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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