2 0
| S C T E CHN I CA L CO L L E G E S Y S T EM ’ S
F I R S T 5 0 Y EAR S
building on each of the four corners so it couldn’t go back to the
city.”
Despite good intentions, things sometimes went wrong. Being
a bit far-flung, the campus became dysfunctional. “You’d have one
building here and another building way over there,” said Walters.
“The faculty in one building didn’t want to go to another building.
Plus you had parking issues from here to there, so you had, in a
sense, four different entities.”
THE LAMP OF KNOWLEDGE
Other things went awry. Dr. Lex Walters recalls one of his more
embarrassing moments. “Around 1963, General Electric planned to
build a manufacturing plant in Greenville to make outdoor light-
ing fixtures.” This news called for an event—a major announcement
that would take place on Greenville TEC’s campus.
“Tom Barton delegated everything,” saidWalters. “The fact that I
could get things done, I usually drew the lot.” Walters would coordi-
nate all details, and “details” is the key word. Walters chose to stage
the event in the center parking lot on a flatbed truck trailer. To add
theatrical splash he asked General Electric to build a huge outdoor
light fixture.
“GE did a beautiful job making the light fixture,” said Walters.
“They added orange glass at the top so when the electricity was
turned on a flame appeared to burn on the top. It was truly beauti-
ful.” The light fixture inspired Walters. “I had our drafting students
design white cardboard squares with individual letters that spelled
LAMP OF KNOWLEDGE.”
The big day arrived. A local textile company donated a long
white cloth with which to drape the lamp. Pinned to the cloth
were the letters—LAMP OF KNOWLEDGE. This banner was then
covered with a piece of green cloth. “At the appropriate time the
light and banner would be unveiled,” said Walters. In a flourish,
unveiling the lamp and its banner would signify precisely what the
state’s first technical center stood for: the achievement of modern
industry.
Tri-County TEC
Richland TEC
Florence-Darlington TEC
Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester TEC
The 1960s
M O B I L I Z I N G A G R E A T R E S O U R C E
