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The Battalion
Volume 110 • Issue 134 • 18 pages
A Texas A&M Tradition Since 1893
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www.thebatt.com
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‘Softly call the Muster’
Aggies gather around the world as A&M Qatar campus celebrates Muster
By Sonia Moghe
THE BATTALION
Thousands of students, alumni, family members
and friends came together to remember 139 fallen
Aggies and the values of tradition and change at the
on-campus Muster Wednesday, while thousands of
miles away the Texas A&M-Qatar campus held its
inaugural Muster.
"What it is that continues to bring us together
has not changed,” said Cindy Abbot, senior chair of
the Muster committee. “(Muster is) a sort of fami
ly reunion, rekindling times.”
Muster, which was held in Reed Arena, is an
A&M tradition that celebrates the lives of Aggies
who died during the year and has been celebrated
in some form on April 21 for more than 120 years
with about 400 ceremonies worldwide, said
Charles Ellison. Class of 1976 and president of the
Association of Former Students.
Student Body President Matt Josefy, a senior
accounting major, said he took part in a teleconfer
ence with the Qatar campus for its first Muster
Wednesday.
“The venue has changed, but the concept is still
the same,” Josefy said.
He said he spoke with a student from the Qatar
campus who said he was glad to know that his life
will one day be celebrated in a Muster and people
all over the world will remember him.
Erika Prochaska, Class of 2002, and Wendy
Ridings, Class of 2003, shared remembrances of
the Class of 1954, including a visit by John Wayne,
the popularity of hitchhiking by Corps of Cadets
members, the atmosphere of an all-male university,
the dedication of the Memorial Student Center dur
ing the Class of 1954's freshman year and visions
of Coips members waiting for “sugar reports, “oth
erwise known as letters from their girlfriends.
Franklin Tipton, Class of 1954, attended Muster
See Muster on page 9A
Family and friends light candles during roll call at
.Muster in Reed Arena Thursday night in constant
Photos by Joshua L. Hobson *THE BATTALION
remembrance of the 1 39 Aggies who lost their lives in
the last year.
lenlsp^l
Aggies celebrate
largest ring day
By Melissa Sullivan
THE BATTALION
Belle Palmer, a senior English major, is prepared for a hectic
Aggie ring day. Palmer said she will stay busy because she has
to go to work as a bus driver afterward, but that she is going to
make the most out of it by wearing a maroon sombrero and pass-
I ing out candy to passengers on her bus route.
“I am going to show off my Aggie ring and celebrate with
| everyone,” she said. “My bus route just happens to be Bonfire.”
Palmer is one of 2,872 Aggies who will be picking up their
[Aggie rings Thursday, making it the largest distribution ever,
[said Julie Scamardo, Aggie ring program coordinator.
Palmer is also one of seven Aggies who will receive their
[rings because of an organization called Change, which raises
money for a scholarship fund to give an Aggie ring to students
[who may not be able to afford one.
Change began last year when a student who could not afford his
[Aggie ring went to the 12th Man Cafeteria and started to collect
spare change from patrons, said Keith McSpadden, chairman of
Change and a junior biomedical sciences major. Within an hour he
Couple honored as Parents of the Year
See Ring on page 2A
By Jason Hanselka
THE BATTALION
In spring 1971, during a blind date in
Yoakum, Texas, two college students had a
feeling that they were experiencing some
thing special.
The moment was so special that on Sept.
18 of that same year, Eugene and Elaine
Baumann were married at the A&M All
Faiths Chapel. And they attribute it all to a
little matchmaking from a mutual friend.
“My wife had a friend at Southwest
(Texas State University) that I met when she
was getting her master’s at Sam Houston
State (University),” Eugene Baumann said.
“She set us up on a blind date in Yoakum
and we were married in the fall of that year.”
The Baumanns were honored Sunday
during the conclusion of Parents’ Weekend
at the All University Awards Ceremony with
the honor of being selected as Parents of the
Year for 2004-05.
The Baumanns currently live in Cause,
Texas, which is about 30 miles northwest of
Bryan-College Station, and have two Aggie
daughters, Kimberly, Class of 1998, and
Melissa, Class of 2004.
Eugene Baumann started his teaching
career after graduating from Texas Lutheran
College in Seguin, I
Texas, in 1961 with a
degree in elementary
education. He taught
history at a junior high
school in McAllen
before he moved to
Baytown, where he
taught junior high
school science and
was the head basket
ball and tennis coach.
He received his
master’s degree in
education from Sam
Houston State
University, during
which, he became
certified to assume
counselor, principal
and superintendent
duties. Eugene
retired from Hearne Independent School
District, where he was the principal of
Eastside Elementary and director of
school services.
Elaine Baumann graduated from
Southwest Texas State University in 1964
with a degree in education. She currently
What I tried to
portray in the
application was
the little things
they do in life for
the community,
the church and the
elderly.
— Melissa Baumann
daughter
teaches first grade at Ben Milam Elementary
in Cameron, Texas.
Elaine said her daughters told her
that she and her husband had been
nominated for the award a week
before the ceremony.
“My daughter (Melissa) came
home for Easter and told us that she
had nominated us for the award,”
Elaine said. “They (my daughters)
knew we had won, and they were
keeping it a secret from us.”
Their daughter, Melissa, a senior
renewable natural resources major and
Memorial Student Center Hospitality
chair, said the big hearts her parents
have is one thing she emphasized
when she nominated them.
“What 1 tried to portray in the
application was the little things that
they do in life for the community, the
church and the elderly,” Melissa said.
The Baumanns would always cook
food for the elderly in their community during
holidays, especially Christmas, Melissa said.
Libby Whitehead, Parents of the Year co
chair and a junior accounting major, said the
See Couple on page 2A
lush library features Barbara Bush exhibit
By James Twine
THE BATTALION
Former first lady Barbara Bush is a dream subject for an
Rhibit because she is a remarkable woman with a great life,
skid Patricia Burchfield, curator of the George Bush
Residential Library and Museum.
Burchfield said the exhibit showcases a wonderful
Oman’s life as a wife, mother, grandmother and spokes-
|oman for her literacy cause.
“Barbara Bush: An Extraordinary Journey” is the central
[erne of “The Year of the Woman” at the Bush Library.
■ie exhibit opened on April 17, and it will remain open
uriil Sept. 19.
I “It’s a trip through her life from a young lady to the peak
d power, a woman who raised a family with her husband as
president, a son who became president and another son the
givemor of Florida,” said Edward Douglas Menarchik,
■ rector of the Bush Library.
Menarchik said this is the first time the Bush Library has
||ad an exhibit focusing on the former first lady.
The museum features many items belonging to Bush such
pictures of the Bush family and events throughout the
^ars, evening gowns, handmade purses, jewelry, her famous
‘arls, gifts from various people, a needlepoint, rug that she
made by hand, speeches, letters and many other items, some
of which are on loan personally from Bush herself.
■ “The exhibit allows you not only to see Bush as the for-
vMlSit:
Barbara Bush: An Extraordinary Journey
For the first time, the George
Bush Presidential Library and
Museum is featuring an exhibit
on former first lady Barbara Bush.
-Will remain open through
Sept. 19
-The exhibit features items of
Bush's such as evening gowns,
handmade purses and her
famous pearls.
-For more information log on to
http://bushlibrary.tamu.edu
Andrew Burleson • THE BATTALION
Source : BRIAN BLAKE, PR DIRECTOR & PATRICIA BURCHFIELD,
MUSEUM COORDINATOR
mer first lady, but as a woman of content, substance and ele
gance,” Menarchik said.
Brian Blake, public relations specialist of the Bush
Library, said the items that are on loan from Bush personal
ly are the most priceless items of the exhibit.
“She was very generous in loaning items to us; it really
gives the exhibit a perspective of Mrs. Bush that people have
never really seen before,” Blake said.
See Exhibit on page 2A
A&M charters honor society
By Brian D. Cain
THE BATTALION
Texas A&M has joined 270 univer
sities nationwide in creating a chapter
of Phi Beta Kappa, a national honor
society aimed at honoring students who
have been academically successful.
The honor society recently
announced its new members of the
Class of 2004.
“The Kappa of Texas Chapter of Phi
Beta Kappa has named about 103 stu
dents out of this year’s graduating
class,” said David Carlson, president of
Kappa of Texas. “The students are cho
sen by their GPAs, but also by the
breadth of their education. In other
words, by how challenging their cur
riculum was.”
Carlson said Phi Beta Kappa is the
oldest honor society, founded in 1776.
It honors students who seek a broad
education through liberal arts and social
science courses, he said.
The universities chosen to host the
society are selected by the organization
for the quality of the faculty as well as
the institution, Carlson said.
Ed Elmore, an adjunct professor at
A&M and a member of Phi Beta Kappa
who served on the nominations com
mittee, said A&M deserves to shelter
the chapter, and that it is an honor for
the school.
“I think it is a tremendous honor that
we are getting a chapter here at A&M,
and it is long overdue,” Elmore said. “It
is an honor for the school as well as for
the students elected.”
Elmore said induction into Phi Beta
Kappa means one has instant academic
and intellectual credibility.
“In an academic realm, the most
prestigious thing you can have on your
resume is a Ph.D.,” Elmore said. “After
that, it’s Phi Beta Kappa.”
Lauren Barbier, a senior journalism
major, said she is glad to have been
elected for induction into Phi Beta
Kappa this year.
“I certainly feel honored because it
See Honor on page 9A