South Plains College recently said goodbye to an old friend.

The Dean’s House, which has stood west of the women’s residence halls more than 40 years, has been removed and taken to Ropesville to make way for a new parking lot.

The South Plains College Board of Regents took sealed bids for the purchase of the house, and it sold for $8,000. 

“It was built in 1960 by a dean who was expecting to later be president of the college,” said Darrell Grimes, vice president of academic affairs.

The dean did not get the position and wasted his own money by building the house on college land.  The Board of Regents promptly fired the man, and had to cough up a hefty sum of money to get the house from the ex-dean.
As soon as the purchase was accomplished, it was decided that the house would not just sit there and rot.  The dean of men would live in the house and live on campus to oversee the college.

Over the years the house has had many occupants including Earl Gerstenberger, Mike Jones, Eddie Trice, Buddy Moore, Grimes, Ron Mayberry, George Cormack, David Jones, and Kyle Battin and their famlies.

Grimes began living in the house in 1978 and resided there for 16 years.

“I liked it a lot,” said Grimes. “Living on campus made it easy to relate to all of the students.”

Grimes remembers having students come over to his garage and watch him restore some of his old cars.

Jones also lived in the house from 1997 to 2000.

“Living on campus was not as bad as you would think,” said Jones. “We heard a little noise, but students will be students.”

When Jones lived in the home, he did not have the same kind of responsibility that Grimes had when he was there.

“I was fortunate enough to have the campus police patrolling the area, so I didn’t have to deal with all of the same things Grimes had to,” said Jones.

Grimes was dean of men and campus security rolled all into one.  He recalls many stories, but one seemed to stick out more than others.

“One night, my wife and I heard lots of commotion outside of the house,” Grimes said.  “When we went out to see what was going on, a dorm was on fire and the girls were all outside screaming their poor heads off.”

He also said that later the same evening, the dorm exploded from the inside.  Grimes and his wife spent the night trying to get blankets to all of the girls. 

The last family to live in the house was the Battin family.  They moved into the house immediately after Jones moved out in 2000.

Angela Battin, whose husband Kyle is a campus police officer, remembered the house from her college days.

“Dean Grimes was living in the house at the time, and I remember stopping by to see all of the cars that he had restored,” said Battin.

The Battins have four children, and the two youngest (7 and 2 1/2) were raised only in that house. 

“The house is full of memories,” said Battin.  “With four boys, there was always going to be fun times.”

Battin recalls when her boys would play either football or baseball on the east side of the house, college students would come in and join the game.

“It was fun living on campus because of all of the hustle and bustle of college life,” says Battin.  “We felt as if the students at SPC were part of our family and our responsibility.”

The Battins were told just before Thanksgiving about the plans for the new parking lot, which will have 95 spaces.  They were packed up and moved out by February.

Since the building is being moved, all of the bricks have been stripped off and have revealed an ugly frame to a once beautiful building.

“Our 2-year-old points at the house when we drive by and says, ‘That my house.’” says Battin. 

During this sad time, Grimes decided to add a little more humor to the situation.

“We have two dogs buried back in that backyard, and I hope they do not dig them up,” said Grimes.  “My wife would throw a fit!”