Women in Philanthropy

MSU sweethearts Colleene Bishop Thompson and her husband Johnny

More than 70 years have come and gone since Colleene Bishop Thompson was a student at Mississippi State. Yet, despite the passing of time, the Randolph native still thinks fondly of the memories, education and connections she made at her alma mater. Today, at the age of 96, Thompson continues to uphold the True Maroon spirit for current and future generations at MSU.

Thompson began her college career at the former Wood Junior College in Mathiston. With plans to become a teacher, she assumed she would complete her degree at a four-year college close to her hometown. However, fate intervened when she spent her first collegiate summer semester a little farther down the road at Mississippi State.

“I went to MSU in the summer of 1944 and never looked back,” said Thompson. “I had planned to finish my education at an institution that was considered a ‘teacher college’ at the time, but I liked Mississippi State, so I decided to stay.”

During her inaugural MSU summer, Thompson was introduced to Johnny Thompson, who eventually became her husband. The pair met on a blind date, accompanied by mutual friends, and the rest was history.

The pair hit it off immediately, but like most Americans during World War II, their lives seemed to be in a constant state of change. Johnny, who had joined the Marines after high school, left to serve with the U.S. military in the Pacific. Meanwhile, as career options expanded for women in the workforce, Thompson continued her studies at MSU, but with a new direction.

“I realized if I didn’t like teaching, I’d better have another way to jump,” said Thompson, who changed her major to industrial arts education. “It was a good option because it offered a mix of courses in business and teaching, which gave me a more comprehensive education and flexible career options.”

Thompson graduated in 1948. The following year, Johnny, who had returned to campus as a veteran and joined advanced ROTC, earned an electrical engineering degree. The couple married and started a new life

HE AND MY MOTHER UNDERSTOOD THE IMPORTANCE OF A GOOD EDUCATION, AND I WAS FORTUNATE THAT THEY WERE ABLE TO PAY FOR MY COLLEGE TUITION. TO HONOR THEIR MEMORY, I CHOSE TO FUND SCHOLARSHIPS TO HELP PROVIDE SIMILAR ASSISTANCE TO OTHERS.

together, making their home in numerous places around the country and abroad in Germany as Johnny’s military career progressed. In the U.S., they lived in Mississippi, New York, Texas, Hawaii, Massachusetts and Oklahoma, where they both pursued graduate studies.

The couple eventually settled in Memphis, Tennessee, following Johnny’s retirement from the U.S. Air Force in 1974. Despite their globetrotting journeys, the couple never lost connection with their alma mater. They were loyal supporters of the university for many years and members of the MSU Alumni Association’s Traveling Bulldogs organization. Johnny also served several terms on the MSU Foundation board of directors before his passing in 2012.

In 2016, Thompson began considering ways to give back to MSU in a meaningful way. Knowing she wanted to invest in students, she created four scholarship endowments honoring the legacy of her beloved family members.

The Johnny M. Thompson Endowed Scholarship in the James Worth Bagley College of Engineering honors her late husband and benefits students who are following his footsteps and pursuing a degree in electrical engineering. Similarly, the Alfred Bishop Endowed Scholarship in the College of Business and the Oela W. “Trixie” Bishop Endowed Scholarship in the College of Education bear the names of her late parents and benefit students in the College of Business and upper-level education majors, respectively.

“My dad was a ‘jack of all trades.’ He had very little education—only what was provided in small one- and two-teacher schools—but, as an adult, he became successful enough in business that he was able to send me to school,” said Thompson. “He and my mother understood the importance of a good education, and I was fortunate that they were able to pay for my college tuition. To honor their memory, I chose to fund scholarships to help provide similar assistance to others.”

The fourth endowed scholarship, established in the College of Business, is in memory of her late father-in-law, Alfred C. Thompson. In addition to paying for Johnny’s college education, Thompson also credits her fatherin-law for encouraging Johnny to pursue his degree at Mississippi State—a point that proved to be duallyadvantageous for Thompson and her beau.

The perpetual support from Thompson’s scholarship endowments will ensure countless students with greater access to the distinctly rewarding opportunities of the MSU experience. Moreover, the awards serve as a tribute to the successful careers and encouragement of her parents and father-in-law that ultimately enabled higher education opportunities for her and Johnny. She hopes students recognize the importance and value of an MSU education and urges them to take advantage of their time on campus.

“I loved my time at Mississippi State so much I didn’t want to graduate,” laughed Thompson, whose love for MSU has only grown sweeter with time. “It is truly a ‘people’s university.’ I always felt that as a student, and I still do today.”

STORY ADDIE MAYFIELD PHOTOGRAPHY SUBMITTED

Fowlkes family’s beloved camellia tree has roots deep in MSU history

Before leaving in 1942 to serve the U.S. Navy during World War II, Mississippi State horticulture graduate Billie Henry “Bill” Fowlkes planted two camellia trees in his mother’s yard in Becker—but not just any camellia trees. Turns out these trees are rooted deep in MSU history, like Fowlkes. In fall 1937, Fowlkes entered then Mississippi State College, studying horticulture and working as caretaker for the university’s horticulture greenhouse. Fowlkes’ job permitted access to a small room with a bed where he could live rent free for his freshman year.

As a sophomore, Fowlkes moved to Old Main Dormitory but continued his caretaker duties. In fall 1939, he befriended and later began dating Natalie Traxler, a McComb native who was attending what is now Mississippi University for Women. During a visit to Traxler’s home, Fowlkes told his future mother-in-law Susie of his plans to start a landscape nursery in his hometown of Becker upon graduation. As a start for Fowlkes’ proposed nursery, Susie gave him some rooted camellia cuttings, which Fowlkes took back to MSU’s greenhouse.

Over a year and a half’s time, Fowlkes grew the potted camellias to a larger size. Upon graduation in May 1941, he took one white and one pink camellia back to Becker and planted them at his mother’s house, which was located on a 256-acre farm purchased during the Great Depression. When Fowlkes returned from World War II in 1946, the two camellias in his mother’s yard were still standing. The white camellia ultimately died in 2003, but the pink one survived. Upon Fowlkes’ death in 2011, his daughter Patsy Fowlkes and son-inlaw Steve Brandon—both graduates of MSU’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences—bought out the remaining heirs to the Becker farm property and renovated the farmhouse to use as a vacation and game day home. In 2020, Patsy and Steve decided to enlarge and update the farmhouse. Unfortunately, the then 12-foot-tall pink camellia was within the footprint of the farmhouse expansion. Patsy and Steve

Steve Brandon and wife Patsy Fowlkes with Professor Richard Harkess at the MSU greenhouse.

contacted MSU Professor of Horticulture Richard Harkess and told him the story of the pink camellia.

Harkess drove to Becker to see the Brandons' beloved tree and took numerous cuttings to take back to the Starkville campus to see if they would take root. Thanks to Harkess’ hard work and expertise, there are over 100 surviving new pink camellia plants, which Harkess fittingly named Bill Fowlkes Camellias.

“Camellias have a long history in the South. They grow well here,” Harkess said. “They like some shade, but they’ll grow in a fair amount of sun.”

Harkess said like hollies and magnolias, camellias are evergreen trees that hold onto their green leaves all through the winter.

“Camellias flower in the winter, and their leaves have the nice, deep green color. As you’re driving around Starkville or other places in February or March, you’ll start to see these red, pink and white flowers on trees or shrubs around town, and those are likely camellias,” Harkess said.

Brandon said he and Patsy appreciate MSU—and Harkess in particular—for helping to preserve a piece of Bulldog history.

“We would love for an offspring of this camellia to be on the Mississippi State campus,” Brandon said. “It’s a very important family treasure, and we think it would be a special tribute to Bill and his love and support of the university.”

Patsy and Steve are longtime supporters of the university. Since 1984, they have generously invested in areas across campus, including athletics, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and student scholarships. The Chattanooga, Tennessee couple recently created the Steve and Patsy Fowlkes Brandon Presidential Endowed Scholarship to support the recruitment of elite students to their alma mater.

In 2005, the couple also made a gift to name an auditorium in the university’s student union, of which Steve is a former student director. Now known as the Fowlkes Auditorium, the space is a tribute to Patsy’s father and his brothers, Tom and Hal, who were 1935 and 1938 Mississippi State graduates, respectively.

STORY SASHA STEINBERG PHOTOGRAPHY ROBBY LOZANO

Endowment series connects students to creative writing

Creative writing can take many different forms. It can be a poem, short story or full-length novel, fiction or nonfiction. But it can also be a comic book, a screenplay or a personal essay. Creative writing is storytelling. For Thomas “Price” Caldwell Jr., it was his legacy.

The Tutwiler native graduated from Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina, with a degree in English in 1962 before attending Tulane University for his master’s and Ph.D. in English in 1964 and 1969, respectively. Price influenced countless students as he taught in universities around the world, eventually landing at Mississippi State University, where he spent half of his four-decade-long career.

For 20 years, Price served as an instructor and associate professor of English at MSU. He wrote poems, short stories, articles, essays and other literary works over the years; however, the most influential legacy he left was the creative writing program he brought to life in the Department of English at Mississippi State.

“Creative writing can take a reader anywhere in the world,” said his daughter Delia. “It's accessible to anyone who wants exposure to interesting subjects and experience lives and places different from their own.”

Price passed away in February of 2015 at the age of 74. His wife Alice Carol and their children Delia and Michael created the Price Caldwell Visiting Writers Series Endowment at MSU to remember and carry on his legacy. Each semester, the endowment hosts a visiting writer to perform a public reading on campus and engage with students in the classroom. The endowment enables a diverse range of experienced and talented writers to interact with MSU students of all majors, while exploring different disciplines of creative writing.

“Dad always was a proponent that a liberal

From left to right: MSU Associate Professor of English Price Caldwell with students. Caldwell with fellow MSU faculty members. Caldwell teaching at Meisei University in Japan.

arts education was just as important as a science or engineering degree,” said Delia. “He believed that a liberal arts foundation can help you make it through the world as a human being and give you purposeful experiences with others. This series helps give students a perspective on the world.”

Michael, a 1995 philosophy graduate of MSU’s College of Arts and Sciences, remembers that it was common to have guests at the house for parties or dinner and there was always talk about books.

“Dad was the president of the Southern Literary Festival that hosted weekends of public readings,” he said. “The events always involved a big party that was held at our home. It helped me realize that writers are people just like us, and we all have a story to tell.”

Alice Carol is proud to uphold her husband’s legacy and believes he wouldn’t be surprised that his family chose to remember and honor him this way. “This series allows for students to meet real writers,” said Alice Carol. “MSU has great people in charge of this program who care about the students. They created a format that allows students to hear the writers, read and feel the

“DAD ALWAYS WAS A PROPONENT THAT A LIBERAL writers’ dedication and motivation, and learn their methods and what ARTS EDUCATION WAS JUST AS made them successful. I IMPORTANT AS A SCIENCE OR ENGINEERING DEGREE.” think that’s exactly what Price would’ve wanted.” Upon establishment of the program in 2015, Brad Watson, a former student of Price, was chosen to serve as the inaugural visiting writer. Watson was a 1978 MSU English graduate and native of Meridian. The Caldwells were proud to start the series with someone who had a visible connection to Price and his work. Watson, who passed away in July of 2020, was a multiaward-winning author of short stories and novels like “Last

The Caldwell family from left to right: Price's daughter Delia Caldwell; Price's sister Delia; Alice Carol; Michael; and Delia's wife Denise Keating.

Days of the Dog-Men" and “Miss Jane.”

Throughout their lives, Price and Alice Carol traveled and lived around the world, experiencing different cultures and learning from what they have to offer. From 1988–1989, Price was offered an exchange professorship opportunity to teach at the Meisei University and through that experience, he also taught at Waseda University, both located in Tokyo. Alice Carol taught music for more than 30 years in Mississippi, South Carolina, Louisiana and North Carolina. They lived by a motto that Alice Carol’s father instilled in her—“spend your money and sleep in the street.”

“I grew up with the concept that you save your money to take care of others,” she said. “My earliest memory of that concept is when I learned that my father paid for school lunches for students who could not afford it, and he did it anonymously. He arranged it through each student’s teacher. He told me that you should always help someone who could not help themselves. This endowment does that and more. We're fostering a new generation of creative writers by allowing them to have firsthand experiences that they may not get anywhere else. I’ve carried my daddy’s message with me throughout my life by being open-minded and giving back to those in need.”

Like the rest of the world, the series quickly pivoted from in-person meetings to online sessions during the pandemic. The Caldwell family saw this as an excellent opportunity to expand the series and connect with writers and students who may not attend live meetings. Delia noted that while the pandemic did put a damper on a lot of activities, it did bring a unique way for the series to reach a greater audience.

Today, Michael Kardos and Catherine Pierce co-direct MSU’s creative writing program. The husband-and-wife team brings to the program an all-encompassing education for students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. They are thankful to the Caldwells for their dedication to Price's memory and the MSU creative writing program. “As a professor, Price Caldwell inspired countless students and left a legacy of kindness and generosity,” said Kardos. “We all learned from him, students and faculty alike, and the Price Caldwell Visiting Writers Series is the perfect way for Dr. Caldwell and his family to keep inspiring students, as well as the campus and Starkville communities. The series brings visiting writers who are not only fantastic writers but who are generous with their time and talents. Besides reading, they meet with students, dine with them and answer questions about their work, publishing and the writer's life. We're so grateful to the Caldwell family.”

The Caldwells are excited to see how the endowed series will continue to grow and connect students to writers over time. They also hope that the program will expand to include different avenues of storytelling such as anime, comics and other forms of expression and delivery. But ultimately, they are happy seeing Price’s influence continue in these students.

“We need good writers who can connect to others in different formats,” said Alice Carol. “Everyone needs to be able to write. Our family is excited to see Price’s legacy continued through this series, see the students grow and see these writers’ first-hand effects on the students.”

STORY ASHLEIGH LEE PHOTOGRAPHY SUBMITTED AND OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS