Hart Hix
2003 J. Paschal Twyman Award Winner, BS 1941
Family: Dorothy (wife), three daughters, seven grandchildren, eleven great-grandchildren
Work: Retired, Shell Oil; retired house builder, remodeler and Mr. Fix It
FAVORITES
- Hobby: Fixing things. Even though I’ve cut back to just doing things around our house, I enjoy repair work.
- Book: Hawaii, by James Michener
- Memory of TU: I was just 16 when I started TU, and joined Lambda Chi Alpha. I discovered girls and began to date.
- Vacation: We’ve only been once, but I loved Hawaii.
LIFE LESSONS
- What was the best advice you ever received?
My dad always told me to plan your income and use a budget; think through what you’re going to buy and make sure that you can pay for it. We pay all our bills on time or ahead of time. - What advice would you give someone just starting out?
Get all the facts — in depth — and make sure you want to stay with whatever it is you do. The most important thing is to know the whole picture and include your family’s wishes and dreams in that picture. - What are you most proud of?
Being married to the same wonderful lady for 60 years. I was in the Army and stationed in Colorado. I met Dorothy at a Halloween party at the Children’s Hospital Nurses Dorm in Denver. She was in nursing school there at Denver University. The funny thing was, she was a 5' jitterbug and I was a 5'10" ballroom dancer. So, since we couldn’t really dance together, we sat and talked, which led to the only eight dates we had before I was shipped to an air base in Tacoma, Washington. I wrote her every day. When I was on furlough back in Oklahoma, my dad helped me buy an engagement ring. I proposed to her on Valentine’s Day, and she said “yes”. So, I saved all my money, then sent her a train ticket. She came out and we were married June 24 in the First Methodist Church of Tacoma. The only witnesses were the minister, his assistant and the janitor. - How did you manage three careers in one lifetime?
I started working for Shell before computers, then when computers were developed, I worked around them in a supervisory capacity. I retired from Shell in 1971 and took a job at Lee and Miller, who were builders. I learned to draw blueprints from one of the partners, and all the facts and procedures on how to be a quality builder. In 1977, I formed my own company, Hart Hix, Inc., and built homes and did remodeling for 10 years. After retiring from that phase, I became a Mr. Fix It doing lots of small jobs. Currently I am working on refurbishing some of the stained glass windows that were part of the old Kendall Hall building that was torn down in 1972. During my four years at TU, and also when Dorothy was here getting two degrees (in psychology and nursing), neither of us remembers seeing the windows. When I mentioned this to Ben Henneke, he told me that the windows were probably covered by heavy drapes because the room was used to show audio-visual material. Now I get to see them up close and personal as I work on them in my garage.