List of Living Legacy and Memorial Trees
J. Dudley Hutchinson, III
10/18/61- 4/28/91
Sawtooth oak
(Quercus acutissima)
Given by Family and Friends.
Doris Kinard Lee
10/10/32 – 10/17/96
Cherrybark oak
(Quercus pagoda)
Given by family and friends.
Jason M. Morris
10/16/79 – 4/25/2005
Baldcypress
(Taxodium distichum)
Given by family and friends.
Susan T. Jordan
1/8/54 – 8/17/97
Pecan
Carya illinoensis
Given in loving memory by students, faculty and staff, College of Forest Resources.
Jane Player
12/7/25 – 7/29/2003
Black walnut
(Juglans nigra)
Given in loving memory by students, faculty and staff, College of Forest Resources.
W. H. Howard Wilkerson
6/13/23 – 8/19/2003
Willow oak
Given in loving memory by family and friends
Dedicated to
Dr. Milo Burnham
Extension Horticulturist
Tulip poplar
For service to the Starkville
Gardens Club 1970 -1996
The Moon Sycamore
(Platanus occidentalis)
This tree grown from seed that was one of many
that Major Stuart Roosa took to the moon aboard
the Apollo XIV spacecraft in 1971. A former US Forest
Service smoke jumper Roosa’s effort to honor the Forest
Service stands today as a living tribute.
Neal Denton Rogers
“Papa Pete”
Swamp white oak
Given in loving memory by family and friends.
Samson Mabry, Jr.
Class of ’39 and Marjorie
Stokes Mabry
Loyal MSU Supporters
Nuttall oak
Given by their children.
In Memory of
Bob Hartley
Our Friend
(by 3 River birch trees and 1 Ginkgo biloba)
Garatt Herbert
In loving memory of Michael Bruce “MB”.
In loving memory of his friends and family.
OverCup Oak- Placed over by Bost
Colleen White-Woodring
4/21/66 – 3/26/19
Teddy Bear Magnolia
(Magnolia grandiflora ‘Southern Charm’)
Given in loving memory by her family.
Frederic F. Mellen
Class ‘34
Ginkgo biloba
Class of 1920
Petrified Log
Found near Ackerman, Mississippi
Approximately 50 million years old
Eastern redbud
(Cercis Canadensis)
Dedicated to
Dr. William L. Giles
President, Mississippi State University
1966-1976
For outstanding service to agriculture
By the Mississippi Section
American Society of Agronomy
June 1996
Bur oak
In celebration of the U S Constitution
1787 -1887
Centennial Chapter
Motor Board
April 6, 1988
White oak
James E. Jim Henry
Mechanical Engineer 1977
Nuttall oak
Given in loving memory by Elaine and Ticket Henry.
Roger LaMoyne Dabbs
6/3/13 – 2/25/90
Willow oak
Given in loving memory by his wife Elizabeth.
Professor Mfanya Tryman
1/26/48 – 2/23/05
Sawtooth oak
Given in loving memory by his many friends at Mississippi State University.
He was our colleague, teacher, mentor and friend.
John Christopher Longest
5/29/23 – 12/19/98
Willow oak
Given in loving memory by the Student Health Employees.
Christopher Armstrong
9/26//78 – 5/8/2006
Autumn Blaze Red Maple
Donald R. Ford
(Class of 1960)
Magnolia grandiflora
‘Bracken’s Brown Beauty’
Awards from MSU School of Agriculture and Life Sciences:
2005 Achievement Award
2013 Alumnus of the Year
Given in love by the family of his brother Jim.
Clyde McRay “Chip” Rauch, Jr.
3/9/69 – 8/4/95
Southern magnolia
(Magnolia grandiflora)
Given in loving memory by:
Mississippi State University and The Poultry Science Department.
Thomas Nelson George
Initiated Kappa Alpha Order 1975
4/14/56 – 4/5/2013
Nuttall oak
(Quercus nuttalii)
Given in loving memory of our dear friend and fraternity brother who left us much too soon, but touched all of our hearts in a very special way.
Matthew Wiley
In Memory of Robert Wiley
OverCup Oak – Placed over by Bost
Robert "Bob" Wiley
Placed in Loving Memory by His Family.
David Easley and Marianne Montgomery
In memory of their Uncle David Dowdell
Magnolia GrandiFlora ‘Claudia Wannamaker”
Placed at the Center for Americas Vets
LT. DAVID MERRICK DOWDELL, JR.
PORT GIBSON, MISSISSIPPI
317 INFANTRY –
80 INFANTRY DIVISION DIED NEAR FALQUEMO, FRANCE
November 27, 1944
MSU Student Association President 1943
Edwin E. Moore, Jr. CPA
4/18/31 -2/3/02
Class of 1956
Willow oak
Given in Loving Memory by his family.
Harold B. Easterwood ‘55
10/14/32 – 11/14/05
Ginkgo
Given in loving memory by family, friends, MSU teammates and former student athletes that Dr. Easterwood taught or coached.
MSG George A. Nowlin
9/30/89 – 12/7/63
Army ROTC Drill Instructor
1919 – 1936
Willow oak
Bille Nowlin
2/20/20 – 12/11/2000
Given in loving memory by friends, classmates, former cadets and Associates of Billie and her father.
(Note- honors 2 people on one plaque)
The Freedom Tree
With the vision of universal freedom
For all mankind this tree is dedicated to
Major Richard E. Smith
And all prisoners of war
And missing in action
1972
(Live oak tree is not noted on the marker which lies at the base of it)
John Steven Hawkins
4/17/83 – 5/6/09
John 3: 16
Given in loving memory by his dad, mom and sister.
Dr. Kent Sills
4/13/34 – 5/3/06
Nuttall oak
MSU Band Director, Assistant Director
1967 – 1999
Given in loving memory by the Sills family.