Description

Original Caption: "Cecil H. and Ida M. Green The new Green Building is named in honor of Cecil and Ida Green in grateful recognition of their interest in learning and their deep concern for the education of youth. Their munificent gift which made possible this new building at M.I.T. is but one of a number of notable philanthropies. Mr. Green's service as a Life Member of the M.I.T. Corporation is an example of his selfless devotion to education and to his profession. Beyond education, their joint interests have included support of and participation in a number of professional and community organizations in Dallas, Texas, and La Jolla, California. Cecil Howard Green was born in Manchester, England. His parents moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, when he was a small boy, and he grew up in Vancouver, completing two years at the University of British Columbia before enrolling in M.I.T. as a transfer student. After receiving S.B. and S.M. degrees in electrical engineering in the M.I.T. Class of 1923, he worked successively for the General Electric Company at Schenectady, the newly formed Raytheon Manufacturing Company in Cambridge, and the Federal Telegraph Company Laboratories in Palo Alto, California. In 1930 he joined the newly organized Geophysical Service Incorporated of Dallas, Texas, a company formed to provide geophysical exploration service to the petroleum industry. He has had a distinguished career with that company, starting as a Party Chief and moving upward to become President and later Honorary Chairman of the Board, his present position. In his professional work as an explorationist, which has taken him and Mrs. Green around the world several times, Mr. Green has contributed importantly to the art and science of finding oil through the combined use of geology and geophysics. His company has been responsible for helping its clients find large reserves of oil and gas throughout the world. He also participated in the organization and management of the now-parent company, Texas Instruments Incorporated, a manufacturer of electronic devices, often cited as one of the dramatic examples of American industrial growth. Mr. Green has been a member of the M.I.T. Corporation since 1958 and has served on several of its visiting committees. The Greens have made important contributions to St. Mark's School of Dallas, Texas, a private secondary school for boys who are preparing for college, and to the Graduate Research Center of the Southwest, which Mr. Green helped organize. He has also served with distinction on visiting committees of Stanford University and the University of Toronto. At the Colorado School of Mines, he is identified with the new Geophysical Observatory near Bergen Park, Colorado, and also with a medal awarded annually to the outstanding graduating senior in geophysics. He has been recognized by honorary doctor's degrees from the University of British Columbia, the University of Sydney, Colorado School of Mines, and the University of Tulsa. His professional achievements have been similarly recognized by honorary memberships in a number of professional societies including the Society of Exploration Geophysicists and the Dallas Geological Society. Ida Maybelle Flansburgh was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but grew up in Saratoga and Schenectady Counties of Upper New York State, where her forefathers were among the very early Dutch settlers. Her girlhood along the edge of the Adirondacks was no doubt largely responsible for developing a fondness and sincere appreciation of the wonders of nature, and this early exposure to country life together with her sturdy Dutch ancestry produced a forthright character and a good sense of values. The experiences of these youthful years were to stand her in good stead when later, as a young wife, she would go with her husband to make a temporary home, often in a small and remote village or town, while he and his fellow geophysicists carried on their field work."