Pryor Scrapbook Clippings, 1983-1997

Tune has caupt up with Dr. Joseph E. Pryor, vice president for academic affairs and _dean of the college of arts and .sciences. On March 19, Pryor turned 65, mandatory retiring age for Hard .g administration members. · "I've. sened the allotted time. I feel a lot of sat1sfaction about strides Harding has made ••• I wish I could have done a better job with my talents and abilities," he said modestly. Pryor, who will still be teaching physical scieace and math classes, and serrin1 as Alpha Chi sponsor and advisor to the Petit J_,,, is known affectionately as -.. Dr. Joe." The.. man with the perpetual bowtie will be the UniYersity's graduation speaker Aug. 12, appropriately com- · memorating his 40 years of service to Harding. . Those people who have benefited &om the houn Dr. Joe has put into his various positions know that his talents and abilities cannot be replaced by one man alone. Dr. Joe is looking forward to shedding some of his titles, however, and spending more time at home. "There have been times when Bessie Mae has wondered if she had ·a · husband," he said. . Pryor has bad a long association with Harding, as a student, faculty member and administrator. He graduated &om Harding with a B.A. and B.S. in mathematics and chemistry in 1937. He went on to get ·his M.A. degree in mathematics and Ph.D. in Pchysical chemistry at Louisiana State U After completing his· work a Pryor returned to Harding as p of chemistry and chairman physical science department. " was the department for the years," b~ said. It was during his early years "unofflcial" Petit Jean sponsor that be · met and married the 1946 P¢t Jean editor, Bessie Mae Ledbetter of Shelbyville, Tenn. Dr. Joe and Bessie Mae accompanied each other on a train trip to Memphis early in the fall of 1946. They were each going to visit their respective girlfriend and boyfriead. Dr. Joe was dating the 1945 editor of the Petit Jean. It was after this trip that they began dating. Later that year with the help of Florence Jewel they arranged a surprise enpaement dinner, where they an– nounced their engagement to th• friends. When the pests sat down to their name cards the cuds opened to contain a picture of the couple and an engagement ring. Dr. Joe bad· proposed to Bessie Mae while sponsoring a TNT outing. With their marriage, Dr. Joe --and Bessie Mae became a symbol of family and belonging that will not be forgotten for yean to come. Dr. Joe still speaks with pride of Bessie Mae's being crowned Miss Upscomb 1944, the year before she . transferral to Harding. The Pryon have three children - Beverly (BA'76), Jodie and Susan (BA'82). "Both my parents received degrees after I was bom," he said, feeling that bis parents influenced him both .. educationally and as a Christian. "What I've accomplished has been a result of their inspiration." · _ And bis accom lisbments are le ·on of 15, and could have graduated- a year sooner, but bi$ parents thought that 14 . would be too young• Pryor graduated from Harding at the age of 19 with a grade point average of more than 3.9 on a 4.0 scale. He began graduate study at LSU, in the fall of 1937 with an assistantship in math, his major _ for an M.A. His pay was S40 a month, "which was _good for that time," he said. "I paid S15 a mon~ for board and SS for room. I saved enough to go to summer school." As he was completing his master's, he was waiting to bear from Vanderbilt University, where be had applied for an assistantship in chemistry since he wanted to study medicine ~ become a doctor. During this waiting period, Dr. A. R. Choppin, then chairman of LSU's chemistey department, offered Pryor an assistantship to wort on a Ph.D. in chemistry. Pryor told Choppin that he would attend Vanderbilt if accepted, but if not, he would attend LSU. When the deadline came for accepting the ass~tship at UU, be bad not heard from Vanderbilt, so be signed with UU. The next day Vanderbilt's letter came. He had been accepted. ••1 wrote Vanderbilt a letter of thanks and stayed at UU," Pryor said. And after two years as a teaching ~ow in chemistry (1939-41), be received the Charles Edward Coates. research - fellowship for 1941-42. >r became a math instructor at in 1942. At that time, he ·had :ted his doctoral research in :al chemistry. H~ wrote his ation that school year and received ictorate in 1943. illt the middle of 1943-44, Pryor receiving desperate lette~ from