Five Baylor Supporters To Be Honored With W.R. White Awards

by LoAna Lopez

The Baylor University Alumni Association will honor five recipients of the W.R. White Meritorious Service Award during the association's annual meeting at 6 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 11, in the gymnasium of the McLane Student Life Center.
Virginia Beall Ball graduated from Baylor in 1940, then worked for two years on the alumni affairs and public relations staff at Baylor. She is perhaps best known for endowing the Beall-Russell Lecture Series in 1982 to honor her mother, DeLouise McClelland Beall, and Lily Russell, former dean of women at Baylor. She also established the Beall Poetry Festival in 1994 to honor her parents and to encourage the writing and appreciation of poetry. Honored in 1989 with the Baylor Distinguished Alumni Award, she was given an honorary doctorate and the President's Medal of Distinction by Ball State University, where she serves on the board for Ball State University Foundation.
A native of Waco, Nancy Chapman earned both her bachelor's and master's degrees from Baylor. A past president of the Baylor University Women's Council of Dallas, where she now lives, she received the council's "Dallas Baylor Woman of Distinction" award. She has served on the executive boards of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Junior League of Dallas, Kappa Kappa Gamma of Dallas and the Dallas Prayer Ministry. She currently serves on the board of CASA, which provides court-appointed volunteers to advocate for children who have been removed from their homes due to abuse or neglect.
A veteran of World War II, Dr. Robert Packard is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Texas, earning three degrees in physics while working on naval research. He has been a professor in the Baylor physics department since 1952, and served as chairman of the department from 1981 to 1993. A Baylor Alumnus by Choice, Packard was designated a Master Teacher in 1990 and has a lecture hall at Baylor named in his honor. He has served as faculty sponsor for numerous student organizations and has twice been faculty advisor for Student Congress. In addition, he has provided entertaining lessons in physics at Baylor's University for Young People, as well as the Herbert H. Reynolds Academy for persons age 50 and older.
A U.S. Navy veteran, Thomas Parrish was at Pearl Harbor on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, and completed his military service in 1945. An undergraduate of Stephen F. Austin State University, he earned his law degree from the University of Texas and was admitted to the Texas Bar in 1948. In 1953, he earned the bachelor of divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and served as minister of First Baptist Church in Marietta, Okla., before joining to Wayland Baptist College in 1955 as vice president and legal counsel. In 1963, Parrish came to Baylor, where he served as vice president for development until 1985. During that time, he established the department as a permanent part of the administrative structure of the university. Programs started under his leadership include Development Council, Student Foundation, Parents League and Heritage Club. Parrish also endowed the Emmie Parrish Lectureship at Baylor in honor of his wife.
A 1949 Baylor graduate and former Baylor regent, Ralph Storm is a partner in the Storm-Prichard Company in Corpus Christi, which he formed in 1976 for the exploration of oil and gas. From 1953 to 1958, he was vice president of production for the C.G. Glasscock Drilling company, and in 1959 formed the Storm Drilling Company. In 1978, he was selected as one of Baylor's Distinguished Alumni and also received the Herbert H. Reynolds Award for Exemplary Service in 1985. He also is a member of the Baylor Development Council and has served as a director of the Baylor Alumni Association and the Baylor Stadium Corp. Storm is a deacon and Sunday school teacher at First Baptist Church in Corpus Christi and is a director of the Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce.
The W.R. White awards, named for Dr. William Richardson White who served as Baylor's president from 1948 until 1961, honor individuals who have rendered outstanding service to Baylor.
Alumni event information is available at www.sicembears.com or by calling the Baylor Alumni Association at (254) 710-1121 or (800) BAYLOR-U, option 6.