Fran reflected on memories of her father and the time that they spent in what was then Science Hall. Frances, the oldest daughter of the Brown children, was in eighth grade when she went up the stairs of T. Berry Smith Hall to scribble her name on the wall, a memory that she has nearly forgotten at the age of 86. Fran Brown recalled that it was not common practice for people to go up the tower, although the names inside tell a different story. She reminisced about her father and that he was a very popular teacher and took many trips with students. She remembered that as a freshman she joined in on a trip to the Bahamas. The Brown family spent ten years in Fayette, and in that time, Fran graduated high school and enrolled at Central in September of 1952. She had plans to become a nurse and took many pre-med classes. However, The door to the T. Berry tower is covered in names of she took advice past Central students, including that of Frances Brown from her father (McNemee) ’56 that, “Wherever you live, there will always be a school.” She changed her focus and became a teacher. Frances graduated from Central in the spring of 1956 with a bachelor’s degree in biology. She spent many years teaching seventh- and eighth-grade science and English and to this day still teaches Sunday School at over the past 124 years, but the memories that have been made inside its walls. The top of the her church. As we think about the memories that were tower provides a stunning view of Howard County and is now closed off to visitors and made inside this tower and on the Central students, but it is full of names—names of Methodist University campus, we reflect on Greek sororities and fraternities and names of the names inside the T. Berry Smith tower— students from many graduating classes dating names of classmates from years gone by, names like W.L. Thorpe, class of ’32, Ben “Old Baldy” back as far as 1914. One of the names that stands out belongs Henke, class of ’54, Doug Downing, class of to Frances Brown (McNemee), who wrote her ’63, Betty Cockrell (Stacey), class of ’72, Mike name, along with, “The daughter of the great Jackman, class of ’79, Bill and Susie, who wrote Dr. W.H. Brown,” on the door leading up the in the tower on October 26, 1983, and Jim Arnold, class of ‘98. tower stairs on a Saturday in March of 1949. If walls could talk, what would the walls Dr. Brown was a biology teacher at Central from 1946 to 1956. Just two years after World of T. Berry Smith Hall tell us? What changes War II, Dr. Brown had relocated his family has the building been witness to, and what from Oklahoma City to Fayette after being conversations have the halls heard? Many of hired by then-president Dr. Ralph Woodward. these answers are held by the amazing people The newest member of the science division also that have entered through its doors. Let us served as the head of biology with a focus on never forget the friends and fond memories we have made on the campus of Central Methodist botany. More than 70 years after making her mark, University.
T. Berry Smith Spills Its Secrets; Names in Tower Go Back To 1914 By TRACI BALLEW
“A
pply thine heart unto instruction and thine ears to the words of knowledge.” You may notice this inscription at the entrance of the iconic T. Berry Smith Hall on the Central Methodist University campus, a place where heart has certainly been applied unto instruction for more than a hundred years. The Victorian building is complete with a tower parapet with brass spindles and a hexagon roof over the tower with slate ribs. The cornerstone of Science Hall, later renamed T. Berry Smith Hall, was laid on June 17, 1893, and the occasion was such an extraordinary event that bands, lodges, and clubs marched in a parade from Main Street to the building site. Doors to T. Berry Smith Hall opened in 1896, and it was home to all college classes as well as the library, chapel, museum, and laboratories. But the most interesting part of T. Berry Smith Hall is not what this building has housed
22 The Talon | Fall 2020
