Robert O. Trout

Robert Oren Trout
Robert O. Trout in Louisiana Tech University Lagniappe yearbook, 1970
Born (1904-08-04)August 4, 1904
Girard, Richland Parish
Louisiana, USA
Died March 15, 1995(1995-03-15) (aged 90)
Ruston in Lincoln Parish
Resting place Greenwood Cemetery in Ruston
Residence Ruston, Louisiana
Alma mater Marion High School in Union Parish
Louisiana Tech University
Louisiana State University
Occupation Sociologist
Louisiana Tech University professor
Years active 1947–1976
Spouse(s)
Rita Virginia Galloway Trout (m. 1952)
Children Two stepdaughters, both deceased:
Mary Virginia Cage
Barbara Sue Bowman
Parent(s) Otis James and Minnie A. Railey Trout

Robert Oren Trout (August 4, 1904 – March 15, 1995)[1] was an American sociologist whose principal academic career was based at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, Louisiana, where he was the longtime chairman of the Social Sciences Department.[2]

Biography

The oldest of three sons of Otis James Trout (1877-1953) and the former Minnie A. Railey (1873-1961),[3] Trout was born in Girard in Richland Parish but reared in Union Parish north of Ruston.[4] He graduated from Marion High School in the town of Marion.[2] and procured his Bachelor of Arts in history in 1938 from Louisiana Tech and his Master of Arts in education in 1942 from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.[4] He received his Ph.D from LSU on August 6, 1954. His dissertation is entitled "The People of the North Louisiana Hill Country," a reference to the 19th century settlers of his native region.[5] In 1962 and 1967, respectively, Trout wrote reviews of Canadian Society by Bernard R. Blishen, Frank E. Jones, Kaspar D. Nagele, and John Porter, and Poverty in the Affluent Society by Hanna H. Meissner, both for the Social Science Quarterly. a publication of the Southwestern Social Science Association.[6]

Trout began his career in Arkansas public schools, for which he taught for nine years. From 1936 to 1939, he taught the seventh grade and served as a principal in Minden in Webster Parish west of Ruston. He then served from 1942 to 1946 in the United States Navy during World War II, stationed in the Central Pacific in Hawaii and the Caroline Islands.[7] Thereafter, Trout returned to Minden as a school principal[4] but in 1947 joined the Louisiana Tech faculty with responsibilities in geography and sociology.[5] He retired effective September 22, 1976.[8] Trout held membership in Alpha Kappa Delta, the honor society for sociology, and Phi Delta Kappa, an organization of educators.[5] He was also affiliated with the Southwestern Sociological Association, the Southwest Social Sciences Association, and the Lions International.[4]

He is included in a past edition of Who's Who in the American Southwest and Who's Who in America. To accommodate the beginning of desegregation, Trout served on the Lincoln Parish Bi-Racial Committee. He also was a board member of the Ruston Housing Authority. In 1961, Trout was named the Louisiana delegate to the White House Conference on Aging.[4] He frequently lectured at civic clubs and within the education system, often peppering his talks with sociological statistics that he had gathered and researched.[2]

On April 10, 1952, Trout married the former Rita Virginia Galloway (1916–2013), a native of Arcadia in Bienville Parish, who was divorced from Rawson Fisher Stovall, Jr. (1913-1946), of Dodson in Winn Parish. Stovall had died of a heart attack while enlisting in the United States Army at the induction center in San Antonio, Texas.[9] The secretary to the president of Louisiana Tech from 1940 until her retirement in 1970, Mrs. Trout had two daughters from her first marriage. In a ceremony at the First Baptist Church of Ruston, Mary Virginia Stovall in 1960 wed John Michael Cage (born May 1936), later a urologist in Monroe, Louisiana.[10] The second Stovall daughter was Barbara Sue Bowman; both Mary and Barbara predeceased their mother. Robert and Virginia Trout are interred at Greenwood Cemetery in Ruston.[11][12]

Trout is honored by the website Chalkboard Champions.[13]

References

  1. ↑ "Social Security Death Index". ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com. Retrieved November 19, 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 "Trout to Address Lions Club," Minden Press-Herald, May 17, 1972
  3. ↑ "Otis James Trout". Findagrave.com. Retrieved March 18, 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Robert O. Trout, Who's Who in America, Vol. 2, 37th ed. (1972–1973), Chicago: Marquis Publishing, 1972, p. 3207.
  5. 1 2 3 "Former Mindenite to Get Ph.D. Degree," Minden Herald, July 30, 1954, p. 1
  6. ↑ "Robert O. Trout". Jstor.org. Retrieved March 18, 2017.
  7. ↑ American Legion, "Men & Women in World War II from Lincoln, Morehouse & Union Parishes, Victory Publishers, 1946
  8. ↑ Confirmed by the Human Resources Office, Louisiana Tech University.
  9. ↑ Rawson Fisher Stovall, Jr. obituary, The Winn Parish Enterprise, Winnfield, Louisiana, December 19, 1946.
  10. ↑ "Dr. John Cage". healthgrades.com. Retrieved March 20, 2017.
  11. ↑ "Stovall-Cage engagement". The Shreveport Times. May 8, 1960. p. 56. Retrieved March 19, 2017.
  12. ↑ "Virginia Galloway Trout (1916-2013)". The Monroe News-Star. Retrieved October 17, 2013.
  13. ↑ "Robert Oren Trout: Junior High School Teacher, Principal, Sociologist, and Veteran". chalkboardchampions.org. Retrieved March 18, 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.