Olam & Lucy Kruse
2.5 linear ft.
A1997-002; A2004-039; A2004-044; A2007-032; A2017-033
1890-1945 (unknown)
Olan Kruse was born September 6, 1921 in Coupland, Texas, a small German community east of Austin. At age six he moved with his family to Bishop, Texas where he attended public school. His father and Mother, Max and Irma Kruse made their living as farmers. The Kruse farm was one of the first completely "horseless" farms in the U. S. In high school he raised heifers for FFA, was on the tennis team and in the footlights club. He worked long hours at the soda fountain of Foster's Drugstore. He graduated salutatorian from high school at age 16 and entered Texas College of Arts and Industries [now Texas A&M University-Kingsville.] He earned a degree in physics at Texas A&I in Kingsville in 1942. The same year in Belmar, New Jersey he married Lucille Thomas of Falfurrias, Texas.
Olan served in the U.S. Navy as an officer in World War II. He taught pre-radar at Harvard University and Bowdoin College. In 1945 he served in the Pacific on the USS Jarvis. After leaving the Navy, Olan returned to South Texas and taught mathematics for a year at Texas A&I in Kingsville. Next he entered the University of Texas where he taught in the Applied Mathematics Department while earning his Masters and Doctorate Degrees in physics. Kruse accepted a position at Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches, Texas where he became Physics Department Chairman. There he designed and implemented a degree program in physics. After five years at Stephen F. Austin, Dr. Kruse accepted the position of Professor and Physics Department Chairman at Texas College of Arts and Industries. With the help of architects, he planned and designed the new Physics Building.
Dr. Kruse served as Professor of Physics and Chairman of the Department from 1956 to 1987. While at A&I he served as chairman of the ad hoc committee which wrote the A&I University Faculty Senate Constitution that created the University’s Faculty Senate in 1967. He was elected as a member of the Senate, in which he served for fifteen years and was its first chairman. He served as chairman of the steering committee for the Southern Association Self-Study in 1972-1973 and as chairman of the task force that drafted the General Education Curriculum for the University in 1978-1979. Dr. Kruse was a life member of the Texas Association of College Teachers, a member of the American Association of Physics Teachers and served a term as President of the Texas Section of the AAPT.
While at A&I Dr. Kruse supervised twenty Master’s Degree theses and published fifteen professional journal articles. He directed and taught nine National Science Foundation Summer Institutes for Secondary School Physics Teachers. In 1983 Dr. Kruse received the Texas A&I University Annual Distinguished Teaching Award. In 1994 he was named professor emeritus. He was honored by Texas A&M University [Kingsville] as they celebrated the first annual Olan E. Kruse Lecture Series in October of 2003.
Dr. Kruse also served in the community of Kingsville. He served eight years on the Zoning and Planning Commission of Kingsville. He was the chairman of the board of the Methodist Day School for one year and served on the Boys’ Club Board. For eight years, he was with the Kingsville Little League as a coach and a manager. He was a member of the First United Methodist Church. He was a member of the Friends of the Conner Museum Board and for two years served as chairman of the Board. He was also a Board member of the Texas A&M University-Kingsville Foundation, a member of the Retired Officers Organization, and an active member of the American Cancer Society. With his wife Lucy, he endowed two scholarships for students attending Texas A&M University-Kingsville and one Science Faculty Award.” Dr. Kruse was married to Lucille Thomas Kruse for 61 years. They had two sons, John Edward and James Lawrence Kruse. Dr. Kruse died at 82 years on March 24, 2004.
The Olan E. Kruse Collection currently consists of Annual Reports of the TAMUK Faculty Senate, Annual Reports of the Physics Department, data from laboratory experiments and documents from the Self Study and Departmental committees on which he served. Master Plan Reports for the Physics Department and Reports from the Strategic Planning Committee along with published research of Dr. Kruse, along with documents about his activities with the Rotary Club of Kingsville are included. Lucy Kruse donated digital images of a personal scrapbook created to honor Dr. Kruse when he retired from Texas A&M University-Kingsville.
Series I Faculty Senate Reports - Series II Physics Department - Series III University Reports - Series IV Personal Research and Miscellaneous
South Texas Archives, James C. Jernigan Library, Texas A&M University-Kingsville
Open for Research
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Olan E. Kruse Collection, A2017-033.XXXX, South Texas Archives, James C. Jernigan Library, Texas A&M University-Kingsville
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A1997-002 – Gift of Lucille Kruse A2004-039 – Gift of Lucille Kruse A2004-044 – Gift of Lucille Kruse A2007-032 – Gift of Lucille Kruse A2017-033 – Gift of Lucille Kruse
A1997-002, A2004-039, A2004-044 processed by Cecilia Aros Hunter; A2007-032 processed by Elda Ayala; A2017-033 processed, finding aid updated, for web upload by Lori Atkins, 2017. EAD document created by Daniel Thacker in 2017