In Memory

Aimee (Heald) Nielson, ’95 agricultural communications, ’97 master’s in agricultural education, is celebrating almost 23 years as an agricultural communications specialist for the University of Kentucky. Her focus areas are the Beef Center of Excellence and the James B. Beam Institute for Kentucky Spirits. She will receive a certificate of distillation, wine and brewing science from Kentucky in December. She has been married to her husband, David, for nearly 18 years and their son, Zachary, is a sophomore in high school.

Angela (Atwood)

Owen, ’96 HRAD, has become a Sonic Drive-In franchisee.

Dr. J. Helen (Stillwell) Perkins,

’99 doctorate in curriculum instruction, is a professor of literacy at the University of Memphis and a board member for the International Literacy Association.

’00s

Grant A. Allen, ’09 finance, is now in transportation management at Brinker International, the parent company of Chili’s. He focuses on distribution and continuity of supply in the restaurant industry.

Kristen Gentry,

’09 art, has been selected as a Pow Pow Pitch semifinalist, a competition for emerging indigenous entrepreneurs. She is one of 156 semifinalists from 1,642 applicants, and she will receive mentorship, training and the chance to be featured in marketing campaigns. Gentry could win $25,000 to further her business. She also started a new job at the First Americans Museum in August.

Amy Crosby

(Smith), ’09 psychology, recently changed her career path from early childhood education to insurance, taking a position at State Farm in June.

’10s

Clarissa May (Fulton) Walton,

’13 animal science, ’15 master’s degree in agricultural communications, is now a graphic design consultant for Emergent Method, a Louisiana-based management consulting firm.

Friends

Chester (Chet) Millstead

celebrated 64 years with his wife, Shirley Perry Millstead, in September 2021. The couple met as students near Theta Pond at Oklahoma A&M in 1956. They currently reside in Kentucky, and their family has grown to 36 members.

Judith A. (Faber)

Whiteley retired after a career as an office manager and volleyball referee. She met her husband, Charlie, ’69 management, in freshman English class. He’s a mountain climber, retired from Ford Motor Co., and took up search and rescue in Santa Fe, New Mexico. They love flyfishing all over the western United States. They have a daughter, son-in-law and two grandsons who live in Salem, Oregon. Larry D. Greene has retired after 40 years of traveling around the country working in commercial construction management and general construction. He and his wife, Gay, live in San Antonio and are celebrating their 52nd wedding anniversary.

In Memory

Valree Wynn, the first Black woman to earn a master’s degree in English and the first Black woman to earn a Ph.D. in English at Oklahoma State University and a professor emerita at Cameron University in Lawton, Oklahoma, died Sept. 25. She was 99. A native of Rockwell, Texas, Dr. Wynn, the daughter of a sharecropper, earned her bachelor’s degree at Langston University. In 1965, she became the first Black faculty member at Cameron University. She taught at Cameron for two decades. In 1990, Dr. Wynn was the first African American speaker at a Cameron University commencement. Dr. Wynn served as president of the Board of Regents for Oklahoma Colleges. In 1996, she was inducted into the Oklahoma Women’s Hall of Fame and in 2005 she was inducted into the Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame. An oral history interview of Dr. Wynn conducted by Oklahoma State University can be found at okla.st/wynn.

Ruth Bruton, ’49 home economics, ’65 master’s, fashion merchandising and interior design, died Sept. 17, 2020, at the age of 93. Her husband, John C. Bruton, preceded her in death. Her first job was to establish the vocational home economics program in Salina, Oklahoma. She also taught at Coweta, Muskogee and Shawnee. Mrs. Bruton had an active life with her family and serving her church and community. She is survived by children Sharron and Garry and four grandchildren.