Oklahoma State University - Redskin Yearbook (Stillwater, OK)

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YOURS IS THE E RTH ..... AND EVERYTHING THAT'S IN IT. ln these words of Rudyard Kipling dwell much of the philosophy of Dr. Henry G. Bennett, late presi- dent of the Oklahoma AGM college. They are a part of the great legacy he left behind. They are inseparable from the goals he attained in the building of an educational institution of lasting strength and character that won fame for both the AGM college and himself, In his faith and fidelity to humanity he became a diplomat of peace and educa- tion of international significance. The legend that will be Dr, Bennett at ASM will be enduring . . . for within its bounds burned the eternal flame of unselfish service to the brotherhood of mankind. The fatal mission to the far east that claimed his life, and that of his wife, in an airplane crash Dec. 22, 1951, was a part of his saga of service. He lived for a cause and the end came in pursuit of the same. For over two decades at the Oklahoma AGM col- lege, he had made history as a college president, ad- ministrator, builder and educator. His prominence as a progressive school man took deep root from early statehood days and on through the twenties, won national recognition in the thirties and claimed inter- national attention in the forties. The school room, from the rural scene to the most rigid requirements of graduate level in institutions of higher learning, have been his life. His greatest single service was in behalf of education in which he spent 115 years. Of these, he served 33 years in the role of college president. As Oklahoma's most dy- namic man in education, Dr. Bennett first began his career as a city and county school superintendent in southeast Oklahoma, Choctaw county, 1907-18g sec- ond as president of the Southeastern State Teachers college, Durant, 1919-28, and last as the memorable president of the Oklahoma AGM college from 1928 until his death. Dr. Bennett was born December 14, 1886 in Ne- vada county, Arkansas. His education reached from the country schoolhouse of his community through Ouachita college, the University of Oklahoma and Columbia university. The versatility that was his as a college leader brought him into world prominence. Following a series of vital international services he became director of the U, S. state departments Point 11 program, Ian. 1, 1951, in the service of which and for his country he died. lt was his plan that the AGM college should pro- vide an unsurpassed physical plant and a notable professoriate through which it might claim a place of highest distinction as a center of learning and cul- ture, This was realized. Opportunity unlimited, for the college he helmed was the star he reached for, lt was virtually in his grasp. He was a master architect of planned destinies for the students he served. As a builder at ASM, the college he guided earned the title of a miracle of the western plains. The goals and plant he left is a rich heritage, symbolizing the success of a leader whose simplicity of manner, humility, energy, ambi- tions and talents made him a world figure. As long as its halls, towers and columns shall stand, his memory, too, will survive. How well it was said by Emerson of Dr. Henry Garland Bennett and the college from whose growth he was inseparable, Uhis institution is but the lengthened shadow of one man. President Truman and Dr, Bennett confer on the details of the Point Four program. Mrs. Vera Bennett. . , Dr. Bennett S vsifc and inspiration through many vears r

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Page V uvvv, ALAN!! 9 632915 070 iq S S, O I 5 4 O x J.. X . 3 2 W 5 3 5 'X 457 A 'X 9 E' by , Q' 0 9 'IBQX np 'annul' M ul' 0, W xx 'V '-ee 'G 2 Q n:':n 't,f'n 4 Q B Qu 'Nagy 3 x . filing 5 Q Y 21 t l Q e 2 - . bd. 0 -. 'S -, I' 9 n iw... My , , wwe, In Memor of DR. HE RY G. BENNETT 'AHe was something rare among us here, representative of enduring simplicities . . . he talked like a modest prophet out of the Testa- ments. This man was a mechanic of Christianity, so to speak, one who reduced it to everyday life and knew how to make it work. His death is a great loss, for he started something fresh and wonderful in a government where men and ideas have grown tired and worn. But it seems almost appropriate that he should die at Christmas time, out in the middle east in that arid, hihlical vale of tears where the idea ol hrotherhood was first made human. E:ct'C1'pts from Eric Sevareid CBC. lftc., DCC. 2-1, 1951

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Page I8 -bt 'lt uk vi ,light X if -Q.-Wax ' G t Vi t V t 2 '.',- -:ziiwet. .':::.':...:..i'i 4 Ls- . -ff . - 321 ' :-'f'f2: --?- i A it ,wl 1 .Gif fir.'?HAl,l3?AEZ5Siik' I . ,,w,. is .. . X J , Ftsf-2' fini. K isif-T iii .. 23421 EWS? irq -5 :E WELCOME, DR. WILLH M To A5M,s new president, Dr. Oliver S. Willham, the REDSKIN and the students of the college extend a hand of cordial and genuine welcome! We salute Dr. Willharri for his distinguished years of service with youth groups in Oklahomau for his inspirational guidance and advisement programs in the field of agriculture and for his many administra- tive successes at the college since he joined its ranks in 1935. In an academic career that lists his bachelor of science degree from ASM, l923g a master of science, 1927. and a doctorate, 1935, from Iowa State college: in his national attainments in animal genetics. as a lead- ing livestock judge on the American scene and for the high esteem in which he is held among his civic. educational and organizational colleagues . . . we take highest pride. We are inordinately proud to have an alumnus of AEBNI become its president . . . of a versatile edu- cator whose outstanding achievements as vice-presi- dent of Qklahomas Panhandle ASM college H923- 34l led to the return to his Alma Mater, first on its faculty of animal husbandry in 1935, as vice-dean of agriculture after 1939 and as executive vice-president of the college since 1951. For his sincerity and genial warmth as Ac9M,s new chieftain, for his high scholastic attainment and col- lege goals. broad vision as a college leaderg for his devotion to our late president and for the elegance of his dignity in the transition that made him the unani- mous choice for A8M's leader this year, we salute Dr. Willham . . , and pledge him our full support and loyal allegiance.