The first memorial service for President Henry Bennett and his wife, Vera, was held in the U.S. Department of State auditorium in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 29, 1951. Classes were dismissed after 11 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 10, for services at Gallagher Hall with more than 7,500 in attendance, from cowhands to the secretary of agriculture. The Bennetts were buried on Friday, Jan. 11, at the family plot in Durant, Oklahoma. A campus chapel was dedicated to them and veterans who died in battle in 1957. The class of 1940 erected a statue of Bennett (pictured in series) in May 1990 that overlooks the library lawn from just outside the president's office at Whitehurst. The beauty of the campus serves as a living memorial to Bennett's life of foresight and action.
