‘Lamar is in Beaumont and when I graduated from high school in 1951, that was the only college I could afford to go to. I had a scholarship to Lamar. I started out. It was Lamar State College at that time. I lived at home with my parents. I could either walk or take the bus. It was a wonderful experience for me. I had just gotten to be 17. We were younger. At South Park, we had skipped a grade, so we were younger than the others. It helped us mature some. My friends said let’s go out for a drink. I thought we were going out for coke. So, when we got in the car and realized we were going to drink beer, I couldn’t drink beer and I had never had. So, I just drank a coke. You are maturing with other people and it helped me grow up. I enjoyed the football games.’
‘Bob and I had been sweethearts in high school. I went to Lamar and he went to the service. We decided we couldn’t live without each other after a year. We married. In that one year at Lamar, I took a course in typing. So, when we got to El Paso, it was my speed in typing that got me the job. When we finally came back to Beaumont, my scholarship was no longer good and I could not afford to go back. Bob was having a hard time getting a job, because he was a drop out from high school. So, he decided to go to college. After he got his degree, I wanted to go back. I was working and had five kids by then. We sold our beach cabin so that I could go back to Lamar. I got my degree from Lamar and started teaching at Odom and then at Marshall Middle School. I loved teaching the kids at that age. I was really helping them because that was such a changing point of their lives. I felt like through bibliotherapy I could influence them in a positive way.’
First Cohort of Reading Specialists
‘I wanted to be trained as a reading specialist at Lamar. Lamar did not offer that at the time. So, a couple of friends and I who wanted to become reading specialists found out that we had to have certain subjects while we are getting our bachelor’s degree. One of the courses had to be taught by someone from the English Department but it had to be done through the Education Department. One of my good friends from church headed the English Department at that time. He told me that he would teach the class, but I had to get 10 people to take the class at Lamar. We got about 12 people, and we walked into the class, and there were about 40 people there. This was the first year that Lamar had this class. This led to the Reading Specialist Certification. That class is still being taught at Lamar.’
‘After I retired, Lamar contacted me to teach reading to students who did not pass the entrance exam. They had to read at a certain level to go to Lamar. So, I taught them reading and let them know when they were ready to take the test, which was in another building. I just had to get them ready, not give the test. If I had a problem with a student misbehaving, I could tell them that I had the campus police on my speed dial and that they would escort you out and you would never get to come back. So, I never had any problem. It was my supervisor who said I could do that. I had no idea I could say anything like that.’
‘When my husband needed hearing aids, he contacted Lamar, because Lamar is on the cutting edge of technology. Lamar gave us hearing aids.’
‘Four of our five kids have gotten degrees from Lamar. We had some grandchildren who went to Lamar. We love Lamar. One of my grandkids was one of the first cheerleaders when football came back to Lamar in 2010.’