Arizona State University - Sun Devil Spark / Sahuaro Yearbook (Tempe, AZ)

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Tuesday, December 22, 1959, had no sunrise. Rain clouds hung heavy over the valley and obscured the mountains to the north, and promised more rain. A cold wind stirred through bare-branched trees on the campus of State University. In the gray light of early morning, the campus itself was deserted of students rushing to classes. Most of them were home preparing for Christmas, now only three days away. But the offices on campus remained opened. One by one, on that Tuesday morning, came on as people arrived to carry on the business of the institution. Suddenly! like a dark, painful shadow pressing everywhere at once, everyone knew. Dr. Gammage had passed away. Later, the promised rain came, and winter surrendered to spring as summer will surely come in its turn. The institution he served goes on ... but never without him! — 9 ----

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Dr. Grady Gammage November 4, 1958

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Dr. Grady Gammage Dr. Grady Gammage, President of Arizona State at Tempe, was one of the senior college and presidents in the United States. On July 1, 1959, he completed his 26th year as President of Arizona State having previously served as President of Arizona State College at Flagstaff from 1926 to 1933. His 33 years of service as a college president established Dr. Gammage as one of the country ' s foremost authorities on higher Born August 5, 1892, at Prescott, Arkansas, he was the son of Thomas M. Gammage and Elizabeth (Greer) and his ancestry may be traced directly back to Norman nobility. His forebears were among the Norman invaders of England, and the Gammage name is listed in Burke ' s Landed Gentry. In 1913 he married Dixie Dees of Osyka, Mississippi, who died in September, 1948. He married Kathryn Klink, former dean of women at Lake College, Lake Forest, Illinois, in 1949. The Gammages eight-year-old son, Grady Gammage, Jr., is nicknamed GG. Although a native of Prescott, Arkansas, Dr. story essentially is one of Arizona. And it is the story of an American boy willing to work for what he was determined to win — an education. He was Deputy Clerk of the Circuit Court of Nevada County of Arkansas in 1909-10 and taught in the public schools of Arkansas from 1911 to 1912. But Grady Gammage came to Tucson in 1912 to gain a university education. He landed on the campus then miles out of town — with $9 in pocket and no job in sight. Young Gammage convinced the president of the that he had what it takes, so landed something to do and a place to sleep. One of his treasured recollections was the $30 a month job he landed in a downtown drug store and the chainless bike he rode back and forth. The bicycle had enclosed gears and drive shaft instead of sprockets and chain. Dr. Gammage was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Arizona in 1916. By 1920 he was principal of Winslow High School. In 1922 he received a Master of Arts degree in Education from the University of Arizona, and that same year was appointed Superintendent of Schools at Winslow. In 1925 Dr. Gammage was named Vice President and Director of the Training School for Northern Arizona State Teachers College at Flagstaff. The next year — at the age of 32 — he succeeded Dr. F. A. Cotton to the presidency. Also in 1926 he was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws at the University of Arizona. During the seven years he headed the Flagstaff institution, he built up the faculty, obtained recognition for a Class A rating and membership in the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, major accrediting agency in the United States. his administration, the Flagstaff college was converted from a normal school to a four-year teachers ' college. The new executive served from 1926 until the end of the summer session of 1933. He was named President of Arizona State Teachers College at Tempe on July 1, 1933 and, for a month, had the distinction of being president of both schools. In 1940 he received a second doctorate — this time a Doctor of Education degree from New York where he had served as a special lecturer of education. When Dr. Gammage came to Arizona State Teachers College at Tempe in 1933, it was a single-purpose with an enrollment of 901 students. Today Arizona State University is a multi-purpose institution with five and an enrollment of more than 11,000 students. The academic program has expanded from a single curriculum for the preparation of teachers to the point where the is authorized to grant six undergraduate degrees Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Bachelor of Arts in Education, Bachelor of Bachelor of Science in Engineering — and eight degrees — Master of Arts, Master of Science, Master of Fine Arts, Master of Science in Engineering, Master of Public Administration, Master of Arts in Education, Education and Doctor of Education. Dr. Gammage had long been prominently identified in national educational circles, serving as President of the American Association of Teachers Colleges in 1945-1946. His record of service on the State Board of Education is longer than that of any other man. This is also true of the State Board of Vocational Education. He was a member of two national accrediting committees, Vice President of the Western College Association, was a member of the Board of Directors for the National War Fund, and raised a half million dollars in Arizona for the USO. During his last year he was a member of the Phoenix and Tempe Chambers of Commerce, Paradise Country Club and Arizona Club, member of the Board of Directors of the American Institute for Foreign Trade, Phoenix Symphony Society, Association for Applied Solar Energy and the Foundation; also a member of the National Education Association, Arizona Education Association, Committee to Abolish Intolerance in Higher Education, Western Committee on American Council on Education, the Newcomer Society, Order of Distinguished Americans, and Sons of the Revolution. He was also a member of Phi Kappa Phi, Phi Delta Kappa, Kappa Delta Pi, Alpha Sigma Kappa, Pi Tau, Iota Sigma Alpha, Phi Eta Sigma, and Tau Kappa Epsilon. — 10 —