Mr. Carl Parker
Carl Parker Building at Lamar University was named after him in 1992
Legislator in Texas House of Representatives, 1962-1977; State Senate 1977-1995
Interviewed by Vidisha Barua Worley and Robert M. Worley on 03/16/2023
Carl Parker at Lamar University in 1995
‘In order to allow ships to leave from the port, they had to have radio operators. They were short of radio operators. Port Arthur College was created by John W. Gates to train sonographers and radio operators.’ ‘I managed to get the seed money for the first nursing program at Lamar.
‘Lamar University was segregated and I got active politically and I had organized picket lines along with some folks in Beaumont. It was sometime in the early 60s. I got myself luckily in the right place at the right time. I was in the Appropriations Committee. So, I was able to get money for Lamar when I was in the House. And, when I got to the Senate, I was on the Finance Committee and was able to do a lot. Probably one of the most significant things is I was chairman of the Senate Education Committee and for almost 100 years in Texas, we had a pile of money stored up from the Permanent University Fund which could only be shared by Texas A&M and University of Texas. I worked on legislation and created the HEAF Fund (Higher Education Assistance Fund), which is a constitutional fund, similarly devised for colleges other than Texas A&M and University of Texas.
‘Lamar University was segregated and I got active politically and I had organized picket lines along with some folks in Beaumont. It was sometime in the early 60s. I got myself luckily in the right place at the right time. I was in the Appropriations Committee. So, I was able to get money for Lamar when I was in the House. And, when I got to the Senate, I was on the Finance Committee and was able to do a lot. Probably one of the most significant things is I was chairman of the Senate Education Committee and for almost 100 years in Texas, we had a pile of money stored up from the Permanent University Fund which could only be shared by Texas A&M and University of Texas. I worked on legislation and created the HEAF Fund (Higher Education Assistance Fund), which is a constitutional fund, similarly devised for colleges other than Texas A&M and University of Texas.
Mr. Carl Parker at the dedication of the Carl Parker Building at Lamar University in 1992. These pictures are from the Special Collections of the Lamar University Library.
Mr. Carl Parker and his wife, Dr. Beverly Parker
‘I managed to get the seed money for the first nursing program at Lamar. We created the Academy of Outstanding Students that still exists up there. They take high school seniors. They live on campus. As a Senator, you got the veto power over the members of the Board of Regents and I didn’t approve any redneck to be on the Board of Regents. We plagiarized a program from a minority college in New Orleans whereby senior students would mentor freshman when they came in and through their career. We started a similar program on the campus at Lamar.
‘I decided early on in my career, politically, the most important asset in my district is Lamar, if it was not the first, it was in the top two or three. And what it contributes to our area still is as important as the refining industry. It adds to the quality of life. Of all the things that the state government does, education is the most important.
‘What I am still most proud of being associated with Lamar, is the creation of the branches, Lamar Port Arthur, Orange, and the Institute….now they are graduating about 2000 students a year.
'In order to allow ships to leave from the port, they had to have radio operators. They were short of radio operators. Port Arthur College was created by John W. Gates to train sonographers and radio operators. When I was in the House, Dr. Madison Monroe the President of the College called and said they could not keep the doors open because they could not charge enough tuition to run the college. We have a nice campus. Port Arthur College received the permit for the first television station out here and when they sold it, they had a big pot of money. So, they built a big nice building on campus.
‘I feel Lamar should have had its own Board of Regents. That way, we can be master of our own destiny. Just like we did in Port Arthur and Orange, there was talk of having a similar one in Jasper. Had we had our own Board of Regents, we could have had a system down here. …We had Dr. John E. Gray, Former Mayor Otho Plummer, Tom Maes, Bob Montagne (Lamar Buildings named after them, wanted Lamar’s own system).’
‘I decided early on in my career, politically, the most important asset in my district is Lamar, if it was not the first, it was in the top two or three. And what it contributes to our area still is as important as the refining industry. It adds to the quality of life. Of all the things that the state government does, education is the most important.
‘What I am still most proud of being associated with Lamar, is the creation of the branches, Lamar Port Arthur, Orange, and the Institute….now they are graduating about 2000 students a year.
'In order to allow ships to leave from the port, they had to have radio operators. They were short of radio operators. Port Arthur College was created by John W. Gates to train sonographers and radio operators. When I was in the House, Dr. Madison Monroe the President of the College called and said they could not keep the doors open because they could not charge enough tuition to run the college. We have a nice campus. Port Arthur College received the permit for the first television station out here and when they sold it, they had a big pot of money. So, they built a big nice building on campus.
‘I feel Lamar should have had its own Board of Regents. That way, we can be master of our own destiny. Just like we did in Port Arthur and Orange, there was talk of having a similar one in Jasper. Had we had our own Board of Regents, we could have had a system down here. …We had Dr. John E. Gray, Former Mayor Otho Plummer, Tom Maes, Bob Montagne (Lamar Buildings named after them, wanted Lamar’s own system).’
| Mayor Otho Plummer | Bob Montagne |
President John Gray in his office in the early 1940s. These pictures are from
the Special Collections of the Lamar University Library.