George W. Bond

George William Bond
8th President of Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, Louisiana
In office
May 18, 1928  June 1936
Preceded by John R. Conniff
Succeeded by Edwin Sanders "E. S." Richardson
Personal details
Born April 6, 1891
Summers

Washington County
Arkansas, USA

Died May 14, 1974 (aged 83)
Fayetteville
Washington County
Resting place Fairview Memorials Gardens in Fayetteville
Spouse(s) Mary Elizabeth Bost Bond
Children No children
Parents William Elijah and Martha Irene Simpson Bond
Residence (1) Fayetteville, Arkansas

Ruston, Louisiana
Hammond, Louisiana

Alma mater University of Arkansas

University of Chicago

Occupation College president; Professor
Religion Presbyterian

George William Bond (April 6, 1891 May 14, 1974), an Arkansas native, was president in the first half of the 20th century of two public universities in Louisiana -- Louisiana Tech in Ruston and Southeastern in Hammond.

Background

Bond was born in Summers in Washington County in northeastern Arkansas,[1] to William Elijah Bond (1864-1953) and the former Martha Irene Simpson (1866-1940). He graduated from Cincinnati High School in Cincinnati in Washington County near Fayetteville, Arkansas. Bond served in the United States Army during World War I and attended the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and University of Chicago, from which he obtained a master's degree in 1923.

Academic career

Bond taught in Springdale and Cane Hill, also in Washington County, before he became a superintendent in Bauxite in Saline County in central Arkansas,[2] and a principal in Texarkana.[3] He then relocated to Ruston in 1924 to become an education professor at Louisiana Tech.[2] He served as Tech's eighth president from 1928 to 1936.[4] While Tech president, he continued to work on his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago but resigned from Louisiana Tech before completing his terminal degree.[2]

Just two weeks before he left the Tech presidency, Bond broke the ground for the new $421,000 administration building, known first as Leche Hall after Governor Richard Leche and then renamed for John Ephraim Keeny, the sixth president of Louisiana Tech.[5]The Minden Herald in Minden, Louisiana, reported that Bond left Ruston to enroll in the doctoral program at Columbia University in New York City.[6] From 1944 to 1945, Bond was the acting fourth president[7] at Southeastern in Hammond.[8]

Later years

In their later years, Bond and his wife, the former Mary Elizabeth Bost (1898-1997), a teacher of Latin and like her husband a native of Summers, Arkansas,[9] lived in Searcy and Fayetteville, Arkansas, where they engaged in gardening, travel, and entertaining. They were Presbyterian. He was a member of the Masonic lodge. The Bonds died, twenty-three years apart, in Fayetteville and are interred there at Fairview Memorial Gardens.[4]

References

  1. The Ruston, Louisiana, Daily Leader reports that Bond was born in Summers, Arkansas; findagrave.com says, without citing a source, that he was born in Adair County in eastern Oklahoma, which is adjacent to Washington County, Arkansas.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Ruston Daily Leader, June 17, 1936, pp. 1, 4
  3. It is unknown if Bond was at Arkansas High School in Texarkana, Arkansas, or Texas High School in Texarkana, Texas. Both were in existence at the time he was a principal.
  4. 4.0 4.1 "George W. Bond". findagrave.com. Retrieved August 5, 2013.
  5. Ruston Daily Leader, June 3, 1936, p. 1
  6. "New Tech President Richardson", Minden Herald, August 21, 1936, p. 6
  7. "A Brief History of Southeastern". selu.edu. Retrieved August 5, 2013.
  8. "Historical Sketch of the University" (PDF). selu.edu. Retrieved August 5, 2013.
  9. "Mary Elizabeth Bost Bond". findagrave.com. Retrieved August 5, 2013.
Preceded by
John R. Conniff
8th President of Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, Louisiana

George William Bond
19281936

Succeeded by
Edwin Sanders "E. S." Richardson
Preceded by
J. Leon Clark
Acting 4th President of Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, Louisiana

George William Bond
19441945

Succeeded by
Gladney Jack Tinsley