Edgar Cuthbert Gentle, Jr.
Mountain Brook, Alabama
EE, 1942

Auburn has been good to and for me! Why do I say this? As an undergraduate I got to participate in organizations such as Tau Beta Pi, Phi Kappa Phi, Eta Kappa Nu, Scabbard and Blade, and ROTC. As a professional I returned as chairman of the Auburn Alumni Engineering Council and as a Distinguished Auburn Engineer.

I arrived by train at Auburn, Dec. 7, 1938 and was a member of the first co-operative engineering class. For four years I alternated classes and work with Southern Bell where I located line men and field men.  In my senior year we had a chance to ride Army horses. One Sunday afternoon (Dec. 7, 1941), when returning to the stables, the stable Sergeant said "Do you boys know about Pearl Harbor?" What a Question! It led to four years with the 81st Infantry Division in the southwest Pacific Ocean area and Japan. In 1946, I began 37 years with Bell, retiring as a vice president 1983.

At Auburn I got a great education from Dean Wilmore, Prof. Bull Dunstan, Dr. Petrie and others. The organizations I participated in taught me to appreciate the differences in others.