Gordon Severance, as mayor of Monterey Park, welcomes President John F. Kennedy. This year, Severance established the Major John Fino Endowment and the Spenser and June Severance Textbook Scholarship Fund with a $20,000 gift to the SCC Foundation.

SCC Alumni check-in-Gordon Severance

Gordon Severance is thankful for college electives. With so many choices, he found he could try on a lot of different hats in order to find the best fit. That was just one factor that helped him find a career that suited him.
"The college had a high-quality, dedicated faculty that was readily available to chat with me," said Severance. "These professors-all trained in a broad variety of areas-can, and did, provide valuable counseling about alternative career choices."
His professors' life-styles "mirrored" the subjects taught. Sometimes, he said, he could see himself engaged in the same activity as the teacher, teaching in various fields. "When I was in Dr. Taylor's business law class, I actually visualized myself teaching business law. As it turned out, I ended up teaching it for 44 years in universities."
Activities rounded out Severance's experience at City College, developing skills that would serve him well in his career. As a prospective lawyer, he was grateful for the speakers who visited the campus.
"They explained in detail all aspects of the profession, its diverse opportunities and the hurdles to overcome in order to reach the goal," said Severance.
Service organizations and student government also played a part in Severance's early college career. He used those experiences and his education when he continued his studies at Stanford University and the University of Southern California. At Stanford, he earned bachelor's and master's degrees, both in economics, and a juris doctorate and doctorate in economics from the University of Southern California. He taught at Houston Baptist University and LeTourneau University in Houston, Texas, the University of Nevada in Reno, Nevada, CSU, Los Angeles and Makerere University School of Law in Kampala, Uganda. He published books and papers, maintained a law practice and served as mayor of Monterey Park, California.
These days, Severance is director and secretary of Uretek, USA, Inc. in Tomball, Texas. At 90 years of age, Gordon Severance is motivated and successful, even completing a seven mile marathon this year. He has some thoughts about City College and how far students might go in today's world.
"What is the future today for the City College graduate? I believe it is very much the same as it was in the spring of 1939 when I enrolled there. Like the rest of America, we all struggled to overcome the devastation of the Great Depression. With a fifth of the nation jobless, planning for the future was difficult and frustrating-as it is today. But if we looked hard enough-and studied-we always found an opportunity to advance our educational plans. In the arch over an entrance to an eastern college is an inscription that says it all:
Climb high, climb far!
Your goal the sky, your aim the star!*

*Hopkins memorial Steps, Williams College, Williamstown, Mass.