In 1948,SFA celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary year of its founding. In 1958, the school celebrated its thirty-fifth anniversary. In between, the college celebrated the lives of such men as President Emeritus Birdwell and Dean T. E. Ferguson. SFA’s traditions and its appreciation of the past were becoming more concrete.

SFA turns 25

Dr. Paul Boynton began his term as president of SFA as the school entered its twentieth year, 1942-43. While a celebration was out of the question at that time, by 1948 the war and the immediate crises following it were settled enough to make a celebration seem appropriate. The Homecoming in October of 1948 was a full weekend of carefully planned reflections for ex-students. Because of the advanced publicity, the crowds of returning exes were larger than ever to see Miss Virginia Stephens crowned queen and to experience the firmly restored tradition of the parade in downtown Nacogdoches. The first graduate of SFA, M. D. Warren, even returned for the celebration.

The Daily Sentinel, in a massive Anniversary Edition, assembled and edited by their newly hired News Editor, Ed Gaston, reviewed and touted the accomplishments of the college’s first quarter century. Gaston had completed his undergraduate degree in journalism at SFA in 1947. After doing work on his master’s degree in journalism at the University of Texas and managing the Garrision News , he took the job as News Editor at the Sentinel. His first major assignment from Victor Fain was to put together an edition celebrating the history and accomplishments of SFA. (Later, in 1950, Gaston actually joined the staff at SFA as Information Officer and Publications director; he also taught some journalism classes.) The flood of GIs and the furious building activities of those post-war years led Gaston, in a recent interview with Dr. Bobby Johnson, to reflect: “Those were exciting times.”

The Anniversary Edition of 1948–an invaluable source of information on the early history of the college–contained interviews and reflections on virtually every aspect of SFA life. For instance, Gaston interviewed Dr. Birdwell, T. E. Ferguson, C. E. Ferguson, W. T. Chambers, and other SFA pioneers; Lucille Fain interviewed Lois Foster Blount and Dorothy Arnold Sanders; and Howard Page interviewed Bob Shelton and W. W. Dossey. There were articles by Valine Hobbs, Mildred Wyatt, Lois Foster Blount, and W. T. Chambers, and reports from most departments. There was one huge section which gave a year by year supplement of trivia from each issue of the Pine Log! This voluminous section was compiled for Gaston by Don Beal of Bryan who was a journalismstudent at SFA at the time.

Homecomings were reviewed, the origins of the school songs were explained, the development of the physical place was laid out, the origins of the East Texas Collection explained, and the reflections of early leaders documented. One major section of the edition explored the new and developing programs at SFA in such work as Health, English, Home Economics, Biology, and many other departments. The edition explored the past and present programs and activities in the fine arts. The band program, the choir programs, the sports programs, as well asthe Bible Chair and the sports programs received extensive coverage.

Celebrating Birdwell’s life

The planners of the twentieth annual Homecoming celebration in 1952 decided to celebrate the life of President Emeritus A. W. Birdwell as their theme. Ed Gaston, since 1950 a staff member at SFA and acting executive secretary of the Ex-Students Association, made the decision to honor SFA first president in this way; Gaston had already spent so much time in 1948 collecting the material. In parade floats and tributes, every phases of Dr. Birdwell’s life and activities formed the backdrop for a celebration of SFA’s history. The floats, after being in the downtown in the morning, were brought to Memorial Stadium for the first time and paraded again just before the game with Sul Ross. After the game, the various clubs and organizations held teas on campus for their “exes.” Birdwell visited many ofthem.

The Birdwell Scholarship Fund, established at the time of his retirement, had languished after being founded because of the war. During the Homecoming celebrations in honor of Birdwell, the idea was revived of having a drive for money to fund the Birdwell Scholarship. Walter Todd of Dallas, president of the Ex-Student’s Association at the time, with Gaston’s help, decided to use the momentum after Homecoming to get the ball rolling. Their plans matured in the spring of 1953 when the Ex-Students met in Nacogdoches again; Dee L.Walker of Texas City headed the campaign, assisted by the officers of the association: Todd of Dallas led, assisted by Coy John Key, Travis Price, and Madge Stallings, Secretary. They did not reach their immediate goal of $10,000, but they did set things in motion.

On the eve of his eighty-third birthday, September 17, 1953, friends of Dr. Birdwell met at the home of Mr. and Mrs. W. A. Mize and presented the grand old man with a check for $5,500 as a kickoff for the new fund drive. J. Elbert Reese presented a scroll representing the check and a list of contributors of the money to Birdwell. Boynton also spoke. Birdwell said, “Nothing could make me happier;” in addition, he observed that the scholarship “gives me at least a little bit of immortality.” After the presentation, everyone sang “Happy Birthday.” The faculty and staff at SFA and former faculty members also contributedan additional amount–over $3,000.

In May of 1954, the Board of Regents decided to do its part by setting aside its own rule against naming buildings for living individuals and named a new classroom building at SFA after Dr. Birdwell. The building, located on the corner of North and College, was then under construction.

Former SFA students were beginning to become famous and important. Dr. Joseph W. Kennedy, from Nacogdoches and SFA (1935), and already famous for his work with plutonium and the famous Manhattan Project on atomic fusion, became the chairman of the American Chemical Society’s Division of Physical and Inorganic Chemistry in 1954.

In the fall of 1954, Dean T. E. Ferguson announced his retirement to be effective at the end of August. Ferguson had served as Dean of the College and Head of the English Department since 1923. To celebrate all that Dr. Ferguson had done for the college, the students and Dr. Boynton asked Ferguson to give the commencement address in the Spring of 1955. Ferguson’s many services and his strong, steady hand at the academic wheel, had kept the college on a straight course for over thirty years.

SFA celebrates turning 35

The celebrationsin 1958 of SFA’s 35th Anniversary were quite different than those in 1948. The observances were not in the Fall Semester in conjunction with Homecoming, nor did they occasion any large participation by the alumni. They took the form of a tribute to Boynton and to Mrs. Birdwell who were honored at the annual banquet of the Nacogdoches County Chamber of Commerce. Even in 1958, Birdwell was receiving accolades. “In recognition of the many years of work and dreams put into the college by the late Dr. Birdwell, Mrs. Birdwell was presented with a bouquet of American Beauty roses by J. Elbert Reese. Of Dr. Birdwell, Mr. Reese said, ‘To think on his life is a challenge. His interest was not only in the welfare and growth of SFA, but also in educational progress in the entire state. He was one of our greater educators - a man who loved people.”

In praising the progress which had been made since Boynton had become president, the Chamber President J. Elbert Reese said there had been “fifty-one new buildings and facility installations on the campus. ... The college plant now has a value in excess of five million dollars. Its budget this year is just short of two million dollars, of which $1,200,000 goes for salaries.” More important, Reese concluded, is the “influence it is having throughout East Texas where there are some forty thousand ex-students who are better prepared for their places in life because of their attendance at the college.” The Chamber of Commerce gave Boynton a wall plaque inscribed with words of appreciation from the community and to the Boyntons he gave a silver tray with best wishes from the citizens. Boynton said what he often said: “no state institution in Texas is located so fortunately as Stephen F. Austin State College. ... Nacogdoches is the best town in the state in which any institution of higher learning is located. ... You have as fine a group of people here as can be found in any city in America.”