Ms. Tessica Martin
"In 1983, the Howard Payne yearbook took the words right out of my mouth when it described my Howard Payne hero, Tessica Martin. On the 25th anniversary of her tenure at the university, the Lasso published the following in dedicating that year’s publication:
“Miss Martin is the epitome of the Howard Payne professor,” the annual staff wrote then. “She initiates and cultivates a personal relationship with each of her students. Her Christian commitment shines through her. Howard Payne’s best interests are always foremost in her mind.”
She was an assistant professor of English and journalism, and I had been a student in several of her classes more than a decade earlier. The yearbook also noted that without Miss Martin, there would be no Lasso. The same could have been said about the other student publication, the weekly Howard Payne Yellow Jacket newspaper, where I cut my journalistic teeth. Born in 1920 in Stamford, she died in 1996 in Brownwood.
Howard Payne didn’t offer a journalism ethics course, but I learned all I needed from Miss Martin. I’ve lived long enough to see that any such lessons were never learned by many of today’s practicing journalists. Sadly, they didn’t have a Miss Martin in their lives. Becoming an influencer seems to be more important than upholding those principles.
Sure, Miss Martin taught all the basics — using inverted pyramid style, guarding against personal bias, and framing stories to ensure they were not only accurate, but also engaging. The subject of her master’s degree thesis at the University of Texas figured into her teaching. Her topic was photo captions, and she emphasized how valuable seemingly minor elements like captions and headlines are to reader understanding. The lessons she taught guided me throughout my career in newspapering.
More than even that, Miss Martin helped me figure out where I needed to be as a young adult after graduating into a rapidly changing world. She did so by encouraging me to explore my faith heritage, which as a Presbyterian included the works of philosopher John Calvin and other Protestant reformers, and by urging me to choose related topics for research papers. It’s ironic that while attending a Southern Baptist college, I learned more about the faith of my (Presbyterian) fathers than I did in all my years in church Sunday schools.
Tessica Martin, as much as anyone, showed me how my faith and my career not only can be, but should be, intertwined. As a result, the university’s watchwords of quality Christian education and “where everybody is somebody” ring true for me."
“Miss Martin is the epitome of the Howard Payne professor,” the annual staff wrote then. “She initiates and cultivates a personal relationship with each of her students. Her Christian commitment shines through her. Howard Payne’s best interests are always foremost in her mind.”
She was an assistant professor of English and journalism, and I had been a student in several of her classes more than a decade earlier. The yearbook also noted that without Miss Martin, there would be no Lasso. The same could have been said about the other student publication, the weekly Howard Payne Yellow Jacket newspaper, where I cut my journalistic teeth. Born in 1920 in Stamford, she died in 1996 in Brownwood.
Howard Payne didn’t offer a journalism ethics course, but I learned all I needed from Miss Martin. I’ve lived long enough to see that any such lessons were never learned by many of today’s practicing journalists. Sadly, they didn’t have a Miss Martin in their lives. Becoming an influencer seems to be more important than upholding those principles.
Sure, Miss Martin taught all the basics — using inverted pyramid style, guarding against personal bias, and framing stories to ensure they were not only accurate, but also engaging. The subject of her master’s degree thesis at the University of Texas figured into her teaching. Her topic was photo captions, and she emphasized how valuable seemingly minor elements like captions and headlines are to reader understanding. The lessons she taught guided me throughout my career in newspapering.
More than even that, Miss Martin helped me figure out where I needed to be as a young adult after graduating into a rapidly changing world. She did so by encouraging me to explore my faith heritage, which as a Presbyterian included the works of philosopher John Calvin and other Protestant reformers, and by urging me to choose related topics for research papers. It’s ironic that while attending a Southern Baptist college, I learned more about the faith of my (Presbyterian) fathers than I did in all my years in church Sunday schools.
Tessica Martin, as much as anyone, showed me how my faith and my career not only can be, but should be, intertwined. As a result, the university’s watchwords of quality Christian education and “where everybody is somebody” ring true for me."
- Gene Deason '72
Recognized as an HPU Hero by Dr. Don Newbury '61.