Lawrence Andrew Sease

Lawrence Andrew Sease was a member of Clemson's first graduating class in 1896, and served as a member of the Board of Trustees, 1900-1907, and as an assistant professor of English at Clemson Agricultural College, September 1908-December 1923, according to the commemorative plaque in Tillman Auditorium. (Wright Bryan's "Clemson: An Informal History of the University 1889-1979" lists the dates of his board service as 1901-1908 - Appendix, page 265.) Sease lived in a large house at 107 on what is now Hillcrest Avenue, erected in 1917. He died December 12, 1923.

According to Mary Katherine Littlejohn's 1979 informal history, "Tales of Tigertown", Sease was one of the earliest arrivals at the new school, arriving by train at Cherry's Crossing in the summer of 1893, met by the Commandant of Cadets, who ordered "Fall in!" "A brave soul, Lawrence Sease, had attended Patrick Military Academy [in Anderson]; he recognized the U.S. Army uniform worn by the stranger. Lawrence answered with a salute. Then, 'What in the name of Sam Hill you got to do with us?'

"The officer was firm but friendly in explaining that Clemson Agricultural College was strictly military. Fear soon turned to respect for Lt. T. Q. Donaldson, recently out of West Point and the 7th U.S. Cavalry, who would become their Commandant of Cadets." (Page 10)

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