Month: July 2018

Resourceful and Relevant

New technologies provide opportunities.  While some fear them or dismiss them, others embrace them and find ways to harness their potential. Some turn out to be life-changing. At West Virginia Wesleyan College, we have a history of being embracers of new ways to learn and to provide service.

Telegraphy and Railroading

If you had gone into the Administration Building between the years of 1906-08, for example, you might have encountered Harry Francis Brittingham setting up the equipment for his Railroading and Telegraphy class.  H.F., as he was known, had worked with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad as a clerk and a car distributor in this booming business of railroads. Someone at Wesleyan realized that there was a great need for educating people to work in this field. Maybe it was President John Wier or perhaps George W. Broyles, Principal of the School of Commerce. This was only five years after Marconi’s groundbreaking wireless transmission across the Atlantic.

Railroading and Telgraphy
From the 1906-07 Catalog

Although this particular book was not published until 1911, Soule’s Practical Method of Training: Telegraphy, Railroading, Express and Freight published by the University Press, Cambridge, USA may have been very much like the textbook used for these classes. And the machines may have looked and sounded much like these:

After 1908, however, we don’t see this particular course mentioned until 1942 when Dr. Nicholas Hyma and Professor William Hallam were training students for defense purposes and military service in World War II.  Again, a specific need being met by the faculty and curriculum.

Also In Art

We have also seen innovations used in the curriculum in the area of Fine Arts. From 1891-1901 courses were taught in Crayoning.

West Virginia Wesleyan College offered courses in Crayoning from 1891-1901, which is very interesting considering that Binney & Smith did not begin making what we now know as crayons until 1902 and did not begin marketing them until 1903. Taught by WVWC Giants named Miss Maude McFarland (1891-94), Miss Persis H. Heermans (1894-96), Miss Alice Divine (1896-99), and Myrtle McElroy (1899-1901), art classes being taught at the college were up on the very latest of materials and methods. The company registered its patent for Carbon Black, it’s first breakthrough, on May 26, 1891.

Crayola Crayons 1903
Image from the Oil and Natural Gas Historical Society Webpage

The word Crayon was coined by Mrs. Edwin Binney by combining the French word for chalk (craie) and the Latin root for the word oily (ola).

Resourceful and Relevant

In the November 1964 Profile Newsletter, an alumni publication, several stories show that the technology trend was continuing. All of this in only four pages!

  • Burroughs Computer Computing, tells of a quarter-million dollar main frame computer which was awarded to Wesleyan — this computer was a “decided rarity in West Virginia” and one of only five awarded in the country! Dr. William R. Willis, professor of Physics, was learning and managing it as well as training faculty and staff to make great use of it.
  • Wesleyan FM Radio to Operate Soon tells of the educational and cultural benefits to a nine county area – serving more than a quarter of the state of West Virginia.
  • IN Wesleyan, tells of a “professionally filmed and narrated program is recognized as one of the finest productions of its kind and shows the total College program and facilities in action.”
  • Wesleyan Tele-Lecture A West Virginia First
  • And the issue highlights the Nursing Building on the Boards as well as celebrates the fact that the progress in fundraising for what would become Christopher Hall of Science in an article entitled Science Building A Giant Step Closer.
Burroughts Computer
Burroughts Computer, 1964

Then And Now — Resourceful and Relevant

Nursing Simulation Lab
Nursing Simulation Lab in Middleton Hall

___.___. /___ ___ ___ /___ ___ ___ /.___..

Get key here

 

Dreams of Dorothy Lee

Early Days

Once upon a time, in a land far far away, a baby girl named Daw-Say was born. Her father had died before her birth, and her mother was desparately disappointed that she did not turn out to be a son.

In another small village in the mountains in the Fukien province of China there was a small boy named Joo-mook. His family was living in poverty, and his parents both died by the time he was five years old.

Each of them encountered Christian Missionaries who changed their lives by making it possible for them to have an education and to come to the United States for more advanced studies. It was two chance encounters – one in Chicago and one in Moundsville, West Virginia – that brought the two together.

Each receieved new names in America. He became James Cheng and she became Dorothy Lee.

The full stories of their early lives are written in a book called Life Has No Ceiling, by Dr. Frank T. Cutright. Although written as fiction, all of the stories and details have been vouched for by both Dorothy and James and by major people in their lives.

Life Has No Ceiling
1940, Friendship Press

This book includes a great story in the Prologue which takes place in Agnes Howard Hall.

Prologue

If I don’t get a letter by tomorrow night, I am going to call Detroit by long distance and ask him what is the matter — and the charges will be reversed. I’ll teach him to economize on postage stamps!

A group of amused and interested seniors gathered around Dorothy Lee, their Chinese classmate, as she made her spirited threat. The whole student body of West Virginia Wesleyan College had been enjoying their occasional glimpses of this developing Oriental romance. Many of them had seen photographs of the slender, sober-faced Chinese man who was now being threatened with mild revenge. Dorothy’s naive descriptions of him and her comments about him had whetted their appetite for more intimate knowledge.

At supper time that night one of the girs asked, “Has your letter come from Detroit, Dorothy?”

“No, it hasn’t,” she replied indignantly, her usually merry face assuming sterner lines.

“Are you going to telephone him, then?”

“Why, of course. I said I would, didn’t I?”

“We’ll be listening in,” threatened another senior gaily. “I wouldn’t miss the dressing down you’re going to give him for any amount of money!”

“Neither would I!” exclaimed a dozen voices, as the dean arose, signaling that it was time to leave the dining room.

Dorothy tried to escape her tormenters, but they escorted her relentlessly to the telephone booth, insisting that she must leave the door open for ventilation, and then settled themselves comfortably on the stairway outside to await the fun.

Dorothy, seeing that she could not shake off the laughing group, put in her number. She heard the calls along the way–“Long distance…” “Route for Detroit, Michigan…” “Thank you…” “Pittsburgh calling Cleveland…” “Thank you…” –each call punctuated by the buzz or click of connecteions made or broken. And at last the voice of the operator–“Here’s you party. He says he will take the charges.”

“Is that you, James? she said, and at the sound of her voice the huddled girls crowded forward eagerly. They were about to hear the “dressing down.” Then, with a mischievous gleam in her eye, Dorothy went on, “James, I want to know–nu sie-noh-iong-go ci sioh la-bai mo sia pie gie nguai.” And the flow of Chinese was halted only when the operator told her that her three minutes were up! As she walked out of the booth with a demurely innocent face, her disappointed audience eyed her in chagrin.

“We might have known you would fool us,” one girl declared ruefully. “But, what did you tell him?”

Dorothy giggled at their discomfiture and disappeared up the stairs in tantalizing silence. And they never did find out what Miss Lee said to her fiance, Mr. Cheng.

Married on Graduation Day

The couple returned to China to fulfill their childhood dreams of teaching and of helping to reduce suffering among people there. James became a very influential physician – and at one point treated Chiang Kai-Shek, the leader of the Republic of China from 1928-1975. Dorothy and James were invited to his home with a small group of about 18 people to celebrate Chiang Kai-Shek’s return from being held hostage during a regional uprising.

Julia Bee Thomas and Mary
Mary Ellen (born in 1932), Thomas Clement (born in 1930) and Julia B. (Born in 1928)

The Dorothy Lee Scholarship Fund for Overseas Students

As conditions grew difficult through the Japanese occupation of China and the Second World War, the Cheng family lost nearly everything. A group of people from West Virginia Wesleyan College and the West Virginia Methodist Conference Women’s Society for Chrisitan Service went into action to help bring Julia B. (by then ready for college) to West Virginia Wesleyan. The group included such Giants as:

  • Roy McCuskey (S1905, 1908, College President 1931-1941)
  • Wallace B. Fleming (College President 1915-22; College Vice President 1938-44)
  • Edna Jenkins (S1902; Trustee 1943-56)
  • Lewis H. Chrisman (Faculty 1919-56)
  • Dr. Thomas M. Zumbrunnen (1919; Trustee 1931-59)
  • Julia Bonafield (the Missionary who had been the Champion for Dorothy)
  • Mary Scott (at whose home Dorothy and James had started their courtship)
  • and Dorothy’s college friend Laura Rector Hedrick (1930 – who became Julia B.’s American Mother).
Julia B.
Julia B. 1946

Julia graduated cum laude from WVWC in May, 1950 and went on to receive her Master’s degree in social work from Columbia University. She became a generous contributor to the Dorothy Lee Fund in order to help other students have the same opportunity that she had been given.

Dorothy and James
Dorothy and James

The dreams of Daw-Say and Joo-mook came true thanks to the Missionaries who were there when they were most needed, and to the love and generosity of caring Christians from far away. Their dreams were not for themselves, but rather to prepare themselves to help others.

Many other students have benefitted from the Dorothy Lee Fund for Overseas Students since its beginning in 1946. Nearly 100 of them from countries all over the world.

UPDATE: A special edition of the Emeritus Club Newsletter in February 1983 provided information about Dorothy Lee Cheng as well as requested more information. Word had reached WVWC, through Julia Cheng Kurz, that Dorothy died the week after Thanksgiving 1982 in a nursing home in Los Angeles, CA. Here is a link to that newsletter. 

Timeless Sundial

Meet You at the Sundial

Before the days when students gathered and met their friends at the statue of John Wesley in front of Wesley Chapel, there was a time when that meeting point was the sundial in front of the Administration Building. Generations of students have paused there.  Seniors pass by it as they line up for the long march down the campus sidewalks to their Commencement. Some think of time as they pass.

Sundial and Admin 2018

The first sundial was purchased and installed in 1907 by William A. Haggerty. A graduate of the West Virginia Conference Seminary in 1897, Haggerty went on to Ohio Wesleyan University, Harvard University, and Boston University before being appointed by President Carl Doney as the first Dean of the College in 1907.

There is a photograph of the second sundial in Our Home Among the Hills, by Brett Miller.  At the left of the picture is Dr. Thomas W. Haught who is regarded as a major figure in the making and the recording of WVWC History.

Sundial from Miller page 20
Thomas Haught with the second sundial.

Sundial Traditions

Alumni of West Virginia Wesleyan College have come to associate the word Sundial with the Alumni magazine that helps keep them informed about happenings at the college today — at this time.

What may come as a surprise, however, is that from May 1927 through May 1928 there was a column in the Pharos called The Sundial. This column was intended to be a place where students could write opinion pieces and make their thoughts known. For a time it did work that way until apathy set in and entries became less frequent. When that happened, the editorial staff had to fill that space. In 1930, a new editor and staff tried to revive it, but it didn’t fare any better than it had done previously. Click here to see an example of this column from February 15, 1928.

The topics covered during the run of the Sundial column in the Pharos can tell us much about life here in days gone by. Indeed, reading about what was important to students in early days is almost like a time machine.

Among the topics included were:

  • Fraternities and Sororities
  • Popularity Contests
  • The need for lockers in the Gym, Cloakrooms in Haymond Hall of Science, and the request for rocking chairs to replace the desks in the classrooms
  • Freshman rules and traditions — which today we would call hazing
  • Literary Societies
  • Exams (pros and cons and the problem of cheating)
  • Chapel (pros and cons and the problem of rude students and faculty absences)
  • School Spirit and the need for building a community without cliques
  • The Point System
  • Are college professors human beings?
  • World affairs

Sundial Alumni Publication

Suncial Cover September 1955

The first issue of the Alumni Magazine named The Sundial was September 1955. In it, Dr. Thomas Haught wrote a brief history of the Timeless Sundial.

Haught Quote from Sundial September 1955

The Sundial Today (2018)

Sundial #4 is in place today, and was given as the Class Gift from the Class of 2003. Once again, the arm has gone missing. It has been said that this makes for a better conversation for young couples who pause there to discuss the mysteries of time.

Sundial July 2018
Sundial, July 2018

 

 

 

Surface Stories are Shallow – Let’s Dig Deeper

Digging Deeper
Getting to The Rest of the Story

 

 

 

 

On May 12, 1991 an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters was presented to Joyce Garrett. I have been looking through the lists of these degree recipients, and gathering the information about them from Commencement Programs.

Lists of Names Mean Little

  • 1990 – Lawi Imathiu, Edwin L.D. Dils, Thomas Conlin, James T. Laney
  • 1991 – Joyce Garrett, James W. Rowley, Ernest L. Boyer
  • 1992 – Robert C. Byrd, George H. Dixon, Chi Kil Kim

Actually, each and every one of these people is impressive and deserving of such an honor. And this is but a sliver of the whole list. The whole list encompasses decades and decades full of names.

The stories behind them mean so much! It is these stories that inspire me to keep digging deeper. It is these stories that makes the lists interesting and exciting.

Joyce Garrett is just one great example of this. Joyce Garrett has been a force for music and for the transformation of lives for decades. In fact, her motto is “Choir is a tool for transforming lives.”

Against All Odds

In 1988, just three years before receiving her Honorary Doctorate at West Virginia Wesleyan, Joyce Garrett was invited to bring her choir to the International Youth and Music Festival in Vienna, Austria – the first all-African-American choir ever to be invited.

Against all odds, they were able to raise $160,000 to make the trip. Against all odds, the 54 students (only two of whom knew how to read music) were able to learn difficult classical music which had to be sung in German. Against all odds, they won second place behind the Latymer School from London (which was founded in 1624). That year, they didn’t even award a third place trophy because there was such a large gap between the top two groups and the scores of the next one.

In an article in the Washington Post this week, John Kelly referred to the 1988  group as, “Rocky meets Pitch Perfect with a bit of Stand By Me thrown in.

Here is a video of that group singing the music from that competition in Vienna and being congratulated by President Ronald Reagan at the White House on August 1, 1988. President Reagan praised the choir, saying,

“Your talent is manifest. Your brilliant performance in Europe was an inspiration to all of us. I don’t need to tell you about the kind of world-class competition you were up against or the fact that a good many of your competitors had plenty more resources behind them that you did, but you did have advantages. First, your talent. Second, your commitment and determination. You practiced endlessly, sometimes in Latin or German, and you raised the money for the trip yourselves. Third, the wonderful people behind you, and here I mean your parents, families, and friends. And most of all you had a secret weapon whose name was Joyce Garrett.”

They Sang in Wesley Chapel

The choir also presented a concert in Wesley Chapel on Feburary 23, 1991.

Program for Eastern High School Choir concert
February 23, 1991

Choir Is A Tool For Transforming Lives

Through the years, Joyce also created scholarship opportunities for her students, and many of them have taken the life lessons, determination, and confidence they gained to go to college and make a difference in the world. Generations of choir members.

Having just “discovered” this amazing lady this week, I found that the choir was having a 30th Anniversary Concert on July 7. Several of WVWC’s Alumni were gathered to celebrate the event.

WVWC Black Alumni gathering in D.C. July 2018
WVWC Black Alumni Gathering in the D.C. Area (nearly all of these are from Eastern High School and sang in Joyce Garret’s choir)

 

Dr. Joyce Garrett. Much more than a name on a list.

 

Sources and Related Articles:

 

Stories Lurking Everywhere….What Do You Know?

Seminary Building 1890 Catalog Drawing
Drawing of Seminary Building in 1890 Catalog

I just finished teaching a month-long course in WVWC History. We learned about the buildings on campus: when they were built, who built them, who helped to fund them, who are they named for, and more. We learned about some of the Giants who have been here before us, and the work that they did. We learned that some of the people we see every day now are actually doing things worthy of the title of Giant.

Sometimes, as students turn in their assignments, they express things like, “Mind. Blown.”  Sometimes they say things like, “I am so proud of MY SCHOOL!” The more they learn about the past of WVWC, the more they tend to appreciate it in the present. They feel connected and grounded in this community.

We (incuding me) are sometimes surprised by what we find, such as this article in the May 9, 1946 issue of the Pharos.

Clipping 1946-05-09 Student Marries Princess
Pharos, 1946-05-09

Stories like this one lead to more questions……where did they meet? What happened later? Her kin being the wealthiest in Tehran, it must have been an interesting time for her to be living here!

[Note: Because I really was curious about these people, I did some further research. They apparently met while both students here. James graduated with the class of 1962 and Shamsi in 1963. Although she was a very successful business woman in the area of Real Estate, she was also known as a linguist (spoke five languages), had medical training, and they both worked at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi. He was 82 and she was 75 when they both were drowned in their home during Hurricane Katrina]. SunHerald, July 8, 2015 and updated January 13, 2016.

Or this one found by one of my First Year Seminar students last fall:

Clipping 1945-03-15 Hallam Resumes Teaching
Pharos 1945-03-15 

I was stunned. Although I had long heard about Professor Hallam, who began teaching here in 1928, and I knew he taught Mathematics here until he retired in 1973 this was news to me! Never had I heard that there was a time that he spent 27 months preparing pilots who would be deployed in World War II. This article was right next to one reporting the death of a student who had been here for two years before being called into the service. His name was William Watts, and he was from Durbin, West Virginia and was killed in action on January 23, 1945.  Read more about him here.

Hallam, William A.
Photo of William Hallam, by Howard Hiner

Personal Connections

During spring semester, one student let us know that she was a direct descendent of Agnes Howard’s sister. One boy found Letters to the Editor in the 1960s Pharos which his grandfather had written concerning the draft during the Viet Nam war — and letters written in response. Mind. Blown. Another girl found photographs of her grandmother being crowned May Queen.

Primary Sources Are Powerful

The primary sources which help us to find these things are available online for all to use. Here is a list of them, and some worksheets that I prepared for the students so that they could learn to use them. Enjoy them! And, you don’t even have to do the assignments and turn them in unless you want to.

Books (Online)

Haught, T.W. (1940) West Virginia Wesleyan College: the first fifty years.[electronic]. Retrieved from Internet Archive. Buckhannon, WV: West Virginia Wesleyan College.  Available in the Annie Merner Pfeiffer Library.

Haught, T.W. (1950) West Virginia Wesleyan College: the sixth decade 1940-1950. Typewritten copy. [electronic] Retrieved from Internet Archive.

Plummer, K.M. (1965) A history of West Virginia Wesleyan College 1890-1965.  [electronic] Retrieved from Internet Archive. Buckhannon, WV: West Virginia Wesleyan College.

Books (Print Only – available in the Annie Merner Pfeiffer Library or through the Bobcat Den for $40)

Miller, B.T. (2014) Our Home Among the Hills: West Virginia Wesleyan College’s First 125 Years. Virginia Beach, VA: The Donning Company Publishers.

Pages In Time

  • Performing Arts Programs (in progress)
  • Pharos (so far up into the mid 1970s)
  • Photographs
  • Programs
  • Sundials (so far through 1960)

Worksheet for Pages In Time

Internet Archive

  • Catalogs (from earliest days on)
  • History Books (the Haught and Plummer books)
  • Murmurmontis (1904-2010)

Worksheet for Internet Archive

DreamersAndGiants.com

  • An online encyclopedia, and celebration of the people who have studied, taught, and worked at WVWC. This is very much in progress, with more being added regularly. And, fittingly, the students are involved in the process of the discovery.
  • Brings elements together from all of the sources above in order to tell the stories.

Worksheet for DreamersAndGiants

Enjoy the exploration! And the stories!