Samuel Palmer Brooks had a long and winding road to getting the education that would equip him to become Baylor’s seventh president — and because of that, he never took for granted the power of learning.
Brooks was the oldest of eight children, and he first laid eyes on Baylor when his family attempted to settle in Independence, Texas, where Baylor was located at the time. But they were not there for long, as Samuel Palmer Brooks’ father, Samuel Erskine Brooks, found a job as a Baptist preacher in Johnson County.
But when Palmer’s mother died in 1880, everything changed. The sisters were sent back to Georgia to be raised by relatives while the boys remained in Texas with their father.
The grief proved too much for Palmer’s father. He suffered from a nervous breakdown, causing him to lose work. At just 16 years old, Palmer left his studies and began supporting his family.
Palmer’s father eventually recovered and regained the ability to work, and Palmer returned to school — only now, at age 22.
Palmer returned to the local schoolhouse to finish his education — but then, a new opportunity presented itself. Baylor had just moved from Independence to Waco. The University had a preparatory academy where Palmer could finish his high school curriculum before officially enrolling in university classes.
From 1887 to 1889, Palmer, alongside schoolchildren and adolescents, enrolled in the preparatory program. He was finally eligible to enroll at Baylor as a freshman at age 25.
By this point in his life, Palmer had come to value the power of education. He took every opportunity that came his way to learn as much as he could at Baylor. Outside of his classwork, he was on staff at The Baylor Literary and was on the debate team.
As he prepared for graduation in 1893, Palmer made a bold choice to earn an additional bachelor’s degree at Yale University. Later in 1897, he returned to Baylor to teach for four years before going back to Yale for a master’s degree. However, he never completed the master’s program as he received an invitation to return to Baylor — only this time as the University’s president.
