Commencement to Feature Graduates from WWII Era

Commencement to Feature Graduates from WWII Era

BY LISA
NUTTING

Rice News Staff

May 7, 1998

When Joe and Inez Mims’ children heard the news
that their father, a 1943 Rice graduate, had been invited to walk at
Commencement ’98 along with other graduates who had been whisked away
to World War II before graduation ceremonies, they said, “Hey, what
about Mom?”

You see, their mother, Inez Benson Mims, also a
1943 graduate, had missed the cap and gown ceremony, too. She had
gone to Tucson to see her new husband Joe one last time as he was
commissioned an ensign in the Navy before heading off to war.

Fifty-five years after graduating from Rice, the
couple are two of 21 alumni set to participate in Commencement ’98.
The graduates, who due to the war were awarded their degrees in
absentia during 1942-45, will don full cap and gown regalia and walk
across the stage Saturday, May 9. At last count, 11 Mims will be in
attendance as their parents/grandparents take the ceremonial
walk.

In the Commencement invitation, Rice President
Malcolm Gillis wrote: “Owing to the sacrifice that we as a nation
were asked to make during World War II, many Rice alumni were forced
to forego their graduations. I write today to extend to you a special
invitation. … It will be my pleasure to bestow upon you and your
fellow alumni the recognition that you so richly deserve.”

Let’s go back about 55 years to Rice Institute, as
the university was then called. It was a simpler day at Rice–and
around the world.

Cokes cost 5 cents a bottle, gasoline rang up at
18 cents a gallon, and a trout sandwich at Christie’s, a popular Rice
student hangout, cost about a quarter, the Mims recalled.

There were also no tuition fees for students, no
ACT or SAT-type entrance exams (students were admitted based on high
school performance), and $35-40 a month would cover costs of a
one-bedroom apartment (a must for female students, as no dorms were
available for women).

“[A Rice education] was the greatest bargain
ever,” Joe Mims said, adding that lab fees, tax and a general deposit
totaled a whopping $125 for him and $68.50 for Inez. Fees for Joe, a
mechanical engineering major, were more expensive than for Inez, an
English and education major, because his studies required several
labs.

“I think we were fortunate to come along when we
did,” Inez said.

In those days, the Mims said, Rice students went
to class Monday through Saturday. And television wasn’t a distraction
for students who were supposed to be studying, as it hadn’t yet been
invented. The tradition of sending “pumpkin grades” (mid-term report
cards) home to parents of freshmen was in practice back then, but in
those days they were called “turkey grades.”

About five years ago, Reginald Dugat ’43 set in
motion plans of honoring World War II graduates. Dugat did not see
his plan to fruition, as he died two years ago, but his daughter will
take his place at the ceremony. Special invitation letters were sent
to 108 alumni of the early ’40s who were unable to participate in
Commencement.

Other graduates scheduled to attend Saturday’s
Commencement ceremony are: George M. Flint Jr. ’43, Tom E. Mings ’43,
John Mesrett Leedom ’43, Horace E. Staph ’43, Clement Peter Sumners
’43, George L. Morris ’43, Eugene F. Stone ’43, John S. Ward ’43,
Ralph M. Young ’43, William Russell McBride ’43, William M. Schleier
Jr. ’43, John C. Silvey Jr. ’43, Curtis O. Johnson ’43, Tracy S. Park
’43, W.M. O’Connor ’42, and Frank Peerman ’43.

For additional Commencement information visit
the following Web site:

http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~alumni/commence.html