The Victoria College, 1925-2000: A Tradition of Excellence

preserve the extensive woodwork and to maintain
the “feel” of the old building. 38
Concluding that “the time is now” and that he
was “old enough to start smelling the roses,”
David Lack, a veteran of the board for 18 years,
resigned in February 1994. “After lamenting
how much they’ll miss David Lack, Victoria
College trustees wasted no time” in naming
Arnold Galindo Davis as his replacement. The
new board member, the executive director of the
Victoria Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and
manager of Casa Ole, was the first Hispanic in
college history to serve on the board. He represented
a redrawn district that emerged from the
Alex Rojas lawsuit. Davis served the remaining
three months of Lack’s term and was elected
without any opposition to a full term as trustee. 39
What many individuals who were acquainted
with him considered an overdue honor, Wesley
Aldis, bookstore manager, was selected as a
member of the National Association of College
Stores Board of Trustees at the organization’s
April 1994 meeting in Orlando, Florida. The
association consisted of approximately 3,200
college and university bookstores in the United
States and Canada. Six board members were
elected by store members to represent regional
districts and there were also two at-large places.
Aldis was chosen to represent the Southwest
region which was composed of Texas and four
surrounding states. 40
Wesley Aldis, or “John Wesley” as Bing
referred to him, had been associated with the
college since the 1960s, first as a student and
later as an employee. While he attended college,
he wrote a sports article for the college newspaper.
As bookstore manager, a position he
assumed when long-time employee V. T. Kallus
retired in the early 1970s, Aldis witnessed
changes in its operation and the items sold. The
most striking difference was in technology, ranging
from electric cash register to computer. Aldis
has “sold everything from slide rules to calculators
that run a space ship.” He recalled that Al
Allen, math instructor, purchased an early
“hand-held calculator, which he had to assemble
for something like $300.00, now that same [calculator]
can be bought for only $6.99 assembled.”
His prescription for operating a bookstore—“adjust
and be flexible.” 41
Interactive video was introduced on the campus
during the spring of 1994. The movement to
employ its use at the college was led by Marilyn
Powell, coordinator of vocational nursing, after
she observed its application in January 1994
when a medication administration lecture was
beamed from Houston to Victoria. From her
point of view, Powell noted the “technology
✯
Wesley Aldis, bookstore manager.
A New Chief, A New Era ✦ 193