Thursday, July 26, 2012

Tarleton Thursdays: Did You Know?



Dr. Grant Heads Tour to Europe
50 years ago – the summer of 1962 – Dr. O.A. Grant, along with other Tarleton faculty members Miss Lee Edwin Terry, and Mrs. Virginia Yearwood took a group of students from colleges all over Texas and other states, on a 66 day tour of Europe.  Dr. Grant arranged for the trip in association with the Universal Travel Service.
According to the September 25, 1962 JTAC, the purpose of the tour was to provide an academic, relatively inexpensive trip to Europe.  Travelers included Tarleton student Dan Roberts, Stephenville students John Yearwood and Harry Bradley, and students from UT, SMU, LSU, OSU, and Kansas – bringing the total to 45 students.
The group sailed from Montreal on the Cariatlin and first stopped in Greenich, Scotland.  They visited England, Scotland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, and France.
In England the group attended The Taming of the Shrew at Stratford-on-Avon.  In London they went to an ascot race and Queen Elizabeth was in attendance. From England they went to Bergen, Germany.  They spent July 4th in Heidelburg.  From there they flew into Berlin and viewed 17 miles of the Berlin Wall.  Dr. Grant stated that “this was one of the most sobering experiences of the trip – a dead silence filled the bus – the wall gave students plenty to think about."
Next stop was the Melk monastery on the Danube River and Austrian border.  They then visited Villach, a swimming resort, Venice, Florence, and Rome.  They spent four days in Rome where they saw the grand opera Aida.  Next came Naples, Pompeii, and Capri.
The grand finale was Paris where the group spent four days and nights.  They saw the Follies, the Louvre, and other interesting historic places.  They flew home from Paris to Dallas via jet in ten hours.
What a trip!  Dr. Grant stated that “anyone interested in such a tour next summer is urged to contact him in the social sciences department."

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