Campus Protector

Ronnie Crocker ’85 honors his mother, Betty Crocker LeMay, and her achievements with the Texas A&M University Police Department through an Endowed Opportunity Award.

By Mamie Hertel ’24

Illustration by Joe McKendry

Betty Crocker LeMay achieved her dreams and played an important role in campus safety efforts through her involvement with the Texas A&M University Police Department.

Betty Crocker LeMay moved to College Station in the early 1980s and, like her mother had done years earlier in her hometown of McGregor, Texas, went to work as a dispatcher for the local police department. Betty felt she could do more, however; she wanted to become a licensed peace officer. She got the chance to serve when Texas A&M University Police Chief Bob Wiatt offered her the opportunity to attend the police academy.

Within a few years, LeMay became an integral and well-known face of the campus’s crime prevention and safety efforts. She developed preventative programming within departments and spent many hours off the clock speaking to organizations like Fish Camp and Aggie Moms’ Clubs. In 1999, she received the President’s Meritorious Service Award, a testament to her service to Aggieland.

“My mother was always determined to succeed despite the challenges she faced,” said Ronnie Crocker ’85, who created the Sgt. Betty C. LeMay Endowed Opportunity Award Scholarship to honor his mother and support first-generation students. “Texas A&M has always been a place for hard-working people to thrive. Her legacy of overcoming odds will continue through the students who receive this scholarship.”