Robert Blystone

As did many Austin graduates of 1961, I attended UTEP and graduated in 1965 with a degree in biological sciences. I earned my MA in physiology from UT-Austin in 1968 and completed my Ph.D. in cell biology also from Austin in 1971. I was an NIH pre-doctoral fellow during this time. While I was working on my Ph.D., Donna was working on her Ph.T. (putting hubby through) as a legal secretary. In 1971 I began at Trinity University in San Antonio as an Assistant Professor of Biology. Donna returned to school and completed her bachelors as a Phi Beta Kappan.

I have spent my entire professional career at Trinity and held various administrative positions there. As a cellular anatomist and physiologist I have explored a number of research projects. Most recently the Air Force provided me with basic research funds to explore heat transfer through skin when heated with 35 and 94 GHz RFR.

Educational research, especially related to textbooks, has also been a focus of mine. Currently I am introducing a Global Health curriculum at Trinity and arranging for undergraduate students to have internships for NGOs in Washington, D.C. and more exotic places like Botswana.

Unlike so many today, I went to one grade school (Houston), one high school (Austin), one college (UTEP), one graduate school (UT-Austin), and had one professional address (Trinity University). Married for 54 years, Donna and I live comfortably in northern Bexar County.

Like many of our generation, we cared for our aging parents for much of the last decade. My mother died in 2000, my dad in 2005, and Donna's mother in 2008. Being around for our active 15-year old grandson is a joy but difficult on old bones. Donna went through a course of Breast Cancer treatment in 2013. I marveled at the courage she showed during the treatments.

Donna and I deal with the foibles of aging such as remembering where we parked the car at the mall. We both wish all Austin graduates of 1961 and 1962 calm seas and smooth water.

With each telling of the story the caught fish grows larger.

As I read through the names of the graduating class of 1961, I realize that each of you have contributed to who I have become. In the grand scheme of things, the class of 1961 was no greater or lesser than the class of 1960 or 1962. We discovered life together, sadness, joy, and even love. We were unique to each other. We had Robert the janitor and Henry the Panther. Hill, Kiska, Booth, Williams and others were doing their best to allow us to find our own way, to define our own journey, and to simply become. We all were the children of that time, that age.

Should you read these meager words and interpret the thoughts, thank you for contributing to the ethos that was Austin High School on Memphis street in El Paso, Texas in 1961.

Bob Blystone July 20, 2011

Post-script. Having entered retirement I now have time to do odds and ends that interest me. I have been working on the history of Fannin school (also previously known as Highland Park School) that was located on the corner of San Jose and Alabama street. The school opened in 1905 and closed in 1930. There are a lot of stories concerning this school. I also worked on collecting information about Miss Dorothy Emig, the principal of Houston School in the '40's and '50's. And then I ran across the KKK taking over the El Paso school district in 1922. Now that is an interesting story. With involvement in home schooling I have been able to compare eduction across 60 years. The ninth grade has been interesting. - November 6, 2017.