Strecker Museum Director Named Distinguished Odessan

WACO, Texas -- Calvin B. Smith, director of the Strecker Museum complex and associate professor and chair of the Museum Studies department at Baylor University, has been named a Distinguished Former Odessan by the Heritage of Odessa Foundation. Smith was honored at a presentation in Odessa on Thursday, Feb. 20.
Smith lived in Odessa from 1940-1954 and 1963-64. He received bachelor's degrees in zoology and anthropology and a master's degree in biology from Eastern New Mexico University.
He has worked as director of educational services at the Texas Memorial Museum at the University of Texas; director of museum services and adjunct professor of anthropology at Lamar University; director of Arkansas museum services for the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism; and consultant of the Dr. Pepper Museum and Free Enterprise Institute in Waco. He assumed his position at Baylor in 1983.
Smith has received numerous honors and awards including the Outstanding Professional Award by the Texas Association of Museums and the Daughters of the American Revolution national medal of honor.
Three other former Odessans were honored along with Smith at the Distinguished Former Odessan ceremony. Previous honorees have included Dr. William F. Bennett III, George Bush, Hayden Fry and the Gatlin Brothers.
For more information, contact Smith at (817) 755-1110.