of medicalschool.The son of longtime Beaumont educator and principalCharles ’54 and Linnie Etheridge, he beams withpride as he weaves among the neatly arranged workstations filled with large computer-guided machinesfrom Germany and Italy, deftly describing how each fitsin the manufacturing process. Etheridge is committedto the 130 employees of ALC, and takes pride not onlythe company’s high-tech manufacturing, but also in theskill of its people.This machinery, and the women and men who runit, made it possible to fulfill recent orders like 11 floorsof laboratory furnishings for the University of TexasSouthwest Medical Center in Dallas ($6.9 million), fiveBRIAN SATTLERfloors of laboratory space for the Centers for Disease Control inAtlanta ($4.7 million), as well as a $3.1 million job for Harvard,Cambridge, Mass., and a $1.5 million job for Scripps ResearchInstitute in La Jolla, Calif.ALC’s furnishings are made to order for the next generation ofresearch and university laboratories, Etheridge said. These modern labsare of flexible design, with gasses and power plumbed from above andtables and work stations modular and mobile, allowing the laboratoryto be reconfigured quickly to meet changing demands.Etheridge worked in sales and marketing after graduating fromLamar, first for Xerox, then for a hazardous waste processor companybased in Tulsa, Okla. The oil bust of the early 1980s brought its ownhazards and his career took a new turn when he landed a job withHouston-based Kewaunee Scientific. Three years later, Etheridgefounded ALC with three employees designing and installing laboratoriesprimarily in the petrochemical industry. His early clients includedDow Chemical, Exxon and DuPont.“Basically, we were interior designers for laboratories,” he said.“We put together the architectural design, bought products andinstalled them.”In the early years, the company experienced slow but steadygrowth. While they used other companies’ products when they meetcustomer specifications, increasingly they found it necessary to buildlab furnishings themselves. In 1998, Etheridge opened the plantbetween Austin and Pflugerville, drawn there by the lower humidity —a concern in woodworking — and the abundance of skilled craftsmenin the area.At first, he didn’t believe he would have to be an on-the-scenemanager, but, as the business grew quickly, so did his need to be atthe plant.“Now we sell all over the U.S.,” he said. ALC has sales offices inAustin and Houston, as well as South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana,Nebraska and California. Independent dealers also sell ALC’s products.A newcomer in a mature industry, ALC competes with centuryoldcompanies. By entering the industry in the late 1990s, ALC wasable to acquire the latest technology to ensure accuracy and consistencythroughout the manufacturing process. Quality is key, Etheridgebelieves, and he will readily use a competitor’s lessor product tosell his own.“I didn’t think we’d take off this quick,” he said. Already,ALC is in the top five of American companies supplying laboratoryfurnishings.Quality is essential, but so is paying close attention to customerneeds. Etheridge works hard to ensure ALC products always meet orexceed specifications. “We’re not a catalog company,” he said, pointingout how he will painstakingly review specifications in all requests forproposals and contact architects to ensure ALC’s bids are spot on.Wood, Etheridge says, is beautiful, durable and flexible in design.Together with steelwork by their Canadian partner, he is confidentALC can meet the needs of government, industry and education foryears to come.24 | Cardinal Cadence September - November 2005 September - November 2005 Cardinal Cadence | 25

Scores of trees throughout campus fell victim to Rita. Some lostlarge limbs, while others were split in half by the storm’s force.Lamar University has reboundedfrom one of its greatest challengesever — Hurricane Rita.Trees near the Hayes Biology Building were left badly broken by Hurricane Rita.Trees in the Quadrangle, near the Cherry Engineering Building and elsewherearound campus were damaged or uprooted by the high winds.Lamar University President JamesSimmons canceled classes the afternoonof Sept. 21, allowing students, facultyand staff to evacuate in anticipation of thehurricane. City and county leadersordered a mandatory evacuation for theregion on Thursday, Sept. 22.Hurricane Rita roared ashore as aThe Cherry Engineering Building lostits roof and sustained water damage.strong Category 3 storm early Saturdaymorning, Sept. 24, just east of Sabine Pass.Rita caused terrific damage to theUniversity Reception Center, eighth floor,Mary and John Gray Librarycampus, felling scores of trees and strippingroofs from 20 campusAerial shots of campus showvast roof damage.Many buildings at Spindletop/Gladys City Boomtown Museum were tornapart by Rita. Two wooden derricks in the square were demolished andthe wall of the museum office above the saloon was ripped away. Books,displays and artifacts were strewn about the property.An auditorium, indicative of manyclassroom spaces on campus,sustained water damage.buildings. Water invadedabout 80 percent of the university’sbuildings, includingCardinal Village residence hallsand Brooks Hall. All but threebuildings at Spindletop/GladysCity Boomtown Museum werehit hard by the storm.The Montagne Centerwas left with gaping holes inthe roof, the UniversityReception Center was heavilyThe Montagne Center’s roof wasseverely damaged and its mezzanineentrances were destroyed.damaged, and CardinalStadium became a lake. The MartinLuther King Jr. Parkway underpasses atVirginia and Lavaca were impassable forRita’s winds battered the eighth floor receptionThe Martinmore than a week after the heavy rain.Luther King Jr.The press box of Vincent-Beckcenter, blowing out floor-to-ceiling windows,ParkwayStadium is no more and the stadium’sincluding glass and frame.looked morelighting and field fence will need tolike a lake afterbe repaired.wind and rain26 4 | Cardinal Cadence spring September 2002- November 2005subsided.Feature photos by: Danny Bowden, Chris Castillo, Barry Johnson, Brian Sattler and James SimmonsSeptember - November spring 2005 2002 Cardinal Cadence | | 315

Workers replaced exterior tiles andclosed in the mezzanine level withtemporary wood partitions.Hundreds off utilityworkers used the northand south Montagnelots as their base ofoperations during theinitial recovery period.In the days after Rita littered theQuad and other areas with brokentrees, workers cleaned up campus.Branches were cleared and chipped,creating mountains of mulch.Restoration companiesdried out scores ofcampus buildings.Lamar employees played a critical role in getting theuniversity computer system up and running, allowingstaff to get loan funding to students.Workers repaired, repainted andrestored hundreds of student suitesin Cardinal Village halls . . . and leftcandy kisses on pillows.Soon after Hurricane Rita ripped through Southeast Texas, school officials returned tocampus, joining LU police who had remained there throughout the ordeal. After quicklyassessing the damage, Lamar staff and scores of contractors began the work of restoring thecampus with the goal of students returning in time to complete the fall semester.By noon Monday, Sept. 26, about 500 people were at Lamar working toward that goal. On the weekendof Oct. 1, electrical power was restored to the campus — one of the early areas to regain power — and soon after, Lamar’s computerand phone systems were restored.Scores of buildings had to be dried out and restored, roofs repaired and debris and damaged trees removed from campus. Teamsof workers transformed the Rita-wracked campus into a neatly manicured university once again.Faculty and staff returned to work Oct. 17, and classes resumed the afternoon of Oct. 19, with all buildings open for business.With the aid of a slightly modified class schedule, deletion of the winter mini term, and finals held on the last regularly scheduled classday, Lamar’s December graduates will receive their diplomas on time. Winter commencement will be held at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 22 in theMontagne Center.President Simmons, TSUSChancellor CharlesMatthews and RegentGreg Wilkinson enterCardinal Village phase IIIon a tour of the ongoingrestoration effort.President James Simmons shared images of Rita’s damageto the campus with faculty and staff in a special convocation,Oct. 19. Classes resumed later that day.Gerald McCaig, associatevice president for maintenanceand operations, right,describes the roof damagein the Montagne Center.28 | Cardinal Cadence September - November 2005 September - November 2005 Cardinal Cadence | 29

LU’S BUXTONS:MOVING LOCK, STOCK AND BARRELBRIAN SATTLERBy Brian SattlerMoving hundreds of miles to a new home is always a challenge.That challenge gets big when you’re talking about moving a farmoperation — lock, stock and barrel. That is especially true whenthe stock includes dozens of longhorn cattle and award-winning horses.When two of Lamar University’s newest professors moved fromcentral Oklahoma to their Sour Lake farm, it meant moving not onlytheir household effects, but a lifestyle as well. Sheldon and Patti Buxtonraise registered Texas longhorn and Beefmaster cattle as well asClydesdales and champion quarter horses.Over the period of several weeks, the couple has been movingstock from their ranch near Union City, Okla., to the place theybought in July.The move has stretched out overmany weeks because one of the couple’strailers was compressed by a semi — fortunatelyit was empty at the time — andboth truck and trailer were totaled. Nowthat they’re down to one truck and trailer,some of the couple’s livestock still waitfor their ride across the Red River.Sheldon taught 15 years at theUniversity of Central Oklahoma, inEdmond, Okla., as chair of the advancedprofessional services department thatincluded guidance counseling, schoolleadership and library and media technology.He taught school leadership afterserving as a school superintendent for sixyears. At Lamar, he is visiting professorof educational leadership. “The programinterested me because it is a comprehensiveprogram,” Sheldon said, referring toLamar’s new doctoral program, now inits second year.Patti Buxton taught at CentralOklahoma for eight years and served ascoordinator of its guidance and counselingprogram, then served two years as adean of social sciences at Oklahoma CityCommunity College. This summer, shetaught three courses at Lamar in the College of Education andHuman Development where she now serves as associate professor ofeducational leadership.“Lamar has a reputation as a top-quality university,” Patti said.“The people here have been very friendly,” she said. “They haveshown true southern hospitality.”Now with about 30 cows, numerous calves, and a few bulls toomany, Sheldon sees “Longhorn cattle as a heritage” that is much apart of the history of Southeast Texas and the Big Thicket where theoriginal herds began.The couple’s Clydesdales, Preacher and Major, will soon makePreacher at work in Oklahoma City.Sheldon rides Sneakers in the show ring.the trip to Sour Lake and, after opportunityto adjust to the Southeast Texas climate, willresume their duties in carriage work that hasseen them around the Oklahoma City areapulling the Buxton’s two Amish-built vis-àviscarriages to offer old-world charm toweddings and special events. Their stablemate, Deacon, now lives with a new ownerin Virginia.A veteran of the show arena, Sheldonhas presented two top champions. He raisescowbred, or cutting horses, with a few mares on hand, including 16-year old Sneakers whose progeny has earned considerable money,including honors as 1994 American Quarter Horse AssociationNational Champion Mare. That wasSheldon’s second top-winner. In 1984,one of his horses won World ReservePaint.“Sneakers has won a lot of moneyand has been the financier of a lot of theother horses,” Sheldon said. “She willlive with us in comfort until she departs.“It seems my luck comes aboutevery 10 years,” Sheldon said. “I thinkI’ve got a colt now that might be anotherchampion.”That colt, Ike, was feisty from theget-go. “He’s wired 220,” Sheldon said,and differs from his more affectionate 3-year-old sibling, Sneaky. Both have thepotential to be breadwinners.In addition to his cutting horses,Sheldon enjoys Traveler, a jet-black standardbredtrotter he acquired to pull a carriage,but soon found that “nobodywanted to go that fast.”The couple found their new propertyafter viewing several places in the area.It was love at first sight. “It was a giftfrom God,” Patti said.“It fit us,” Sheldon said. “It hadgreat facilities for the horses and the pastures for the cattle. Pattiloved the house, and I love the barn.”“I love the barn too,” Patti quickly interjects.In the mornings, the couple enjoys the south breeze and coffeeon the porch as they gaze across the fields where the longhorn andBeefmaster cattle graze. Then it is off to work at Lamar, helping preparea new generation of leaders for Texas’ schools.At the end of the day, when their work at Lamar is done, “it is ajoy to turn into the drive,” Sheldon said.“The whole setting is incredible,” Patti said. And while noteverything is adapted for working Longhorn cattle, that, like the restof the livestock, will come in time. (See update, page 51)30 | Cardinal Cadence September - November 2005 September - November 2005 Cardinal Cadence | 31

By Amanda RowellBringit onThe recipe for success is an ever-changing mixture that varies by the person. ForJennifer (Stilley) Warren ’96, the ingredients were basic life lessons that have senther straight to the top of her field.As account director for Austin-based advertising powerhouse GSD&M,Warren manages the advertising for the largest corporation in the world, Wal-Mart.Other clients in the GSD&M stable include DreamWorks, SBC, Norwegian CruiseLine and KOHLER. Warren is a marketing veteran who began her career duringcollege in a position that was created exclusively for her at Advertising Associates inBeaumont.“My job there came out of me walking in and asking for them to create aposition that wasn’t even there,” said Warren. “I had no real experience, I walked inand talked to the owner and said, ‘I reallywant to work here. I have no experience.Can I have a job?’”Much to her surprise, she was given ajob, handing her the number one key, shesays, to her own success: Ask for what youwant. “I learned early on that most times ifyou do ask, you get it,” she said.Warren grew up in Nederland and saysLamar was really the only college she everconsidered attending because both of herparents – Janie (Tennant) Jones ’69 andHarold Stilley ’68 – attended and it was soclose to home. “Plus, Lamar is a greatschool,” she said.Originally an undecided major, she wasstudying psychology until she began workingat Advertising Associates. Marketingbecame her focus. She headed to Austinafter graduation to compete for a job.“I tried to get to know a lot of peoplewhen I moved here, knowing that wouldbe my key to ending up ultimately where Iwanted to go,” she said. “I set my eye onGSD&M.”A job with Direct ResponseMedia Buying led to work at a few,small agencies.“They allowed me to broadento learn more of the marketing andstrategy side of things,” she said.Warren became friends with aheadhunter she met while networkingwith the Austin ad association, notknowing what a huge part he wouldplay in her future. “I was working foranother agency, not even looking foranother job at the time when I got acall from him telling me there was an“I tried to get to know a lot ofpeople when I moved here, knowingthat would be my key toending up ultimately where Iwanted to go,” she said. “I setmy eye on GSD&M.”opening, working directly for GSD&Mfounder Tim McClure,” she said. Shegot the job in 1999. Founded in 1971,GSD&M today employs 650 peopleand generates annual revenues of$1.5 billion.Warren says relationships are keyand obviously have played a huge factorin her success. “I surround myself personallyand professionally with people Iadmire and aspire to be like,” she said.“I hire people who may be better thanme in some areas to balance me out.”Warren broke ground on severalaccounts, including Dial, Chili’s,Southwest Airlines, Kinko’s and OnThe Border, a Mexican restaurantowned by Brinker. Recently, shereturned to the Wal-Mart/Sam’s Clubaccount as account director, althoughshe has worked in many departments atGSD&M, from the integrated marketingdepartment to the branding division.As account director, Warren doeseverything from managing the businessside and directing the team to ensuringa great client relationship by understandingthe client’s business. “Runningthe account is a team effort, but, I’multimately held accountable for runningthe business,” she said.As challenging as that sounds,Warren says it’s the challenge that’s soappealing to her. GSD&M encourageschange and has encouraged her to movearound and work on different brandsand businesses.“Probably the reason I’ve stayedhere as long as I have and will continueto stay here is that you don’t getbored,” she said. “There’salways something new tolearn, whether it’s a differentindustry to get involvedin or a different discipline;you can do it all here. Ihave a different challengealmost everyday when Iwalk in, and that’s what it’sreally all about to me.”Plus, the location ofGSD&M is perfect for Warren, who’s afan of the city of Austin. With an outdoorrunning trail less than a blockfrom her office and shopping andrestaurants right around the corner, shesays the contrast in the city is why sheloves it so much.“Austin as a city is fabulous,” shesaid. “It’s very laid-back which allows alot of creativity and individualism here.I think GSD&M is very reflective ofAustin ... it’s a very entrepreneurialenvironment.”A 10-year resident, Warren issettled in and doing what she loves themost – being a mom. She and her husband,Jim, a consultant at GSD&M,have a 1-year-old daughter, and Warrenhas two step-sons.“My family is my biggest accomplishment,”she said. “I’m a workingmother and a working wife, and it’s noteasy, but it’s great. I’m doing what I loveso I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”Besides raising kids and running animportant part of a mega-corporation,Warren also is a founding member ofthe Central Texas Direct MarketingAssociation and is a national judge forthe Effieawards, whichhonor significantachievementsinadvertising.With allof these “keys”that haveopened thedoor forWarren’s success,she saysone withoutthe otherwould havenever allowedher to bewhere she istoday.“It’sfunny. It’s likeI never considermyself successful,” she said. “Ithink you just keep plugging along andnever get complacent.“But I’m working on Wal-Mart,which is the largest corporation in theworld, and I don’t know if it gets biggerthan that.”32 | Cardinal Cadence September - November 2005September - November 2005 Cardinal Cadence | 33

Right time,right placeby Amanda RowellThe life story of Charles Snoek ’55 isone of hard work, true love, exotictravels and . . . pure luck. Snoek, aPort Arthur native, began his collegiate studiesin graphic design and ended them shakinghands with serendipity to begin a career thatwould take him all over the world.The path to that future began early.After losing his father when he was 5, Snoek,his mother and his seven siblings were leftfinancially strapped, so he began working atHenke-Pillot (now Kroger) in Port Arthur atage 11. High school graduation coincidedwith a promotion to manager, and that’sabout the time fate stepped in.A truck driver for a national-brand distributorfor the store impressed Snoek withhis courteousness and helpfulness. “I askedone day if any of the stores he called on everran his merchandise on sale,” said Snoek.“He answered, ‘never,’ and a deal was struck.I agreed that if his company would keeptrucks backed up to the store so we wouldnot run out, I would run all of his productsat 10 percent over cost along with other storespecials.”After sales skyrocketed, Snoek says, aman in cowboy boots and a Stetson walkedinto the store and asked for the manager.“His name was C.C. Kelley, the truckdriver’s employer and a prominent rancher inthe Beaumont area,” said Snoek. “He held upthe two-page ad with all of his products listedand asked who put it together. I told himI did. He asked if I had any formal artschooling, and when I said ‘no,’ he told me if I wanted to go to college, he would send me.”The next week, Kelley fell off of a horse and broke his back, but did sign a blank checkand send it to Snoek via the truck driver. With check in hand, Snoek and his family decidedthat Kelley shouldn’t pay for all of the schooling, so he made out the check for a mere $288and started his formal art training at North Texas State Teachers College in Denton. After ayear at North Texas, Snoek transferred into commercial art at Lamar, working nights in therefining and cracking units of Gulf Oil to make it through.After graduation, Snoek went to work for Lamb Printing Co. and was soon workingwith David Bost, then head of the journalism program at Lamar, on a brochure about the university.When he called on Bost one morning about the project, Bost noticed he was wearing asuit and tie and asked if he would sit in on an interview with a representative from a pharmaceuticalcompany who was at the school to canvass pre-med students. Bost told Snoek theydid not have enough students who wanted to interview, and he was afraid the representativewouldn’t come back the next year.“I agreed and went to the interview, when, as fate would have it, I noticed a man havingtrouble getting a bag out of his car,” said Snoek. “I asked him to back away and let me get thebag out, and he told me he was from the Upjohn Pharmaceutical Co. there to interview medicalstudents. I told him I was probably his first interview.”After talking for more than an hour about the company, Snoek finally confessed he was acommercial art and engineering major, not pre-med. “He immediately asked if I wanted to goto work for Upjohn.”During the next 36 years, Snoek and his wife, Lunella, who were sweethearts while atLamar and have now been married 54 years, lived in Temple and Baytown; Kalamazoo,Mich.; Los Angeles; Connecticut; and Japan. A sales leader in1963, he rose quickly within the company and was soon workingin the pharmaceutical division where he was in charge ofcorporate advertising for several products, including Panalbaand Orinase.In 1964, Upjohn placed him in charge of product planningand promotion for five groups of the chemical divisionfrom California and Michigan to Houston and Connecticut.His marketing decisions increased sales from less then $2.5million to more than $50 million in six years. By 1971, hewas managing director of Kasei Upjohn Co. in Japan, a jointventure between Upjohn and Mitsubishi ChemicalIndustries. When the venture concluded, he was back in thecorporate office with responsibility for all public relations andadvertising for the chemical division, managing two advertisingagencies and three public relations consultant agencies tohandle communications for the division worldwide. Trips toHolland and Portugal were frequent.In 1983, Snoek and his wife, Lunella, relocated to Tokyowhen he was appointed director of corporate public relationsfor the Asia/Pacific area. There, he developed anetwork to provide immediate communicationability for the area. Whilethere, he also served on theJapanese Foreign Trade group’sadvisory board and worked withJapan to construct a multi-milliondollar research laboratory.During six years in Japan,Snoek worked with the Indonesiangovernment, which used the Upjohn contraceptiveDepo Provera to establish zero population growth,or a stable population in which births and immigration equal the sumof deaths and emigration. He also worked with the AustralianVeterinarian Society, which used an Upjohn antibiotic product to saveKoala bears that were suffering from a devastating epidemic.He is now in Spring Hill, Tenn., where he and Lunella are livingthe life they always wanted. They are parents to three, which includea set of twins, and grandparents to six. But it wasn’t until Snoek’sretirement from Upjohn in 1989 that he finally pursued his lifelonginterest in painting, creating brilliantly colored images of everythingfrom aquatic life to surrealistic hands. Being raised in Port Arthurwith a love for fishing contributes to his fascination with his subjectCHRIS CASTILLOCHARLES SNOEKmatter. “I have fished all over the world,” he said.The aquarium at Moody Gardens in Galveston stocks Snoek’scollection of note cards, titled “Under The Sea.” Lunella createsbackgrounds for his paintings and chose to take up thehobby because spending time together is a top priorityfor the couple.“My favorite thing to paint is probably thethought or the opportunity of the moment,” hesaid. “But, if I had to pick a favoritesubject, it would probably bethe tall birds, the herons andegrets.” Some of Snoek’spieces from his butterflycollection are hung in theEast Texas Art League galleryin Jasper.Snoek is working on an acrylic of a speckledtrout for his cardiologist, a turkey with spreadwings for a local bank president and a set of surrealisticplaying cards.If he and Lunella aren’t found in their paintingstudio, they can be tracked to an exotic fishinglocale, and, if not there, then certainly on thelinks. For the pair, right now is the righttime and wherever both are together is theright place.34 | Cardinal Cadence September - November 2005 September - November 2005 Cardinal Cadence | 35

By Louise Wood“It’s curiosity,” Hall says of the commondenominator linking the seeminglydiverse pursuits. “Acting is about people’smotivations – how they think aboutthings and why they do the things theydo. Psychology is a lot about that too.The interesting thing is not only collectingthe data, but also in seeing what happens– in seeing life and why things arethe way they are. I’m just curious aboutthings in general.”Hall made another stage appearanceat Lamar summer commencement Aug.13, receiving a round of applause as shewalked to the podium of the MontagneCuriosity sets stageBrooke Hall’s stage portrayals stand in stark contrast to her scholarly roles asresearcher, psychology teacher, mentor and counselor to future medical professionals.Or do they?Center to accept her master’s degree incommunity psychology.A 1999 graduate of Humble HighSchool, Hall earned a degree in speechcommunication with a minor in psychologyfrom Texas A&M University in2003. She “married into Beaumont” thesame year. Her husband, Mark, a financialadvisor at Merrill Lynch, is originallyfrom Orange.“I really like school, so, when Imoved to Beaumont, I decided to go thegraduate-school route, and it’s been themost awesome experience,” Hall said. “Ican’t say enough about Lamar Universityand the kind of opportunities I’ve gottenhere as a graduate student.”Hall’s dean, her professors and hercolleagues say her contributions to Lamartranscend the classroom. Outside her curriculum,she has worked for the pastthree years as a graduate student assistantin the College of Arts and Sciences. Shehas worn many hats – all of them a perfectfit, says Dean Brenda Nichols.At 24, Hall has traveled internationally,attended prestigious conferences,helped shape the JASON project, alongthe way organizing campus lectures bythe likes of columnist Molly Ivins. ThisBOBBY CHAPMANfall, she began teaching psychology classes atLamar.When Hall arrived on campus to pursueher master’s degree, Nichols said, “Sheimmediately started working in the dean’soffice and quickly became invaluable, helpingwith all kinds of tasks big and small.”She later took on the job of advisingpre-professional (pre-medical, pre-dental andpre-pharmacy) students as her primary job.“She was great for the students and theirfamily members – encouraging them, workingwith them and learning more and moreabout options for graduate study,” Nicholssaid. “This year, she began working with ourstudents on probation and suspension – withexcellent results.”Hall also has worked closely withJim Westgate, former associate dean ofthe College of Arts and Sciences and nowprofessor of earth and space sciences.“Dean Nichols and Dr. Westgatecreate the most supportive, wonderfulworking environment, and they have letme have a lot more responsibility thanthe typical graduate student,” she said.Even as a child, all the world was astage for young Brooke Elaine Pearson.“I was getting into my mom’s high heelsand putting on big hats and playing dress-upand doing shows for my parents’ company foras long as I can remember,” she says.Her parents, Jeanette and StevePearson, a librarian and a geologist, respectively,moved from Humble to Denver aboutthe time she and Mark married.Throughout her school years, Hall wasinvolved in swimming and water polo, aswell as speech tournaments and theater. Ineighth grade, she landed the role of Shelbyin Steel Magnolias, made memorable by JuliaRoberts on film and by Hall in theKingwood Center Stage production.Her most interesting role – and herfavorite until her recently – was that ofJonathan Brewster in Arsenic and Old Lace atHumble High School. That’s right. The psychobrother portrayed on the Broadwaystage by Boris Karloff.“Basically, I am really, really tall. I wastaller than all the boys in high school andstill am taller than most guys – 6 feet 1, flatfooted. So I went to audition, and the onlywomen parts were the two little old ladiesand the girlfriend. I really didn’t know if Iwould get cast in any of those parts. Thenthe director made me read for JonathanBrewster.“So I read. Apparently I had a deepervoice than some of the men, and he cast mein the part. I put on these thick shoes to beeven taller and padded my shoulders, wore awig and scarred my face with make-up. I hadto watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas overand over to get those inflections down. I hadto learn how to smoke a cigar.”Her first performance for BeaumontCommunity Players – as Suzette in Don’tDress for Dinner – earned her a Sallye awardas the BCP’s best actress of 2004.“These are such wonderful recruitingtools. The first thing I tell students ishow proud they should be thatthey’re at Lamar because of thehands-on teaching and many undergraduateresearch opportunities.”But the role that would finally upstageJonathan Brewster was that of the repressed,neurotic, obsessive-compulsive perfectionistMaude Mix in John Ford Noonan’s challengingtwo-person play A Couple of White ChicksSitting Around Talking, co-starring RachelCain and directed by Gina Hinson.“That was the most amazing productionI’ve ever been a part of,” Hall said. “Mycharacter is trying to keep everything aroundher perfect so she doesn’t have to deal withthe fact her life is really falling apart. Into hervery wealthy neighborhood in movesHannah Mae Bindler (Cain), who is thisloud-mouthed, crazy Texan, every stereotypeyou can think of. The two women who aretotal opposites end up becoming friends.Hannah Mae is the catalyst to let Maudebreak free.“It was so hard. In a two-person show,when you have to interact for two hours,you know that if somebody says a line andyou don’t hear anything back, it’s your line.But lines were never a problem, and we reallyhad a good time – and a lot of chemistryto take it to a level you don’t get to do whenyou have a big cast.”Now a member of the BCP board, Hallis part of efforts to make the troupe’s downtowntheater a reality. “I’ve been trying tobranch out and meet people,” she said. “I’vemade a lot of friends at the university, but Iwas trying to make Beaumont my communitytoo.”Through Westgate, she became involvedin the JASON project. “It’s an incredible programthat really brings in a lot of community.”She and Westgate recently traveled toUniversidad Autonoma de Guadalajara,Mexico, a top international medical school,to further pre-professional relationships andrecruitment. “It was an amazing culturalexperience.” She’s attended conferences ofthe Texas Association of Advisors for theHealth Professions and visited medicalschools in and around the state.Lamar’s pre-professional programshave come light years in a short time,through new relationships with medical,dental and pharmacy schools. “It’s excitingto have seen the growth in the threeyears I’ve been here,” Hall said. “Theseare such wonderful recruiting tools. Thefirst thing I tell students is how proudthey should be that they’re at Lamar becauseof the hands-on teaching and many undergraduateresearch opportunities.”Her master’s thesis, “Narcissism, Self-Esteem and Aggression,” achieved significantresults, she said, and she is now workingwith her thesis chair, Joanne Lindoerfer, torevise it for publication. “That’s my goalnext year,” Hall said. “I want to continuebeing involved in research because I hope toget a Ph.D. and become a professor.”Lindoerfer, associate professor of psychologyand a 25-year faculty member, hashigh praise for her student. “I believe thewhole department thinks of her as one of themost positive, most enthusiastic studentswe’ve ever had,” Lindoerfer said. “She’s alsobright, a good researcher and writer and agood therapist.”Hall looks forward to her continuedrelationship with Lamar.“I love it, and the reason I love it somuch is that I have gotten a chance to do somany different things,” she said. “I can doresearch. I can work with faculty members. Ican work with students. I’m always doingsomething.”36 | Cardinal Cadence September - November 2005 September - November 2005 Cardinal Cadence | 37

ArtsCulture &Instrumentally BulowMICHELLE CATEHarry Bulow is tuned to musicalsuperlatives.He plays a score of instruments,studied with such musical giants asAaron Copland and Henry Manciniand performed with legendary bandleaderWoody Herman and his last“Thundering Herd.”His ensemble, the New RococoBandsmen, was a big hit at highschool dances and malls in southernCalifornia during the ’70s. As ateenager, he had a career in radio – risingfrom janitor to announcer at hisparents’ stations. And he worked hisway through graduate school writingjingles for such clients as Taco Bell andfilm and television music for “TheIncredible Hulk,” among others.Bulow, 54, is literally a one-manband, whose Harry Bulow Jazz Quartet HARRY BULOWMinus 3 has entertained audiences foryears. He arranges all the parts (bass, piano and drums) and recordsthem, then plays over them with flute, clarinet or saxophone.Now, he’s taking on new challenges as chair of LamarUniversity’s Department of Music, Theatre & Dance, orchestrating19 full-time and 17 part-time faculty members; 220 undergraduateand graduate music, theatre and dance majors; and about 1,300non-majors who take music each semester.“There are a lot of good things about Lamar. It’s a rising school.It’s emerging,” Bulow said.” I like the people – both the faculty andSharing imagesthrough artIf you had asked Susan Kay Bard in 1997 if she everimagined herself graduating from Lamar, she wouldhave wistfully sighed “no.”Bard says she had no opportunity to go to schoolwhen she was younger, but she always wanted to.Aug. 13, she graduated from Lamar magna cum laudewith a degree in studio art, fulfilling a life-long dream atage 48.In 1999, after moving from Houston to Silsbee,Bard took a job as a reporter for the Silsbee Bee. Ayear later, her husband was killed in a car accident,leaving Bard with her sons, ages 17, 13 and 6.“As sad as that was,” said Bard, “I found I had anopportunity to go back to school full time. So I did, andhere I am.”Since 2003, Bard has been curator of Silsbee’sIcehouse Museum.the students. There’s a lot of positiveenergy – and a strong artistic vision.”Bulow came to Lamar from theUniversity of North Carolina atCharlotte, where he was professor ofmusic and director of the Center forMusic Technology. A native of DeMoines, Iowa, he grew up in Iowa,Minnesota and California, where, inhis formative years, he studied organ,saxophone, clarinet and flute. He graduatedfrom San Diego State Universitywith distinction, earning a bachelor’sdegree in piano. He earned his master’sdegree and doctorate from theUniversity of California at Los Angeles,both in theory and composition.His works have received numerousprizes, including first prize at theInternational Composers Competitionin Italy, a National Endowment forthe Arts Composer Fellowship and 20consecutive awards from the American Society of Composers,Authors and Publishers.As chair, Bulow hopes to continue taking the department in thedirection of success.“My principal aim is to reinforce and support the positive areaswe already have and to see if we can’t develop new areas that areemerging technologies in the whole media area,” he said. “My focus asan artist-composer-performer is really the integration of the arts.”— LWBRIAN SATTLERShe began classes in 2000, with a major that shehad been interested in since she was a child: art. In balancingthree children, school and a career, Bard took adifferent approach to multitasking.“A lot of people have said this should have been astruggle, but I always thought it was what had to bedone,” she said. “I believed I was setting a good examplefor my children.”For her thesis, which Bard describes as “socialcommentary,” she painted six life-size figures resemblingsex offenders in the Jefferson County.“I chose to paint them because, though I expectthe offenders to change, I expect the problem to bearound for years and years,” she said. “I believe notenough is done to protect the vulnerable among usfrom sex offenders.”ArtsNotesPamela Saur, professor of Englishand German at Lamar, has publishedtwo new international non-PAMELA SAURfiction works on Austrian history and culture – one she co-editedand another that she translated. The books are Visions and Visionariesin Contemporary Austrian Literature and Film, co-edited by MargareteLamb-Faffelberger and published by Peter Lang Publishing Inc., andthe English translation of Graziella Hlawaty’s Broken Songs: AnAdolescent in War-Torn Vienna, published by Ariadne Press. These arethe third and fourth book projects for Saur, whose translations oftwo other volumes werereleased in 2002, both byAriadne Press . . . TheFrench film series presentedby Ken Rivers, professor ofFrench, will continue duringNovember with French FilmFest VIII, showcasingFrench detective and crimeKEN RIVERSfilm. Films will be screenedat 7 p.m. every Wednesday, except during Thanksgiving week, in theDishman Art Museum Lecture Hall. The films will have subtitles.The series is open to the public without charge . . . Patrick Wright,adjunct instructor of English, placed fifth among 2,000 contestantsin competition sponsored by the International Society of Poets.Wright attended the society’s 2005 summer convention and symposiumAug. 18-21 in Washington, D.C. His poem, TheUntrodden, which he read during the event, earned a $500prize. Also at the meeting, Wright attended lectures and visitedwith such convention participantsas Pulitzer Prize winner W.D.Snodgrass and Delaware PoetLaureate Fleda Brown . . . TheConference of College Teachers ofEnglish has awarded Jerry Bradley,associate vice president for researchand dean of graduate studies, the Dr.Frances Hernandez Teacher-ScholarJERRY BRADLEYAward “in recognition of exemplaryservice to his students and his profession.” Bradley, a professorof English, received a plaque and a $500 award lastspring in Waco. At the same meeting, the conference presentedits fiction award to Daniella Medley, a graduate studentin English. Bradley recently has published poems inLynne Lokensgard atFaculty ExhibitionTexas Poetry Journal and Taj Mahal Review. He read from his fictionat a meeting of the Popular Culture Association/American CultureAssociation in San Diego and from his poetry before theSouthwest/Texas Popular Culture Association in Albuquerque, N.M.. . . Lamar student Ashlynn Ivy of Groves won first place in theundergraduate fiction competition sponsored by the TexasAssociation of Creative Writing Teachers. Ivy, winner of the CharlesOliver Award, was scheduled to read her short story, Grass Hearts, atthe association’s annual meeting Sept. 22-24 in San Antonio, but themeeting was cancelled because of Hurricane Rita. The award alsoincludes a $100 prize and publication in the association newsletter.Jim Sanderson, professor of English at Lamar, is acting president ofthe association . . . Poetry by English professor R.S. “Sam” Gwynnis receiving national attention in poetry publications and over the airwaves.Gwynn’s works appeared in summer issues of Poetry, in theanthology In A Fine Frenzy: Poets Respond to Shakespeare and inSonnets: 150 Contemporary Sonnets. Garrison Keillor selected two ofGwynn’s poems to read on The Writer’s Almanac. His ShakespeareanSonnet is included in Poetry 180 More: Extraordinary Poems for EveryDay, edited by former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins and publishedby Random House . . . Eleven members of Lamar’s art facultyshowcased their diverse talents during the annual Faculty ExhibitionAug. 22-30 in the Dishman Art Museum. The exhibit featuredworks by Linnis Blanton and Greg Busceme, ceramics; KeithCarter, photography; Kurt Dyrhaug, sculpture and drawings;Steve Hodges, Jamie Paul Kessler and Rose Matthis, painting;Meredith Jack, sculpture; Ann Matlock, fiber; Donna Meeks,mixed-media painting; and Prince Thomas, chromogenic prints.Norma and Abraham Motiee of Kampus Korner join Pulse advisor R.S. “Sam” Gwynn and managingeditor Beverly Williams, from left, in displaying the cover of the literary magazine, featuring thenew Kampus Korner bookstore adjacent to the Lamar campus. “Since their new building marks amajor milestone after 25 years of operation, we chose this opportunity to express our thanks toAbraham and Norma Motiee for all their assistance and dedication to both Pulse and LamarUniversity,” Williams said.38 | Cardinal Cadence September - November 2005 September - November 2005 Cardinal Cadence | 39

ArtsCulture &Play by playCasey Cain ’05, who graduated in May after earning first-team All-Southland Conference honorsthree straight years, advanced to the quarterfinals of the 103rd Women’s North and South Amateurplayed at historic Pinehurst No. 2 Golf Course in Pinehurst, N.C. Cain was the No. 33-seed enteringmatch play after posting a 36-hole stroke-play score of 153. In most amateur events, the field isreduced to the top 64 golfers after two rounds of stroke play and seeded according to stroke playfinish. Cain defeated Nicole Melton on the 19th hole, getting up-and-down from a greenside bunker,to win her first round match. Cain lost in the quarterfinals to Ya-Ni Tseng 3 and 2. Tseng went on towin the championship two days later. This was the first amateur event that Cain had advanced tothe round of match play . . . Jennifer Anders, a Beaumont senior on the women’s golf team, qualifiedfor the 29th U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship, which was held at SwopeMemorial Golf Club in Kansas City, Mo. She posted a 36-hole stroke-play score of 161, but did notadvance to match play . . . Dusty Smith and Russell Helson of the men’s golf team both qualifiedfor the 80th U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship at Shaker Run Golf Club in Lebanon, Ohio.Helson, a sophomore from Georgetown, posted stroke-play rounds of 79-71—150 to tie for 70thJennifer ANDERSplace, missing a chance to advance to theround of match play by one stroke. Smith, a junior from The Woodlands, posted a 36-hole strokeplayscore of 72-79—151 to tie for 76th place . . . Dawie Van Der Walt, a sophomore on themen’s golf team, closed out hissummer amateur tour by advancingto the quarterfinals of the 105thU.S. Amateur at historic MerionGolf Club. Van Der Walt, a CapeTown, South Africa, native, tied for13th after two rounds of stroke playRussell HELSONDusty SMITHto advance to the match playround. Van Der Walt started the summer by placing 64th at the 65th Monroe InvitationalChampionship at Monroe Golf Club in Pittsfield, N.Y. He shot a final-round 2-under par 67for a 72-hole score of 285 to finish tied for 60th at the Northeast Amateur atWannamoisett Country Club in Rumford, R.I. Van Der Walt tied for 16th place at the 47thPorter Cup at Niagara Falls Country Club in Lewiston, N.Y. He carded a final round 7-underpar 63 to post a 72-hole score of 1-under 279 . . . Clerc Koenck and Michael Gauthier ofthe track and field team both qualified for the 2005 USA Track and Field Junior Nationals atthe Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. Koenck, a sophomore from Anacoco, La., ran apersonal-best time of 9:56.74 to post a fifth-place finish in the 3,000-meters. Gauthier, asophomore from Bridge City, qualified in the 100-meters. He ran a time of 11.01 to finishsixth in Heat 2 and 13th overall in the 100-meter prelims.Tommy Vance has not left the building. Theveteran LU-llaby of Broadway performer outdideven his own onstage antics of LU-llabyspast during a show-stopping turn as ElvisJune 7 in the University Theatre. Vance wasamong area performers lending their talentsto the annual fund-raiser for Lamar theaterscholarships.Kent takesbaton asdirectorof bandsBradley Kent takes pride in the fact he isonly the fifth director of bands in the halfcentury-plushistory of the band program atLamar University.“When you have a program that’s hadthat small a number of band directors,there’s obviously been an extremely strongtradition in place,” said Kent. “It’s importantfor me to build on that tradition.”Kent continues a musical legacy thatbegan in the 1950s when the late CharlesWynnelle Guidry of Nederland, left, dazzlesthe LU-llaby of Broadway audience withher rendition of Le Jazz Hot fromVictor/Victoria, while Stacey Savinolights the stage with And the World GoesRound from the Kander/Ebb musical of thesame name. Lamar Theatre honoredGuidry and Savino for their contributionsto Lamar Theatre with stars on thetheatre’s Wall of Fame.A. “Pete” Wiley became the inaugural directorof Lamar’s band program. SucceedingWiley were now-President James Simmons,1983-1985; Barry Johnson, current vicepresident for student affairs, 1985-2001;and Scott Weiss, 2001-2005.Kent, who has served since 2001 asdirector of bands at Texas A&M University-Commerce, will lead a program involvingabout 100 instrumental performers and conductthe Wind Ensemble and Concert Band.The reputation of Lamar’s music programand quality of its faculty were amongfactors that led Kent to the university. “Ihave always been impressed with the strongtradition of the band program at LamarUniversity, and I am very impressed with thegrowth the university has experienced underthe leadership of Dr. Simmons,” Kent said.Kent became interested in music at anearly age. “As a young child, I was intriguedby musical instruments,” he said. “When itcame time to start sixth grade, I had theopportunity to play an instrument. I chosethe trombone – I think because it lookeddifferent.”Kent, 36, earned a bachelor of musiceducation from Louisiana State University.As an undergraduate, Kent played professionallyat Walt Disney World in Floridawith the All-American College Band. Helater completed a master of music and adoctor of musical arts degree in conductingat the University of Texas at Austin.Kent spent seven years as director ofaward-winning bands at Lewisville HighSchool. At Texas A&M-Commerce, hedirected the Wind Ensemble and MarchingBand, taught courses in music educationand conducting and performed in theTrombone Choir.He recently led the Texas A&M-Commerce Wind Ensemble at the CollegeBand Directors National Association’s 2005conference in New York City. In 2000, PhiBeta Mu international bandmasters’ fraternityhonored him as Texas Young Bandmasterof the Year.CHRIS CASTILLODawie VAN DER WALTMake a datewith the CardsSchedules for Cards and Lady Cards basketball may be found at www.lamarcardinals.com, as well as thefull LU athletics calendar. You may also check out top stories in men’s and women’s sports, get player stats,read a few entries in student diaries, purchase tickets or become a Cardinal Club or Lil’ Red’s Kids Clubmember – and vote online for the most exciting athletic accomplishment of the 2004-05 season.40 | Cardinal Cadence September - November 2005September - November 2005 Cardinal Cadence | 41

Pitcher turns PadreBy Daucy CrizerClay Hensley is the latest player toreach the major leagues from thetradition-rich Lamar baseballprogram. An ace on Lamar’s 2002team, which won the SouthlandConference championship andadvanced to the NCAA Regional atAustin, Hensley dreamed of pitchingin the major leagues. Thatdream became reality July 20.“Like the veterans told mewhen I got here, getting to themajor leagues isn’t hard, Hensleysaid. “It’s staying here that’s hard.I’m going to keep working hard and consistently throw strikes, anddo whatever I can to stay in the big leagues.”Drafted in the eighth round of the 2002 Major League BaseballFirst-Year Player Draft, Hensley was traded to San Diego in April2003. He spent that year with Lake Elsinor (Calif.) in Class A, thenpitched for the Class AA Mobile Baysharks in 2004. He opened thisseason with the Class AAA Portland (Ore.) Beavers, posting a 2-2record with a 2.99 earned run average. He pitched in 15 games, making14 starts with 71 strikeouts and 22 walks in 90.1 innings pitched.“Consistency and throwing strikes. That’s the biggest thing youcan do to get to the major leagues,” Hensley said.With the Padres needing bullpen help, Hensley was called up inJuly as San Diego was making its move to solidify itself as the team tobeat in the National League West Division.“I’ve been a starter all my life, but I was given a chance to makeit to the big leagues in the bullpen due to some injuries on the team,”Hensley said. “This has been a life-long dream to pitch in the majors,so I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity.“They see me as a starter for them in the future and are going togive me that opportunity next year in spring training.“As one might expect, there are some nuances in switchingfrom a starting pitcher to a reliever, but the basic premise of pitchingstill applies.“Your preparation is the biggest difference,” Hensley said. “As astarter, you pitch every five days and have a chance to rest and dosome homework on the team you will be facing next.“As a reliever, you have to be ready to pitch every day becauseyou never know when you will be called upon to pitch. You have toget loose and prepare yourself to pitch before the game. You have tostay sharp mentally because you enter games in all different kinds ofsituations.“I’ve been used in long relief and as an occasional set-up mansince joining the Padres. They are showing a lot of confidence in me,so I try to do the best I can every time I’m on the mound.”Hensley likens the road to the major leagues to a natural progression.“Every level of baseball is a stepping stone, preparing you for biggerand better things. You have to prove yourself and continue toimprove in order to move up another level. I’ve been fortunate that I’vebeen healthy and improved myself every year to get into this position.”Being called up to the major leagues is every minor leaguer’sdream. It’s what you do once you get there that determines whetheryou stay.“My first day with the Padres was unbelievable,” Hensley said. “Iwas overwhelmed the first few weeks, and the game seemed so fast.After you get acclimated and get your first opportunity to pitch, thegame slows down. The main thing to remember is that you are therefor a reason.”Hensley didn’t catch any breaks in his first major-league outingJuly 20. The first three batters he faced were Carlos Beltran, CliffFloyd and Mike Cameron, the heart of the New York Mets battingorder. He made it through, tossing 2.0 innings of scoreless relief withone strikeout and one walk.“You can’t give them (hitters) too much credit,” Hensley said.“You have to believe in your ability. The club thinks you have the abilityto pitch at that level, otherwise you wouldn’t be here.”For the 2005 season, Hensley was 1-1 with a 1.70 earned runaverage. He pitched in 24 games, earning one start, and struck out 28in 47 2/3 innings pitched. He also appeared in three playoff games forthe Padres against the St. Louis Cardinals.HURRICANE RITA: ATHLETICS RECAPVOLLEYBALL – To compensate for lost games, the SLC Tournament formathas changed to take the top eight teams by winning percentage. During theevacuation period, the University of Texas-San Antonio provided housing forthe Lady Cardinals.CROSS COUNTRY – Blinn College hosted the Lamar cross country team.Junior teams have resumed their fall schedule. Lamar was scheduled to hostthe 2005 Southland Conference Cross Country Championships at Idylwild GolfClub, but damage to the golf course from Hurricane Rita necessitated a changein venue. Northwestern State hosted the event Oct. 31.BASKETBALL – Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams relocated –Lady Cards to St. Mary’s University in San Antonio and Cards to AngelinaJunior College – enabling them to practice during the evacuation.BASEBALL – The baseball team began its first week of fall practice at RiceUniversity in Houston. Vincent-Beck Stadium sustained extensive damageHensley looks back at his season at Lamar as the springboard forhis steady climb from the minor leagues to the majors. He was theace of the staff in 2002, posting an 8-6 record with a 2.97 ERA andset a single-season school record with 127 strikeouts in 100 inningspitched. That’s where the idea that he could make it in professionalbaseball started to click for him.A native of Tomball, Hensley set a Lamar single-game and anSLC Tournament single-game record by striking out 17 Texas-Arlington batters in the Cardinals 5-3 win. He also pitched oneinning with two strikeouts to earn the save in Lamar’s 5-4 win overNorthwestern State in the SLC Tournament championship game. Heset a new SLC Tournament record with 19 strikeouts and earnedMVP honors for his efforts.“Coming to Lamar was the best move I could have made,” saidHensley, who helped Lamar post a 38-24 record in 2002 and advanceto its first NCAA Regional in seven years. “I was afforded the chanceto pitch and was given more one-on-one coaching, which gave me theopportunity to learn. I give Coach (Jim) Gilligan a lot of credit. Heshowed me how to pitch and play the game the right way.“We had a great team that season and had a lot of fun. I lookback at that experience and can see how much it helped me get towhere I am today. Being able to pitch in the NCAA Regional gave mean experience I was able to draw upon when I got to the minor leagues.“Lamar is definitely underrated on the college level. There is a lotof respect for Coach Gilligan throughout professional baseball.Everywhere I’ve been, there has been somebody on the team or onthe coaching staff that is familiar with Coach Gilligan. That’s a testamentto how influential he has been in the game of baseball.”Hensley has joined other Lamar greats, like Jerald Clark, BeauAllred, Bruce Aven, Eric Cammack, Kevin Millar and Randy Williamsin reaching the majors. Hensley also knows that this is just the firststep and there is much more work ahead.“My goal was to make it to the major leagues,” he said. “Nowthat I’m here, I have to set the bar a little higher. I have to work a littleharder and stay here as long as I can. This is a dream come true.”that will be addressed before the start of the regular season in February.Damage included the outfield fence, press box, coaches’ offices, lockerroom and batters eye. The playing surface was undamaged, allowing theteam to resume its fall practice.GOLF – Both the men’s and women’s golf teams were able to maintain theirfall schedules during the evacuation period.TENNIS – The men’s and women’s tennis teams canceled their fall seasons.Both programs will resume their match schedules in the spring.MONTAGNE CENTER – The Montagne Center suffered significant damage,but the volleyball team resumed its home schedule in the arenaOct. 18. The basketball teams were also able to resume practice in thearena. Both basketball teams are proceeding with their schedules asrepairs continue in the Montagne.42 | Cardinal Cadence September - November 2005 September - November 2005 Cardinal Cadence | 43

class noteswww.shoplamar.comPurchase your LU merchandise fromCALL FOR NOMINATIONSDISTINGUISHED ALUMNI NOMINATIONS REQUESTEDWe hope you enjoy 40sreading about former Dr. Howard C. Williamsclassmates. If you have ’47, associate of science,earned his medicaldegree fromnews to share – aBaylor University inposition announcement,1956 and is a doctormilestone, achievement, in Orange. He is alsothe Orange Countywedding, baby – orhistorian and has editedtwo books on theknow the whereaboutscountry’s history. Heof a lost alumnus, we and his wife,want to hear from you. Elizabeth, have beenmarried 55 years.Send us your news:Samuel O. Glass ’49,Write to Cadence, A.A. general studies, isa risk manager for HillP.O. Box 10011,& Hill Truck Line inBeaumont, TX 77710, Houston, where helives.email hickscl@hal.lamar.eduor call (409) 880-8421.50sBessie (O’Neal) Holman’56, certif. secretarialscience, is retired and lives in PortArthur with her husband, Melvin.Thomas L. Jones ’56, B.B.A. accounting,received his certification as a certifiedpublic accountant in 1962. He lives inBryan with his wife, Kay.Shelby C. Pierce ’56, B.S. electrical engineering,attended a MassachusettsInstitute of Technology program forsenior executives and graduated in1980. He retired as vice president ofinternational business development forAmoco Oil and lives in Flossmoor, Ill.,with his wife, Marguerite.Muriel Van Reeves ’56, certif. refrigeration,is a retired refrigerator mechanicand lives in Brookeland with his wife,Glynnara.Aubrey L. Stewart ’56, B.S. history, isretired from the Christian ministry andlives in Thompsons Station, Tenn., withhis wife, Betty.Barbara Ann (Britt) Thompson ’56, B.S.music education, lives in Austin withher husband, Hugh, who is retired fromTulane.Archie P. McDonald ’58, B.S. history,earned his master’s from RiceUniversity and his doctorate fromLouisiana State University. He is executivedirector of the East Texas HistoricalAssociation and is a professor of historyat Stephen F. Austin University inNacogdoches, where he lives.60sLouise (Farnie) Smith ’60, B.S. commercialart, lives in College Station with herhusband, Charles, who is an associateprofessor at Texas A&M University.Joanne (Webb) Davis ’62, B.A. English,earned her M.Ed. in supervision in1976 and is a retired teacher fromOdom Middle School. She lives inFredericksburg with her husband, Billy.Cary (VanVleck) West ’62, B.S. musiceducation, lives in Burnet with herhusband, Herbert.Gerald A. Craven ’63, B.A. English,earned his master’s degree from theUniversity of Arkansas and his doctoratefrom Bowling Green State University. Aprofessor of English at West Texas A&MUniversity, he lives in Canyon.Jerry B. Moseley ’63, B.S. commercialart, earned his master’s in elementaryeducation in 1970 and spent 10 yearson the Lamar faculty. Now retired, helives in Beaumont.James E. Mullally ’63, B.S. graphicdesign, is vice president of sales forSilbo Industries in Montvale, N.J. Helives in Montclair with his wife,Valerie (LeMaire) ’63, B.S. elementaryeducation.Roy E. Smith ’63, B.S. civil engineering,is vice-president of client services forEmergency Visions and lives in ShadyShores with his wife, Pamela.Fred. J. Tepera ’63, B.S. chemical engineering,B.S. math, is retired and livesin Houston with his wife, Rose.Major C. Davis ’64, B.S. elementary education,is owner of Electroclaims ofHouston in Tomball, where he liveswith his wife, Carolyn.Jerald D. Outlaw ’64, B.A. government,is a retired executive for the Boy Scoutsof America and lives in Bethany, Okla.,with his wife, Jeanna.Gaynelle (Hasselmeier) Hayes ’65, B.A.English, earned her master’s from theUniversity of Houston and her doctoratein education from Nova University.She is vice president of administrationfor Galveston College.Alfred H. Ozenne ’65, B.S. biology,earned his dental degree in 1970 andpracticed in Houston for 23 yearsbefore retiring in 1993. He continuedto work for the Texas Department ofCriminal Justice as a “prison dentist” for10 years, but is now pursuing a careerin music. He and his wife, Susan,recently celebrated their 40 th weddinganniversary, and they have three childrenand two grandchildren.Martha J. Vallery ’65, B.S. elementaryeducation,’48, A.A. general studies,lives in Longview and has two daughters,seven grandchildren and threegreat-grandchildren.Obby G. Youngblood ’65, B.B.A. management,is retired and lives in Itasca withhis wife Lynda (Mills) ’64, B.B.A. marketing,who works for State FarmInsurance.Janiece (Chambers) Marshall ’66, B.A.English,’75, M.A. English, retired as ateacher with Port Arthur school district.She lives in Port Neches with her husband,Kellon.Barbara (Cox) Toler ’66, B.B.A. secretarialscience, is a retired teacher and lives inCleveland, with her husband, Glen ’66,B.B.A. general business. He is the ownerof Toler Farms.Joseph Csandli Jr. ’67, B.S. geology, isowner of Joe’s Tennis Shop in WinterPark, Fla. He lives in AltamonteSprings, Fla., with his wife, Bette, andtheir two children.William F. Stoehs ’67, B.B.A. management,earned an M.B.A. from FarleighDickinson University in 1977 andretired as a captain with the NavalReserve. He lives in Hudson, Fla., withhis wife, Catherine, and is a consultantin the telecommunications industry andis a member of the board of directors ofthe National Certification Board ofTherapeutic Massage and Bodywork.Kay (Kellam) Cook ’68, B.A. English, ’72,M.A. English, earned her doctoratefrom the University of Colorado. She isprofessor of English and chair of theDepartment of English at SouthernUtah University and lives in Cedar City,Utah. Her play, Sagebrush Mary, waspresented to a sold-out audience inEscalante, Utah, for the celebration ofEscalante Days.Patrick Larsen ’68, B.B.A. management,earned a teacher’s certificate from SamHouston State University and a master’sdegree from Stephen F. AustinUniversity. He has been a professor ofart at the University of Central Arkansassince 1970 and exhibited his work,Asphalt Expressions at Museum of theGulf Coast this past June.Ramon “Sandy” Sandoval Jr. ’69, B.S.biology, B.S. commercial art, retiredfrom the Air Force in 1994 after 25years of service. He earned a master’s inguidance and counseling from St.Lamar’s student-run online company:www.shoplamar.com.Mary’s University in 1980 and a master’sin fine arts from the University ofTexas in 2002 and became a licensedcounselor in 2004. He lives in Uvaldewith his wife, Cheryl (Snoek) ’68, B.S.sociology, who is a project coordinatorcounselor for the St. Henry d’OssoFamily Project.Lynn (Appleberry) Terrill ’68, B.S. elementaryeducation, earned a master’s in educationfrom Stephen F. AustinUniversity and is a reading recoveryteacher for Irving school district, whereshe lives.Dorothy (Bobb) Williams ’68, B.S. elementaryeducation, teaches in Arlingtonschool district, where she lives with herhusband, Allan.Timothy J. Mullally Sr. ’69, B.B.A. management,is president of TAPS &MORE in Aubrey, where he lives withhis wife, Arlene.70sJohn W. Cooley ’70, M.B.A. businessadministration, earned his doctoratefrom Oklahoma State University, and isthe dean of T. Boone Pickens College ofBusiness at West Texas A&M and is aprofessor of management. He lives inAmarillo.Carol Ann (Williams) Davis ’70, B.S. education,lives in League City with herhusband, Steve, who retired as a salesrepresentative for Acme Brick Co.Carolyn (Harper) Johnson ’70, B.A.chemistry, is an environmental consultantwith Dow Chemical and the vicechairman of the Texas Chemical Waterand Waste Management Committee.She is a member of numerous otherorganizations and was appointed as oneof six individuals to the Brazos RiverAuthority Board of Directors by Gov.Rick Perry. She lives in Freeport withher husband, Charles.Richard H. Valley ’70, B.B.A. accounting,is a senior financial analyst for DukeEnergy Field Services in Houston,where he lives.Cliff Yancey III ’70, B.B.A. marketing,lives in Baton Rouge, La., and has beenthe assistant to the manager of StarEnterprise since he retired from MotivaEnterprises.Lewis W. Gregory ’71, B.B.A. management,is director of Source MinistriesInternational Inc. in Atlanta, Ga. Heearned his doctorate in counseling fromLuther Rice Seminary, where he taughtas an adjunct professor for seven years.He recently completed a book, IntroducingThe New You/The Ultimate Makeover, andlives in Atlanta with his wife, Lue Ellen(Tantzen) ’70, B.A. sociology.Ted Hudson ’71, B.S. industrial engineering,is a manufacturing engineer for GELighting Systems in East Flat Rock,N.C., and lives in Asheville, N.C., withhis wife, Irene.Linda (Poindexter) Jenkins ’71, B.S. elementaryeducation, lives in Sugar Landwith her husband, Jim, who is senior vicepresident of Newland Communities.James Wilcox ’71, B.B.A. general business,earned his doctorate in educationfrom Texas A&M University and is theSuperintendent of schools for Hooksschool district. He lives in Waxahachie.Jimmy G. Cheek ’72, M.Ed. counselingand development, earned his doctoratefrom Texas A&M University and is seniorvice president of the agricultural and naturalresources department at theUniversity of Florida. He lives inGainesville, Fla., with his wife, Elcie(Griffin) ’71, B.S. home economics.Craig S. DuCote ’72, B.B.A. general business,is vice president and manager of JPMorganChase. He lives in Driftwood.John C. Gordon ’72, B.S. graphic design, ispresident of Coastal Paddler in Beaumont,where he lives with his wife, Christina.Dan Hafeman ’72, B.S. electrical engineering,earned a master’s degree fromStanford University and was chief technicalofficer and co-founder of IKOSSystems Inc. After selling the company toMentor Graphics in 2002, he is nowinvolved as an independent consultant inhelping Mentor manage its intellectualproperty. He lives in Sunnyvale, Calif.Mack W. Lacy ’72, B.B.A. accounting, isan accounting manager at MeadWestvacoin Silsbee, where he lives with his wife,Marlene.John A. Pellerin ’72, B.S. art, lives inBaton Rouge with his wife, Charlotte(Suire) ’72, B.S. medical technology.John M. Stanley ’72, B.B.A. business, ispresident and owner of Stanley’s FinancialServices in Fredericksburg, Va. He livesthere with his wife, Cindy (Brandin) ’70,B.S. elementary education, who earned amaster’s in education from Tarleton StateUniversity. She is a special educationteacher for Spotsylvania Virginia CountySchool Board.Dwayne Whitman ’72, B.S. music, earned amaster of music in choral conducting fromSouthwestern Baptist Theological Seminaryand is an ordained minister. He is the ministerof music at York River Baptist Churchand lives in Williamsburg, Va.Dr. James T. Wilkinson ’72, B.S. biology,earned his medical degree from theUniversity of Texas Medical Branch inGalveston in 1976 and is a neurologistfor Scott & White Clinic in Temple,where he lives.Larry W. Brast ’73, B.S. mechanical engineering,is facilities mechanical engineerfor Texas Instruments Inc. in Sherman,where he lives with his wife, Vicki. Theyhave two sons and one grandson.Montie E. Morgan ’73, B.A. sociology, isdirector of the Jefferson CountyCommunity Supervision and Correctionsin Beaumont, where he lives with hiswife, JoLynn (Fertitta) ’75, B.S. biology.She is a medical technologist for ChristusSt. Elizabeth Hospital.Gerald D. Saxon ’73, B.A. history, ’75,M.A. history is dean of libraries at theUniversity of Texas at Arlington. He andhis wife, Janis, live in Arlington.Lonnie Champagne ’74, B.A. political science,is currently working with TexasA&M to document Point du Hoc, aWorld War II Normandy battle site. Helives in Houston.Don Hill ’74, B.A. history, earned his lawdegree from Texas Southern University in1978. He is mayor pro tem in Dallaswhere he lives with his wife, Vivian (Giles)’79, B.A. English.Melanie (Pierce) Lovelace ’74, certif. officeadministration, is office manager ofBoyden in Houston and lives in Magnoliawith her husband, John.Karon Ann (Havill) Simonton ’74, B.S.speech, lives in Roosevelt, Utah, with herhusband, James.Nancy (Dollins) Zivney ’74, B.S. elementaryeducation, lives in Reston, Va., withher husband, Daniel.Laurence K. Binder ’75, B.S. speech,’86,M.Ed. school administration, is assistantsuperintendent for secondary instructionfor Cypress-Fairbanks school district inHouston. He lives in Navasota with hiswife, Donna (Clyburn) ’76, B.S. music,who is a counselor for Cypress-Fairbanks.Their son, Kevin is a senior in Lamar’sTexas Academy of Leadership in theHumanities program.Linda (Kirkham) Baxter ’76, B.S. communication,is manager of Baxter & BaxterLand Agency in Palestine. She lives therewith her husband, Gordon, who is presidentof the agency.Juliee (Dorman) Denman ’76, B.B.A. officeadministration, lives in Tyler with herThe Distinguished Alumni Awards are the highest awardspresented to Lamar University Alumni. Each year, the LamarUniversity Alumni Advisory Board appoints an awards selectioncommittee that reviews all nominations and makes theawards selections.All Lamar University alumni and friends are eligible tosubmit nominations for Distinguished Alumni Awards.Eligibility requirements are as follow:■ the candidate must be distinguished in his or her chosenprofession or life’s work■ the candidate must be a person of such integrity, statureand demonstrated ability that faculty, staff, students andalumni will take pride and be inspired by his/her recognition■ the candidate must be an individual who, in deed and inaction, recognizes the importance of his/her education atLamar and whose interest and loyalty are evident.The Distinguished Alumni Awards Committee is especiallyinterested in receiving nominations for Distinguished YoungAlumni (alumni who are under 45 year of age) and for alumniwhose distinguished careers are in service to their community.The deadline for nominations for the 2006 DistinguishedAlumni Awards is Feb. 1, 2006. Please send yournomination to:Lamar UniversityDistinguished Alumni Awards CommitteeOffice of Alumni AffairsPO Box 10005Beaumont, TX 77710Or via email: Alumni@Lamar.edu • Or via fax: (409) 880-8924husband, William.Christine (Butler) Minix ’76, B.S. medicaltechnology, is lab director at the MedicalCenter of Southeast Texas and has spenttwo years on the Port Arthur school districtschool board. She lives there with herhusband, William ’78, B.S. graphic design.Thomas Noyola ’76, B.A. political science,’05,M.S. applied criminology, is aninstructor of limited English proficiencyat Lamar Institute of Technology anddeveloped a program which providesservices for special populations. He wasawarded the Certificate of CongressionalRecognition, was a recipient of the HenryB. Gonzalez Latino Leadership Award for2003 and received the Lamar Institute ofTechnology Staff Excellence Award for2005. He lives in Groves.Cindy D. Williams ’76, B.S. communication,is an independent public relationsconsultant and lives in Portland, Maine.Douglas K. Casey ’77, B.B.A. accounting,is president of Hoover Hog, Inc. inNederland, where he helps people starttheir own businesses. He lives in SourLake.Robert A. Flores ’77, B.B.A. management,retired as an Allstate insurance agent. Helives in Dacula, Ga., with his wife, Sonja.Danny D. Reible ’77, B.S. chemical engi-44 | Cardinal Cadence September - November 2005 September - November 2005 Cardinal Cadence | 45

class notesCardinal Club boardmember Ron Legnion ’70 andgrandson John KraemerMembers of the Beaumont Area and Mid-Jefferson County Alumni Clubs exchangedpeanuts and crackerjack for hot dogs and drinksat the May 19 tailgate party at Vincent-BeckStadium when the Cards battled Texas State.From left, Jimmy ’55, ’56Booker, Beth Anne Mistrot,Merle Booker and Jack Mistrotneering, earned a doctorate from theCalifornia Institute of Technology andwas recently elected to the NationalAcademy of Engineering. He is one ofonly three Lamar alumni to be elected tothe Academy. He lives in Austin with hiswife, Susanne, and is director of theEnvironmental Research Center atLouisiana State University, as well asholder of an endowed chair of chemicalengineering at LSU.Dr. Jane (Knott) Fitch ’78, B.S. nursing,earned her medical degree from theUniversity of Texas Medical Branch and isa professor at the University ofOklahoma. She lives in Edmond, Okla.,with her husband, John.Mark K. Kebodeaux ’78, B.B.A. marketing,is sales representative for First FinancialCapital Corp. in Covington, La. He livesin Mandeville with his wife, Cindy (Smith)’79, B.S. home economics.Paul J. Mendoza ’78, B.B.A. marketing, isthe instructor of culinary arts at GalvestonCollege. He lives in Galveston.Setting our sights beyond the horizon.Raising the bar on the quality of academics for our students.Pioneering research opportunities at the global level.These are the dreams of Lamar University.In a few weeks by mail, you will receivea request to participate in the 2005-06Annual Giving Campaign. Your generosityis indispensable in sustaining the successof Lamar University and its students.Our students are our future, and theirdreams are our dreams. Investing in theAnnual Giving Campaign ensures thevalue of a Lamar University degree willcontinue to rise as we achieve the highestlevels of academic excellence.Private funding has a tremendous impacton all facets of our great university.Annual Giving contributions equip Lamarwith essential resources to addresschallenges as they arise and enablethe university to seize unexpectedopportunities.Thank you in advance for helping usmake dreams come true.Dr. Patrick R. Storms ’78, B.S. biology,earned his medical degree from BaylorCollege of Medicine in 1981 and recentlymoved to England with his wife,Eva. He is commander of the 48 thAerospace Medicine Squadron, RAFLakenheath UK.Joyce (Trahan) James ’79, B.A. sociology,is assistant commissioner of the TexasDepartment of Family and ProtectiveServices. She lives in Round Rock.Susan (Leeper) Orr ’79, B.S. health education,lives in Goliad with her husband,Weldon, who is production superintendentof BP-America.Jesse G. Rambo Jr. ’79, B.B.A. management,is director of mail and documentservices for Rutgers University inPiscataway, N.J. He lives in Stroudsburg,Pa., with his wife, Brenda. They recentlywelcomed their fifth grandchild.Robert Wooster ’79, M.A. history, is presidentof the Texas Historical Associationand his book, Fort Davis: Outpost on theTexas Frontier, was published by TSHA.He earned his doctorate in 1985 from theUniversity of Texas and has been a professorat Texas A&M University-CorpusChristi since 1995. He lives in CorpusChristi.Joseph E. Young ’79, B.S. industrial engineering,is senior vice president of AIGConsultant in Houston. He lives therewith his wife, Rhonda.80sGlen L. Kleespies ’80, A.A.S. industrialtechnology, is a consultant for NCRCorp. in Arlington, where he lives.William K. Nolan ’80, M.P.A. publicadministration, is the chief appraiser forthe Dallas Central Appraisal District,where he has worked in various positionssince 1981. He lives in Bedford with hiswife, Patricia (Cade) ’75, A.A.S. mid-management,a media director for The WolfAgency in Dallas, and their daughter,Irissa Anne.Cynthia (Frazier) Odom ’80, B.B.A.accounting, is the director of finance andoperations for The Women’s Shelter Inc.in Arlington. It is a non-profit organizationserving domestic violence victimsand their children. She also owns aBlockbuster Video Store and lives inArlington with her husband, Clifton.Karen (Gates) Rue ’80, M.Ed. schooladministration, was recently named thenew superintendent of Northwest. Sheearned her doctorate from Texas A&MUniversity and was appointed by the Texaseducation commissioner to serve on theSuperintendents’ Advisory Committee.She lives in Corpus Christi with herhusband, Gary ’79, M.A. supervision.Charlotte (Dominy) Edwards ’81, B.S.elementary education, earned a master’sdegree in elementary education fromStephen F. Austin State University in1991 and is a teacher for Jasper schooldistrict, where she lives.Ed N. Field ’81, B.S. kinesiology,’92, M.S.kinesiology, is vice president of ImagingServices for Health Inventures. Herecently moved to Broomfield, Colo.,with his wife, Rona, to lead the developmentof the outpatient medical imagingdivision with the company.Lucy (Delcambre) Fields ’81, B.S. homeeconomics,’84, M.S. home economics,’05, M.Ed. school administration, is anelementary counselor for Port Arthurschool district and lives in Bridge Citywith her husband, Don ’80, B.B.A. generalbusiness, who is the city manager ofBridge City.Isabel (Suarez) Mahmood ’81, B.B.A.accounting, earned an M.B.A from theUniversity of Houston and works as senioraccountant and tax director forATROPOS Inc. in Houston. She livesthere with her husband, Syed ’82, B.S.industrial engineering.Van D. Willey ’81, B.S. chemical engineering,is a calculus teacher and sciencedepartment head at Columbia HighSchool in West Columbia and was namedthe 2005 Secondary Education Teacher ofthe Year for the Columbia-Brazoria schooldistrict. He lives in Angleton with hiswife, Roxanne (Provost) ’80, B.B.A. management,who was recently named officemanager of the Angleton area office of theTexas Department of Transportation, andtheir two sons.Jill (Benoit) Williams ’81, B.S. nursing, is aregistered nurse and a CNOR at theMedical Center of Southeast Texas in PortArthur and lives in Nederland with herhusband, Jon ’93, B.B.A. general business.He is a financial analyst with Motiva. Theyhave two children, Britni and Tyler.Robert L. Bynum ’82, B.B.A. finance,’90,M.B.A., is tax manager for Cavett, Turner& Wyble in Beaumont, where he lives.MaeEsther Francis ’82, B.B.A. generalbusiness, is dean of enrollment managementand student success at GalvestonCollege and lives in Dickenson.Glenda (Burke) Adamson ’83, B.A English,retired after teaching in Southeast Texasfor 19 years. She recently moved toEdgewood, Md., to be with her sons.Thomas Brooks ’83, B.S. health physicaleducation, is head football coach for JohnTyler High School in Tyler and lives inJasper.Scott Campbell ’83, B.A. English,’87,M.Ed. school administration, is superintendentof East Chambers school district.He lives in Winnie with his wife, Gena(Golding) ’89, B.S. elementary education,who is the librarian for the district.Amy (Adrio) Duerler ’83, B.S. elementaryeducation,’86, M.Ed. supervision, is athird-grade teacher for Beaumont schooldistrict. She lives there with her husband,Wayne.Megan Renico ’83, B.S. health education,is divisional sales manager for ForestPharmaceuticals in Tempe, Ariz., whereshe lives.Matt C. Underwood ’84, A.A.S. industrialelectronics technology, has been a validationtechnician for Abbott Hospira Inc.in Austin for 20 years. He lives in Manorwith his wife, Cari.Theresa (Fleck) Hanna ’85, A.A.S. nursing,is safety director of Dirt Boys Inc. inHomosassa, Fla. She lives there with herhusband, John, owner of the company.Sandra (Penisson) McCracken ’85, B.S.elementary education,’00, M.Ed. elementaryeducation, lives in Beaumont withher husband, Michael.Doneane Beckcom ’86, B.M. music education,earned her law degree in 1992 fromSouth Texas College of Law. She has beenin solo law practice in Groves for morethan four years.Cassandra V. Cummings ’86, B.S. computerinformation science, earned an M.B.A.from the University of Pennsylvania in1995. She is business development managerfor Microsoft Corp. in Redmond,Wash., and lives in Kirkland, Wash.Levi Williams III ’86, B.S. criminal justice,A.S. law enforcement, earned his master’sdegree in counselor education from TexasSouthern University in 2003 and is aconsultant for Catalyst Consultants. Helives in Snook.Teresa (Newell) Hull ’87, B.S. secondaryeducation, earned her master’s fromPrairie View A&M and is principal ofOpal Hamilton Middle School inCypress. She lives in Houston.David L. Madden ’87, B.B.A. finance, is afinancial advisor for Morgan Stanley inDallas, where he lives.Jamie (Broussard) Packman ’87, B.S. sociology,’89, B.S., M.S. home economics,earned her doctorate of teaching fromTexas Woman’s University in 1994. Sherecently resigned after 10 years at LamarState College Orange and Port Arthurand Lamar University in Beaumont. Sheis president of Jamie Packman &Associates in Nederland, where she liveswith her husband, Ronnie, and two children,Payden and Paxton.Gary L. Martel ’87, B.S. kinesiology,earned an M.B.A. from Stephen F. AustinUniversity in 1999 and is athletic directorfor Anahuac High School. He and hiswife, Susan, live in Anahuac.Patrick E. Guillory ’88, A.A.S. industrialelectronics technology, is a peace officer atM.D. Anderson Medical Center inHouston and lives in Missouri City.Julio C. Macias ’87, B.S. economics, ispresident and CEO of KenichiCommunications Inc. in Mesa, Ariz., Helives in Gilbert, Ariz. with his wife of 19years, Sachiko, and their two daughters.Mohd T. Borhan ’89, B.S. electrical engineering,is head of a division for KLAirport Services in Sepang, Malaysia. Helives in Seremban, Malaysia.Flynt Huey ’89, B.S. kinesiology, teachesEnglish and math at Wimberley HighSchool and was recently elected Teacherof the Month. He lives in Canyon Lakewith his wife, Rebecca, and their threechildren.Kim (Dunson) Moncla ’89, B.S. graphicdesign, is director of the Southeast TexasArts Council. She lives in Beaumont withher husband, Leon ’92, B.S. restaurantand institutional food management.Timothy Sheffield ’89, A.A.S. mid-management,is a measurement technician forKinder Morgan Texas and was elected asWard 1 councilman for the city ofNederland. He lives there with his wife,Marie Ann, and their three children.90sHap Call ’90, B.A. history,’95, B.S. electricalengineering, is an electrical engineerfor Total Petrochemicals USA in PortArthur. He lives in Beaumont with hiswife, Lisa.Aleta (Cesear) Chambers ’90, B.B.A.accounting, is the accountant and grantcoordinator at Galveston College andlives in La Marque with her husband,Joseph.Denise (Elliott) Cherewaty ’90, B.S. sociology,earned a master’s degree in socialwork from the University of Houstonand is a geriatric social worker for theAlzheimer’s Association in Houston. Shelives in Beaumont.Lindi Messina is the first in her generation of her family to graduate fromLamar University, earning a bachelor’s degree in communication disordersin 2003 and a master of science in speech-language pathology at summercommencement Aug. 13. Congratulating her after the August ceremonyare her father, Jude ’76, second from right, and Uncles Michael ’87,Vincent ’79 and Frank ’71, from left. Not pictured are two other uncles,Joseph ’73 and Thomas ’82. Lindi Messini has accepted a position as aspeech-language pathologist in outpatient rehabilitation at RenaissanceHospital in Groves.Capt. Michael J. Kunst ’90, B.A. history, iscurrently stationed at Tallil Air Base, Iraq,with the Texas Army National Guard fora year-long deployment. Before departingfor Iraq, he worked at Dorman FuneralHome in Orange and lived in Vidor withhis wife, Jill.David E. Rutledge ’90, B.S. mechanicalengineering, is a division engineer withDuPont’s Sabine River Works in Orangeand was recently elected to the CityCouncil of Bridge City, where he and hiswife, Rebecca, live. They have threedaughters, two granddaughters and agrandson.Gina Simar ’90, B.S. nursing, works atLamar State College-Orange and wasselected to receive the 2005 Julie and BenRogers Community Service Award. Sheis pursuing a master’s degree in educationand lives in Bridge City.Cheryl Ann (Vreeland) Wisenbaker ’90,B.S. graphic design, is the safety, healthand contracts manager for LuciteInternational in Nederland. She lives inBeaumont with her husband, Robert ’92,B.S. chemical engineering who is plantmanager for Lucite International.Margaret A. Atherton ’91, B.B.A. accounting,is a controller in the WorldwideAftermarket Division for the Gates Corp.in Denver, Colo. The division suppliesrubber products to the automotivereplacement industry and operates inNorth America, Europe, Asia andAustralia. She lives in Littleton, Colo.Katherine (Phelan) Bobo ’91, B.S. communicationdisorders, lives in Killeen withher husband, Dwayne, and their daughter,who just entered second grade. Herhusband will be serving in the Army inIraq next year, and she volunteers to helpother Army families.Teresa (Burwick) Fisher ’91, B.S. biology,is a technical services specialist for CleanHarbors in La Porte. She lives in Pearlandwith her husband, Christopher Shawn ’91,B.S. electrical engineering, who is a projectengineer for Powell Industries inHouston.Michael W. Kiefer ’91, B.B.A. accounting,is both a certified public accountant and acertified fraud examiner for Wathen,DeShong & Juncker, where he is a partner.He lives in Beaumont with his wife,Cynthia (Sokol) ’97, B.A.A.S. applied artsand sciences, who is a personnel clerk forGulfCo. and their 2-year-old daughter,Tabitha.Nathan M. Robnett ’91, M.B.A. accounting,is a managing partner for Robnett &Co. in Austin and lives in Round Rockwith his wife, Shanon.John M. Beck ’92, B.A. theater, is artisticdirector and co-founder of SteinBeckPresents in Los Angeles, Calif., alongwith his partner, Craig. They married in2004.Kimberly (Arrington) Cooper ’92, B.S. psychology,earned a master’s degree incounseling and development in 1999 andis a neurobehavioral psychometrist for theUniversity of Texas Medical Branch inGalveston. She lives there with her husband,Thomas.Paul Knippel ’92, M.E. civil engineering, isdirector of public works for Kerrville,where he lives.Katherine A. Thew ’92, M.S. communicationdisorders, lives in Port Matilda, Pa.,with her husband, Christopher.Van K. Wilson ’92, B.B.A. management, ispresident and C.O.O. of ControlDynamics International in Spring, wherehe lives with his wife, Casey (Biscamp)’98, B.S. math, B.S. political science.Nicole R. Felsher ’93, B.B.A. retail merchandising,earned a master’s degree inhuman resources from the University ofHouston in 1995. She works in humanresources for Occidental Oil and Gas inHouston.James D. Higgins ’93, B.B.A. general business,has been the owner of MovingInteriors in Pearland for 10 years andlives there with his 4-year-old daughter,Sydney.Shawn K. Oubre ’93, B.A.A.S. applied artsand sciences, earned a master’s in public46 | Cardinal Cadence September - November 2005 September - November 2005 Cardinal Cadence | 47

class notesDallas Alumni party Aug. 20th hosted by Bart & Martye Simmons.Elvis Mason ’59,Jimmy Simmons andJoan Mason.From left, Bart Simmons’79, Martye (Sculley)Simmons ’78, Susan(Williams) Simmons ’68and Jimmy SimmonsThe Office of Alumni Affairs sponsored Move In2005 Aug. 20. Alumni volunteers, with cold,bottled water in hand, helped new studentsmove into Cardinal Village residence hallsduring Cardinal WOW, LU’s annual Week ofWelcome for new freshman.administration in 2002 and is city managerof Orange. He lives in Vidor with hiswife, Roxanne (Ronsonette) ’81, A.A.S.general secretary.Larry Rideaux Jr. ’93, B.S. psychology,earned a doctorate in education from theUniversity of Texas at Austin in 2004 andis dean of student development atTomball College. He lives in Houston.Reah (Wilson) Trest ’93, B.B.A. retailmerchandising, is an event and marketingdirector for the Coronado Club indowntown Houston, where she and herhusband, Greg, live.Kelli (O’Neal) Savage ’94, B.S. interdisciplinarystudies, earned a master’s in educationin 1999 and teaches at AmeliaElementary in Beaumont. She and herhusband, Philip, live in Beaumont.Mark E. Adams ’95, B.A.A.S. applied artsand sciences, ’96, B.S. earth science,earned a master’s from Embry-RiddleAeronautical University. He works for theDepartment of Defense and is a payloadengineer for NASA, where he recentlysent two of his experiments, the RAMBOand the MISSE, into space on Discovery.He also trains astronauts to conduct hisand others’ experiments while in spaceand tests flight hardware on zero-gaircraft and real-time console support.He led the first integrated payload ona Russian spacecraft and teaches a microgravityscience course at Lamar. He lives inFriendswood.Craig J. Belaire ’95, M.A. business administration,is a financial consultant forMerrill Lynch and lives in Nederland withhis wife, Jackie.Rita (Hurt) Cullums ’95, B.S. psychology,earned a master’s in counseling and developmentin 1999 and obtained her professionallicense in 2000. She has been inprivate practice for more than four yearsin Beaumont and was recently acceptedinto a doctoral program in clinical psychologyin Colorado.Elizabeth M. Wells ’95, B.S. home economics,is director of sales at SpringHillSuites by Marriott in San Antonio, whereshe lives.Chad A. Anderson ’96, B.S. chemicalengineering, is operations manager atHuntsman Chemicals in Port Neches andlives in Nederland.Justin B. Frazell ’96, B.A. communication,is a radio broadcaster for 99.5 “TheWolf ” in Dallas, after being producer forThe Afternoon Sports Talk Show. He lives inGrand Prairie with his wife, Casey, andtheir daughter, Jaycie. In 2005, hereceived the Texas Music DJ of the YearAward from the Academy of Texas Music.Ramon Ramos ’96, B.M. music, is banddirector at Port Neches-Groves HighSchool and lives in Beaumont with hiswife, Gwyn (Akers) ’95, B.M. music. Sheis a choir director at Lumberton HighSchool.Lance Broussard ’97, B.S. chemical engineering,is area manager and accountexecutive of Nalco Co. in Channelview.He lives in Spring with his wife, Crystal(Ray) ’97, B.S. chemistry, B.S. biology,who earned her medical degree and isnow a family physician.Max A. Mounger ’97, B.B.A. marketing, ispresident and CEO of PerformanceConsulting in Falls Church, Va., andfounded an IT management consultingfirm in Washington, D.C., in 2003. Helives in Falls Church with his wife,Sandra.Julia (Bourke) Nealley ’97, B.S. nursing,lives in Lincoln University, Pa., with herhusband, Peter.Fred Brent ’98, M.A. school administration,spent the past three years as principalof Orangefield High School and isnow principal at Navasota High School.He lives in Magnolia Springs with hiswife Terri (Miller) ’91, B.S. elementary education.She earned a master’s in counselingand development in 2001 and was a specialeducation counselor at OrangefieldHigh School. They have two children.James P. Brimberry ’98, B.A.A.S. appliedarts and sciences, is a shift supervisor forExxonMobil in Beaumont and recentlymoved back to Sour Lake with his wife,Katherine, after two years at divisionheadquarters in Fairfax, Va.Capt. Clinton R. Clark ’98, B.S. math,earned a master’s in school administrationin 2000 and serves in the Air Force. Helives in Hampton, Va., with his wife,Jennifer (Leckbee) ’00, B.S. nursing.Kari R. Dolan ’98, B.A. English, is programdirector for the “I Have A Dream”organization. She and her husband,Gavin, live in Beaumont. She is pursuinga master’s degree in graphic design.Anthony J. Gutierrez ’98, B.S. mechanicalengineering, earned a master’s in audiologyin 1997 and a master’s in speechpathology in 1998. He lives in SanAntonio with his wife, Jennifer (Gilland)’98, M.S. speech pathology.Michael S. Matsuda ’98, B.S. psychology,earned a second bachelor’s degree inhealth information management fromSouthwest Texas State University in2001. He is a health information coordinatorat Christus St. Mary Hospital inPort Arthur and lives in Beaumont.Anne (Ledoux) Prejean ’98, M.S. familyand consumer sciences, earned her doctoratein 2004 and lives in LagunaNiguel, Calif., with her husband,Jonathan, and daughter, Sara Grace.Elizabeth (Barton) Hayes ’99, B.S. nursing,is a registered nurse at Lake CharlesMemorial Hospital and lives in Sulphur,La., with her husband, Todd.Melissa (Stanton) Hovanetz ’99, B.S. psychology,B.S. biology, earned her medicaldegree from the University of TexasMedical School in Houston. She beganher residency in the field of pathology atthe University of Texas-Houston in July.She and her husband, Christopher, live inHouston.Wendy (Kee) Koldreith ’99, B.A. history,teaches in Hardin-Jefferson school districtand lives in Orange.Amy (Ellender) Moore ’99, B.S. chemicalengineering, earned her master of businessadministration in 2002 and is a polyethylenesales representative for ChevronPhilips Chemical Co. in Spring. She andher husband, Michael, live in Houston.Denis R. Mouton Jr. ’99, B.S. mechanicalengineering, is an engineer for MatrixEngineering and lives in Beaumont.Sherry (Cooley) Mullin ’99, B.S. family andconsumer sciences, earned a master’sdegree in 2001 and owns Sherry-Greetings in Round Rock. She and herhusband, Dan, who is the president ofSherry-Greetings, live in Round Rock.Kevin B. Petry ’99, B.B.A. marketing, is anaccount representative for SBC in Houston,where he and his wife, Valerie, live. Thecouple is expecting their first child.Naresh Sethuram ’99, M.S. computer science,is lead software engineer for FluxCorp. in Billings, Mont., where he lives.00sNancy (Barbosa) Guntner ’00, B.B.A.accounting, earned her M.B.A. in 2002and is a staff accountant at McClellandSamuel Fehnel & Busch in Beaumont.She lives in Lumberton with her husbandKurt ’02, B.B.A. general business, who iscreative services manager for Conn’sAppliance Inc.Jeremy B. Jackson ’00, B.A. sociology,graduated from the water treatment specialistadvanced individual training courseat Fort Lee, Va., in April and lives inOrange.Rene C. Slott ’00, B.S. communication,earned a masters in corporate communicationin 2004 and is an admissions representativeat Lamar University. She livesin Groves.Lan Yao ’00, M.E. electrical engineering, ispursuing a doctorate at Simon FrazierUniversity and lives in Burnaby, BritishColumbia, with her husband, YuqingWang ’01, D.E. electrical engineering, andson, Jerry.Monique Y. Bienvenue ’01, B.S. health,teaches special education in Port Arthurand lives in Groves.Brandon P. Monk ’01, B.A. political science,earned his law degree in 2004 andis an attorney for McPherson, Monk,Hughes, Bradley and Wimberley in PortArthur, where he lives.Gabriela (Pantoja) Sanchez ’01, M.Edschool administration, taught at FletcherElementary in Beaumont and now teachesat Delhi Middle School in Delhi, Calif.She lives in Atwater, Calif., with her husband,Jerry, and their daughter, Kylee.Jerry is a correctional officer for U.S.P.Atwater and recently served in theNational Guard during Operation IraqiFreedom.Alex Wells ’01, B.M. music, is band directorfor Port Neches-Groves High School.He and his wife, Crystal (Horton) ’01,B.M. music, who is assistant band directorfor Odom Academy, live in PortNeches.Jonathan W. Crisman ’02, B.B.A. management,is branch manager of PraxairHealthcare Services in Conroe, where helives.Tammy L. Humphrey ’02, B.S. computerscience, is a gold technical support specialistfor Dell Inc. in Round Rock andlives in Hutto with his wife, L’Oreal(Goodwin) ’97, A.A.S. nursing.Christopher S. Kovatch ’02, B.S. criminaljustice, is director of operations forQuick-Tel Affordaphone in Bridgeportwhere he lives with his wife, Christi, andson, Jackson. He is pursuing an M.B.A.The couple welcomed a daughter, Rosie,in August.Jeremy R. Kupper ’02, B.S. chemical engineering,is a production engineer forDow Chemical Co. Foundation and livesin Victoria.Leigh (Judkins) Martin ’02, B.S. interdisciplinarystudies, teaches math in LittleCypress-Mauriceville school district. Shelives in Orange with her husband, Jeremy,and their daughter, Brice Anne, who wasborn in 2003.Johanna (Frisch) Olson ’02, M.S. communicationdisorders, lives in Houston withher husband, Leif, and their son, AndersChristopher, who was born in May 2005.Andrea (Clawson) Rogers ’02, B.S. communication,is sales assistant for GrandHyatt at the DFW Airport. She lives inEuless with her husband, Daric, ’05, B.S.communication.Daniel Sieve ’02, B.S. electrical engineering,is a control systems engineer for CBIHow-Baker in Tyler. He lives inWhitehouse with his wife, Jennifer(Parigi) ’01, B.S. interdisciplinary studies,who is a fourth-grade teacher for theTyler Catholic School System.Jenny Achilles ’03, B.S. communication,lives in Austin and is a teaching assistantfor the University of Texas System. She ispursuing a master’s in journalism andspent the summer as an intern at theAustin bureau of People Magazine. Witha Rotary International AmbassadorialScholarship, she will study for a year in ElSalvadore beginning in February.Catheryn (Scott) Beebe ’03, B.S. nursing,is a registered nurse at BreckenridgeHospital in Austin. She and her husband,Jarret ’01, B.S. psychology, live inPflugerville. Jarret is a salesman for DellInc. in Round Rock.Calily Bien ’03, B.S. communication, isthe lead actress in Gemini, a short filmdirected by Wyatt Cagle of Bridge City.She lives in Houston.Marjorie C. Christian ’03, B.B.A. managementinformation systems, is a publicattorney for Fulbright & Jaworski, LLPin Houston, where she lives.Jameeka (Williams) Grogan ’03, M.Ed.counseling and development, is the studentactivities advisor at GalvestonCollege. She lives in Texas City with herhusband, Kelvin ’04, A.A.S. nursing.Tiffany (Clark) Randolph ’03, B.S. biology,works for Gulbrandsen Technologies inLa Porte and lives in Humble with herhusband, John, who works forContinental Airlines in Houston.Joseph P. Trahan ’03, B.A. music, lives inPasadena and is choir director at PasadenaMemorial High School.Sameer S. Wadwalker ’03, M.E. mechanicalengineering, is assistant manager forRapid Global Business Solutions inMadison Heights, Mich. He lives inDearborn, Mich.Christi (Hood) Wakefield ’03, B.S. interdisciplinarystudies, lives in Lumberton andis a second-grade teacher in Beaumontschool district. She married KelseyWakefield, a finance major at Lamar,in July.Leslie (DuBose) White ’03, B.S. generalstudies, is property manager of DardenInterests in Dallas and lives in Rockwallwith her husband, Jeremy, who is aninternet installer for NetPort USA.Tara (Sullivan) Atwood ’04, A.A.S. nursing,lives in High Island and worked as aregistered nurse at Christus St. ElizabethHospital. She and Josh Atwood, whoworks at Total Electric Co. in Galveston,were married in July.Jason R. McKey ’04, B.S. kinesiology, isregional coordinator of Ducks Unlimitedfor Texas and Oklahoma. He lives inAustin.Christina Root ’04, B.B.A. accounting,lives in Nederland and is an accountantwith FivePoint Credit Union.Don S. Solis III ’04, B.B.A. management,is a management analyst for HoustonHousing and Community Development.He lives in Houston.Cynthia (Shelton) Thomas ’04, B.B.A.finance, is a special education teacher forPort Neches- Groves school district,where she and her husband, John, livewith their two daughters, Kaylynn andBrennah.James T. Thomas II ’04, M.Ed. counselingand development, is a counselor forAgape Family Services in Memphis,Tenn., and teaches at SouthwestTennessee Community College as anadjunct instructor. He lives in Memphiswith his wife, Carolyn.Richard E. Van Horn ’04, B.S. biology, livesin Vidor and married Christy Morganthis past June.John “Paul” Vilforth ’04, M.S. family andconsumer sciences, lives in Houston andis attending University of Texas-HoustonSchool of Public Health, pursuing on adoctorate in public health.Phillip B. Wagoner II ’04, B.B.A. managementinformation systems, is the ownerof 1 st Class Bail Bonds in Port Arthur.He lives in Orange with his wife, Mary(Arceneaux) ’03, B.S. education.Kameron G. Walker ’04, B.S. communication,is a master control operator andaudio operator for News 8 Austin.Aimee (Lieby) Weatherford ’04, B.S. criminaljustice, is a probation officer for sexoffenders for the Tennessee Board ofProbation and Parole in Nashville, Tenn.She lives in Hermitage, Tenn., with herhusband, Lane, and plans to studyanthropology at Middle Tennessee StateUniversity.Brett Winn ’04,B.B.A. managementand humanresources management,signed to theMissouri Mavericksin June 2005, aftercoaching a youthbaseball camp inKansas for severalmonths. He lived inAustin before beingsigned and willrelocate toColumbia, Mo.Jolie (Leger) Franzen’05, B.B.A.accounting, worksfor Deloitte &Touche and lives inWinnie with her husband, Jed, ’92, B.S.political science, who owns Franzen andAssociates.Jonathan E. Haskett Jr. ’05, B.B.A.accounting and marketing, is a personalbanker at Texas State Bank and lives inBeaumont.Amanda L. Shaw ’05, B.S. political science,is a corrections officer for the TexasDepartment ofCriminal Justice. Shelives in Vidor and ispursuing a master’sdegree in criminaljustice at South TexasCollege of Law.CORRECTIONSThe story“Symphony ofFlavor” in the June-August issue ofCadence neglected tomention GwenBarclay’s maidenname, which isBarker. Informationabout The International Festival-Instituteat Round Top is available atwww.festivalhill.org.Wayne D. Wells ’96, B.S. criminaljustice, earned a master’sdegree in educational administrationfrom McNeese StateUniversity in 2002. He is curriculumcoordinator forBeaumont school district. Heand his wife, Yolanda, live inBeaumont with their son,Jalen.48 | Cardinal Cadence September - November 2005September - November 2005 Cardinal Cadence | 49

class notescadencesWe will miss...AlumniHarley E. Graff ’53, A.A. general studies,died June 13, 2005. He lived inLumberton and taught dental anatomyand dental hygiene classes at Lamar. Hewas a member of Westgate MemorialBaptist Church and coached soccer, baseball,softball, football and basketball formany years. Survivors include his wife,Charlotte; son, Billy Graff; and daughters,Kristal Wilke, Tammy Crowgy andKim Perkins.After a long illness Ward M, Beckcom ’54,B.S. mechanical engineering, died Sept.21, 2005, in Ennis during the evacuationbecause of Hurricane Rita. Born in PortArthur in 1931, he recently celebrated his74th birthday. He began working atMobil Oil in 1953, eventually earning hisprofessional engineer certificate. At hisretirement in 1987, he was superintendentof maintenance and then worked atSchaumburg and Polk in Beaumont as aconsulting engineer. His civic commitmentswere numerous: Pear Ridge policecommissioner; Port Arthur Y.M.C.Aboard president; Port Arthur school districtboard president; Lamar CardinalClub and Alumni Association board president;Elder Emeritus of First ChristianChurch; among others. Ward marriedDonya Lu Eidom, who preceded him indeath. Survivors include their children,Megan, Blake and Doneane. He is alsosurvived by his wife, Donnie Perkins, andthree stepchildren, Allen, Jean andDarren.Donald L. Hilton ’55, B.S. biology, diedJuly 6, 2005. He lived in Vidor and practicedmedicine in Port Arthur for 31years, retiring in 1999. He was a memberof the Church of Jesus Christ of LatterdaySaints and served in the Air Forceduring the Korean War. Survivors includehis wife, Irene; sons, Donald and NathanHilton; and daughter, Judith Read.Vernon L. Davis ’56, B.B.A. accounting,died Aug. 5, 2005. He was a lifelong residentof Orange and was the CPA andowner of Vernon L. Davis, P.C. He was amember of Giddeons, Orange CountyRepublic Committee and the First UnitedMethodist Church, where he was anactive choir member and Sunday schoolteacher. Survivors include his sons,Robert and Mark.John V. Lisotta ’56, B.S. secondary education,died June 21, 2005. He was ownerof Lisotta’s Mini Stor-All in Beaumontand became known as the “Sign Man”because of his famous hand-picked signshe displayed over his business. He was astate champion boxer and was the numberone Bible salesman in the nation foryears, working his way through college.He is survived by his daughters, TeresaLee and Tracie Doucet; son, Carl; fivegrandchildren; two brothers and a sister.Travis E. Beard ’62, B.S. secondary education,died July 3, 2005. He served in theNavy during World War II and taughtmath at French High School until heretired in 1977. He authored several articlespublished in Naval History magazineabout the events of World War II.Survivors include his wife, Mary; ninestep-children; 17 grandchildren; and 12great-grandchildren.Helen (Alexander) Cassidy ’63, B.A. government,died June 18, 2005. She earnedher law degree from the University ofHouston in 1975 and spent her life practicinglaw and working for the courts.She became the first chairwoman of theTexas Women’s Political Caucus in 1971and was a board member of the NationalOrganization for Women and president ofits Houston chapter. Survivors include herson, David Cassidy, and sister, Chloe Palmer.Karen S. (Linsley) Dominy ’69, B.S. healtheducation, died July 17, 2005. She livedin Houston where she worked forCustom Gifts and Monograms. Survivorsinclude her son, Garrett Lance, anddaughter, Ashley Anne.Marjorie (Heisig) Browne ’71, M.S. counselingand development, died June 29, 2005.She earned her bachelor’s degree fromLouisiana State University in 1938 andwas an elementary school teacher for theNederland school district for many years.She returned to Lamar at age 50 to earnher master’s degree and was a member ofDaughters of the American Revolutionand First Baptist Church in Beaumont.Survivors include her sons, Ernest andMichael, and six grandchildren.William E. Gilchriest Jr. ’71, B.A. English,’77, M.A. English, died July 14, 2005, inHumble at the age of 57. A Silsbee nativeand resident of Humble for the past 12years, Gilchriest was an adjunct instructorof English at Lamar University form1985 to 1993. He was a retired teacherof English and journalism at Silsbee HighSchool, honored in 1986 as the Silsbeeschool district’s Teacher of the Year. Hewas also an award-winning novelist.Gilchrist suffered from muscular dystrophyand for more than two decades, hewas active in the Muscular DystrophyAssociation and the annual MDAtelethons. Survivors include his wife of 28years, Linda Seely Gilchriest, and daughter,Carrie Gilchriest Kolter, both ofHumble; son, William Everett GilchriestIII of Kingwood; and brother, JohnThomas Gilchriest of Georgetown.Charles L. King ’71, B.B.A. marketing,died June 6, 2005. He lived in Springand was vice president and executiveaccount manager with Fiserv in Houston.Survivors include his wife, Jane, anddaughter, Carolyn.Robert V. McAnelly ’71, B.S. government,died July 6, 2005. He earned his lawdegree from South Texas College of Lawand was a member of numerous organizations.Survivors include his wife, CarylAnn; daughters, Carly, Kelly and Casey, allof Houston; and mother, Sarah McAnelly.Jerry D. Palmer ’77, M.S. kinesiology, diedJuly 11, 2005. He earned his bachelor’sdegree in business and a master’s inindustrial arts from Sam Houston StateTeachers College and served in the ArmyNational Guard before honorable dischargeas a company commander. Helived in Groves. Survivors include hiswife, Jean; daughters, Pam Barringtonand Patti Roberts; and son, Perry.Suzette (Hemmenway) West ’86, A.A.S.business data, died July 10, 2005. Shelived in Beaumont and was employed bythe Tower Medical Center in Nederlandas an X-ray technician. Survivors includeher husband, John, and children, Codyand Nikki West.Brad L. Lapeyrolerie Jr. ’92, B.B.A. marketing,died July 8, 2005. He was adetective in the narcotics division of thePort Arthur Police Department assignedto the Jefferson County Task Force. Helived in Bridge City. Survivors include hiswife, Nancy and daughter, Kaylee.Mark A. Lejune ’93, B.S. electrical engineering,died Sept. 3, 2004. He grew upin Beaumont and lived in Pearland.Survivors include his wife, Tommie Lynn;daughters, Christa Hollier and NancySchilhab; and brother, Steve.Marcella (Graham) Cazanas ’96, B.S. nursing,died June 29, 2005. She was a lifelongresident of Vidor and attendedVictory Temple Church in Beaumont.Survivors include her husband, Nicholas;daughter, Carlie Warner; and parents,Charles and Anna Graham of Vidor.Faculty, Staff and FriendsGordon Baxter Jr., whose half-centurybroadcasting career included a show onLamar public radio KVLU, died June 11,2005, in Beaumont at the age of 81. Anative of Port Arthur, Baxter also was anationally known author, columnist andaviator. The Gordon Baxter Show airedfrom 1986 through 1993 on KVLU,which also featured his National PublicRadio commentaries. He also wrote 13books, and his column, Bax Seat,appeared in Flying magazine for 30 years.He will be inducted Nov. 12 into theTexas Aviation Hall of Fame. Survivorsinclude his wife, Diane; sons, Gordon III,Roney and Jim; daughters, Molly,Bonnie, Margie, Laurie, Martha andJenny; 15 grandchildren; and 14 greatgrandchildren.Memorial contributionsmay be made to the Gordon BaxterScholarship in Communication,P.O. Box 10011, Beaumont, Texas 77710.Norma S. Hall, 89, died May 10, 2005, inBeaumont. She had retired as head of theDepartment of Secretarial Sciences for theCollege of Business and was namedBusiness Education Teacher of the Yearfor Region 5 in 1972. She was alsonamed Professor Emeritus by the LamarUniversity Board of Regents in 1988.Bessie A. Slaydon, 67, died July 31, 2005,at Christus St. Elizabeth Hospital. Shehad been a resident of Lumberton since1976 and taught nursing classes at LamarUniversity from 1977 until she retired in1999. She earned her B.S. in nursingfrom McNeese State University andearned her master’s in nursing from theUniversity of Texas at Galveston.Survivors include her husband, James;daughter, Cathy; and sons, James Websterand James Lee. Memorial contributionsmay be made to the Lamar UniversityDepartment of Nursing, P.O. Box 10011,Beaumont, Texas 77710.Shelby L. Smith, 22, died August 22,2005, in an auto accident. He was a seniorat Lamar this year and worked as astudent assistant in Admissions. He was alife-long resident of Beaumont, but traveledextensively all over the world.Survivors include his mother, ChandaLynn Smith; father, Kevin Smith and hiswife, Leigh; and brother, Reagan and hiswife, Shannon. Memorial contributionsmay be made to the Shelby SmithMemorial, c/o Lamar University, P.O. Box10011, Beaumont, Texas 77710.Gladys Vernon Williams, 84, of Beaumontdied Oct. 2, 2005, in Houston, Texas.She graduated from South Park HighSchool, attended South Park JuniorCollege on a tennis scholarship and was aTexas State Tennis Champion. She lived inOrange 40 years and was a member of theBeaumont Junior League, Orange ServiceLeague and the Ivy League Garden Club.Mrs. Williams was active in the FirstUnited Methodist Church of Orange,Trinity United Methodist of Beaumont, alife master bridge player, and an accomplishedinterior decorator. Survivorsinclude her son, Jimmy Simmons; daughters,Susan Howlett, Anne Heifetz andSusan Trimble; six grandchildren; and sixgreat-grandchildren. Memorial contributionsmay be made to the Gladys WilliamsMemorial Fund, Lamar UniversityFoundation, P. O. Box 11500, Beaumont,Texas 77710.I’m walking the Ty Terrell track and smiling.Scenes are replaying from my Lamar days. Allgood. I never ran track or jogged even once, butjust crossing campus cued them up. I had parkedmy car in the visitors’ lot after telling the nice gatelady that I was an alum and wanted to walk. Off Iwent, zigzagging the Quadrangle where we usedMike’s bandana to blindfold him then spun himaround and round and let him stagger until hestopped. Wherever he ended up facing would behis last major…north science, south liberal arts, eastbusiness or west engineering. This solution cameafter Mike’s pronouncement to our circle of friendsunder the trees that six-plus years of college, howeverinteresting, were enough and that he needed ourdirection on finishing a degree. Any degree. TheQuadrangle and Setzer Center were loud, shiny andnew then. Today the Quad is stately, almost majestic.From the track, I hear buzz saws, which makea beautiful sound after past years of silent samenessat Lamar. Another new dorm is going up, anotherMona Brittain ’74Then: Mass communication majorNow: Writer, Department of Advertising,Deli Management Inc.campus life affirmation. A worker is silhouetted onits peak frame near where for no apparent reason, agroup of guys decided to streak to Combs Hall oneevening and spell out very apparent words withtheir naked limbs to cheering crowds. OldMcDonald “Barn” next to the track has gapingreconstruction holes in it now as it’s getting a newlife too. On good basketball nights, McDonald usedto be SRO and as earsplitting as Led Zeppelin, myheroes, in concerts. I close my eyes, and I’m back inJimmy Simmons’ marching band on the practicefield, smelling the roasting Seaport coffee beans inthe fall and taking six steps to every five yards,playing You Are the Sunshine of My Life.Meandering back, I see Mirabeau’s bronzehead and remember the pinecones that were secretlyinserted and routinely removed from his nose duringmy college years. Not out of meanness or disrespectfor a president of the Texas Republic, butout of LU tradition. I angle right and to my happyheart, there’s a tennis ball. Left nostril, thank you.50 | Cardinal Cadence September - November 2005 September - November 2005 Cardinal Cadence |51

Red, White & YouHomecoming 2005music CD now availableSongs and featured performersLET THE GOOD TIMES ROLLSharon Montgomery -75, vocals; Arranged by Darrell HoltHER SONGJimmy Simmons, tenor saxophone; Patrick Williams, musicAUTUMN LEAVESJim Boone ’64, ’74 alto saxophone; arr. Darrell Holt (Composedby Joseph Kosma)THERE WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER YOUWayne Dyess, trombone; arr. Tim McMillen (Harry Warren)I GOT IT BAD AND THAT AIN’T GOODSharon Montgomery -75, vocals; Jim Boone ’64, ’74, altosaxophone; arr. Darrell Holt (Duke Ellington)DON’T GET AROUND MUCH ANYMOREKurt Killion ’81, saxophone; arr. Roger Pemberton (Duke Ellington)You may have missed the concert, but there’s no reason tomiss the music.The great songs and sounds heard live are now availableon CD. Order one for yourself and another as a gift for afellow music-lover. Whether you’re a jazz listener, bluesbuff, rock ’n’ roll fan or a devotee of the great Americansongbook, you’ll enjoy hearing these classics reinterpretedby Lamar alumni musicians at the baton of our ownPresident Jimmy Simmons.GREAT STOCKING STUFFERSHURRICANE RITA: POSTSCRIPTSSHELDON & PATTI BUXTON:Midst of the maelstrom“The last three weeksare just a blur,”Sheldon Buxton saidwhen he returned tocampus for the firsttime since HurricaneRita befell SoutheastTexas. He and Pattihad worked feverouslyto move their livestockto a safe haven, but,by the time they evacuated,it was too lateto take all the animals out of Rita’s projected path.“I had never left livestock behind for a storm in my entire life,”Sheldon said. Nor had he seen a storm like Rita.He and Patti were able to “thread our way back” to the cattle theSunday after the storm to attend to water for them. “We wove ourway around trees and downed power lines for miles and miles,”Sheldon said. His welder provided the only electricity to pump water.StormBRETT THACKER:surge“The fences around the property were virtually gone, but thecows seemed content to wait for our help,” he said. “We transportedthem one load at a time; 10 days and four round trips later allwere evacuated to greener pastures with water.”While the couple lost much of their board fence and many treeson the Sour Lake property where they had just moved fromOklahoma this summer, he sees it is an opportunity to change thingsaround a bit. While there is still a lot of work to be done to setthings aright, the couple are encouraged by the growth of one heiferthey plan to show at the Winchester Futurity in Lufkin and at theHorn Showcase Championship in Fort Worth in the coming weeks.“She already measures 4 1/2 inches more than the winner in her classlast year,” he said.As another reminder of the hurricane, one of the cows leftbehind delivered a healthy calf in the midst of the storm. “We willnot, however, name the calf Rita!”“The helpfulness of our neighbors and compassion shown byour colleagues here at Lamar has overwhelmed us,” Sheldon said.“Truly, Southeast Texas hosts a culture of durability and sensitivity.”— BKSFirst there was 9-11. Then the capture of Saddam. Then the spaceshuttle Columbia disaster, which, for San Antonio newsman BrettThacker ’83, was a coups in news coverage.MUDDY WATERBecky Barksdale ’84, vocals and musicThen came Katrina and Rita. Though the hurricanes hit hundredsSTORMY MONDAYof miles away, they cast the San Antonio Express-News man-aging editor into another whirlwind of “adrenalin-day” journalism.John Calderon ’98, guitar and vocals; arr. Darrell HoltNot only did his news teams cover the hurricanes per se, but they“As with Katrina, we alternated people in and out of the stormalso told the stories of those sheltered in the Alamo City – as many zone for five- to seven-day stretches. Still, a lot of people are prettyBEAUTIFUL LOVETravis Harris ’90, trombone; Paul McKee, music (Victor Young)as 13,000, of whom at least 1,500 remained in mid-October. After cooked after covering two big natural disasters in a one-monthRita, the Express-News also printed The Beaumont Enterprise, a sisterHearst publication, for three days, beginning Oct. 2 with a spe-He added a footnote: “Right after Katrina, we were faced withspan,” Thacker wrote in an Oct. 12 email.JUST FOR A THRILLJohn Calderon ’98, vocals; arr. Darrell Holtcial that included a 10-day run of truncated editions posted online a dilemma on how to house our people where the available housing(Lil Armstrong and Don Raye)but not previously distributed to readers.was either destroyed or closed. So the Express-News rented a recreationalvehicle and parked it in Houma. As things stabilized in New“Logistically, the Express-News was just starting to ratchetALL OF MEJimmy Simmons and FriendsCharlie Prause, piano; arr. Billy Byers (Count Basie)down on our Katrina coverage when Rita started to percolate,” Orleans, we moved the RV to a house in the Garden District. AsIn Concert and In SessionThacker said. “We had as many as 15 people in Louisiana in the Rita made her approach, we were faced with having to bring the RVWHEN YOU’RE SMILINGa special collection of live-concert performances andimmediate aftermath of Katrina but had been caught somewhat back to San Antonio. That goal proved unattainable, given the biblicalDon Rollins ’83, tenor saxophone; Ray Gonzales, trumpetsession recordings organized by Raul Ornelasunprepared with just one reporter-photographer team in Newtraffic jam the Thursday before landfall. So our final team in NewOrleans when the storm hit. So four days before Rita came ashore, Orleans managed to bring the RV as far as . . . Beaumont, where itGETTIN’ SENTIMENTAL OVER YOUORDER NOW20(includes Orders may be placed on the web sitewe were posted across the entire Texas Gulf coast, with nine teams remained during the storm and served a purpose for our displacedTravis Harris ’90, trombone; (Tommy Dorsey)$shipping, www.lamar.edu/alumniand more ready to fill in as the storm made up its mind.colleagues from the Enterprise.”QUANTITYhandling and or by callingIN THE STILL OF THE NIGHTLIMITEDsales tax)— LWBilly McQueen (LU music major), drums; arr. Patrick WilliamsEACH(409) 880-8921 • (800) 298-483952| Cardinal (Cole Porter) Cadence September - November 2005September - November 2005 Cardinal Cadence | 53

YOU CAN HELPLAMAR STUDENTSREBUILD THEIRDREAMS.For many Lamar University students, Hurricane Ritashattered dreams as well as possessions. HurricaneRita hit hard. And now you can help.Thousands of Lamar’s students feared the worstwhen the threat of Hurricane Rita forced them to fleethe campus, their homes and their academic endeavors.Many of them saw their worlds come apart whenRita slammed into the Southeast Texas coast in theearly-morning hours of Sept. 24, destroying lives as wellas landscapes.Students were already well into the fall semester,having made a substantial investment toward theireducational goals in pursuit of excellence at LamarUniversity.That all ended with Rita’s devastating blow.Although students returned to classes Oct. 19, thereturn to life at Lamar remains an uphill struggle. A largepercentage of them are working students who had nojobs to come back to – just at a time when they mostneeded the resources.Lamar alumni have stepped forward to ease ourstudents’ ordeal by seeking contributions from friends ofLamar near and far. These funds continue to assist studentswho needed financial help in returning to classes.Lamar University Foundation – a non-profit, fundraisingarm of the university – is collecting all funds,which are being distributed through the universityadministration.Please join in this effort by sending your donations care of theLamar University Foundation,P.O. Box 11500, Beaumont, Texas 77710,phone (409) 880-2117, or by makingan online contribution at www.lamar.edu.54 | Cardinal Cadence September - November 2005