Beebe becomes Museum Curator

05/29/09

Belton, Texas - University of Mary Hardin-Baylor officials announced that Betty Sue Beebe has been named museum curator for the new Musick Alumni Center and Museum at the Parker House.

Beebe, who graduated from the university with the Class of 1961, has worked for the university for the past 28 years-first as the director of the Alumni Office and in more recent years as director of alumni development for the Office of External Relations.

According to University President-elect Randy O'Rear, Beebe brings a wealth of knowledge to the position.

"Betty Sue's knowledge of our history and her personal relationships with hundreds of alumni give her a unique perspective on the impact our university has had on people around the globe," said O'Rear.

Beebe will retire from full-time employment at UMHB and begin her new part-time role as museum curator on June 10, 2009. Her work with the museum will fall under the direction of the Alumni Office, headed by alumni director Rebecca O'Banion; together they will work to convert the Parker House into the new Musick Alumni Center and Museum.

The Chairman of the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Board of Trustees, Rev. Andy Davis, announced recently that the university will construct a new campus home for the university's president and will convert the current residence into a long-awaited museum and alumni center.

The decision came after several months of study on renovations needed at the home known as the Parker House, which was built in 1989. Following an architectural study, the trustees determined it was more practical to build a new house on another site and utilize the Parker House for an alternative purpose.

"Though the Parker House is sound, it was designed with open spaces for entertaining large groups on the ground floor and with living quarters upstairs for the family," said Davis. "We knew that we needed to add some living space, since our incoming president's family has more children living at home than did the last two presidents' families."

The location of the house also raised concerns. "We realized that what was originally conceived as a home at the edge of the campus is now at the heart of a very busy area," Davis said. "The planned expansion of visual and performing arts facilities in that area and the City of Belton's plans to connect 9th Avenue to Loop 121 will all bring additional traffic to the corner of 9th and King in the years to come."

Easy access to thoroughfares and parking make the structure well suited to other purposes. The Parker House will be converted into a museum and center for alumni. The building will be called the Musick Alumni Center and Museum at the Parker House, in recognition of the 1988 gift of Dee and JoAn Musick, who provided funding to build the original structure. The center will house alumni association offices and space for receptions and special events, plus exhibit space for artifacts and documents related to the university's history.

The new center will meet a longstanding need for appropriate space to display and properly preserve UMHB's museum collection, which was placed into storage when its former location in the Mabee Student Center was renovated in 1993. "In my 18 years as president, the question I have heard most often from alumni is, ‘When are we going to have a museum again?'" said President Jerry G. Bawcom. "The layout of the Parker House will make it the perfect place for our museum collection, and the location will allow it to serve a dual purpose as a central gathering place for alumni as well."

The UMHB museum collection was first displayed on campus in 1945 in a third-floor room of Wells Science Hall. In the 1970s, the collection was placed on display again on the second floor of the Mabee Student Center. During these years, the university became a member of the Texas Association of Museums, a membership it has maintained to this day, in the hope that one day appropriate space for a museum would be found on the campus.

Work to convert the house at 9th and King to the new Alumni Center Museum is expected to begin this summer. At the trustees' initiative, work will commence immediately to draw up plans for a new president's home, in the hope that it can be constructed and made ready to occupy within the next 12 months.