John Carrigan Britt

John Carrigan Britt passed away on January 3, 2018. He was a widely known and beloved professor at Lee College in Baytown for 53 years, where he taught history and an honors American Studies course. He is credited by many students with recognizing their potential when they thought they had none, for pushing them to achieve excellence, and for helping them in a multitude of ways along their journeys. Beyond his remarkable teaching, John was also a caring husband, father, and grandfather. He will be sorely missed by all.

John was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, on March 21, 1937, to William Carrigan Britt and Elizabeth Rose Britt. He was raised in Arkansas, Pennsylvania, and in Baytown, where he earned an associate’s degree from Lee College and a bachelor’s in history from Sam Houston State University before joining the faculty at Robert E. Lee High School. He was then recruited by Walter Rundell to Lee College in 1964, one of the first teachers without a master’s degree to be offered a job there, and went on to earn his master’s in history at Sam Houston State.

While at Lee College in 1966, John and four fellow teachers created the Offender Education Program. They taught courses inside local prisons, thereby providing countless prisoners with much-needed education and, often, a second chance. It was the first such program in Texas. John taught in the prisons for twenty years, and the program is still going on today. In recent years, a publication titled Second Chances has been created to illustrate what the prisoners can do when they leave prison.

In 1974, John created and began teaching the interdisciplinary, team-taught American Studies honors class with Muriel Tyssen at Lee College. Many coteachers joined him in this endeavor over the years, and their students wrote historical research papers that won prestigious awards from numerous organizations. John poured his heart and soul into aiding his students with their research and inspiring them to dig deeper and find the meat of the story.

The honors program at Lee College thrives because of John’s devotion to it. In fact, it has become a model for junior colleges along the Gulf Coast. He regularly used his wide-reaching influence to help a hard-working honors student get into the four-year college he or she preferred, being sure to include the background details of all that the student had overcome to achieve excellence. He also encouraged his students to work toward publication and served as the comanaging editor for Touchstone, a journal of undergraduate research published by the Texas State Historical Association and the Center for Texas Studies at Austin. He was an advocate, through and through.

As part of his work with the honors program, he applied for grants to fund scholarships and buy needed equipment. In the decade from 1996 to 2006, John worked on grants totaling $94,000. He also played a leading role in the creation of the Gulf Coast Intercollegiate Honors Council, a consortium of honors programs among community colleges along the upper Texas coast.

Obviously, John was an avid history lover. However, he not only loved history; he worked to preserve it. He served on the board of directors of the Texas State Historical Association, including the Webb Society, and the Former Texas Rangers Foundation and on the executive committees of the Chambers County Historical Commission, the Wallisville Heritage Park, the Monica Boyd Literacy Foundation, the Friends of the Eddie V. Gray Wetlands Center, and the National Collegiate Honors Council. He also served as the president of the Great Plains Honors Council.

For all of John’s hard work, he was recognized through countless awards—so many, in fact, that only a few that he was especially proud of can be listed. In 1997, he was awarded the Ima Hogg Historical Achievement Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Cause of Texas History from the Friends of Winedale, Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin. He was the first community college teacher to ever garner this recognition, as he was for the Leadership in Education Award in 1999 from the Texas State Historical Association. Along with his wife, Donna, he was granted the first David DeBoe award, also in 1999, for contributions to the National History Day program in Texas from the Texas State Historical Association. Earlier, in 1996, The American Association for State and Local History awarded John with a Certificate of Commendation for the American Studies publication titled From Humble Beginnings…, and in 2000, he earned the Association of Communication College Trustees Western Region Faculty Award. The Lee College Board of Regents created the endowed John Britt Honors Chair in 2007 and renamed the Social Science Building in his honor—John Britt Hall—in 2013. John had recently been honored with more awards.

Believe it or not, John had time for outside interests. He enjoyed canoeing and taught a canoe class at Lee College. He also liked to go backpacking with friends and his daughters, to cook, to go camping, to watch birds, and to ride motorcycles and bicycles.

John is survived by his wife, Donna Montgomery Britt; his daughter Wendy Walker and son-in-law James Walker; daughter Elizabeth Yolland and son-in-law Michael Yolland; son Paul Fagala and daughter-in-law DeeAnne Fagala; daughter Tess Roach and son-in-law Patrick Roach; daughter Paige Welborn and son-in-law Ty Welborn; his brother, Clinton Britt, and sister-in-law, Patricia Britt; as well as sixteen grandchildren, one niece, and two nephews.

A visitation will be held at Navarre Funeral Home on Sunday, January 7, 2018, from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm. A graveside service will be held at Cedarcrest Cemetery on Monday, January 8, 2018, at 10:00 a.m., and a memorial service will take place at the Lee College Performing Arts Center on Monday, January 8, 2018, at 2:00 p.m.

John did love flowers, but if you prefer, you may make a donation in John’s name to the Lee College Foundation, Britt Endowed Chair, at http://www.lee.edu/foundation/donate/britt-endowed-chair.

To view the online obituary or to post a tribute for the family, go to www.navarrefuneralhome.com

Arrangements are under the direction and personal care of Navarre Funeral Home & Cremation Services, 2444 Rollingbrook Dr., Baytown, TX, 77521 (281) 422-8111.