The university has picked this year’s recipient of its annual Dale and Rita Brown Outlive Your Life Award – Mabee Hall.
The 70 year-old structure on the west side of campus that has long housed freshmen men will be the first building to receive the honor.
The Outlive Your Life Award, named for former board member Dale Brown and his wife Rita, was established in 2011 and honors those who have had a lasting effect on the lives of others. The name of the award is derived from the title of a 2010 Max Lucado book, “Outlive Your Life: You Were Made to Make a Difference.” The university has bestowed the award for several years annually at Commencement Ceremonies.
“There’s no doubt the dorm has had a lasting effect on generations of young men who have trashed its interiors for years,” said Dr. Phil Schubert, president of the university, in making the announcement. “And that’s why we are pleased to award this year’s Outlive Your Usefulness…, uh, I mean Life – Award to Mabee Hall.”
For its part, Mabee Hall expressed gratitude for the honor.
“It’s so nice that my years of work have finally been recognized,” Mabee said. “Over the years, I’ve seen so many things. Terrible things…”
Opened in the fall of 1954, the dorm was named for the Mabee Foundation of Midland and has been renovated several times over the years. It has withstood countless instances of waterslides down its hallways, firecrackers in its stairwells and washing machines overstuffed with bluejeans in its laundry rooms.
“The smells. Oh, the smells I’ve smelled…” Mabee said and shuddered.
The Mabee Foundation has committed $1 million in funding to support the renovation of Sikes Hall on the south side of campus, and that dorm will become the new “Mabee Hall.”
“Wait, what…?” Mabee said.
Schubert said once the new Mabee is dedicated in the fall, the university will decide what it will do with the land on campus where the old Mabee sits.
“Huh…?” Mabee said.
The building sits due west of the Don Morris Center, and architects have considered consolidating several academic units in the College of Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences and Other Miscellaneous Disciplines (CAHSSOMD) on that side of campus.
“We have such optimism for what we can do,” Schubert said. “And we’ll know more once Mabee is demolished.”
“Whaaaat!!!…”
