Contact: Maridith Geuder
His father was a 1917 Mississippi A&M alumnus who spent a career teaching botany on the Starkville campus. As a child, he was raised--literally--in the shadow of Scott Field and athletes like Dudy Noble who competed there.
Now, J. Chester McKee Jr. is putting parts of seven decades worth of memories in a book whose sales will provide support for the libraries of now-Mississippi State University.
"Campus Brat" is being published by Friends of the MSU Libraries, a local private support group. McKee's reminiscences cover a period from the 1920s until the early 1940s, when he left what had become Mississippi State College to serve in World War II.
The 130-page book is available for $24.95 (plus $5 for shipping and handling) by writing to Friends of the MSU Libraries, P.O. Box 5408, Mississippi State, MS 39762. All proceeds will support library services.
"Chester McKee is a natural storyteller with an incredibly keen memory for details," said MSU history professor emeritus William Parrish, who edited the work. "Many of the stories included in his book are being told for the first time."
Like his father, McKee devoted his professional career to Mississippi State. He served as electrical engineering department head, graduate school dean and the first university research officer. After retiring in 1979 as vice president emeritus for research and graduate studies, he kept working, this time as an administrator with the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C.
As a child, McKee's family resided across the street from Scott Field. "Literally, they could sit on the front porch and watch football games," Parrish said, adding that the senior McKees "often would entertain university dignitaries who wished to watch the games."
More than 20 photographs, some from university archives and some from McKee's personal collection, help illustrate the text.
"This is a unique book with a unique view of Mississippi State's past," Parrish said. "We think it's something anyone with any MSU connection would enjoy."