In Memory

DR. KARL N. REID JR., LONG-SERVING CEAT DEAN

Dr. Karl N. Reid Jr., 86, the longestserving dean of the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology at Oklahoma State University, died at his home in Stillwater on April 14, 2021. He was dean from 1986-2011 and head of the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from 1976-1986. He received his bachelor’s (1956) and master’s degrees (1958) in mechanical engineering from OSU. He served in the Army Reserves briefly, and later received a science doctorate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology on a Ford Fellowship. He was an associate professor at MIT for four years before returning to OSU in 1964. He founded several research institutions affiliated with OSU, was elected a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (1983) and the American Society for Engineering Education (1999). He was awarded the ASME Centennial Medallion and selected as the Outstanding Engineer in Oklahoma (1988). Among his academic credentials are four U.S. patents and 40 journal papers. In 1956, he married Verna Lou Westmoreland, who survives him. Other survivors include sons Ryan (wife Patty) and Darren (wife Carolina) and four grandchildren. THE LASTING LEGACY OF DR. EARL MITCHELL

Helping students — particularly minority students — pursue their aspirations for careers in the sciences and related fields was a passion of longtime Oklahoma State University professor Dr. Earl Mitchell. He often called it his privilege. The 83-year-old Dr. Mitchell died June 2, 2021, at his home in Stillwater. Less than a month earlier, on May 8, he had lost his wife of 61 years, Bernice Compton Mitchell. Dr. Mitchell’s commitment to increasing awareness and involvement in STEM disciplines — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — continues to resonate in the careers of former students, educational programs for which he garnered funding, and the large number of teachers and young people he helped explore the societal benefits provided by scientific research and study. “Dr. Mitchell was a fantastic mentor, an outstanding biochemist, a great listener and always had your best interest at heart,” said Janet Rogers, manager of the OSU Biochemistry and Molecular Biology CORE Facility. “It didn’t matter if you were an undergraduate or graduate college student, a lab tech, a fellow faculty member or a visiting high school teacher or student. He always had the gift of connecting with people.” Dr. Mitchell joined OSU as a research associate in 1967 and became the university’s first African American faculty member in 1969. He earned tenure in 1982, but he was already renowned as an outstanding biochemist and researcher. He would later serve in key administrative positions, among them assistant dean of the graduate college and associate vice president for multicultural affairs. Dr. Mitchell officially retired after 42 years of university service, but he remained active as an educational advocate at the university, state and national levels. Always a leading advocate for underrepresented students, Dr. Mitchell served as the first director of the Oklahoma Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (OK-LSAMP) program. Today, that program continues to promote minority participation at 11 higher education institutions across Oklahoma. “Engagement is the first word that comes to mind when thinking of Dr. Mitchell, for he continued to work on behalf of underrepresented students and OK-LSAMP long after he officially retired,” said Dr. Jason F. Kirksey, OSU vice president for institutional diversity and chief diversity officer. “I believe one key element was that Earl was a role model. Students were able to see themselves in him. He was the success story and was able to communicate the importance of so many things, just by having a conversation.”

LOUIS BLAIR, INFLUENTIAL EDUCATOR AND FRIEND TO OSU

In the fall of 1991, former Gov. Henry Bellmon visited OSU’s new Office of University Scholarships with a request. A national panelist for the Harry Truman Scholarship program, Bellmon, an OSU alum, regularly interviewed candidates from other land-grant schools but was disappointed that he had not yet met one from his alma mater. With his patented directness, Bellmon urged the office to “do better, work harder,” and announced that he was asking the executive director of the Truman Foundation, Louis Blair, to visit and help. That meeting led to more than 80 national award winners, hundreds of candidates and multiple programs on campus and off. It is fair to conclude that OSU’s designation as a Truman Honor School, its first Rhodes Scholarship and eventually a long-awaited Phi Beta Kappa charter would not have occurred without Bellmon’s visit and Mr. Blair’s long involvement. Mr. Blair died at his home in Virginia on Sept. 6, 2020, following years of treatments for tongue cancer. A sports fan and a wine connoisseur trained in French cooking, Mr. Blair orchestrated his trips to Stillwater for important games. Gallagher-Iba Arena was a particularly strong attraction, where he was thrilled to meet coach Eddie Sutton and greeted the crowd at halftime. He always brought an ice chest to transport Cowboy beef home, proclaiming that OSU produced some of the best he had ever tasted. An enthusiastic horseman, he wore an OSU equestrian jacket from former President James Halligan to ride and do chores. He delivered a rousing speech at the banquet in 2000 for OSU’s recognition as a Truman Honor School, placing OSU among the top tier of schools that engage students’ academic and leadership talents.

Ruth W. Bruton, ’49 home economics, ’65 fashion merchandising and interior design, died Sept. 17, 2020. She was 93. Mrs. Bruton’s first job was to establish the vocational home economics program in Salina, Oklahoma. She also taught in Coweta, Muskogee and Shawnee. Her husband, John C. Bruton, ’49 agricultural education, ’56 master’s degree, ’67 Ed.D., preceded her in death. She is survived by her children, Sharron and Garry, both OSU alumni, and four grandchildren.

Damon Ray

Johnson, ’51 mechanical engineering, died Dec. 2, 2020, in Stillwater. He was born July 10, 1925, in Edmond, Oklahoma. He graduated from Edmond High School in 1943, joining the Navy and serving in the Pacific Fleet during World War II. After the war, he enrolled at Oklahoma A&M, earning a degree in mechanical engineering. He met the love of his life, Donna M. Knox, on a blind date while he was a student. He always liked to say the most humanitarian thing he did was to “rescue” Donna from the “school down South”; she preceded him in death in 2009. After college, Mr. Johnson got a job as a roofing estimator in Wichita, Kansas, before moving to Tulsa and purchasing Empire Roofing in 1966. He retired in 1982 but stayed active doing consultant work. Mr. Johnson was always a proud Cowboy, and he and Donna raised their three children to be Cowboy fans. He was proud to have two of his 10 grandchildren and one son-in-law graduate from OSU, too.

Gabriel Joseph

Zablatnik, ’51 accounting, died Dec. 6, 2020. He was born in Ljubljana, Yugoslavia, on March 19, 1927, and died at age 93. Mr. Zablatnik survived a year in a Nazi prison camp in Yugoslavia, spent two years in a displaced persons camp after the war and survived the deaths of both of his parents. He was the first World War II European immigrant to attend OSU in 1949. After becoming a U.S. citizen in 1951, Mr. Zablatnik worked as a traveling auditor for the state of Oklahoma. He was hired as an accountant in the Little Giant Pump Co. in 1965 and was promoted to general manager in 1967, partially due to his ability to speak five languages. Mr. Zablatnik developed an international market for the company and was the president for 42 years. He was a civic leader in Oklahoma.

Margaret C.

Taylor, ’52 early childhood education, died May 4, 2021. Mrs. Taylor was born in October 1930 in Holdenville, Oklahoma. She received a scholarship to Mary Baldwin University in Staunton, Virginia, but following the sudden death of her mother, she decided to stay close to her family and attend Oklahoma A&M. She married Joe Taylor on June 8, 1952. Mrs. Taylor was a lifelong Kappa Alpha Theta member and Mr. Taylor, a Delta Tau Delta member. The couple built up the T-Ranch of rural Comanche and Kiowa counties and had four children: James, Julia, Joy Mae and Janice. Mrs. Taylor was a fifth-grade teacher at Cache Elementary School. She was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Lawton, a life member of the OSU Alumni Association, Mountain Metro AMBUCS, Kappa Alpha Theta Sorority, Kappa Delta Gamma Teachers Sorority and Saddle Mountain Round-Up Club. Donna Faye Karn, ’57 humanities, died April 7, 2021, at the age of 85. In her early years, Ms. Karn attended 12 different schools in six different states, as her father was a traveling salesman. She planted her roots at OSU and married Harold Stephenson, a law student and aspiring writer, in 1957. The couple raised three children, Katherine, Lynne and Thomas, in Phoenix before divorcing. Ms. Karn returned to school to earn a master’s in library science from the University of Arizona in 1975. She founded the Guadalupe (Arizona) Library and won the Librarian of the Year from the Arizona Library Association. She continued her stint as a librarian in Tolleson, Arizona, while also being active with the Arizona Commission on the Arts. In 1982, Ms. Karn met and married John Gerometta, and the couple moved to Los Angeles for several years, where she became a medical librarian. Eventually, the couple returned to Scottsdale, where Ms. Karn continued her medical librarian work until retirement. She was laid to rest beside John, a retired member of the U.S. Coast Guard, at the National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona.

Charles Roland

Carter, ’56 mechanical engineering, died Feb. 9, 2021, in Lubbock, Texas, at the age of 87. Mr. Carter worked for General Dynamics in Fort Worth, Texas, on the design of the F-111 fighter airplane. He spent the last 30 years of his career with the Boeing Co. in Huntsville, Alabama, including working on the Apollo program and Skylab. He is listed on the prestigious Apollo/Saturn V Roll of Honor. He received three patents and represented Boeing as a Manned Flight Awareness Launch Honoree at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, in 1989. Mr. Carter was a member, youth leader and deacon at Huntsville’s First Baptist Church. He participated in many local mission projects and on mission