TCU Magazine

I finally got around to reading the Fall ‘05 issue of The TCU Magazine. I just want to let you know how much I enjoyed the article about Bill Camfield. I think I was one of the first people to purchase one of Paul Camfield’s tapes. You can immediately determine if someone our age grew up around here by mentioning the name “Icky Twerp.”

Since you obviously grew up around here in the 1960s, as I did (in Bonham), you might be interested in a Web site that I found very entertaining. Greg Knight’s Patio Culture at home.texoma.net/~kgreg. Also, you probably played WA HOO as a kid. See my Web site for details about WA HOO at wahoogames.com.

Thanks again for the memories.
Chuck Cox ‘91 MBA

Freedom to print?

The Winter 2005 issue of The TCU Magazine contains one of the most offensive pieces I had ever read in your magazine. When Robert S. Terjesen wrote concern over Rockwell Kent’s relationship with the Soviet Union, you called upon Professor Greg Mansur to write one of the most ultra, ultra liberal pieces of drivel I have ever read. For him to compare the treatment by the USSR of its own citizens with the efforts of the United States to protect the rights of downtrodden citizens in Vietnam and Iraq, or in some twisted way equate the life imposed on the Russian citizens with the natural disasters Katrina and Rita goes beyond incredible. If this professor is in any way indicative of the quality of educators currently on the TCU staff, I am afraid my pride in TCU has suffered a serious blow. While I acknowledge the freedom of speech rights of all American citizens, I still believe that publications have an equal right to screen the material they will print.

Jim Packer ’58, MA ’60

Fine art

My husband Michael and I want to thank you for the article in the Winter 2005 edition of The TCU Magazine on the TCU Sculpture Program. It was certainly a nice surprise to find the article recognizing the two students, Tiffany Wolf and Crisman Liverman, in their recent honors from the International Sculpture Center in Trenton, N.J.

Crisman is our son and he did exceptionally well while at TCU — mostly due to the outstanding professors in the Fine Arts program. His advisor was Cameron Schoepp and he was the sponsor for these two students to enter this international contest. I was disappointed that the article did not mention his involvement and support of his students’ work. Also, the sculptures shown with the article are not the pieces that were accepted into the show.

We were thrilled to be able to attend the opening of the show at the ISC in New Jersey last fall. Many of the professors attended the opening with the students they sponsored and were also recognized for their support of the students. From what I have learned, this is the first time TCU has had students accepted into this show! It was an honor for us as parents and as well as for me as an alum of TCU.

TCU is a wonderful university and offers many strong and diversified programs for the students. The Fine Arts program is certainly one that we can all be proud of.

Brenda Crisman Liverman ‘73 (MEd)

On being Greek

As the 125th initiate of TCU’s Lambda Chi Alpha chapter (in May 1963), I enjoyed your 50th anniversary salute to the campus’ Greek community (Fall 2005 issue). There’s no question that what I learned in TCU’s classrooms, plus the friendships forged with so many fraternity brothers shaped my future much more than I ever imagined at that time. Greek life may not be for everyone, but for those of us who have been part of it, blanket parties at Benbrook Lake, out-of-town football weekends and Saturday night parties at the old Hotel Texas are seared into our memories as part of the TCU experience.

By the way, there’s a minor mistake in your “Through the Years Timeline” that accompanies the article: Groundbreaking for the Worth Hills dorms didn’t take place in 1965; it was probably two years before that. I lived in Milton Daniel Hall, 1962-64, when all eight fraternities were housed there on the second and third floors. In September 1964, fraternities moved into the brand new Worth Hills dorms, where I spent the second half of my four years at TCU.

Kenn Ulrich ‘66

Taddie Hamilton

What a nice surprise to read the story on Margaret ‘Taddie’ Hamilton ‘66, MEd ‘82 (Fall 2005). Ms. Hamilton was my economics teacher at Trinity High School. She was a great teacher and had a true passion for showing us how her subject related to a bunch of seniors.

I crossed paths with her again after I became a teacher myself, and I always remember her stressing that she thought that social studies should be a four-year requirement in high school.

I had many excellent professors at TCU, but it was teachers like Ms. Hamilton that inspired me to become a teacher too. Her enthusiasm was contagious in the classroom and it made me very proud as I read the story on her to have had Ms. Hamilton as a teacher. I am also pleased to share the common thread of us both being Frogs!

Marnie Russell Choate ‘93

Say hi for me

Great magazine. Would you be so kind as to say hello to Linda Kaye for me? We were fellow photographers in the early ‘60s. Ask her if she still drives the pink Cadillac. Also, if you run into my former dean, Bill Slater, please pass along my regards. Thank you and keep up the good work.

Bill Seymour ‘63

Biased?

As a new reader of your magazine, I was initially pleased to receive it to find out more about the university. But after reading the articles in the last few issues, the obvious “liberal” bias of the authors has disappointed me. The fact that the magazine lacks any balance at all has caused me to rethink my overall support for the university. I just hope the magazine is not representative of the views and ideals of the university and its professors.

Jeff Isler, TCU Parent

Go Frogs

I really enjoyed the article on Jeff Ballard and found myself drawn to the Houston Bowl. I graduated from ISU and my daughter is currently at TCU. This article gave me “the push” I needed to find a place (I don’t have cable) to view the broadcast of the game.

The article depicts a very good attitude on the part of Ballard and the rest of the TCU team. If that attitude stands strong, ISU could face a huge challenge this Saturday.

Bob Millen
Editor: They did. We won.

Welcome to the family

I began to appreciate the phrase from the TCU alma mater "Comrades True" more after I gave birth to our son, Bobby. Bobby was born 10 weeks premature at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas.

After Bobby was born, he was taken straight to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit where he would remain for 6 weeks. It was an incredibly difficult time for my husband and I with many ups and downs.

Since I was spending every day at the hospital, I became friends with the nurses, doctors, hospital staff and other parents in the NICU. As I began to get to know the people taking care of our little son, I noticed that they all seemed to have a TCU connection. Bobby’s primary care nurse, Karen, had a son that graduated from TCU. My doctor, Paul Payne, has a son that attends TCU. Some of the other nurses graduated from TCU. Some of the parents that I became close to had friends that graduated with me at TCU, and so on.

As frightening as the NICU could be, it made me feel a little better knowing that Bobby was surrounded by fellow Horned Frogs that were watching out for him. I also couldn’t have gotten through the 6 weeks without my family — mostly TCU graduates or former TCU employees. Not only did they support me emotionally but also helped me get the nursery ready to bring Bobby home. I couldn’t have done it without them.

In addition, my alumni friends came to visit Bobby and me at the hospital, sent flowers and often called to check in on my husband and I. Now that the experience is over and Bobby is at home, I cannot thank my TCU family enough for everything they did for my husband, Bobby and I. It makes me appreciate where I went to college even more.

Whitney Williams Strauss ’00