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COLLEGE STATION - Texas A&M University will rewrite history May 10 when it awards posthumous degrees to two women - 99 years after the twins fulfilled the requirements for the degrees.
Twins Mary Lockett Hutson Nelson and Sophie Palmer Hutson Rollins completed the four-year civil engineering curriculum in 1903 but were never awarded degrees because the charter of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas made no provision for female students.
The twins' sons will accept the diplomas on behalf of their mothers at a commencement ceremony May 10 at 2 p.m. at Reed Arena.
"Mary and Sophie Hutson earned these degrees 99 years ago, over 60 years before women were allowed to attend Texas A&M," said Dr. C. Roland Haden, Texas A&M vice chancellor and dean of engineering. "We in the Dwight Look College of Engineering are so pleased that we are finally able to recognize the Hutsons' accomplishments in this way."
The A&M College of Texas was an all-male military school until 1963, the year the university opened its doors to women. Before that, only daughters of faculty members could enroll at the college because there were no local schools for women to pursue higher education. As the daughters of English and history professor Charles Woodward Hutson, Mary and Sophie and their older sister Ethel were allowed to take classes as long as the professors teaching the classes gave permission.
The twins began their studies in civil engineering in 1899 at age 15. The "campus twins," as they were affectionately called, attended the same classes and took the same exams as the cadets. As a sign of acceptance and respect, members of the Class of 1900 gave the twins cadet uniform jackets, which their mother altered to fit the girls and made matching skirts.
Mary and Sophie wore their uniforms proudly, including in their photograph in the 1903 yearbook, the Long Horn - only the second yearbook the college published.
Mary and Sophie completed their studies in 1903. They received certificates of completion but no diplomas.
After finishing her studies, Mary went to work for an engineering firm in New Orleans and designed several water pumping facilities around New Orleans and in Mississippi and Texas. She married New Orleans engineer Bernard Stanley Nelson in the summer of 1913, and they had five children. Mary died in 1982. She was 98 years old.
In 1905, Sophie married Henry Martin Rollins, Class of 1897, whose six brothers were also Aggies. Sophie and Henry had eight children, and are part of a family history rich in Aggie tradition that has produced no fewer than 26 Texas A&M graduates over the last century. Sophie died in 1983 at 99.
"Recognition for these two very special ladies is long overdue," said Texas A&M President Ray M. Bowen. "I am glad that as part of my tenure as President of Texas A&M and as President during Texas A&M's 125th anniversary, we could make this happen."
MVAggie2005
Fightin' Texas Aggie Class of 2005! AAAAAAA!
Walton Loads!
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Fightin' Texas Aggie Women's Basketball Starts November 5th!
The Traditions Council can officially recognize my red-ass ~ Chris Ordonez '00 in the April 3rd Battalion
