One of the most potent forces for change in the post World War II years were the wives of students at A&M. One of these women was Vivian Castleberry, the first “Women’s Editor” for the Battalion. Previous to her tenure, women had edited a “Women’s Page” and also written and worked on the Battalion in other capacities. Castleberry, however, was the first person given responsibility for the newspaper’s expanded efforts to appeal to and address the concerns of a growing female audience. During her time as editor she also wrote a popular column entitled “The Last Word.”

A graduate and later a “Distinguished Alumna” of Southern Methodist University (SMU), Castleberry was a lifelong journalist. She edited her high school newspaper and the SMU student newspaper. After leaving College Station, she went to work for the Dallas Times Herald, eventually becoming the first woman named to the paper’s editorial board. She won numerous journalistic honors, among them two United Press International awards. In 1959, she was a participant in the first conference held for women editors by the American Press Institute at Columbia University, a benchmark gathering of American women journalists. She was also a founder of many women’s organizations, including the Women’s Center of Dallas, the Women’s Issues Network (WIN), and the Dallas Women’s Foundation. She served on the advisory panel for the founding of the Family Place, Dallas’ haven for battered women and their children, and was an adviser for SMU’s Symposium on the Education of Women for Social and Political Leadership since its beginning in 1966. In 1984, she was inducted into the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame.

“For years upon end man has complained that women always have the last word. In most places, where women exist in equal quantities to the stronger sex, this is probably not so difficult. But in this man’s world [A&M], where there are approximately three males to every female, we have to keep plugging away to get in the last word.”

Vivian Castleberry introducing her column, “The Last Word,” in the 5 April 1951 Battalion.

“Our hat is off to the student wives who take any job that comes along in order to help their husbands through school. Over at the MSC coffee shop, among the girls who bring that cup of coffee and doughnuts are student wives Frances Rodgers, Juanita Willis, Erma Mayben, and Virginia Hendricks. If they are a bit tardy sometimes . . . [remember that their] husbands have the same chemistry quizzes and same grade point problems that you, your husband, or your students struggle over.”

Also from Castleberry’s first “The Last Word” column in the Battalion.