At first,  Randall Boles ’74 wasn’t sure he wanted a baby brother.

“I was the baby in family until he came along 11 years later and spoiled my whole deal of being the favorite,” Boles said.

Photo: This article originally appeared in the Spring ’22 issue of The West Texan. Click the image to read the entire issue.

“He” is  Reggie Boles, the youngest of four brothers from Winters, near Abilene. And these days, the brothers are closer than ever, reflected in a gift Reggie made in 2021 to West Texas A&M University to establish the Randall M. Boles ’74 Scholarship, which awards a minimum of $1,000 annually to one or more students in the Paul and Virginia Engler College of Business .

The youngest Boles didn’t go to WT, but he knows how important being a Buff was to Randall, who studied in Canyon in the early days of a discipline that has since changed the world.

Randall Boles graduated with a degree in business administration, but his focus was on Computer Information Systems.

“At the time, computers were in a small bedroom with an air-conditioning unit that was the size of the rest of the house,” Randall Boles laughed. “But I was really interested in them—not in the engineering side, but the programming side, where you could have all of this impact pertaining to business. They were just coming onto the scene where a lot more businesses could use them.”

He studied under pioneering CIS professors, whom Boles credited with putting WT on the map in the 1970s in the technology field: “Only West Texas State University had a business degree in computer science.”

Randall Boles’ path after WT led him through several corporate roles where he created and managed systems for business operations.

“I’ve been reasonably successful myself,” Reggie Boles said, “and most of that, I owe to the trailblazing of my three brothers.

“All three of them went to college. They taught me about business. They taught me how to be kind, all of the things I need to know to be a good husband and a good father,” the younger Boles said. “Along with my parents, they raised me well. I owe all of my brothers more than what I can put in a scholarship, but this is one way to give them a bit of recognition for what they’ve done for me.”

In addition to the WT scholarship, Reggie Boles made donations to Texas A&M University and Tarleton State University.

“It’s humbling, very humbling,” Randall Boles said. “I’m honored and couldn’t love and appreciate him more.”

Setting up an endowed scholarship enables you to make a direct impact on people, programs and places at WT.

Endowments are a critical mechanism to provide perpetual sustainability for students, faculty, programs and research. When an endowment is created the funds are invested and a portion of the income from the investment is used to support its purpose. This preserves the donor’s original gift in perpetuity.

In collaboration with WT staff, you can determine the purpose of the endowment. An endowment can also accept additional contributions from other supporters, allowing your impact to extend beyond the scope of your original gift.

Contact the WT Foundation at 806-651-2070 for additional information and to discuss your giving plans.