Jack C. Durgan, 1923-2009
Jack Clyde Durgan, 85, died Tuesday, April 14, 2009, at Mercy Regional Hospital in Manhattan.
His family provided some of the following information.
He was born on May 7, 1923 in Enid, Oklahoma, to Leland A. Durgan and Villa E. Mitchell. Jack graduated as salutatorian from Menard High School in Texas and received a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Oklahoma State University in 1951, where he was President of the Sigma Chi Fraternity. He practiced as an architect in Fort Worth, Texas. During World War II he was a flight instructor for three years in the United States Air Force. He was married on August 21, 1954, to the former Eva Alvareen Peugh in Fort Worth, Texas.
He was hired in 1954 by Kansas State University to teach the history of architecture, architectural design and interior design in the College of Engineering. He earned his master’s degree in architecture from K-State in 1957. When the College of Architecture was proposed, Jack founded and developed over a 20-year period the program that became the department of interior architecture.
Under his guidance and leadership, the department of interior architecture grew from a department with only two students and one faculty member to the status of one of the best design programs in the country, graduating 15 to 16 students per year with about 60 to 65 students enrolled in the program by the time he retired in 1988. He served as the department head for 25 years. His students knew him as “Uncle Jack,” and he received many awards and honors including a Fulbright scholarship and Outstanding Young Architectural Instructor for a 5-state area in 1956. In 1988 the “Jack C. Durgan Resource Center” in Seaton Hall was named in his honor and in 1990 he received the Distinguished Service Award from the College of Architecture and Design.
He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Alvareen, of the home; a daughter, Jan Durgan Chamberlain (Lyle Brent) of Ephraim, Utah; 4 granddaughters, Jennifer Schmidt (Mark) of Logan, Utah, Judy Sorenson (Aaron) of Provo, Utah, and Jill and Jacki Chamberlain of Ephraim, Utah. Brothers and sisters are Jerry Durgan (Carol) of Bamberg, SC and Joanna Agnew (Jay) of Oakdale, CA. He was preceded in death by his parents.
Online condolences may be left for the family through the funeral home website at www.ymlfuneralhome.com.
Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Monday, April 20 at the Yorgensen-Meloan-Londeen Funeral Home, 1616 Poyntz Ave, Manhattan, KS. Memorial contributions may be made to the Jack C. Durgan Scholarship, Department of Interior Architecture, (Account P22750), in care of Kansas State Foundation, 2323 Anderson Avenue, Manhattan KS 66502. Contributions may also be left in care of the Yorgensen-Meloan-Londeen Funeral Home.