History of the Fort Worth Chapter
Establishment of the West Texas Chapter
The Texas Society of Professional Engineers, T.S.P.E., was
founded in 1936, about two years after the National Society of Professional Engineers, N.S.P.E., was founded in New York.
At first, the whole state was divided between two Chapters, one meeting in San Antonio and one in Austin. In 1937, in
the wake of the New London School disaster in East Texas, the Legislature passed the Texas Engineering Registration
Act into law, and Texas engineers began to be registered under the Act. By the early 1940s, two additional Chapters
of T.S.P.E. were formed, one in Beaumont and one in Houston. But, Fort Worth and our neighbor cities and counties had no Chapter
meeting closer than Austin at that time.
In the Spring of 1944, during the height of the great World War II effort,
a group of professional engineers residing in Tarrant County and adjacent counties were called to meet in Fort Worth to discuss
the formation of a T.S.P.E. Chapter. The opinion of those engineers unanimously favored the organization of a new chapter
here.
A committee to draft the Chapter Constitution and By-Laws was formed, with the late Joe J. Rady, P.
E., chosen as Chairman. The new chapter was called the "West Texas Chapter." Its territory included
all that area in Texas, lying West of the Katy Railroad and North of the Santa Fe Railroad. The late Will A. Bounds,
P. E., was elected the first President of the Chapter, serving for the term of 1945, and the Chapter was fairly launched.
Organizing Chairman Joe Rady was elected President for the following term of 1946.
Development
of the Fort Worth Chapter
Years later, as Chapter membership was growing to more than five hundred here and
other chapters were being formed in parts of this territory farther West, our "West Texas Chapter" changed its name
to "Fort Worth Chapter." For example, the Mid-Cities Chapter, comprising several cities in Eastern Tarrant
County and Western Dallas County, was formed largely from territory of our Chapter more than 20 years ago, and the Denton
Chapter was carved out of Fort Worth Chapter about 1992. The Fort Worth Chapter now serves engineers in nine (9) counties
of West Texas and North Central Texas, including Wise, Jack, Palo Pinto, Parker, Erath, Somervell, Hood, and Johnson Counties
in addition to most of Tarrant County.
Service to the Public and to the Profession
Among the outstanding engineers named in the historical lists which follow these paragraphs, you will find nearly
every kind of engineer. The disciplines represented include the Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical, Environmental, Industrial,
Structural, Agricultural, Architectural, and others as well as many Civil Engineers. The Fort Worth Chapter has welcomed
into its leadership engineers employed in Industry as well as in Government, those employed in Education as well as entrepreneurial
and employed engineers in Private Practice, of both genders and a variety of ethnicities. Active in support of education
and professional improvement, the leaders of the Chapter have organized and presented many educational seminars and workshops
through the years, offering the engineering community effective opportunities to maintain and extend their technical and professional
knowledge, placing emphasis on professional competence and ethics.
Leaders of the Fort Worth Chapter have played
prominent roles in the affairs of both the Texas Society and the National Society of Professional Engineers through the decades.
They have been in the forefront of those far-seeing engineers who have worked to maintain and strengthen the Texas Engineering
Practice Act and other legislation affecting the public welfare as well as the profession and the practice of Engineering,
through advocacy in the public interest of sound policies and improved regulations and statutes, in the Texas Legislature,
in the U. S. Congress, and when called upon, in other States.
In recent years, both Robert L. Nichols,
P. E., and the late Joe Paul Jones, P. E., of our Chapter have played prominent roles in the profession and through
wisdom, hard work, and brilliant service, have been called successively to the Presidencies of the Fort Worth Chapter, the
Texas Society, and the National Society of Professional Engineers.
The Fort Worth Chapter was organized by forward-looking
men in only the 9th year of the Texas Society. This is now the 67th year of the Texas Society of Professional Engineers,
and it is a point of pride for our Chapter that a sizable number of Presidents of the Texas Society have been drawn from the
leadership ranks of our Chapter. Quite recently, our former President Roxanne L. Pillar, P. E., was the first
woman elected to serve with distinction as President of our Texas Society of Professional Engineers. Previously, she had rendered
outstanding public service as Member, Secretary, and first woman Chairperson of the Texas State Board of Registration for
Professional Engineers.
The Richard Van Trump Award
The Richard
Van Trump Award was instituted by the Fort Worth Chapter of T.S.P.E. in 1971, as a means to recognize an exemplary member
for service to the Chapter during the previous year and to give honor to the memory of the late Richard Van Trump, P. E.
The recipient is selected by the Chapter President, to recognize that member whom the President finds most helpful and deserving
in service to the Chapter during the President's year in office, and the award is presented by him at the next National
Engineers' Week Banquet following his term. Whereas the Engineer of the Year is honored for a high and sustained
level of outstanding work in and service to the profession over a major part of the span of a career, the Richard Van Trump
Award is given on the basis of a shorter term of one 12-month period to recognize an engineer whose contributions, while not
attracting the level of recognition normally received by an Engineer of the Year, are significant and important to the President
and to the success of the Chapter. This award was first made in 1971.
The Richard Van Trump Award
is named in honor of the memory of an outstanding and widely admired member of the Fort Worth Chapter who died unexpectedly
in 1970 at the age of 37, in a tragic accident. 'Van' was a native of River Forest, Illinois, and he served
in the U. S. Air Force before earning his Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from SMU. He was a registered
Professional Engineer employed in quality assurance engineering in the aircraft manufacturing plant then operated by General
Dynamics Corporation as its Fort Worth Division; now operated by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. An avid recreational
flyer as a private pilot, he died tragically in a plane crash in the mountains of Colorado. His surviving family included
his wife Jean and their three children, Beth, Heidi, and Richard. Mrs. Van Trump remained in this area, and for
years she generously volunteered her welcome help in support of T.S.P.E. activities.
Van was very active in Chapter
activities. He is described as a man who gladly accepted responsibilities, worked unselfishly and cooperatively with
others, and saw things through to completion. He made things happen. At the time of his death, Van was the Chapter's
Newsletter editor, a vitally important but often thankless volunteer's job. He had not yet held an elected office
in the Chapter, but he was already instrumental in accomplishing many Chapter endeavors through his informal leadership and
can-do spirit. Recognizing that his loyalty to the profession and his enthusiastic efforts in T.S.P.E. operations and
activities exemplified important characteristics sought in every engineer, and deeply regretting the loss of this good friend,
the Officers and Members of the Fort Worth Chapter determined to establish this Award to encourage others, that others might
aspire to emulate his sterling qualities. All Members, P. E.s, E. I. T.s, and graduate engineers included, are eligible
for this award.
Past Richard Van Trump Award Recipients
