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BATTAll
Che Battalion
Band Receives
$1,000 Gift.,.
See Page 5
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Volume 60
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS THURSDAY, AUGUST 29, 1963
Number 130
AT MSC SEMINAR
Needs For Navy
Computers Heard
Computer Seminar Leaders
fommander Bill C. Moore, USNR, left; Capt. W. E. Berg,
fenter, assistant chief of the Office of Naval Research ; and
lapt. R. H. Ballinger, USNR, discuss activities of A&M’s
jirst Research Reserve Seminar on Electronic Computers,
lerg was a principal speaker. Moore and Ballinger are
l&M faculty members.
ndian Ag
fake Ideas
Officials
Home
Vhen three agricultural officials
ve here Friday on the longr re-
n trip to their native India,
y’ll be carrying more than arm-
ds of suitcases.
[n their heads will be myriads of
ension service ideas to try in
ia’s farming areas. And ring-
in their ears will be the best
hes from hundreds of new-found
nds, after a year’s stay in Texas
nties.
he agents from India have ob-
ved American agriculture first-
id and have talked and worked
|h Texas fanners and their child-
hey are Nirmal Bhushan Roy
wdhury of District Nadia in
Bengal, Lachhman Dass Shar-
of Tehsil Hamirpur District
}igra in Punjab, and Shesh Nara-
Nandedkar of Nagpur. All
district extension service a-
ts.
HEIR VISIT was sponsored by
U. S. Agency for International
relopment, with A&M Univer-
f and its Agricultural Extension
vice co-operating,
ack Gray, co-ordinator of the
eign Programs Office at A&M,
the Indians spent the year
extension staff members. They
died extension organization and
the county agents communi-
and disseminate the latest re-
rch information to the people.
Ihowdhury worked with Agent
hard Gary in Erath County,
irma with Agent Wayne Gran
in Fannin County, and Naded-
with Agent John Henry in
shur County.
They also spent several weeks at
extension service headquarters at
College Station, where they talked
and studied with administi’ators
and specialists to learn how the
state staff supports and assists
county extension personnel.
Further success of the U. S.
Navy’s many computer operations
will depend greatly upon micro
electronic research in fabrication
of extra small components for the
machines.
The outlook was made here Mon
day at the First Research Reserve
Seminar on Electronic Computers
by Capt. W. E. Berg, assistant
chief of the Office of Naval Re
search in Washington, D. C.
The seminar, which will be held
through Sept. 7, is designed to
help 56 Navy, Army and Air Force
Reserve officers enhance their
knowledge of electronic computers.
Sponsors are A&M and Naval Re
serve Research Company 8-3.
BERG SAID almost every major
weapon and piece of equipment in
the Navy today needs a reliable
electronic nervous system for its
operation.
“We must have electronic recon
naissance systems capable of rapid
and accurate determination at long
range of the character, location,
and identy of enemy targets,” he
said. “We need surveillance sys
tems that can shift rapidly from
active' to. passive or semi-active
modes of operation as well as ac
tive systems capable of rapid fre
quency shifts. In nearly all cases,
a computer will serve as the brain
of such systems.”
As if these challenges were not
enough, the systems must be in
units small enoug-h to pack into
aircraft or missiles, the captain
emphasized. They must be com
pact enough to fit into shipboard
compartments.
THIS IS WHY microminaturized
components and microelectronics
research are needed.
Bei-g also outlined a project un
derway for preparing computer
programs to stimulate military sit
uations. A special programming-
language called Militran is oriented
to military procedures and is un
derstandable by the computer.
Another project, he said, is the
processing of non-numerical in
formation, such as visual pattern
recognition, speech recognition,
mechanical translation of langu
ages, and retrieval of stored in
formation from large collections.
THE BASIC objective is to dup
licate the human-life function of
problem solving-. The goal is not
to model the human brain but to
achieve some of the same abilities
that have been restricted to hu
mans.
Still another Office of Naval
Research project is development of
machines capable of learning and
which do not n'eed prog-ramming
in the usual sense.
Wildlife Management Team
Back After Honduras Trip
An A&M research team returned
Friday from three months collect
ing- of bats and other animals in
the Central American country of
Honduras.
Jerry Mankins, graduate student
in the Department of Wildlife
Management, headed the three-man
team working in conjunction with
a three-year study of bats financ
ed by the National Institute of
Health.
Jack Meyer, recent wildlife grad
uate who will undertake advanced
studies this fall, and Gordon Jar
rell, high school student from West-
point, Conn., rounded out the crew.
According to Meyer, the trio
spent all three months of the trip
traveling dirt roads of Honduras
in a Texas Agricultural Experi
ment Station panel truck. He added
that the collectors also flew into
two areas inaccessible by auto.
Members of the Department of
Wildlife Management have been
working on the long-range project
since early 1962 in Texas, Mexico
and several Central American coun
tries. Next year the collecting
will continue in South America.
The scientists are trying to
determine some of the relation
ships of South, Central and North
American bats and where those
from the U. S. go in winter.
Meyer said the threesome brought
back about 1,000 bat specimens,
as well as a number of mammals,
birds, reptiles and amphibians.
He said the bats were taken
from caves, buildings, hollow trees
and with special nets across
streams or in banana plantations.
Meyer said he and Jarrell were al
most washed away by a flash flood
one time while hanging a net.
The trio kept a parrot, a howler
monkey and a porcupine as pets.
The porcupine was of the Central
American variety that has a pre
hensile tail for grasping limbs.
Near diaster came once, said
Meyer, when Mankins sat on the
spiny animal while driving and
the ti-uck almost swerved off the
road.
Info On European
Study Fellowships
Is Now Available
Details of the 1963-64 program
of the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development Sci
ence Fellowships for study in Euro
pean countries or Canada have been
received on the A&M campus.
Information is available at the
office of the Dean of Graduate
Studies Wayne C. Hall.
The program administered in this
country by the National Science
Foundation is planned to assist in-
stiutions to incorporate more quick
ly into their own advanced train
ing and research programs the
most recent developments.
Approximately 20 fellowships for
professionally-established faculty
members tenable for a period of
eight weeks to six months will be
awarded. The program covers most
fields of science and technology.
Application materials must be
filed not later than Oct. 18.
Staff Car Stickers
Need $7.50 Fee
In announcing the new plan for
faculty-staff car registration last
week some copies of The Bat
talion incorrectly listed the fee
as $3.
Campus Security officials ex
plained the charge is $7.50 as
last year. Under the new plan
the Fiscal Office has been accept
ing payment for automobile
stickers since Monday.
Pwo Employes’ Efforts Cited
The A&M campus for years
come will continue to show
* results of efforts by two
flunds maintenance workers
'nored last week by fellow
Nployes. Mike J. Renghofer,
and William J. Vavra, retire
iturday.
Renghofer, whose only job in
country has been his more
a n 40-years of service at A&M,
specially proud of his role in
^ting live oaks on the campus,
toting his first tasks was plant-
£ the trees honoring the mem-
J of A&M’s dead of World
a f I. Later, he planted several
°tosand of the trees.
Gvra joined the grounds
18 years ago, but it was 72
tors ago when his father
ia ?ht a farm on land within
£ht of the Texas A&M campus.
Sv ra was 3 years old then.
“Both of these individuals are
fry valuable people to this de-
'rtment for many years,” Rieh-
Thornton, head of the
ftounds maintenance depart-
*nt, said. He especially praised
the men for their conscientious
ness and initiative.
Renghofer served as foreman
of the grounds maintenance crew
from 1930 through 1949. Re
cently he has operated the de
partment’s nursery which pro
vides plants and young ti*ees to
be set out on the campus.
A native Austrian, he com
pleted landscape architecture
schooling there and also fought
in the Austrian Army in World
War I.
“I fought the Russians for 12
months, till they shot me all to
pieces,” Renghofer said of his
war experiences.
He came here and went to
work for A&M through the ef
forts of a half-brother who now
lives in Rockford, 111.
He arrived early in 1923 with
40-eents in his pocket and com
pletely lacking a knowledge of
the English language. For the
first six months after going to
work, Rengkofer concentrated
upon learning English.
Coming here also allowed him
to renew his acquaintance with
the young lady who became Mrs.
Renghofer on thanksgiving Day,
1924. The couple were school
mates in Austria, but she and
her family immigrated to Bryan
in 1912.
The Renghofers have two sons
and two daughters, and are
proud that the boys graduated
from A&M.
Renghofer has spent his life
working with plants, and at the
nursery he refers to them as
“little fellows.”
“They’ve got a life just like
you and me,” he said.
But he also likes people and
is especially px-oud of the number
of former students who look him
up when visiting the campus.
Both Renghofer and Varvra
are membei’s of St. Joseph Cath
olic Chux-ch and third degree
knights of the Knights of Col
umbus.
A&M’s curricula were extended
from two to four years at about
the time the Vavra family moved
onto their farm near the campus
with its small cluster of build
ings. Lawrence Sullivan Ross,
who became one of the well-
known presidents of A&M, as
sumed the pi-esidency while then
young’ Vavra played and did boy
hood chores.
“About 50 years ago I heal'd
the old folks say Bryan and Col
lege Station would meet someday
. . . and now they have,,” Vavra
said. He admits he was dubious
that streets, houses and buildings
ever would fill in the fields which
senai’ated Bryan and the campus
until relatively recently.
“In 1944,” Vavra said, “I hung
farming on the fence and came
out here.”
His first work included push
ing handmowers aci’oss campus
lawns, but more x*ecently he has
kept the grounds around the Me
morial Student Center.
The Vavras have three sons,
including two who graduated
fxom A&M, and a daughter. One
son, Fx-ank, works on the campus
as a technician in the floriculture
section. The other children live in
other states.
The Vavras’ 50th wedding an
niversary will be Nov. 4.
DR. M. E. BLOOD WORTH
. . . new department head
Bloodworth Is
Head Of Soil,
Crop Sciences
The new head of the Department
of Soil and Ci’op Sciences will be
Di\ Moms E. Bloodworth, pi’o-
fessor of soil physics.
Dr. R. E. Pattei’son, dean of agri
culture, said Bloodworth will re
place Dr. William O. Trogdon, who
has headed the department since
1958. Trogdon, whose resignation
is effective Sept. 1, will join a
Texas fertilizer company as an
executive vice president.
BLOODWORTH IS known for
his teaching and research in imga-
tion and soil-plant-water interrela
tionships. He is the author and
co-author of 42 publications in
these areas.
His environment control cham
ber, which he designed and built,
has attracted much attention among
soil scientists.
“Dr. Bloodworth is an outstand
ing research scientist and stimulat
ing teacher. He can be expected
to pi’ovide capable guidance and
leadership in this important agri
cultural ai’ea,” Patterson said.
Bloodworth was born at Axtell,
Texas. His BS degree in agricul
tural engineering came in 1941,
and his MS and PhD in soil physics
in 1953 and 1958 at A&M.
FOLLOWING GRADUATION.
Bloodworth was agi’icultural engi
neer at Seguin for the U. S. De-
pai'tment of Agriculture, 1941-42
and 1946-48; agricultural research
engineer with the Texas Agricul
tural Experiment Station at Wes-
alco, 1948-51; graduate assistant,
A&M agronomy depai'tment, 1951-
54; associate soil physicist, Agri
cultural Experiment Station, Wes
laco, 1954-56; associate professor
of soil physics, A&M soil and crop
sciences depai’tment, 1956-60; and
professor of soil physics at A&M,
1960 to date.
The scientist is a member of the
Soil Science Society of America,
International Soil Science Society,
Western! Soil Science Society, A-
mei’ican Society of Agi’onomy, A-
mei’ican Society of Agricultural
Engineers, Texas Agi’icultural
Workers Association, American As
sociation for the Advancement of
Science, and Sigma Xi.
Family Begins
Sad Journey
From Houston
A sad journey began shortly before noon yesterday as
Mrs. Molly Woodcock, accompanied by her husband, David
Woodcock, and their 5-month-old son, left Houston by jet
for their home in England.
It will be the last trip home for Mrs. Woodcock, who
suffers from an incurable brain tumor. She wanted to return
to England to face death with friends and relatives.
The couple has been living in College Station since last
September when the 26-year-old Woodcock joined the School
of Architecture as one of the youngest Fulbright professors
to receive a grant under the international teaching program.
Shortly after the birth of Jonathan Alfred Woodcock
April 3, Mrs. Woodcock devel
oped severe headaches.
Twelve days later she was
rushed to the Texas Medical
Center in Houston for major
surgery to remove a brain tumor.
FOR A SHORT TIME the 27-
year-old woman appeared to be
recovering, but the headaches re
turned. A second operation re
vealed the tumor was malignant.
Doctors told her and her husband
she hadn’t long to live.
Mrs. Woodcock’s condition be
came worse last weekend and the
physicians urged that she be taken
home as soon as possible.
The jet took the couple to Chica
go and they then flew directly to
England where she will be able to
see her parents in Stockport.
BEFORE THEY LEFT Wood
cock told Houston reporters, “Our
College Station friends couldn’t
have done more for us. We don’t
know how to express our thanks
to them.”
Local people recently started a
fund to help pay for the expensive
operations and the flight to Eng
land. The Molly Woodcock Fund
at the College Station State Bank
held $625 late Wednesday.
A bank spokesman said anyone
wishing to contribute to the fund
may do so either by mail or by
bringing a donation in person.
Donors should indicate that the
money is to be deposited to the
Molly Woodcock Fund.
The spokesman said the goal of
the drive is $3,000.
The Aggie Players staged “The
Best of the Players” May 22 as a
benefit performance for the Eng
lish couple. Many other groups and
individuals had helped before the
fund was started. Friends have
also helped in caring for Jonathan.
WOODCOCK AND his wife both
volunteered to help the Aggie
Players during the last school year
19 Summer
Grads Receive
Commissions
Nineteen summer graduates of
A&M last week received second
lieutenant commissions in the Army
and Air Force after completion
of their undergraduate studies here.
Fourteen of the students met re
quirements through the Army Re
serve Officer Training Corps pro
gram. Except for those who have
received deferments, the new of
ficers are expected to be called to
active duty shortly, according to
the Department of Military Sci
ences.
Col. Denzil L. Baker, professor
of military science and tactics,
spoke briefly to the new officers on
the challenges- and satisfaction
gained through service as officers.
The commissioning oath was ad
ministered by Maj. John R. Vilas
of the Army ROTC staff.
THE FIVE NEW Air Force of
ficers are now awaiting orders to
active duty, an AFROTC spokes
man announced Monday.
The men qualified for commis
sions by receiving bachelor’s de
grees from A&M and meeting other
Air Force requirements.
The new Army second lieuten
ants are: Richard G. Hoppers and
Gary D. Williams of Dallas; Mich
ael B. Reveley, El Paso; George
Gutierrez, Harlingen; Lyndon P.
McDaniel, Hemphill; Carl H. Ai
ken III, Ronald D. Hunter, Harold
R. Otto, and Dennis W. Sander
of Houston;
Charles R. King, Livingston;
John E. Blackburn, Marshall; Tom-
He designed stage settings and 1T >y J- Schulze, Meridian; Francis
Mrs. Woodcock designed and made | M. Pate, Duncan, Okla.; and San-
costumes for major productions ford D. Cothren, Heber Springs,
last fall.
Under the terms of his Fulbright
fellowship, Woodcock was to have | D. Sloan, Amarillo;
ended his work here this August. | Villareal, Falfurrias;
Ark.
The Air Force officers: William
Delfino E.
Thomas J.
But the contract was extended by | Enney, Harlingen; Calvin W.
special permission and the couple | Smith, Houston; and Paul M.
was going to stay another year. Smith, Uvalde.
Two Lifetimes Around A&M
Mike J. Renghofer Sr., left, and William years ago, while Vavra grew up near the
J Vavra retire Saturday to end long careers campus but not did not go to work for the
in the grounds maintenance department, university until 18 years ago.
Renghofer joined the staff more thap 40