HSU Insider

HSU Announces John J. Keeter Alumni Service Award Recipients

• By Dave Coffield
• Posted October 2, 2008 9:16 AM
• 0 Comments

Abilenians John and Betty (Thornton) Crowe are the 2008 John J. Keeter Alumni Service Award Recipients for Hardin-Simmons University. They will be honored at the HSU Alumni Awards Banquet, October 9, at 6:30 p.m., in the Abilene Civic Center.

The John J. Keeter Alumni Service Award is the highest alumni honor HSU can bestow. It is presented to the alumnus/a who has/have contributed the most in his or her field of endeavor towards the betterment of HSU or who has rendered the greatest service to the University. Awards have been made yearly since 1943 and are selected by a set committee whose members are established by a campus leadership role.

John and Betty Crowe have faithfully served Hardin-Simmons University for the majority of their lives, whole-heartedly supporting their beloved alma mater. Not only did John and Betty devote their time to HSU when they were students, they also have given of their time and talent to HSU since their graduations more than 50 years ago.

While a student at HSU, John was a member of Alpha Chi and Pi Gamma Mu, was Student Council vice president in 1956, and was named to Who's Who. He graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in 1956. While in the HSU ROTC program, John was a member of the Pershing Rifles, received the Distinguished Military Student Award, and was the first HSU ROTC student to be given a regular Army commission. He served in the U.S. Army as an airplane and helicopter pilot, and was stationed at Ft. Knox, Kentucky and Ft. Hood, Texas, and served at flying schools in San Marcus; Mineral Wells; Ft. Rucker, Alabama; Ft. Stewart, Georgia, and Ft. Eustis, Virginia.

As an HSU student, Betty was a member of Future Teachers and the Colt Club, and served as sophomore social chairman and senior class secretary. She was also a member of both the Six White Horses Team and the Cowgirls.

John and Betty met when they were 17-year-old students at Abilene high School. They were married August 12, 1955 at Abilene's First Baptist Church.

John's contracting business, the John Crowe Group, has constructed many of the magnificent buildings on the HSU campus. John also has contributed numerous personal hours to the continued development of HSU by serving as a member of the Board of Development from 1999 to 2008 and serving as an Alumni Volunteer. John and Betty are lifetime members of the Presidents Club.

Betty, who retired in 2002 after teaching in the Abilene Independent School District for 35 years, is a former Board of Development member, a current member of the Academic Foundation and the Ex-Cowgirls club. In 2005, she served as the 1955 Golden Reunion Committee Chair.

John and Betty are members of First Baptist Church of Abilene and have lived in Abilene for over seven decades. They have five children, John and Tamara (Allred) Crowe, both '78; Joseph, Timothy, and David Crowe; and Sara (Crowe) Burleson. They also have 16 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.