Charles A. Hines, the former president of Prairie View A&M University in Texas, died on the Fourth of July. He was 77 years old.
A native of Washington D.C.. Dr. Hines earned a bachelor’s degree from Howard University. Upon graduation, he entered the Unites States Army, where he served for more than 38 years, retiring with the rank of Major General. He earned two master’s degrees and a Ph.D. in sociology from John Hopkins University in Baltimore. In October, 1994, Dr. Charles A. Hines was appointed sixth president of Prairie View A&M University and served in that role until 2002.
After leaving Prairie View A&M, he taught at Texas A&M University and Lone Star College in The Woodlands, Texas.
When the general was a colonel stationed in Stuttgart Germany and up for promotion, I was his driver. We were working 21 days on, one day off, 82 hours a week. He had that serious look to him all the time and could appear very scary at times but in the van when it was just he and I, he could relax a bit and we would trade comments. Things got a bit too relaxed when he pointed out to me I was answering back to him with,”alrightee”, instead of yes sir. I had no idea I was even doing that. We both laughed but he did point out we were soon to pick up the corp commander and warned me that if the general asked me anything, I had best not answer back with,”alrightee”. One thing I noticed about him that I admired the most was that he loved his family. He will be missed and I wish the best to his family.
I was wondering if he was a commander of the 521 military police unit at Fort Belvoir Va sometime between 1964 and 66. If he was I would like to share a story about him.