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In the accompanying pictures, Pro-fessor Gimeno is seated in his spacious living room,a beautiful part of his Spanish home . The accompanying reproduction of one of Mr Gimeno'spaintings is of a scene in Colorado . In his collec-tion the artist has many portraits, among themportraits of former Governor Lee Cruce, Dr. S. RoyHadsell of the English department, TheodoreH . Brewer, head of the department of English andDr . William Bennett Bizzell, president of the uni-versity . He devotes several hours of each day tohis painting

Patricio Gimeno

BY WILLIAM H. WITT,'32

IN spite of his peaceful lifeof the present day, Patricio Gimeno, pro-fessor of Spanish at the unviersity, hasa colorful career tucked away in the ar-chives of his "past." He has lived a lifeof adventure, filled with travel and theromantic glamor of the Old World.

This lovable person is extremely mod-est-as most of the celebrities are. Al-though he could spin many a yarn savor-ing of story book adventure which hasbeen a part of his early life, he prefersto silence them somewhat and substitutethe pleasant reverie of educational the-ories and philosophy . He does this be-cause he has no desire to boast or makestatements which will even lean towardthe conduct of the braggart .

Professor Gimeno is a veteran on thecampus of the university . He has beena member of the faculty for twenty-twoyears, since 1911 . Here is an instanceof a man changing his vocation to hisavocation, for in reality, Professor Gi-meno is an artist, and a most worthyone. Evidences of his artistic ability areto be found in practically every buildingon the campus of Oklahoma's leadinginstitution for higher learning . Sometwenty-five or thirty of his paintings arenow hanging in our buildings. Spendingthe greater part of his spare time at workon what he regards as his pastime,Professor Gimeno has produced somewonderful work which has been donatedto the school .He received his education in the Esco-

lapius College, preliminary work in theacademy, and received his Bachiller enArtes from this institution in Valencia .He studied art in various institutions

The Sooner Magazine

in Spain. He explained that the artschools were separated from the insti-tutes of higher learning designed to pro-vide a general education.

After graduation at Valencia, Profes-sor Gimeno went to Cuba to paint andlater came to New York City to engagein the same profession . In 1911 he cameto the university as an instructor in art,being then the only art teacher on thecampus, hence head of the department .Senor Gimeno recalls now that his stu-dio was located in the Old Engineeringbuilding and that the Administrationbuilding was not yet completed whenhe arrived. A little later his studio wasmoved to the new administration build-ing.

Professor Gimeno's ability as a linguistmade him a most valuable asset, and asthe demand for students with the knackof speaking Spanish became greater, Dr .Stratton D. Brooks, president of the uni-versity, transferred Mr Gimeno to themodern language department, makinghim head of the Spanish department .This was in 1914, so that Professor Gi-meno remained the art instructor forfour years, and for the remainder of histenure during these eventful years, hasbeen an instructor in the languages . Dur-ing these many years on the campus,professor Gimeno has not limited his ac-tivities to the teaching of Spanish, buthas taught French and Italian .Among his other qualities, Professor

Gimeno has a keen appreciation of mu-sic, and is also a writer of some note,especially in the matter of Spanish liter-ary criticism . Some of this work hasbeen contributed to various Spanish pub-

April

HEFFNER

lications as well as Books Abroad, the in-ternational publication of reviews, print-ed by the University of Oklahoma Press.

Professor Gimeno is the son of a tal-ented Spaniard, Jose Gimeno, whosewife was an equally talented Italianlady . Patricio Gimeno was born in Are-quipa, Peru, but was taken to Spainwhile he was but a baby . His parentswere students of the Spanish opera andas talented musicians traveled extensivelyin Europe, South America, North Ameri-ca, and Central America. Hence at anearly age, Patricio saw quite a bit of theworld, and made a good many trips be-tween Spain and the Americas .Here is a dash of adventure for you.

The first few trips made by Mr Gimenobetween Spain and the new World acrossthe Atlantic were made in wooden sail-boats. It took months to complete thetrip around the South American horn,and there were storms and other equallyexciting happenings . Here indeed wasa most picturesque setting for a life ofart for a talented youngster.With this Spanish and Italian ancestry

it was natural that he should inherit adesire for the mastery of languages. Hismother spoke English, French, Italianand Spanish, and his father spoke Span-ish altogether . As a youngster he oftenperformed on the stage, and after hecame to the university assisted with thepresentation of student plays . He likesto act, he says, but does not like the lifeof the actor. His youthful roamingswere cut short when he was ten yearsold, at which time his father died . Hewent with his mother to live with hisfather's relatives in Valencia .

1933

Some thirty-four years ago, he return-ed to Peru and other South Americancountries, in the interest of his art workand to revisit some of the scenes of hisearly travels . With his knowledge ofSouth American commerce, he has beenable as a teacher to provide many youngmen with a firm foundation in the un-derstanding of Spanish so that they havebeen able to take their places in Ameri-can export work . Professor Gimeno indiscussing his advent into the education-al field as an instructor of Spanish states :"Our commerce with South America

was growing by leaps and bounds, andthere was a scarcity of people who couldspeak both the English and Spanishlanguages. German and English com-panies had recognized a vast market inSouth America. Their salesmanship wasfar ahead of that of companies in theUnited States . But with the tremendousgrowth of American manufacturingmethods in the early nineteen hundreds,this country put up a fight for commer-cial supremacy. The United States hasbeen winning this supremacy more andmore as the years have rolled by . Acommand of the Spanish language is theweapon which has enabled Americantradesmen to win this victory . The im-portance of the command of Spanish inforeign trade is shown when we notethat from our first Spanish classes hardlylarge enough to keep one teacher busy,the university has grown until now wehave more than 500 students of Spanish."

Professor Gimeno's instruction ofSpanish is practical, for he believes ingiving his students a working knowledgeof the language rather than a mere schol-astic knowledge. He is able to point outmany concrete examples of the benefitsderived from practical knowledge oflanguages, but one in particular impress-ed the writer . He spoke of a young manconnected with the Choctaw Milling Co.,who took a course from Professor Gi-meno in an extension class. This manhandled extensive correspondence in

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Spanish from South American commer-cial people . His success in the localdealings with foreign trade later enabledthis young man to accept a fine positionin New York and later to travel exten-sively in South America in the interest ofhis business firm .

In stressing the point of a practicalworking knowledge and use of a lan-guage, Professor Gimeno says :"My first impression in the teaching

field was that there was somethingwrong with the old academic methodsof teaching modern languages . I re-ceived this impression through personalfirst hand experience . Although I hadstudied the English language in my stu-dent days at Valencia, when I arrivedin this country I found my scholasticEnglish of little value, and as time wenton I believe it was more of a hindranceas a background than a help . My firstaim has always been to make the stu-dent understand Spanish and speak itwith as near a correct pronunciation aspossible . To learn a lot about a languageand its grammatical construction andthen find yourself unable to understanda native when he speaks it and not beable to express yourself is proof enoughthat you have wasted your time . How-ever the directness of the teaching mustnecessarily be deleted when we havelarge classes . The efficient learning ofa language is a thing which requirespractice and it is the aim of the teacherto give the student that practice in class.Explaining a lot about Spanish gram-mar in English will do little towardteaching the student to express himself."One of my most interesting experi-

ences in teaching a language under pure-ly direct methods was during the WorldWar when I was sent to Camp Travisto teach the soldiers French . It was aquestion of teaching the most in theshortest time to men who were to usewhat they were taught . Rules and gram-inar were hardly mentioned. It was amatter of drilling their tongues and their

199

ears . I believe we as educators are lean-ing toward this method of instructionmore and more every day."Evidence of Professor Gimen.o's suc-

cess as a language teacher are presentedwhen we point out some of the mem-bers of the language faculty of the uni-versity who are former students of thisSpanish gentleman. Among them areMiss Gladys Barnes, assistant professorof Spanish; Todd Downing, instructor inSpanish ; Miss Eugenia Kaufman, assist-ant professor of modern languages; Ken-neth Kaufman, assistant professor ofmodern languages and Miss Stella Sand-ers, instructor in romance languages.There are many others, who have re-

ceived their first instruction in Spanishfrom Professor Gimeno . The subject ofthis article remembers that Dr . EdwinDeBarr, former head of the chemistrydepartment for whom DeBarr Hall wasnamed, was at one time a student inSpanish classes and that Mrs Stratton D.Brooks, wife of the former president ofthe university was also in his class.Some seven years ago, Professor Gi-

meno took a sabbatical leave and work-ed on a varied course in Harvard uni-versity . While there he studied art un-der Dr . Denman Ross . An evidence ofMr Gimeno's liberality and respect ofopinions of others is illustrated in hisdiscussion of Ross's instruction . Profes-sor Gimeno believes that one is born anartist . Doctor Ross taught that art couldbe learned in a mechanical way, throughthe mathematical application of color.

"Since that course in Harvard, I amalways eager to read accounts of ex-hibitions by Mr Ross and to examine hiswork, for I am interested in watchingthe progress of those with whom I havebeen associated," he says .

Like his father, Harold Gimeno, Pro-fessor Gimeno's son has inherited a loveof the beautiful . He was graduatedfrom the university with a degree inmusic and later attended Harvard wherehe received his Master of Arts degree inarchitecture . The younger Gimeno hasbuilt a number of buildings in Norman,and built the Gimeno home, a beautifulSpanish dwelling located at 800 Elmavenue in Norman . In this home thereis a touch of Old Spain transplanted inOklahoma . His daughter, Margarita, nowMrs Leo Conisidine of Oklahoma City,is a talented musician, and is also a grad-uate from O. U. One of the most im-portant of Professor Gimeno's outsideactivities is the collection of a large andvaluable library . He started with a veryfew old volumes handed down in hisfamily . He has several old volumes inthis collection with the license of theSpanish Inquisition . In this library healso has one of the first translations ofMarco Polo's travels, in Spanish. Thisbook was printed in the year 1601, years

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PATRICIO GIMENO(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 199)

before the first settlers of Massachusettsarrived in this country."This book of Marco Polo's travels

also carries the license of the Spanish In-quisition and has some amazing factsbetween its covers . Centuries before theworld knew anything of petroleum andcoal, the writer carried a description inthis hook about a peculiar sort of oilfound in the creeks of Southern Russiathat the barbaric natives used as fuel andlight . Centuries have passed and nowthe Standard Oil Company has develop-ed oil fields in this vicinity," ProfessorGimeno points out.But his activities are not limited to

reading and collection of books, for withall his other achievements, he is a jour-nalist too, and this interest has led himto edit and illustrate a number of books.

Professor Gimeno is somewhat of aphilosopher and an economist. In thisconnection his estimate of the value oflearning Spanish and the relation totrade brings out some most interestingside-lights. He says :

"I have always felt that my missionwas to instill an interest in Spanish andSpanish literature in the students withwhom I come in contact. Being ableto express one's self in another tonguehelps one express himself in his owntongue . Many of our great Americanshave been scholars of Spanish and itsliterature, Washington Irving, Longfel-low and James Russell Lowell . In mylibrary I have many of the volumes ofSpanish literature from Lowell's history ."By knowing the language and the

literature of a people, you learn the na-ture of that people . There never was abetter time to learn about Latin Ameri-ca . We are in the trough of a depression,our factories are closed and the wheelsof industry are thirsting for more mark-ets. There are seventy millions of peo-ple south o£ us, Spanish speaking peo-ple, who are still `buying European .' Wehave only scratched the surface of trade.Millions of them are wearing clotheswhich were woven in England out ofAustralian wool and Indian cotton!"Englishmen are very good at learn-

ing the ways of others and their likes.And a noteworthy fact is that one of thebest texts I have been able to find inteaching Spanish commercial practice inconnection with export and import tradeis written by an Englishman and pub-lished in London. In the preface theauthor gives the following wise adviceabout certain peculiar customs of SouthAmerica : Such letters are expected byOur foreign customers, and if we wishto trade with Rome we must write asthe Romans write, and not as we thinkthey ought to write.

"I foresee for the very near future vastoutlets and markets for our machinery.

April

The wealth is there and the wealth ishere but it needs circulation . And itwill take trade with these millions tothe south of us to start that circulationand get us out of this temporary periodof stagnation ."With many years of teaching service

to his credit and the exertion of a whole-some influence on the lives of many Ok-lahomans who have carved their niches inthe world of business, Professor Gimenohas performed a worthy task and thereare many years of a peaceful, contentedand happy life in store for this man, whohas made a place for himself in the heartsof all those who have had the privilegeof coming in contact with him. A toastto the Spanish gentleman.

THE CONTRIBUTION OFSOONER ENGINEERS

(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 189)ing important executive positions are:L. B. Curtis, '10, secretary-treasurer ofthe Mining Research Bureau at Boulder,Colorado ; Leo H. Gorton, '13, presidentof Dresser & Gorton, Inc., at Tulsa; C.T. Hughes, '18, superintendent of powerof the Electric Railways of Connecticut,Milldale, Connecticut; R. F. Danner, '20,general superintendent of the OklahomaGas & Electric Company, in which firmfifty-seven Sooner engineers are employ-ed ; Enoch B. Ferrell, '21, radio engineerwith the Bell Telephone laboratories inNew York, where Mr Ferrell is at theforefront in short wave transmission ex-perimentation; W. H. Reilly, '23, assist-ant to the general manager of the South-western Bell Telephone Company; P. H.Robinson, '25, transmission engineer forthe Houston Light & Power Company atHouston, Texas ; Watson Jones, '28, en-gineer with the RCA Photophone Com-pany at Oakland, California .Notable among the successful gradu-

ates of the school of mechanical en-gineering are the following : Joseph C.Gordon, '15, mechanical engineer forthe Pure Oil Company, Fort Worth,Texas; Harry S. Odermann, '16, presi-dent of the Detroit City Service Com-pany, Detroit, Michigan ; Eugene Pem-bleton, '17, superintendent of the refineryof the Henry L. Doherty Company, Bos-ton, Massachusetts; Edward H. Reeves,'18, professor at the Massachusetts In-stitute of Technology, Boston, Massa-chusetts ; Benjamin Stockwell, '18, man-ager of the Southwestern Pipe Line, Bris-tow, Oklahoma ; Floyd Waterfield, '20,superintendent of the Oklahoma PipeLine Company, Muskogee and presi-dent of the Oklahoma section of the A.A. E. ; John H. Baxter, '21, sales managerfor the Inland Gas Company, Ashland,Kentucky ; David E. Fields, '25, mechan-ical engineer for the Tulsa Boiler andIron Works, Tulsa ; Guy S. Mitchel, '25,gas engineer for the Pittsburgh Light andPower Company, Pittsburgh, Pennsyl-