Last month, Tarleton State University said goodbye to Dr. Stuart Chilton, one of the paramount figures in establishing the institution as a four-year university. Chilton passed away from acute myeloid lymphoma on October 18.

Chilton was the first Vice President of Student Life in Tarleton history – the office at the time was called Student Personnel Services.

Prior to 1959, Tarleton served as a junior level college after two previous attempts to achieve senior college status with an enrollment of roughly 1400 students. Now the Associate Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Students, Dr. Mike Leese began attending Tarleton State as a student in 1963, the year the first senior class of the university graduated. Leese therefore had the opportunity to experience Chilton’s administration firsthand.

“Dr. Chilton and that whole crew with President Howell are the ones who went to the legislature to make Tarleton a four-year school,” Leese recalled. “He played a big part in bringing the teacher education program here.”

Essentially, without the persistence of Chilton and his cohorts, the dynamic selection of four-year degrees, student life’s growth, and all the things students have come to love about the university would not exist as they do today. 

In a 2008 interview with the Baylor University Alumni Association, Chilton spoke about his time as an educational administrator.

“I loved working with the students and helping them,” Chilton said in the interview. “A student would come in who needed financial assistance, and maybe I could help them find a scholarship or a job. Some of those students come back, even recently, to thank me, and it just brings tears to my eyes.”

Following Chilton’s retirement from Tarleton State University, he served as a column writer for the Stephenville Empire-Tribune, as a means to remain active within the community he loved.

“He was very involved with Tarleton and very well respected,” Leese said. “I think that the respect that people had in the community for him, especially after he retired, goes to show how important he was in Stephenville.”

Leese shared that his time knowing Chilton weighted heavily on his own choice of life path.

“He [Chilton] and Dean Ballow particularly had a lot of influence on me getting into this career,” said Leese.