Georgia Tech's historic Administration Building--the oldest and best known landmark on campus--is being renamed for one of the Institute's most generous and least-known donors: Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans.
Although Mrs. Evans nor any of her family members attended Tech, in 1945--at the same time Bobby Dodd became head football coach and initial plans for the Georgia Tech Research Institute were in the making--Mrs. Evans recognized the value of Georgia Tech to the community and established a foundation that would help secure the future of the Institute. Since her death in 1953, Georgia Tech has received 15 percent of the income from the Lettie Pate Evans Foundation Inc., for a total contribution to date of more than $327 million.
Mrs. Evans' story is unique, especially for a woman at the turn of the century. Born Letitia Pate in 1872 and raised in Thaxton, Va., she married tax attorney Joseph B. Whitehead. In 1899, Mr. Whitehead and his partner conceived the idea of bottling Coca-Cola.
They were successful in securing an exclusive contract to bottle and distribute the fountain beverage through most of the United States. Mr. Whitehead's company, The Dixie Coca-Cola Bottling Company, quickly became successful; however, Mr. Whitehead's career was cut short by his early death from pneumonia in 1906, only six years after founding the bottling company.
Mrs. Whitehead assumed control of the family's business interests, serving as chairwoman of the board of the Whitehead Holding Co., as well as other business interests. She became a savvy business woman in the soft drink industry and was the first woman to serve as a director of a major American corporation when she was appointed in 1934 to the board of directors of the Coca-Cola Co. She remained on the board for nearly 20 years.
The Whiteheads were a civic-minded family, with a special interest in secondary education and medical welfare. After Mr. Whitehead's death, his widow contributed $5,000 toward the construction of a hospital on the Georgia Tech campus, the Joseph Brown Whitehead Hospital, which was completed in 1911. The Whitehead Memorial Infirmary more commonly known as the Student Health Center, is currently located on Ferst Drive across from Chandler Baseball Field.
Although Mrs. Whitehead, who married Col. Arthur Kelly Evans seven years after Mr. Whitehead's death, was a high-profile business woman, accounts describe her as charming, soft-spoken, self-effacing and modest. Georgia Tech was not the only recipient of her benevolent spirit. During her lifetime she contributed to more than 130 charities and was a trustee of Emory University, Agnes Scott College, the American Hospital in Paris and the Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Va.
Over the past 50 years, funding from the Lettie Pate Evans Foundation has helped sponsor the Center for Rehabilitation Technology's Satellite Literacy Project; major additions and renovations to various campus buildings, including numerous residence halls, labs, classrooms, the President's Home, and the Library Fountain; and the Whitehead Recreation Area, among others.
Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans died in 1953. Having survived two husbands and both of her children, the bulk of her estate was left to her foundation with strict instructions about the use of the income. After a few small payments to specified beneficiaries, the income is divided each year among 11 principal beneficiaries, all of which are located in Virginia and Georgia.
Hughes Spalding, Mrs. Evans' attorney, once wrote that she had a gentle and guiding hand "and a deep sense of obligation to [her] neighbors." Today, more than 50 years later, Georgia Tech continues to feel the guiding hand of a great woman, Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans.
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Tech's three presidents--left to right, Alumni President Frank Spears, Georgia Tech President Wayne Clough and Foundation President Julian LeCraw--were all smiles May 1 for a very good reason. The annual Presidents' Dinner, which honors alumni and friends who make contributions of $1,000 or more, had its highest response, with more than 940 people. The oldest was Frank Player, CE '29, who at 91, was accompanied by his wife, Vaughn. Player is a former Alumni Distinguished Service Award winner. It was practically a family reunion for the Nash clan. Deborah, Mike and Ron Nash, all three Tech graduates, made it to Atlanta from Washington, Georgia and Texas. The one who had traveled the farthest, however, was astronaut Jan Davis, Biol '75, who has flown two space Shuttle missions and has logged 673 hours in space. Among other things, she appeared at the dinner to drop off a copy of the Technique, which she had taken along on a space shuttle mission, She presented the far-out newspaper to Clough. "The Technique is a great part of our heritage, and your contribution adds to our growing lore about it," Clough said. The president also presented co-op student Michael Tennenbaum IE '58, with a long overdue co-op degree.
When he left Tech 40 years earlier, Tennenbaum had neglected to file the final report necessary for a co-op degree. "A few months ago, Ma Tech rectified this error," Clough said. "He was provided with the form. Like all good Tech students, he filled out his form, and tonight, we can all share in a special moment while I award Michael Tennenbaum, now a resident of Malibu Beach, Calif., his official co-op degree."