Gifts for Dad

With Father’s Day coming up on Sunday, people everywhere are honoring their fathers and their impact on the world. Whether they celebrate a dad who is still alive or has passed away, and whether he is biologically related or not, most people have a father figure they look to as an example. 

While the ways to remember fathers are as unique as those being celebrated, the following individuals chose to honor their dads and their impact on others by paying it forward to the next generation of Texas A&M University students.
 

The Family Business

For Jack Miller ’81, his relationship with his father, Richard Miller ’55, has had a profound impact on his life that continues even after his father passed away in 1993. Not only does he fondly remember the times they spent watching Aggie football games together, but he also reflects on his teenage years working for his father’s civil engineering firm, R.G. Miller Engineers Inc., which inspired his choice to major in civil engineering and take over as president of the family firm.

“Learning civil engineering at that early age and liking what I saw inspired me to pursue that profession,” Jack said.

To continue his father’s impact in the civil engineering field and help students discover their career paths like his father did for him, Jack created a scholarship in his father’s name for Aggie civil engineering students. “My father was proud of graduating from Texas A&M,” Jack explained. “He had many Aggie friends in the engineering community. I thought that giving an opportunity to students who want to pursue a civil engineering career was a great way to recognize his legacy. I hope the scholarship helps the program continue to grow and attract exemplary students.”

Jack also maintains ties with the university through the family business. “We always have occasion to recruit young engineers, and Texas A&M is our first choice,” Jack said. “A large part of our engineering staff is Aggies.”
 

A Pair of Patriarchs

While Howard “Jack” Jones ’52 and Warren Smith ’58 had very different backgrounds and careers, both shared a love for their families and for Aggieland. To celebrate these passions, Stephanie and Daniel Smith ’84 created Endowed Opportunity Awards (EOAs) in their names to help future Texas A&M students.

A South Texas native, Stephanie’s father, Jack, worked as a veterinarian and later as a USDA poultry inspector before his death in 1993. Warren, Daniel’s father, grew up in Honolulu, Hawaii, and worked around the world for the Gulf Oil Corporation before retiring to his hometown. Both men, however, displayed the same Aggie value of selfless service.

“Dad was a dedicated worker who lovingly provided for his family,” Stephanie said. “He cared more about the people around him than he did for himself, which was inspiring.”

“My dad had a tremendous influence on my life as a businessman and entrepreneur,” Daniel said. “He was a very hands-on, loving father who helped me and my siblings understand how things worked, from school and sports to hunting and international business.”

Because all three of Stephanie and Daniel’s daughters had already furthered the family ties to Texas A&M by attending the university, the Smiths created scholarships to celebrate Jack and Warren’s values and their Aggie family legacy. “The idea of making a permanent gift to honor them in perpetuity was attractive,” Daniel explained. “The recipients will see the name of the person on their scholarship and know that this was a former student who was important to someone at Texas A&M.”
 

Giving with a Smile

For more than 50 years each, both Dr. David Lynn and his father, Dr. Roland Lynn, left a legacy of brighter smiles in the Dallas area through their dental practices. Their impact inspired David’s son, Dr. Brock Lynn, to follow their footsteps to the Texas A&M College of Dentistry, then named the Baylor College of Dentistry, and to open his own practice. Brock’s daughter, Madeline ’25, will also attend the college beginning this year, further strengthening the family legacy.

“It was in our blood,” Brock explained. “They influenced me to always shoot for excellence and never stop learning.”

To honor his father and grandfather’s impact on his life, Brock created a gift for the College of Dentistry’s new Clinic and Education Building. The gift names the building’s graduate prosthodontics lab after David and Roland, a legacy that celebrates their passion for prosthodontics and their experience performing their own lab work.

“The lab is state-of-the-art, and I think it will continue to inspire people who are training in prosthodontics to strive for excellence,” Brock said.

Created partially by repurposing unused funds that his father had provided for a lectureship at the college, the gift also carries on the Lynns’ goals of supporting education. “There was a legacy of giving,” Brock explained. “My dad established the lectureship to contribute to the educational process of future dentists, and I hope this gift can continue that goal.”