First Families of Baylor Award
The spark for all things Baylor was ignited in 1916 when a young preacher named Jesse Leonard Yelvington stepped onto the Baylor campus. He came because he sought a Christian education in a strong academic environment. He was married to Lessie Ramsey, and they had two small children, Ramsey and Harriet Mae. He was pastor of the Baptist Church in West Point, TX.
His children, Ramsey and Harriet Mae, followed his passion and moved to Waco to attend Baylor. Ramsey was a yell leader and involved in drama. Later, he became a professor in the drama department under Paul Baker. His granddaughter, Perrin Worrell, served as a trainer for the Baylor Bears football team while a student and graduated in 2000.
Harriet Mae met an energetic young man named Caso March who lived in her boarding house. She was selected a Baylor Beauty, and Caso was head yell leader and a champion debater. President Pat Neff was his mentor and encourager. After Caso’s Baylor law school graduation, he and Harriet Mae married and had two children, Ann and Ben.
Ann came to Baylor in the fall of 1954 and was a proud member of the “Baylor Greatest of the Great Class of 1958.” History repeated itself when as a freshman, she was chosen as a Baylor Beauty, met and fell in love with a yell leader, Gil Stricklin. They were married in 1958, at First Baptist Church in Waco the day Ann graduated from Baylor. They were blessed with two sons, Art and Cliff.
Art was in the Baylor class of 1984. While at Baylor, he was sports editor for The Baylor Lariat. His career in sports writing continues today.
After graduating from Baylor in 1986, Cliff went to law school, was a federal prosecutor, and is now a partner at Bryan Cave LLP in Denver, CO. Art’s daughter Allison, Class of 2014, became a school teacher and his daughter Ashley will be a Baylor graduate in May of 2019. Cliff’s son, Cal, graduated from Baylor in 2018 and was a men’s basketball manager while a student.
Ben was in the class of 1969 and graduated with a business degree. His career was spent in business and working for the university as executive director of development. He met the love of his life, Anita Holt, at Baylor and they were married in 1968. Anita worked for Baylor in various departments while their children, Wendy and Ramsey, were students.
Wendy, class of 1994, received her undergraduate degree from Baylor and has worked for many years in the area of human resources. Wendy’s son, Benjamin, will be a freshman at Baylor in the fall of 2019. Ramsey met Haley Fuller at Baylor, and, following their graduation, they married. They live in Dallas with their three children, and Ramsey is managing director and partner with Stream Realty Partners.
And so their “Good Old Baylor Line” has continued for five generations! There must be a “Cloud of Witnesses” peering over the balcony of Heaven cheering for them, led by Jesse Yelvington. They all came to Baylor for a Christian education in a strong academic environment and left to lead the next generation to “light the ways of time.”
