Class of 1949
Major: Dairy Engineering
View Interview Transcript (PDF format)
Click for audio excerpt (51:29)
William “Ralph” Mackey attended Oklahoma A&M College starting in 1942.
His arrival at college is credited to OAMC/OSU agronomy professor Dr. Melvin Jones, who picked up a young Mackey and his friend, Preston Kendall as they were hitchhiking their way to find work harvesting wheat in Kansas. Dr. Jones befriended Mackey and Kendall, helped them enroll in OAMC, find work, and assisted with lodging. Dr. Jones also checked on both students every week, monitoring their progress.
In 1943, Mackey learned that he was going to be drafted upon turning 18, and volunteered for the Army Air Corps. Mackey promised Dr. Jones that he would return after his time in the service to OAMC in order to finish his degree. Assigned to a B-17 crew in Europe, Mackey flew twenty-seven missions over Germany and returned at the end of World War II to OAMC in 1946.
Mackey graduated with his B.S. in Dairy Engineering. Married to wife Helen, Mackey and his family continues to support Oklahoma State University and are avid supporters of athletics on campus.
<< Back to O-STATE Stories Home
|
