LIT receives $36,245 endowment from lifelong Beaumont residents

10/8/2018

Students who have a passion for working with their hands and Lamar Institute of Technology hold a cherished place in the hearts of Georgann and John A. Raney, Jr.

The daughter and son of pipefitters, their humble upbringings inspired the couple to bequeath their generous endowment of $36,245.68 to LIT. Both George Malicky (Georgann Raney’s father) and John “Buck” Rainey (John Raney’s father) experienced their first mechanical training repairing equipment when they lived on farms in 1905. The couple also has strong beliefs in, and ties to, education.

“Just about everywhere we go, people say they went to Lamar Institute of Technology,” Raney said. His wife added that she is drawn to the college because “you have women in process operating and X-ray technology”—non-traditional educational fields for women.

The Raney award is specific to LIT students majoring in Advanced Engine Technology and Industrial Mechanics. “Beaumont has been good to a lot of people,” Raney said. “We hope this will just be a start.”

Mrs. Raney’s brother is a former college president at Baldwin Wallace University in Ohio, Raney noted. The couple, who have been married 60 years, are both Lamar University graduates, as are their children, John II and Karen. Mrs. Raney is a retired history and music teacher, having spent 47 years in education. Raney was a plumber who also worked for his dad in electrical wiring, he said. He later became a banker at Lamar Bank, retiring in 1995.

Included in the endowment are two historic, parchment-backed maps of Beaumont and the old Gladys City, one dated 1907; the other estimated to have been from around that time or earlier. Both have been well-preserved with overlays and were “just rolled up in our house in a corner,” Raney said. They were purchased at a garage sale for just $5 each, he recalled. The Gladys City map depicting Spindletop’s Lucas Gusher will be framed for display in LIT’s PATC building.

These days, the couple enjoy gardening together. Mrs. Raney, a former church organist for 27 years, still helps with music at their church. Her husband is a Lion’s Club member and “writes a lot of get-well cards,” he said. Raney also sends many emails as a self-proclaimed, “huge keyboarder.”