Tarleton Thursdays: Did You Know?

It’s Graduation Time!

In my blog posts on May 13, 2010, and September 13, 2012, I wrote about the 1962-63 school year being a significant one in Tarleton’s history.  The May 26, 1963 graduates were in the first class to receive degrees in over fifty years!

The 1903 class pictured above was the first John Tarleton graduating class.  The last graduating class for John Tarleton College was in 1908  -  until Tarleton became a four year institution in 1959 and conferred the first degrees in May 1963.

The first graduates in 1903 were (left to right) William M. Bowman,  Monnett Chambers, Walter Powell, William Bryant Williams, and Pearle Mulloy front and center.  Mr. Bowman and Mr. Williams attended the 1963 graduation ceremonies as shown above.  Also attending the 1963 ceremony was long time educator and retired Tarleton faculty member Charles Hale, who is standing in the photo above behind Mr. Bowman and Mr. Williams.  My November 19, 2009 blog was about Charlie Hale.

The 1963 Tarleton graduation was held in front of the library.  Degrees were awarded to 29 men and women.  In addition, 27 certificates of completion were awarded for two year special and pre-professional programs.  The first degree was awarded to Pete Stanford as shown in the photo above.

“Tonight’s ceremony was a culmination of the dream of a West Texas pioneer, John Tarleton!  The school that started in 1899 with a single building has developed into a college with some 25 buildings, with a more than 96 acres campus, and 725 acres of farm land for agricultural research.  In the last 5 years, 5 of the buildings were completed or begun  – the library, student health center, a men and a women’s dorm, and the groundbreaking for a new student center was held March 12, 1963."

Among the 1963 graduates was honor graduate Leveta Hord, history major from Stephenville, who also at one time worked in the library, and Rodney Davis, the first Tarleton ROTC student to enter the army upon graduation, and who for a time later worked in Tarleton’s Financial Aid department.

Tarleton’s Community of Inquiring Minds

have

Come a Long Way!!

Congratulations upon Completing Finals!

Have a Wonderful Summer!!

Cross Timbers Historic Images Project.

Dallas Morning News, May 26, 1963.

Grassburr, 1963.

JTAC, May 14, 1963.