New Endowments Enrich NMSU
Elizabeth "Betty" Wichert
When funds from the estate of Elizabeth Wichert came to New Mexico State University recently, they were a reflection of her family's many years of involvement with NMSU. Betty taught for more than two decades in the food and nutrition program within the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences. Her husband, Robert, was the head of the English department in the 1970s and their only son, Peter, was on the faculty in the finance department of the College of Business. Both of them preceded her in death.
Betty created scholarship endowments in the departments of English, and family and consumer sciences, as well as an endowment in geology to support her son's rock collection which was also given to the department. Her final endowment will support a lecture series through the department of English to bring guest lecturers from a variety of fields within the arts and sciences with special emphasis on literature and history.
The Wicherts were originally from New York and returned there for summer vacations. Dr. Ann Bock, Betty's longtime friend and coworker in the department of family and consumer science, described her as a professor who was both well-liked and feared by her students. One student stated that she had never been "more scared or learned more" than in Betty's classes. Betty also served as an advisor to many campus organizations prior to her retirement in 1986.
Mary and Bill Huey
William S. Huey attended New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts (now NMSU) after serving in the Air Force during World War II. With a degree in agriculture, Bill and his wife, Mary, who is also an Aggie, moved to Reserve, N.M., where he started his career as a game warden with the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish. His love and dedication to wildlife management led to a long and distinguished career. He served as chief of public affairs, assistant director and director of the department before being appointed cabinet secretary of natural resources for the state.
Mary shared her husband's love of animals and nature. After they relocated to Santa Fe, she worked for many years for both the national park service and the New Mexico State Highway Department as a cartographer. They traveled extensively but had a special passion for Africa, and they traveled there seven times over the course of 20 years.
Bill was honored as a conservation hero by the Nature Conservancy and received numerous other awards from wildlife preservation organizations. He and Mary were recognized as "Living Treasures" by the city of Santa Fe in 2001. During their 61 years of marriage, they shared their home with many special dogs, pea fowl, chickens, pigeons, cranes and more.
They also preserved their love of wildlife by establishing an endowment through an estate gift in NMSU's department of fishery and wildlife sciences to support students majoring in that field.