Record details
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Tyler Junior College has a rich history that’s filled with local legends. I’m honored to have known, lived and worked with some of them.
As a nurse, I am thrilled that Tyler has become a medical destination, not just for our community but also for our state and nation.
In 1961, as a young public health nurse, I was asked to speak at TJC for Career Day. The director of Texas Eastern School of Nursing (TESN), Agnes Roy, was there and she offered me a job on the spot. I taught community nursing and pharmacology and became the director of TESN in 1966.
Tyler Junior College was created to meet our region’s needs. Tyler’s hospitals and other medical providers competed to offer services of the highest quality. To do so, they desperately needed nurses and went as far as the Philippines, Ireland, Canada and other countries to recruit them.
TJC President Dr. Harry Jenkins called together the leaders from Medical Center Hospital (East Texas Medical Center and more recently Ardent/ UT Health East Texas) and Mother Frances Hospital (now CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances) to try to find a way to “grow our own” nurses. Together, they formed the Texas Eastern School of Nursing which opened in 1951. The goal was to focus on educating and training our own residents who would stay here permanently and provide the highest level of patient care.
Dr. Jenkins was a strong supporter and whenever there was an unexpected financial need, he always found a way to help. During my time as Director from 1966-72, we were accredited by the National League of Nurses, a two-year project that was a major milestone. I was fortunate to be involved in other milestones as well.
During the 60s and early 70s, the times “were a changing” and we were not an island unto ourselves. Education is the pathway for upward mobility, and both TESN and TJC have been the vehicles for a better life for all our residents. We admitted the first male student to our program in 1966. In 1969, I hired TESN’s first African American nursing instructor, Geneva Taliferro. She was a great teacher, friend and role model. In 1971, we enrolled our first African American nursing student and steadily over time our nurses have come to reflect our community.
All this change wasn’t without controversy. Dr. Jenkins had a vision and some may have seen him as driven, a bit autocratic and sometimes difficult. In fact, he went all the way to the Supreme Court over men’s hair length and always ran a tight ship, but I remember things about him others may not have known. He was very good to the nursing school and he cared deeply about TJC, TESN and all the students we served.
He had a kinder and gentler side many did not see. These were divisive times. I remember when a group of civil rights advocates showed up in TJC’s Teepee for a protest and Dr. Jenkins was called to intervene. He addressed the group and told the white advocates they were not welcome here. He said they needed to get off the campus and not come back. Then he turned to the African Americans and told them they were special guests at the College. He said they were always welcome here.
I’m pleased that TJC has been and is this region’s college of opportunity, and am proud of the role TESN played in the development of the nursing program that became TJC’s associate degree nursing program that now graduates nearly 400 registered nurses annually. I’m proud of the quality of education we established. TJC’s program consistently has top passing rates on state licensing exams. In fact, TJC’s pass rates are much higher than the state averages for R.N. programs that take 3, 4, or 5 years to complete. Tyler is a great city and I’m so pleased that our nursing programs are every bit as great as Tyler!
When I reflect back on the many ways we can choose to spend our lives, I have no regrets. There are careers with higher salaries, but nothing could have been more satisfying than being an educator and changing lives forever. I loved my students and they loved me back. Recently I had lunch with TJC’s Chancellor and CEO, Dr. Mike Metke, and shared stories about those times. We laughed about the day I found a possum in the classroom, the night students “wrapped” our house and then later how the guilty parties had an “unwrapping” party.
Although the Texas Eastern School of Nursing is no more, I am proud of how it was reborn as part of TJC and was key to this community’s support for building the magnificent Rogers Nursing & Health Sciences Center. - Biography
- Larue Hardee was born in Nevada, but grew up all over the world. She has had an interesting life living in Greece, Japan and all over the United States. Dick Cheney is a distant cousin, and before meeting her husband, retired attorney Brooks Hardee, she once had the crown prince of Greece as a dinner partner! Larue Hardee and her husband Brooks have two daughters and four grandchildren.
