Last fall, a dinner was held to honor the past Board of Trustees, Regents and Governors with emeriti status. As we start to plan our centennial celebration in 2015, we wanted to look back on the history of our boards.
On Jan. 19, 1965, when voters in 11 school districts passed the proposal to establish the Missouri Western Junior College District, they also elected the first Board of Trustees, four from St. Joseph and two from the remaining 10 districts.
The initial trustees included Dr. Thompson E. Potter, William F. Enright Jr., Stanley I. Dale, and Thomas V. Teare, all from St. Joseph. The trustees in the outlying districts were Loren Schneider, Gower, Mo.; and John Newhart, Savannah, Mo. In June, the trustees assumed control of the Junior College.
On July 22, 1965, Gov. Warren Hearnes signed a law that established a four-year college in St. Joseph, and in October of that year, he appointed a board of five regents for the third- and fourth-year college program. Four of the regents were already serving on the Board of Trustees: Potter, Enright, Teare, and Schneider. The fifth member was St. Joseph’s mayor, Douglas A. Merrifield.
When the state began funding all four years of the Missouri Western in 1977, the Regents were responsible for all four years. The Trustees continued to meet just once a year to set the tax levy for the coming year from the 1966 bond issue to construct the buildings on the new campus. In 1986, a year before the bonds were paid off, the Board of Trustees held their last meeting.
Last fall, a dinner was held to honor past board members with emeriti status. Those attending included: Front, Joan Hegeman and John Newhart. Standing, Bill Carpenter, Dr. Robert Vartabedian, Missouri Western’s president; Robert “Casey” Meyers; Dr. M.O. Looney, Missouri Western’s president from 1967-1983; Larry Schultz; Janet Leachman, Dillon Harp, Robert Roth, Dr. Krikor Partamian, Dr. James McMillen; Karen Baker, Dan Boulware, Roy Tewell, Susan Colgan, Greg Wall, Kylee Strough, Dan Danford and Bill Hurley.