Oral History Interview with Cecil Wildman
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Oral History Interview with Cecil Wildman Interview Conducted by Susan Wright Simpson and Karen Neurohr October 20, 2006 and August 27, 2007 O-STATE Stories Oral History Project Special Collections & University Archives Edmon Low Library ● Oklahoma State University © 2006-07 O-State Stories An Oral History Project of the OSU Library Interview History Interviewer: Susan Wright Simpson, Karen Neurohr Transcriber: Jill Minahan, Amanda Carter Editor: Tanya Finchum, Juliana Nykolaiszyn, Latasha Wilson The recording and transcript of this interview were processed at the Oklahoma State University Library in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Project Detail The purpose of O-STATE Stories Oral History Project is to gather and preserve memories revolving around Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College (OAMC) and Oklahoma State University (OSU). This project was approved by the Oklahoma State University Institutional Review Board on October 5, 2006. Legal Status Scholarly use of the recordings and transcripts of the interview with Cecil Wildman is unrestricted. The interview agreement was signed on October 20, 2006 and August 27, 2007. 2 O-State Stories An Oral History Project of the OSU Library About Cecil Wildman… Cecil Wildman, a native of Woodward, Oklahoma, attended Oklahoma A&M/Oklahoma State University from 1955 through 1959. Wildman earned his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in 1959. After serving in the Army, Wildman enrolled in OAMC and lived his first year on campus at Cordell Hall. While at OSU, Wildman was involved with the Oklahoma Society of Civil Engineers and was elected as a student council representative during his senior year. After graduating from OSU, Wildman worked for 20 years as the state engineer for the Farmer’s Home Administration in Stillwater. He continues to work for an engineering firm in Oklahoma City. An avid OSU fan, Wildman has been a Cowboys four-sport season ticket holder since 1955, enjoying basketball, baseball, wrestling, and football. The October 20, 2006 interview was conducted in part by his granddaughter, Susan Wright Simpson. Simpson attended OSU in 1991-92 and graduated from the University of Central Oklahoma in 1993. In August 2007, Mr. Wildman was interviewed again about his experiences working in the engineering field in Stillwater and the surrounding area. 3 O-State Stories An Oral History Project of the OSU Library Cecil Wildman Oral History Interview Interviewed by Susan Wright Simpson & Karen Neurohr October 20, 2006 / August 27, 2007 Stillwater, Oklahoma Simpson I am Susan Wright Simpson, and I’m here with Cecil Wildman. We are at the OSU Alumni Center, and it is October 20, 2006, and this project is O-STATE Stories, an oral history project of the OSU Library. Well, Cecil, tell me what years you were here at OSU? Wildman I was here from 1955 to ’59. Simpson Okay. So your entire college experience was here at OSU? Wildman Yes. Simpson And what brought you to OSU? Wildman Well, my degree is in civil engineering. At that time, ninety percent of all the civil engineers in Oklahoma were OSU grads, and there was lots of little things happened about that time. I just got out of the Army, and in the ’50s, half the classes were military and we were all Korean War veterans [Wildman served in Germany], and the World War II veterans had kind of set the stage for us, to draw the GI Bill and go to school. I was actually giving a blood transfusion in the Shattuck Hospital and the head of the housing at Oklahoma State—it was his brother, so he asked me to come over and he would buy my lunch the following week. I came over and they took me over to the school of civil engineering, interviewed me, gave me a—what do you call it, advisor?—and went from there. It was a very easy transformation for me to come over here and he gave me a nice room in Cordell Hall. Simpson So you went in for a blood transfusion and you got a path to college? Wildman In effect. 4 Simpson In effect. (Laughter) Wildman We were sitting out in the hall waiting to give his brother a blood transfusion, and he asked me what I was getting ready to do. I told him I was thinking about enrolling in college and I’d just gotten out of the Army, and he said, “Why don’t you come over and let me show you around?” He was a nice guy. His name was Mr. Thomas, and he was here all the time I was. But he also was head of Cordell Hall—gave me a really nice room in Cordell. Simpson Now you grew up in the Woodward vicinity area? Wildman Yes. Simpson And so moving to Stillwater wasn’t a big change for you? Wildman It wasn’t a big change, except I didn’t know anybody in town, (Laughter) which was not too unusual. Simpson How old were you when you started? Wildman Let’s see, I was in my 20’s. Got out of the Army in—I was 24. Simpson You were 24? Wildman Yeah. Simpson Was that about the age of many of the students there or were you a little bit older? Wildman I was older. The high school students, of course, were 18 in those classes, but most of the GIs were a little younger than I was. Simpson Okay. Wildman Most of them were 20 to 21. Simpson And was the Vet Village still being used at that time? Wildman Vet Village was very interesting. It was a bunch of cracker boxes. I called them houses, but it was really kind of an old barracks. They weren’t insulated. The heat ran all the time, and they weren’t air conditioned. It wasn’t the greatest place, but they had their own governing body up there. They had their own basketball team, and they represented the college. When they came to the college for something, they came as a council. There was a pretty strong entity. Well, they were 5 all veterans, and it was cheap. You could stay up there cheap… Simpson Right. Wildman …and, as far as I know, they were all married. It was an interesting place. Simpson Did you live in a dorm? Wildman I lived in Cordell Hall one year and then I moved into an apartment. Simpson What was it like living in Cordell Hall at that time? Wildman You know, it was a perfect thing to start to college, especially a GI, because if you needed to know anything you could find somebody over there and it was handy to get to all the classes. An interesting thing about it, they had a class for returning GIs—math class—and the math class started out with one plus one and ended up (Laughter) with heavy algebra, and it didn’t count toward engineering but it really gave you a chance to get your feet on the ground. And down at Oklahoma University I checked, and they didn’t have that class. So I went from that directly and I made “A’s” in trig and algebra from that class. That was a GI returning class. Simpson Now what got you interested in civil engineering? Wildman I had worked for the federal government in Woodward in the production marketing administration, and then I was in an aerial photo engineering outfit in the Army. Simpson So how long had you been out of the army when you were enrolled? Wildman About a year and a half. Simpson About a year and a half? So you had a little bit of time to re-adjust before you… Wildman But I got discharged the last of January, and I couldn’t get into school until the following year. Had a pretty darn good job, so I just delayed it till I got a car paid for and had a little bit of money. Simpson Tell me what campus looked like at that time—what the buildings looked like, what the people looked like. Was it much different than what we see today? Wildman I don’t think so. They were beautiful, and the Student Union had just 6 been built. The girls wore dresses or skirts and blouses. Pantsuits were not allowed. They also had a discussion at the college of whether the boys could wear jeans, and they finally decided it was okay with a nice shirt, because we had so many guys worked at the beef barn and what have you, so that was allowed. (Laughter) But they still were fairly well, you know, well-dressed. They wore sport shirts with them. Simpson Orange and black—were those the colors then? Wildman Yes, absolutely. Simpson And did you see the people wearing orange like they are today? Was there a lot of school spirit? Wildman Yeah, there was, but I don’t know. At the football games, I would say no. I think that got a little bit stronger as the years go by—more students—because Oklahoma State was about half the size as it is today. Simpson Well, speaking of football games, it’s Homecoming this week and how many Homecoming games do you think you’ve been to in your life, Cecil? (Laughs) Wildman Well, I’ve had season tickets since 1955. Simpson Wow. Wildman So how many years would that be? Fifty? Simpson Fifty-one? Wildman Yeah. I was telling someone (Laughter) the other day and that kind of surprised them. I’ve had season tickets since 1955 to four sports. Simpson Wow. Wildman Basketball, “rasslin,” football and baseball.