Joseph “Joe” Utay was born on May 2, 1887, in St. Louis Missouri. He attended A&M College (AMC) in 1905 and played on the football team as a halfback from 1905-1907. He was a student member of the Athletic Council and helped organize the "T" association on campus during his time as an undergraduate at AMC. Utay graduated in 1908 from AMC with a degree in Electrical Engineering.

Utay received a Bachelor of Law degree from Stanford University Law School in 1912. He was commissioned as a Major in the North Texas Regiment and promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in 1918. He was also a member of the National Guard Cavalry Regiment during World War I (WWI).

Joe Utay was the assistant coach of the AMC football team in 1912-1915 and later served under the AMC Board of Regents from 1934-1941. He served as president of the Texas Officials Association from 1912-1936 and was instrumental in the formation of the Cotton Bowl. He also organized the Southwest Football Officials Association that formed the Southwestern Conference (SWC) and served as chairman of the group for over 20 years. In addition, Utay was an attorney in Dallas for 55 years.

Joe Utay won numerous achievements during his lifetime. He was inducted into the Texas A&M Athletic Hall of Fame in 1972, the College Football Hall of Fame in 1974, and the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 1984.

He passed away on November 24, 1977. Joe Utay has a Texas A&M dormitory named after him, in honor of his contributions to the University.

J. V. Morton, from Dumas Texas, graduated from Texas A&M College Class of 1926 with a degree in Agricultural Engineering. He graduated from TAMC as a first Lieutenant Propt. Officer in the Second Battalion in the TAMC Corps of Cadets at the age of 20. J. V. Morton was a member of the Agricultural Engineering Society while attending TAMC.

Bernard Sbisa was born in Austria and raised in New Orleans. In 1864, he opened a commercial hotel in Matamoras, Mexico, and four years later opened the Washington Hotel and Restaurant in Galveston, TX. In 1874, Bernard Sbisa opened another hotel, the Grand Southern Hotel in Galveston, TX. He met his wife while operating the Grand Southern Hotel. In January 1878, he accepted a position as manager of the Sustenance Department (food services) at Agricultural & Mechanical College of Texas (TAMC) and was later made Steward of the Mess Hall.

Bernard and his wife lived on campus in an apartment in the Mess Hall building. The Sbisas were beloved by the campus and praised for their culinary and social skills. Their daughter, Rita Sbisa, was very active in campus social life and help found a Bicycle club that promoted healthy living and social activities through bicycling. Bernard Sbisa passed away in 1928. Rita Sbisa married Eugen W. Kerr (Class of 1896), and they both lived in Cuba with their three children.

Sbisa Dining Hall, built after a kitchen fire destroyed the original mess hall, was named in honor of Bernard Sbisa in 1926.

Walter Wipprecht [Senior] was born in Sisterdale, TX in 1864. Walter graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Scientific Agriculture in 1885. He was one of the first graduates at Texas A&M University. Walter Wipprecht [Senior] grew up to be a successful businessman who gave back years of service to his community and years of devotion to his family. Walter [Senior] was the President of the Bryan Telephone Company and the Bryan Press President of the Aggie Alumni Organization. Walter served as an instructor in chemistry and physics at Texas A&M as well as the first chemist for the Texas Experiment Station. He served as the Comptroller of Texas.

Dr. Robert D. Chenoweth earned a BS and MS in electrical engineering at TAMU in 1946 and a doctorate from Georgia Institute of Technology in 1955. Dr. Chenoweth was assistant dean of TAMU’s College of Engineering in 1985. He came to TAMU in 1967 and taught electrical engineering for years after attending University of Missouri at Rolla. He served on numerous committees and achieved numerous awards including the Distinguished Achievement Award. He was a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers since 1957 and served on their committees. He retired from TAMU in 1989.

Robson was a Quarter Master Sargent during the Spanish American War. He attended A&M College of Texas and graduated from the Corps of Cadets in 1896 as a Sargent in the United States Army.

Philip K. Dick (1928-12-16-1982-03-02) is one of the major voices of American 20th-century science fiction. Born in Chicago, Dick spent most of his life in California. Like so many giants of the genre, Dick began his career in the pulp magazine market - his first SF stories appeared in Planet Stories in 1952, and in 1955 he published his first novel, Solar Lottery as one-half of an Ace paperback double. (Although Solar Lottery was Dick's first published SF novel, he wrote several earlier in his life that was published later, including The Cosmic Puppets, Vulcan's Hammer, and Dr. Futurity.

Whether early or late in Dick's career, his works are marked by particular themes such as metaphysical philosophy, alternate worlds and realities, shifts in identity and consciousness, and nations or worlds ruled by authoritarian governments or all-powerful corporations. Dick himself once declared as a major and recurring theme of his to be the question, "What constitutes the authentic human being?"

Though reasonably well-known in his early career, Dick achieved major fame in 1963 when his 1961 novel The Man In The High Castle won the 1963 Hugo Award for Best Novel. The book is a chilling dystopia set in the United States after the Axis Powers have won World War II, and is regarded as one of the greatest alternate history stories yet written. Over the next two decades, Dick produced a number of other famous novels, including Martian Time-Slip (1962), The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch (1965, Nebula Award nominee), Counter-Clock World (1967), Ubik (1969), Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said (1970, Hugo and Nebula Award nominee), A Scanner Darkly (1977, BSFA Winner), and Radio Free Albemuth (1985).

Perhaps Dick's most famous novel is the post-apocalyptic Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? (1968), which tells the story of bounty hunter Rick Deckard. Deckard's job is to hunt down and 'retire' escaped androids, and the novel explores Deckard's exploration of what it means to be truly human. The book was adapted into the 1982 film Blade Runner.

In 1974, Dick experienced a number of visions, hallucinations, and mystical encounters, which affected his thought and fiction for the rest of his life. He began keeping a journal of his opinions about the origins of these experiences, which later became known as the Exegesis. From 1978-1981 Dick published a trilogy of novels relating to these mystical events: VALIS (1978, VALIS referring to Dick's vision of the entity that he believed contacted him, or as he termed it, "Vast Active Living Intelligence System"), The Divine Invasion (1980), and The Transmigration of Timothy Archer (1981).

Dick died in March 1982 after suffering several strokes.

Tim Underwood and Chuck Miller formed the small press of Underwood-Miller in San Francisco, CA in 1976. Their first published work was Jack Vance's The Dying Earth, which had never before been published in hardcover. Eventually, the firm came to publish a number of Vance's works, both new and old. In addition to Vance, Underwood-Miller published fine small press books by a number of other noted science fiction and fantasy authors, including Philip K. Dick, Roger Zelazny, Harlan Ellison, Anne McCaffrey, Robert Silverberg, and Peter Straub. The press was notable in publishing in the hardcover form a number of works that had only appeared previously in paperback or in pulp magazines.

Underwood-Miller dissolved in 1994 resulting in Underwood Books and Charles F. Miller, publisher.

Don L. Jones was born in Wisconsin, IL. He came to Texas in 1917 to study condensed milk at a plant in West Texas. Jones decided to move to Lubbock, where he worked at the Texas Agricultural Extension Service (TEES) substation with a grain sorghum breeder, R. E. Karper from 1917-1927. He briefly became superintendent of the Chillicothe Substation, then returned to Lubbock as superintendent for the TEES in 1928.

During the 1920s, Jones changed his research focus to cotton during a cotton shortage in Texas and became one of the leading cotton breeding experts in the nation. Jones later became the head of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station (Number 8, part of Texas A&M University System, known as TAEX) in Lubbock, Texas from 1928-1960. He received an honorary doctorate in agriculture at Texas A&M College in 1960, for his 42 years working with the Agricultural Extension Service and Experimental Station.

R. C. Leffel was from San Angelo, TX, and was part of the graduating Class of 1918 at Texas A&M College. He was a member and one of three sergeants in the TAMC Marching Band. Leffel earned his BA in Animal Husbandry at TAMC in 1918 at the age of 21. Leffel was a first lieutenant in the band ’18, President of West Texas Club, Sergeant toran West Texas Club ’17, Sergeant at Arms, West Texas Club ’16. His nickname was “Jay-Bird” and he was known as a cattle breeder in the hills of West Texas.

Josh B. Sterns graduated from Texas A&M in 1899. He was a part of the Aggie Fossil Club of College Station, TX. He presented a collection of 10 Aggie class rings to TAMU in January 1970, which date back to 1889. He dropped out due to health reasons and returned to finish his degree in 1903 with a degree in Civil Engineering. He was in the football team for both times at TAMC and went on to help the Aggies “Saw varsities horns off” with the first defeat against the University of Texas in 1902. Josh Sterns’ civil engineering career spanned work in railroad maintenance of over 1,000 miles of track in Texas.

George Washington Lewis was born in 1834 in Henry, Georgia. He married Caroline Wineford Merritt Lewis before the Civil War. He fought for the Union army during the civil war and died in Claiborne Parrish, Louisiana during the Civil War from pneumonia. His wife later remarried his brother, Moses Lewis after George Washingon Lewis’ death.

Citation: Manuscript material enclosed titled Lewis Family Tree, Undated.

Texas A&M Wesley Foundation is a Methodist student organization and endowment at Texas A&M University. It defines itself as the "organized educational ministry through which the United Methodist Church endeavors to promote and support the interests of education and campus ministry on accordance with the Annual Conference and the General Board of Education, Division of Higher Education"

McFarlin was a farmer in Dallas County, Texas, who owned Rice Valley Farm during the early 1900s. He attended (dates unknown) the College of A&M and later decided to donate his land to the College in his will. The Former Student Association worked with McFarlin in order to create a student loan fund for A&M students.

The McFarlin Student Loan Fund is a memorial fund created in 1933 and implemented in 1935-36. It was created from sales from the McFarlin Rice Valley Farmland run by the Association of Former Students Chairman Marion S. Church and Secretary E. E. McQuillen.

Hubert Schmidt was born near Comfort, Texas on September 24, 1886. He attended Texas A&M College (TAMC) and was a part of the football team. He graduated from TAMC with a B.S. in animal husbandry. With the support of his TAMC professor Mark Francis, Hubert Schmidt enrolled in Royal Veterinary School in Berlin, Germany, and graduated in December 1912. Schmidt then worked for the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station on January 5, 1913, and worked there as a veterinarian until his retirement at the age of 65.  He worked with Dr. Mark Francis with research on fever tick in cattle and sheep. Hubert Schmidt was killed from injuries received in a car accident near Bryan, TX on January 13, 1958. His wife Gertrude passed away in May 1980 in Bryan, TX.

Dr. David G. Woodcock graduated from the Universtiy of Manchester (England) in 1960 with a Bachelor of Architecture along with a Certificate in Town and Country Planning.  In 1962 Dr. Woodcock was named a Fulbright professor and came to Texas A&M where he taught architecture classes.  He returned to England in 1963 to accompany his ill wife and taught at the Canterbury College of Art and was principal of his own practice, specializing in urban design studies and historic building reuse.  In 1966 he earned a Diploma in Town and Country Planning from the Universtiy of Manchester (England).

Woodcock returned to A&M in 1970 to head the urban design option for the College of Architecture and Enrironmental Design master of architecure degree program.  By 1973 he was named the head of the architecture department, a position he held until 1978, when he returned to teaching.  He was again named department head in 1983 and served until 1989, before returning to teach.

In 1991 Dr. Woodcock established the Histroic Resource Imaging Lab in the College of Architecture, which later became the Center for Historic Conservation.  The center’s mission is to train students, professionals and others in the use and application of imaging processes relative to historic and cultural resources, to develop new techniques for documentation, analysis, visualization and interpretation, and to apply imaging techniques to the study of historic resources.  Woodcock directed the HRIL and CHC for 16 years before stepping down and in 2009 was named director emeritus. He also created and developed the College of Architecture's Certificate in Historic Preservation.

Dr. Woodcock retired from Texas A&M Universtiy in 2011 and has an endowed professorship was established in his honor, the David Woodcock Professorship in Historic Preservation.

Edward Benjamin Cushing was born in Houston, Texas on November 22, 1862. He was an active member of the Eagle Fire Company No. 7 before attending TAMC.

Cushing married Florence Abbey Powers on February 18, 1888. He graduated with honors in civil engineering at Texas A&M College (TAMC) in 1889. After graduating TAMC, Cushing worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad at Houston as an axman and rodman, later becoming the assistant General Manager and Engineer in 1912. He fought in WWI as an officer inthe 17 thEngineers, American Expeditionary Force, and was awarded the French Croix de Guerre.

Cushing became President of the Texas A&M Board of Directors in 1912 and pushed to keep Texas A&M College open despite deficits and the destruction of Old Main, among other losses to the campus. He guaranteed Texas A&M notes with his personal funds, in order to keep the school open and prevent its merging with the University of Texas - Austin. Cushing became a Federal bank examiner in 1919 and died on February 17, 1924.

The first official free-standing library at Texas A&M, built in 1930, was dedicated to Cushing and named for him.

Lawrence S. Dillon was born in Reading, PA in 1910. He received his bachelor’s degree in Biology at the University of Pittsburgh in 1933. For a time, Lawrence S. Dillon worked as a zoologist at the Reading Museum in Reading, PA. Lawrence S. Dillon then married in January 1932 and had a daughter. He became a Biology instructor at Texas A&M in 1948 and pursued his master’s and PhD at Texas A&M while teaching undergraduate biology. His Biological career focused on Progressive Evolution Theory. He published numerous articles related to his field and received numerous awards during his lifetime in Biological Science. He was elected Fellow member in the American Association for the Advancement of Science, AIBS, and Fellowship from the National Science Foundation. He taught at Texas A&M from 1948 until his retirement in 1976.

John Baptis Rayner (1850-1918) was born a slave in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1850 graduated from Shaw University, and held a number of public offices in Tarboro in the 1870s, before migrating to Robertson County, Texas, in 1881. Polically active in Texas, he became a leader in the People's Party and an advocate for Texas African-Americans.

More information can be found in the Handbook of Texas Online.

Oliver Joel Hunt, or “Joel Hunt” was born October 11, 1905 in New Mexico territory. He graduated from Waco High and was the second All-State Halfback. He entered into Texas A&M College 1924. Joel Hunt played as the Quarterback and Halfback for Texas A&M between 1925-1927. He was awarded a ‘T’ letterman for Baseball and football. Joel Hunt played in the Shrine East-West Football Game in San Francisco in 1927. Joel Hunt also played baseball and went on to play professional baseball with Laurel, MS; Fort Wayne, ID.; Houston, TX; Rochester, NY; Columbus, OH, and the St. Louis Cardinals. He coached football in various college and professional teams from 1928 to 1955. He retired from coaching in 1956 and passed away in 1978.

Roland O’ Dell Cox (1901-1978) entered Texas A&M in 1921 and graduated in 1925. He was employed at Lone Star Gas Company for 42 years and retired in 1966. After retirement from Lone Star Gas, Cox went on to earn a Master of Liberal Arts degree from Southern Methodist University in 1974.

Established in 1945, the foundation allowed Texas businesses the ability to collaborate with the extensive research facilities of A&M. It amplified the long-established Agriculture and Engineering Experiment Stations of the college who worked, for the most part, on state and federal funds. It was financed by fees charged to industry and individuals seeking information.

From internal evidence in the text, the diary's writer was apparently an ambulance driver with the American Field Service ambulance service, Section Two, based in Pont-a-Mousson, France during the early part of World War I. Volunteers from several countries provided ambulance service for the French Army before the United States entered the war in 1917. The group with which this diarist served, the American Ambulance Field Service, was formed in April 1915 under A. Piatt Andrew as an auxiliary of the American Ambulance Hospital at Neuilly hospital, established in 1914 by wealthy Americans living in Paris. Becoming independent of the hospital about a year afterward, the service's name was shortened to the American Field Service. Section Two began service in the middle of April 1915, assigned to the Bois le Pretre region, quartered first at Dieulouard, then at Pont-a-Mousson. Section Two remained in this sector until February 1916, when it was moved to the Verdun sector.

The hospital is based in Dieulouard. It seems that, generally, the ambulance drivers would evacuate wounded combatants from the front only a short distance away, to the hospital at Dieulouard, then report to Pont-a-Mousson, where they were billeted in houses. Wounded could also be evacuated to the French railroad base at Belleville, for transport elsewhere.

Among other clues, his English grammar and spelling, as well as his use and spelling of French terms, indicates that he was probably well educated. He is also clearly interested in becoming an aviator and visits a French aviation field with a friend from the American Field Service on his time off.

Ambulance drivers who served first as volunteers in France seem to have transferred to other branches of the service, in several cases the Air Service, after serving in the American Field Service for possibly only a few months.

Bibliography:
American Field Service. History of the American Field Service in France. 2 v. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1920.
Buswell, Leslie. With the American Ambulance Field Service in France: Personal Letters of a Driver at the Front. S.l.: Printed only for private distribution, January 1916.
History of the American Field Service in France. 2 v. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1920.

Anne McCaffrey was one of the most popular and revered science fiction writers of the 20th century. Born on April 1, 1926, in Cambridge, MA, she graduated in 1947 from Radcliffe College with a B.A. in Slavonic languages and literature. Before becoming an author, she worked as a copywriter, studied theater and voice, and even directed several operas and operettas.

McCaffrey embarked on her long literary career, which grew to encompass hundreds of novels (many co-written) and short stories with the publication of her story "Freedom of The Race" in the October 1953 issue of Science-Fiction Plus. Her first major literary achievement was the 1961 story "The Ship Who Sang", published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and which was the first work in her heralded "Brain & Brawn Ship" series of novels, novellas, and stories. The series takes place in McCaffrey's Federated Sentient Planets Universe and concerns a society in which physically (but not mentally) disabled people can be encapsulated in shells and their brains made to operate spaceships, computers, and even entire cities. (The main character of The Ship Who Sang, her collection of the first stories in the series, is Helva, whose brain is connected to a starship. Helva can be considered one of the earliest cyborgs in science fiction literature.) McCaffrey wrote the series between 1961 and 1994. The longest story in the series, "Dramatic Mission" was nominated for both the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award for Best Novella in 1970.

McCaffrey is most famous, however, for her Dragonriders of Pern series. Pern, a distant planet settled long ago by humans from Earth, is inhabited by flying creatures termed 'dragons' by the inhabitants. Humans learn to communicate telepathically with the dragons and ride them, protecting the surface of Pern from the Thread, a species of destructive spore that periodically falls to Pern from a neighboring planet. The first book in the series, Dragonflight, was published in 1968: the first story in the book, "Weyr Search" had been published the year before and had won the 1968 Hugo Award for Best Novella. (It was the first win by a woman of a Hugo.) The second story, "Dragonrider", won the 1969 Nebula for Best Novella, marking the first win by a woman for a Nebula as well.

The Pern series eventually grew to include over 20 novels and several additional short stories (from 2003, the books were co-written by McCaffrey's son Todd). The original trilogy also includes Dragonquest (1971) and The White Dragon (1978). Some of the later books include the Harper Hall trilogy (1976-1979), Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern (1983), Dragonsdawn (1988), and The Dolphins of Pern (1994). The series has enjoyed an intense following since its inception.

Other series by McCaffrey include the Crystal Universe trilogy (1982-1992), the Talents Universe series (1959-2000), the Doona series (1969-1994), and the Acorna Universe series (1997-2007). McCaffrey has won a great many awards during the length of her career. Besides the ones mentioned above, these include the 1976 Skylark Award, the 1979 Ditmar Award for Best International Long Fiction and the 1979 Gandalf Award for Book-Length Fantasy for The White Dragon, the 1980 Balrog Award for Best Novel for Dragondrums, the 1986 SFBC Book of The Year Award for Killashandra, the 1989 SFBC Book of the Year Award for Dragonsdawn, the 1990 SFBC Book of the Year Award for The Renegades of Pern, the 1991 HOMer Award for Best SF Novel and the 1992 SFBC Book of the Year Award for All The Weyrs of Pern, the 1993 SFBC Book of the Year Award for Damia's Children, the 1994 SFBC Book of the Year Award for The Dolphins of Pern, the 2000 BFA Karl Edward Wagner Award, and the 2007 Robert A. Heinlein Award. In 2005 she was made a Grand Master by the SFWA (only the third woman to be so honored, after Andre Norton and Ursula K. Le Guin).

McCaffrey married H. Wright Johnson in 1950, with whom she had three children (Alec, Todd, and Georgeanne). The two were divorced in 1970. She moved from the United States to Ireland in 1970 and resided there until her death on November 21, 2011.

The famed British science fiction magazine New Worlds had a long, though erratic publication history. It began life in 1936 as the fanzine Novae Terrae, and in 1939 the editorship passed to John Carnell, who renamed the publication New Worlds. He wanted to transform the magazine into a professional publication, but World War II and Carnell's Army service intervened. In 1946, he began publishing the revitalized magazine with the help of Pendulum Publications. However, after only 3 issues the company went bankrupt, leaving New Worlds without a publisher.

London-based fans of the magazine took up the cause and created a new company, Nova Publications, that would relaunch the journal. Carnell was one of the company's board members, and it was chaired by author John Wyndham. In June 1949, Nova produced the first issue. New Worlds went on to enjoy a good deal of success through the 1950s, publishing works by such authors as J.G. Ballard, John Brunner, Arthur C. Clarke, and Brian Aldiss, as well as Wyndham himself. However, declining circulation in the early 1960s nearly caused Nova to close down the magazine; instead, it was bought by publisher Roberts & Vinter.

The publisher hired author, Michael Moorcock, starting with the May/June 1964 issue, as New Worlds' new editor, a post he held until 1969. In 1967, Moorcock rescued the magazine from cancellation (due to R&V's bankruptcy) by obtaining grant funds from the British Arts Council to continue publishing. Moorcock himself contributed many stories to the magazine, his work causing New Worlds to become known as one of the mainstays of the so-called experimental "New Wave" in British science fiction. In addition to his own stories, Moorcock published stories from a number of authors both famous and up-and-coming, including Clarke, John Sladek, Thomas M. Disch, Vernor Vinge, and Terry Pratchett.

Unfortunately, funding issues forced Moorcock to cease publication of New Worlds in April 1970. He did convince Sphere Books (and later Corgi Books) to continue it as a quarterly paperback anthology series, but it ended in 1976 after the tenth issue. From 1978-1979 New Worlds was revived again by Moorcock in a fanzine format, and it ran for four issues. Between 1991-1994, it again began publication as a paperback anthology series by Victor Gollancz, Ltd.

Arne Arthur Jakkula was born in Michigan in March 1904. He graduated in 1926 from the University of Michigan and later received a BS, MS, and Ph.D. degrees in Civil Engineering. He worked on various Minnesota highway projects as well as the Westinghouse Electric Company. In 1937 Jakkula joined the teaching staff at Texas A&M College as a specialist in structural engineering. He worked for both the Texas Engineering Experiment Station and the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads. Jakkula was named in 1942 as a member of the Advisory Board of Public Roads Administration to investigate suspension bridges following a collapse of the Tacoma Narrow Bridge in WA. He was serving as chairman of the Committee on Interpretation and Analysis for the Board at the time of his death.

Dr. Jakkula was the first executive director of the A&M Research Foundation. He established a reputation in the field of Oceanography by raising funds for oceanographic research in the Gulf of Mexico. He was a member of many honor societies and was married to Martha Danner. He died on May 30, 1953.

Arthur Dietrich was a dairy farmer and wrote numerous papers, articles, and books about dairy farming from 1968 to 1981 in Dallas, TX. He married Luise Callet on September 3, 1924. They had several children and ran Arthur Dietrich Farms in Dallas. Dietrich received numerous farming awards including the American Jersey Cattle Club Distinguished Service Award in 1972.

Austin Mardon (June 25, 1962) was a doctoral student in Geography at Texas A&M who attended a Canadian expedition to Antarctica in fall/winter of 1986-1987 lead by TAMU professor John Wormuth.

Barry N. Malzberg (born July 24, 1939) was born and raised in New York City, NY, and graduated with a B.A. from Syracuse University (where he also held a Schubert Foundation Playwriting Fellowship from 1964-1965) in 1960. Before embarking on his literary career he worked for the New York State Department of Mental Hygiene, the NYC Department of Welfare, and the Scott Meredith Literary Agency (the last from 1965 intermittently through the next few decades). He also worked as the managing editor of Escapade in 1968, and as an editor for both Amazing Stories and Fantastic Stories from 1968-1969. in 1969 he was editor of the Science Writers of America Bulletin.

Malzberg's first work of published science fiction was the story "The Sense of the Fire", which was published in January 1967 by Escapade. This novelette launched Malzberg's career, which grew over the subsequent decades to encompass over 30 novels and hundreds of short stories (some written under the name K. M. O'Donnell), as well as numerous edited anthologies. His most famous novel was Beyond Apollo (1972), the story of astronaut Harry Evans, the lone survivor of a failed expedition to Venus. Evans is revealed as a so-called unreliable narrator, and in fact, may actually have been driven insane by his travails. The novel won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel in 1973 and was both praised and blasted by critics upon its publication. Like much of Malzberg's work, the novel is caustic, pessimistic, and intensely conscious of the dehumanization caused by advancing technology and oppressive bureaucracies.

Malzberg could be highly critical in his approach to science fiction, ready to point out what he saw as problems with the U.S. space program, space colonization in general, and the subculture of science fiction itself. Critical reactions to his work encouraged Malzberg to announce his retirement from science fiction writing in 1976, although since then he has continued to write in the field.

Bernard Gordon (1981-2007) was a noted screenwriter whose left-wing sympathies caused him to be denied overt credited work throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Under the pseudonym Raymond T. Marcus, Gordon wrote scripts for such films as Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers (1956), Hellcats of the Navy (1957), and Chicago Confidential (1957). He wrote the screenplay for the science fiction classic The Day of the Triffids (1962), which was credited to the film's producer Philip Yordan.

When the Writers Guild of America took up the task of correctly crediting pseudonymous screenwriters from the 1950s and 1960s, awarding retroactive screen credits to them, Gordon received more after-the-fact credits than any other blacklisted writer.

The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was founded in October 1966, in Oakland, California by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. The name was shortened to the Black Panther Party (BPP) and it began spreading eastward through the Black urban ghetto colonies across the country. Social Protest during the 1960s produced turmoil and social fragmentation. The Black Panthers vs. the non-violent Civil Rights Movement of Martin Luther King, Jr. was evidence that this social fragmentation had caused a divide in the Black community.

The Black Panthers Party (BPP) was the total opposite of the Civil Rights Movement as led by Dr. King. The BPP preached self-determination through separation and segregation from whites while the CRM preached integration. The BPP wanted the total overthrow of the capitalist system while the CRM wanted to not only keep the system but wanted to be a part of the system as elected officials. Later in the 1970s the BPP saw the value in politics and electing those sympathetic to its causes. The BPP believed strongly in self-defense, armed confrontation if necessary, and the need to have weapons to fight oppression. The Civil Rights Movement of Dr. King was totally opposed to these tactics.

The non-violent philosophy of Martin Luther King, Jr. was in direct conflict with many of the younger leaders by 1964 including SNCC leader Stokley Carmichael. The founder of the "Black Power" Movement, Stokley preached Black separation rather than integration, the cornerstone of King's movement. Carmichael's philosophy drew heavily from the rhetoric of Malcolm X's violent confrontation and Frantz Fanon's Marxist writings. Carmichael appealed to their need for fast social and class changes. He saw this change only occurring through Black pride in themselves and Blacks working with other Blacks, whether in the U.S. or in Africa.

Ray Bradbury is an icon of science fiction and fantasy, needing no introduction. He is highly regarded in both fields, and is a staple of educational institutions.

David Roosevelt Bunch was born in 1925 in Lowry City, MO. He received a BS degree from Central Missouri State University, and an MA in English from Washington University, St. Louis. Bunch is the author of over 200 stories and poems prior to 1957 when he published his first science fiction story, "Routine Emergency". He is categorized as an American proponent of the "New Wave" subgenre. Bunch published over 75 science fiction stories from 1957-1997, of which some 40 were collected into anthologies. Bunch was included in Harlan Ellison's Dangerous Visions. Bunch was nominated for a Philip K. Dick award in 1993, for a Promethean Lamp poetry award in 1966, and won first prize for long poems in the Scimitar and Song Awards for 1969. He died May 29, 2000 in St. Louis, MO.

William Wallace Burns (1825-1892) was born at Coshocton, Ohio September 3, 1825. At age 17 he was appointed to the United States Military Academy from which he graduated in 1847. He was posted to the United States Army Infantry and served during the Mexican American War (1846-1848) on recruiting duty, then spent several years at various Indian posts in the West and Southwest. In 1858, he accepted a staff commission as Commissary of Subsistence with the rank of Captain.

Remaining with the U. S. Army, Burns served with the Army of the Potomac in the first months of the Civil War as General George B. McClellan's Chief Commissary in the West Virginia Campaign. Burns was appointed Brigadier General of Volunteers September 28, 1861, and beginning the following Spring in the Peninsular Campaign (March-August 1862), commanded a Brigade of General John Sedwick's 2nd Division 2nd Corps, during which Burns was wounded and favorably mentioned by McClellan. On sick leave for some months, Burns subsequently commanded the 1st Division, 9th Corps at the Battle of Fredericksburg (December 11-13, 1862).

On March 20, 1863, Burns resigned his Volunteer commission and reverted to his staff rank of Major and Commissary. He served as Chief Commissary in the Department of the Northwest until the close of the Civil War and later discharged with distinction the same duties in various Southern departments.

Following the Civil War, Burns was promoted in the Commissary service, first to Lieutenant Colonel (1874), then to Colonel (1884). In the meantime, he had been breveted Brigadier General March 13, 1865, for gallant and meritorious services in the Civil War. William Wallace Burns retired on September 3, 1889, and died April 19, 1892, at Beaufort, South Carolina. He was buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery.

Bibliography
"William Wallace Burns, Brigadier General, United States Army." Arlington National Cemetery Website. [Viewed 10/15/02:12: 22 PM at: ]

Eugene Butler was born on June 11, 1894, in Starkville, Mississippi. His father, Dr. Tait Butler, was co-supervisor of Progressive Farmer magazine and a professor of veterinary medicine at Mississippi A&M (now Mississippi State). Butler enrolled in Mississippi A&M in 1909 and received his first bachelor's degree in 1913 at the age of nineteen. He then worked as a farm laborer for four years to gain experience while simultaneously pursuing additional degrees. He received a second bachelor's degree in Agriculture from Cornell University in 1915. From Cornell, he went to Iowa State University where he received a master's degree in Agronomy in 1917. His education completed, Butler returned home to work with his father and soon became involved with the Progressive Farmer as an assistant editor in Memphis, Tennessee.

After his initial position as assistant editor, Butler rapidly climbed the Progressive Farmer administrative ladder. In 1922 he became editor of the Texas edition of Progressive Farmer and manager of the Dallas office. He remained in Dallas and became a member of the executive committee in 1939, vice-president of the board of directors in 1943, and president of the company in 1953. Six years later he was named chairman of the editorial board and editor-in-chief.

Butler served as president of the Progressive Farmer Company until 1968, after which the company's name was changed to Southern Progress Corporation. However, he retained his titles as chairman of the board and editor-in-chief. In 1983 Southern Progress Corporation was purchased by Time Inc. Since his retirement as editor-in-chief, Butler has remained active in the Progressive Farmer Company by continuing to research and write the history of the company.

Following in his father's footsteps, Butler achieved many goals for the Progressive Farmer Company during his more than half a century as editor. Among these achievements were two new additions to the company: Southern Living and the Oxmoor Press of Birmingham, Alabama.

Butler did not restrict himself to working on the magazine, however. His interests lay in almost any area relating to agriculture. Some of his more significant involvements were in crusades for better rural life, farm legislation, and farm practices. Throughout his career, Butler gave numerous speeches, wrote hundreds of articles and editorials, and collected extensive information on contemporary agricultural issues ranging from rural health to better methods of cotton fertilization. In the fifty years of his activity, Butler worked for and witnessed remarkable progress in many of these areas.

He was a charter member of the Texas Agricultural Workers Association, a charter member and historian of the Dallas Agricultural Club, and a researcher and activist for cotton insect control.

In recognition of his contributions, both to the Progressive Farmer and other causes, Butler received several awards. Among them were the Hoblitzelle Award in 1953 and an award for "Outstanding Contribution to Welfare of all Texas Agriculture through Accurate and Effective Presentation of Information and Constructive Leadership" given by the Texas Cottonseed Crushers Association.

Always very active and involved, Butler has enjoyed reading, gardening, collecting books on the Confederacy, golfing, and fishing all his life.

Butler married Mary Britt Burns in 1921. They had one son, Eugene Britt, and one daughter, Mary Jean. The son followed in his father's footsteps in working for the Progressive Farmer Company.