Gordon Worsham (left) and his wife, Sudie, and Bassett and Peggy Kilgore were the guests of honor at an SMU reception in December. The event
was held in a house built by Kilgore’s grandfather, James Kilgore, which is now the home of preservation architect Craig Melde and his wife,
Becky Melde ’74, an advancement specialist in SMU’ Office of Planned and Endowment Giving.
Gordon Worsham and his wife, Sudie Appel Worsham, surprised a longtime friend in December with the gift of
a lifetime.
The Worshams funded an immediate gift and a charitable gift annuity to establish the Bassett Kilgore Endowed Graduate Fellowship Fund in the Chemistry Department of Dedman College. The graduate fellowship is the first of its kind for the Chemistry Department.
Gordon Worsham and Kilgore met 50 years ago and have been best friends ever since. When the Worshams wanted to honor their dear friend, they thought of SMU.
Kilgore and his family already had an association with the University that spans almost a century. His grandfather, James Kilgore, served on the University’s first faculty, was an acting president from 1922 and 1923 and remained on the board of trustees until his death in 1950. His father, Donald ’20, and mother, Gladys Watson ’21, met at SMU.
After completing three years of study at SMU, Kilgore gained early acceptance to Southwestern Medical School in Dallas in 1949. After two years of medical school, he was granted a Bachelor of Science degree from SMU. Kilgore was the first trained neuroradiologist in Dallas and retired from a successful private practice in 2001.
Gordon Worsham and Bassett Kilgore met 50 years ago and have been best friends ever since. When Worsham and his wife, Sudie Appel Worsham, wanted to honor their dear friend, they thought of SMU.
Two of his five children – sons David ’76 and James Patrick ’82 – comprise the third generation of Kilgores to graduate from SMU.
Kilgore developed a lasting bond with the SMU Chemistry Department through the late Harold Jeskey. The professor had just arrived at SMU when Kilgore was a young student, and Jeskey’s organic chemistry class left a lasting impression. “I once proposed taking organic in summer school somewhere else, as a way of getting ahead,” recalls David Kilgore. “Dad counseled me that Dr. J’s organic class was not to be missed. He said I could take anything else I wanted in summer school, but not organic. And he was right.”