Arts and Sciences 2008

In Memoriam Sarah Jean Clark, ’04, studio art and graphic design, died Aug. 11, 2007, at age 26. Ms. Clark was an artist from the day she first picked up a crayon and that love for art never left her. At the time of her death, she was preparing to begin an internship with the Dallas Museum of Art. She graduated from Woodward High School, where she excelled in academics and art and won many honors. At OSU, Ms. Clark was active with Alpha Delta Pi sorority, serving as chapter president while a student and, later as an alumna, as state chapter officer. She also discovered her passion for printmaking, particularly lithography, at OSU and decided to pursue an advanced degree from the University of Tulsa, which she earned last May. Ms. Clark loved working with children and spent summers working at the Kirk of the Hills Preschool and Summer Arts Ministry. She had recently returned from a trip to Africa, where she worked with Masai children at a boarding school. L. Todd Epperson, ’84, radiotelevision-film, died Oct. 19, 2007, at age 45. Born in Bartlesville, Okla., Mr. Epperson attended elementary school in Tulsa and graduated from high school in 1980 in Coalgate, Okla. He was a reporter for The Daily O’Collegian and a member of Sigma Chi fraternity while at OSU. In the 1980s, he was an account executive for Rosenthal-Truitt and Neiman Marcus, both in Dallas. In the 1990s, he lived in Chicago, where he held several positions with an advertising agency and Spiegel Inc. Mr. Epperson returned to Dallas in 2001, where he was a freelance writer for many feature sections of The Dallas Morning News. He also wrote for other publications, including Better Homes & Gardens. Since 2003, he had been senior art director for J.C. Penney Co. Robert Carl Fite, retired OSU professor of geography and meteorology, died Feb. 28, 2008, at 92. Mr. Fite was born July 26, 1915, in Brinkman, Okla. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He flew typhoon reconnaissance in the Pacific and developed several textbooks and training materials during and after the war. He earned a doctorate from Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., before joining the OSU faculty. He also worked for a year at the National Science Foundation in Washington, D.C. Mr. Fite owned a farm in Ripley for several years. He enjoyed golfing and gardening, especially cultivating roses. He was a member of the Methodist Men, Kiwanis, OSU Emeriti Association and the Retired Naval Officers Association. Phillip “Ed” Paulin, retired OSU professor of broadcasting, died March 1, 2008, at age 83. The Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame inducted Mr. Paulin in 1990, about the time he retired from teaching at OSU. He began his sportscaster career with WCMI in Ashland, Ky. After 24 years, he took a job at WMRN in Marino, Ohio, where he became a broadcaster of high school basketball games and the Marion Barons hockey games. He was recognized as Ohio’s Top Sports Broadcaster in 1960. After earning a bachelor’s degree from the University of Kentucky, Mr. Paulin moved to Stillwater so he could become general manager of KOSU-FM, a new radio station on the OSU campus and Oklahoma’s first National Public Radio affiliate. He earned a master’s degree via correspondence from the University of Kentucky and began teaching OSU broadcasting courses. OSU appointed him chair of the OSU Radio-TV-Film Department, a position he held until 1984. Teaching became his full-time interest. He earned a doctorate in 1979. From 1990 through 2007, he was the announcer heard in the press box for OSU Cowboy football games. He was a SilverHaired Legislator for several years and a delegate to the National Silver-Haired Congress. He was a 1988 nominee as Outstanding Older Oklahoma and a board member on the Oklahoma Alliance on Aging. M.B. “Bud” Seretean, ’49, marketing, died Aug. 13, 2007, at age 83. The co-founder of Coronet Industries Inc., he was a native New Yorker who served as a field artillery officer during World War II before coming to OSU and, later, New York University. He began his career as an assistant floor coverings buyer for Allied Stores in New York and later spent 30 years as chair and chief executive officer of Coronet Industries. Other successful business ventures included co-founding Opti World in Atlanta, co-founding ABC-TV affiliate WGXA in Macon, Ga., and becoming co-owner of the Atlanta Hawks. He also served as president of the Jewish Welfare Federation and built a Holocaust memorial near Jerusalem to the Jews of Dorohoi, Romania, in recognition of his Romanian heritage. During his lifetime, Mr. Seretean was an ardent supporter of OSU, providing primary funding for the M.B. Seretean Center for the Performing Arts and for the Seretean Wellness Center. In 1999 upon the 50th anniversary of his graduation, OSU presented him with an honorary doctorate for his professional achievements and philanthropic activities. Charles Sprague, ’51, mathematics, died Oct. 28, 2007, at 78. Dr. Sprague earned one of the first doctoral degrees in computer science in the United States during an era when supercomputers and personal computers didn’t exist and mainframes were often the College of Arts and Sciences 28

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