Class Notes 1925-49
1920's
1930's
George E. Wear, AA '39
After attending Mesa College George received his BS and MA from
the United States Military Academy and George Washington University.
This was followed by a career in the Army where he became a Brigadier
General and was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, Silver
Star, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star and Purple Heart. He lives
in Glenwood Springs, Colorado with his wife Betty. They have two
daughters, one son and four grandchildren. Originally from Meeker
he considers his experience at Mesa as the stepping stone that
got him into and through the Military Academy.
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1940's
Everett A. Parke, USN (Ret.) DECEASED Attended '39-'41
Everett A. Parke was born in Grand Junction, Colorado, and arrived
at the Naval Academy in 1941 to make a career on the sea. After
graduation in 1944, he served on the battleship USS Iowa in the
Pacific Theater and saw combat in the last year of World War II.
He was also a combat veteran of the Korean War. CDR Parke subsequently
commanded the destroyer escort USS Sellstrom and destroyer USS Robert
A. Owens. As commander of the Owens, he took part in the naval blockade
of Cuba during the 1962 Missile Crisis. CDR Parke graduated from
the Naval Intelligence School, Washington, DC in 1949 and served
overseas in intelligence assignments in London, England (1954-56)
and Saigon, South Vietnam (1960-62). Following his retirement from
active duty in 1966, he worked for six years as an analyst at the
Central Intelligence Agency. From 1972 until his full retirement
in 1986, he was an editor of naval weapons publications for several
defense contractors.
Louis E. Ingelhart '40,
The Ball State University College of Media Advisors, an international
organization, has established the Louis E. Ingelhart First Amendment
Endowed Fund to encourage college students and advisors of student
publications to arrange press freedom projects on their campuses.
He graduated with a Ph.D. degree by the School of Journalism at
the University of Missouri in 1953. He also became the first person
appointed to the newly formed advisory council of the Student Press
Law Center in Arlington, Virginia. Who's Who in America will list
him in its 2002 directory. He has also been selected for listing
in the Distinguished Professionals Who Do Significant Work in its
2001 publications. Ingelhart was named the outstanding graduate
of Mesa State College in 1985. He served as editor of the Criterion
in 1939-40.
Hale H. Luff '43
In June of 1943 after three months of indoctrination in the US Navy
V-5 Program for pilot training for WWII, we were sent by train to
Grand Junction for the second phase which presented our first opportunity
to learn to fly. Our training included ground school at Mesa College
in the Houston Building, the only building on campus. Twelfth Street
north of North Avenue was a gravel road out to H Road where it ended
at the present site of the airport. Our runway for takeoffs and
landings was a gravel strip. The hanger was an enlarged Quonset
hut and the tower consisted of a man sitting on the roof with a
red and a green light as our air traffic control officer, to control
takeoffs and landings. Our living quarters at the Mesa College farm
on the Redlands consisted of remodeled chicken coops into sleeping
quarters, latrines and showers. After three months, we were sent
to various locations for further training and graduated as an ensign
at Corpus Christi, Texas. At the completion of WWII, I returned
to Grand Junction, married the wonderful girl I had met at the USO
dance at the LA Court when I was stationed here, and went to work
at the City Market Warehouse located at First and Colorado Streets,
and we raised our children here. I always attributed my training
and knowledge as a US Naval, carrier based fighter pilot to the
excellent staff at Mesa College and the flight instructing by the
CPT staff at the airport that helped me to safely return to civilian
life after the war.
Berta Donn Flagg Gardner, Diploma '48
An artist living in Grand Junction, Colorado she also attended the
University of Colorado in Boulder and the University of Northern
Colorado. Her bronze caricature of George H. W. Bush was presented
to President George W. Bush. She exhibits work at the Knox Gallery
in Vail, the Georgetown Art Gallery in Washington, D.C."I am
a bronze sculptor and my President George H.W. Bush caricature was
chosen to be in their 2003 Spring, three months show in New Your
City on Park Avenue at the Atrium Building across the street from
Grand Central Station. (Their) is the National Sculpture Society
based in the Atrium Building in New York City."
Max and Jeannine Kendall, '48
They were married in 1949 after meeting at Mesa College. Max then
attended the Milwaukee School of Engineering. The have three sons,
all Mesa College alumni. The Kendall's owned and operated Kendall
Electric Company started by Max's father in 1932 and has been involved
in many of the campus' expansion projects. Today a third generation
of their family is enrolled at Mesa.
Robert Whittemore AA '48
MSC Distinguished Alumni 2001 lives in Sparks, Nevada and is the
owner of Psych Services
George H. Yetter, '48
George died peacefully on August 15, 2002. He was married to Vera
Paquette on November 11, 1951. He was Chairman of Colorado West
District of Boy Scouts in 1969. In 1950 he started at Mountain Bell
in Grand Junction and retired in 1990 in Denver.
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