HomeMy WebLinkAboutMarker Dedication Address 1988REMARKS BY FRANK G. ANDERSON, JR. AT THE DEDICATION
it a
OF A TEXAS HISTORICAL MARKER COMMERATING
_FACULTY AND STAFF HOUSING ON THE CAMPUS
OF TEXAS A &M COLLEGE
APRIL 8, 1988
I am sure that many who lived in faculty and staff housing on campus
join me in thanking Doctor VanRiper, the Brazos County Historical
Commission and the City of College Station for working to preserve this
aspect of the history of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of
Texas.
The institution was more isolated and much smaller than it is today.
Because of the isolation many services were provided on campus -
groceries at a college store, dairy products at F &B and the creamery,
frozen food storage at the Animal Husbandry building, laundry service at
the college laundry, ice at the college power plant, swimming at Down's
natatorium, riding classes at the stables. Campus children could receive
education from the first grade through high school at Pfeiffer Hall and
another building. A number of children were born in the faculty houses
as the college physician was allowed a private practice for a number of
these years.
The environment was not limited socially, recreationally or cultur-
ally. The campus houses provided the setting for many of these activities.
rinner parties were more frequent and often more formal than today - men
wore tails in the teens, tuxes in the twenties and suits in the thirties.
Bridge parties, music practice and performance, poetry composition,
painting, discussions and visiting were significant parts of life in many
of these houses. In earlier years visitors to A &M not infrequently were
guests in these houses.
The campus was not without eccentrics. Doctor Asberry may have held
the record in this regard. His house was surrounded with multiple rows of
oil rig -like towers and trellises on which climbing roses grew. His
intent apparently was to develop a black rose. Although Doctor Asberry
became deaf he continued to have several pianos which he enjoyed having
played in unison. His bathroom is said to have had paintings on the
ceiling.
From the viewpoint of a child the campus was a great place to grow up.
The environment was safe, generally houses were left unlocked even in the
absence of the occupants. our elders were on the whole tolerant of most of
our behavior and we coexisted with the Aggies without any major problems.
The upper level high school and college age daughters of the faculty dated
Aggies and not a few became the bride of a young A &M graduate.
A &M provided many interesting events from the viewpoint of a child as
well as an adult. A visit by Franklin Roosevelt, a national champion
football team whose games we watched from 25 cent seats in the Knot Hole
Gang section in the U of the stadium and cavalry charges at the Cadet
Corps reviews as well as a variety of demonstrations and discussions
were stimulating experiences. We played touch football outside the walls
of Guion Hall and watched movies inside that visually impressive edifice.
our bicycles carried us with jolts and bumps over the terraced sidewalks
in front of the New Administration building and our feet carried us
through mazes of shrubbery in games of hide and seek and chase.
About the third grade when I finally accepted the fact that the
educational process also applied to me I began reading books actively.
First I read the books in our library and then that of the Gammons and
then ventured the four blocks down Houston Street to the Waltons. Mrs.
Walton usually rewarded me with an elaborate cool soft drink.
I would like to tell two stories about the children of our next
door neighbors. I will preface the first by saying that Mary Leland, a
member of the Brazos Symphony, is the younger sister of one of the
subjects. Tom, her brother, demonstrated an affinity for chemistry even
before becoming a teen -ager - having a lab in part of the Leland's
garage. I once asked too many questions about the contents of his
bottles. He replied one was Deuteronomy and another was Leviticus. I
retained these names long enough until the Sunday school experience in
the basements of Guion Hall and the Assembly Hall gave me new insights
into their meaning. Tom later became the head of the Chemical
Engineering department at Rice University.
Clod fights, acorn fights and firecracker cannon battles were a
major activity for campus boys of the 1930s. Once Billy Gammon and
I held off the rest of the neighborhood from the workshop behind the
Gammon's house. Our opponents were marshalled behind a piece of plywood
which Sam Rae, Billy's brother, supported upright with the aid of one
finger exposed to our view. A direct hit on that finger by an acorn
fired from our firecracker cannon resulted in the complete collapse of
our opponents fixed instillation. This event may have pointed Sam Rae
toward diplomacy. Before his state department retirement he had become
an ambassador.
In thinking back about these years from an adult's perspective I
can remember only two faculty members who lived on the two blocks
where my parents lived who left A &•M for reasons other than retirement.
One went to Iowa State where he became president and the other some
years after the general exodus off campus moved on to a position as a
member of the United States Federal Reserve Board. I believe this says
something about the quality of life in the campus community in those
years.