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September 20, 2009

Stringer: A Doctor and a college

By Dr. Tommy Stringer

Pioneer west Texas doctor James Wayland was born in Missouri in 1863. After completing his medical degree from the Kentucky School of Medicine, Wayland moved to Texas, settling in Plainview in the panhandle. At that time, Plainview consisted of 75 people, the Hale County courthouse, and a few meager buildings. Because the population of the region was sparse and scattered, Wayland’s practice covered a huge area, ranging south to Lubbock, north to Amarillo, east to Matador, and west into New Mexico. The only “road” out of Plainview was actually a rutted trail leading north toward Amarillo. Wayland learned to navigate the flat treeless country by reference to the sun and stars and a few landmarks such as windmills. After getting lost in a snowstorm on one occasion, he ordered a $5 compass from the Montgomery Ward catalog.

In the brutal winters on the high plains, he would heat rocks and place them on the floor of his buggy to keep his feet warm and throw a heavy wool blanket over himself to break the chilling wind. To communicate with his patients, he left carrier pigeons they could release to fly to his home in Plainview when his services were needed.

Wayland realized the people of the plains needed more than medical care. They also needed educational opportunities. In 1906 a group of Plainview citizens petitioned the Staked Plains Baptist Association to establish a school whose mission would be to provide a Christian education for young people of the area. Despite all the adversities he encountered, Wayland has prospered not only from his medical practice but also from a drug store he owned as well as a small ranch he operated. Consequently, he donated $10,000 and 25 acres of land for a campus for the proposed school. Local citizens raised an additional $40,000, and the school opened in 1909 under the name Wayland Literary and Technical Institute with 241 students ranging from elementary age to junior college level. The name was changed to Wayland Baptist College.

Although the school prospered during its first two decades, the Great Depression threatened the existence of Wayland. The bank holding the school’s deposits failed, leaving them with no funds. The faculty agreed to stay on board at no pay until the situation improved. Better times returned, and in 1948 Wayland was approved as a four-year institution.

Wayland was a pioneer in women’s athletics and produced the nationally known Flying Queens basketball team. The program recorded 131 consecutive victories in the 1950s. Wayland was also the first four-year institution in any of the former Confederate states to voluntarily integrate, admitting five black students in 1951.

Today the University continues to provide quality education to students not only from West Texas but literally from all over the world, fulfilling the dream of a pioneer West Texas doctor.

—————

Dr. Tommy Stringer is executive director of the Navarro College Foundation.

Click here to e-mail Dr. Tommy Stringer.

Click here to Soundoff on this column.

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