Distinguished Engineer Citations

                 

J. Garland Threadgill

Distinguished Engineer

1987

Degree

Civil Engineering – 1950

 

Citation

At Time of Nomination in 1987

A lifelong entrepreneur and champion of the private enterprise system, J. Garland Threadgill is concluding a thirty–year career as a successful consulting engineer. He has distinguished himself not only as a competent professional, but as one who has helped young people to achieve their goals by serving as a source of advice, inspiration, financial aid, and valuable professional contacts.

Often a behind–the–scenes middle man, Mr. Threadgill has matched up scores of job seekers with employers, inventors with investors, and even philanthropists with the leaders of charitable causes. A close associate says, "Almost every single working day for more than 30 years, Garland has helped another person to improve his or her life."

The second youngest in a family of seven children and a native of Smithville, Texas, Mr. Threadgill graduated from San Antonio Vocational and Technical High School, where he received the R.O.T.C. award as "Distinguished Military Student." After graduating he served in the South Pacific with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during World War II. In 1946, he enrolled at Texas Tech, graduating in 1950 with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering.

After graduation, Mr. Threadgill was employed by White Sands Missile Proving Grounds, and later by Chance Vought Aircraft, before deciding that he preferred to specialize in the design of municipal works. Then, after three years with McElya Engineers, he began his own practice as a consulting engineer in 1954.

At J. C. Threadgill & Associates, which became Threadgill–Dowdey & Associates in 1967, projects have included hundreds of municipal facilities and private subdivisions, as well as such prominent structures as Collins Radio Company (now Rockwell International), Brookhaven Country Club, and Union Terminal in Dallas. The firm’s client list also includes the U.S. State Department, the Veterans Administration, Southwestern Bell Telephone, and Hospital Corporation of America. Mr. Threadgill also spent five years as a principal in the international firm of Wong & Threadgill, Architects and Engineers, with offices in Hong Kong, Bangkok, Thailand, and Dallas.

Mr. Threadgill and his wife, the former Sue Garrett, have a daughter, a son, and one granddaughter. They have been active in Park Cities Baptist Church for 30 years. He also participates in Hella Tempte Shrine and Dallas Scottish Rite, and is a Master Mason. Mr. Threadgill is a charter member of Texas Tech’s Century Club and the President’s Council, a past chairman of the Old Red Club, and a J. H. Murdough Foundation donor. He now serves on the Civil Engineering Advisory Council. He is also a charter member and serves on the board of the Tech Engineering Alumni of the Metropolis.

It is Texas Tech’s good fortune to have as an alumnus a DISTINGUISHED ENGINEER of Garland Threadgill’s stature.

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