Month: July 2019

Echoes, Ripples, and Seeds

Echoes

The walls of Wesley Chapel were echoing on Saturday, July 27, 2019. Songs not heard since the 1970s were sung with gusto by a very special group. There were Wesleyan alumni from the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and one from 2019. There were current students. There were some amazing musicians who were experiencing the beautiful chapel for the first time.

Although there were only a dozen or so people in the chapel for this experience, it was streamed live on Facebook to 50 or so others as well. Those folks were spread all around! And, we are told, listening carefully to the stories, straining to see the photos, and singing along in such places as Canada, Florida, and JFK airport. Click here for a better look at those photos.

              LoveShine Impromptu Reunion 2019:                            Songs, Stories, Worship

This was a reunion of people who had been active in the group known as LoveShine, which started in 1976 and ended in 2003. LoveShine, a Christian Drama Group, was composed of WVWC students who came together to glorify God by using their talent and creativity to write and perform skits and music. They performed in worship services, coffeehouses, workshops, and toured throughout the region visiting churches to share God’s love.

The founder, and first director, of the group, Paul Brown, was present in the chapel for this reunion. He had not been back to WVWC in 43 years! 

He was able to tell the story about the beginnings, and in this photo is listening to Cheryl (Isner) Olcott, his hand-picked successor as director, tell about the development of the group and what it has meant in her life to this day.

We also had some memories sent in by email, including from Rev. Heather (Runser) McLeod who was part of the last group in 2003. Click below to read those memories that were shared. If you have memories to share as well, email them to historian@wvwc.edu.

LoveShine Memories

Ripples

How Did This Reunion Even Come About?

Caitlin in the front. Back row; Paula McGrew, Paul Brown, Leslie (Flack) Miller

In Spring 2019, a course on WVWC History was being taught by Paula McGrew (’78). Her challenge to the students in the class was to choose an area of Wesleyan and to go to the archives and find out as much as possible. One student, Caitlin Ware, chose to dive into the topic of Religious Life on Campus in the past 20 years or so. Thus began the ripple effect:

  • Research in the WVWC archives revealed a group called LoveShine
  • LoveShine had a theme song written by Leslie Flack
  • Which led Paula to email her former classmate, Leslie, to ask if she had the lyrics to that song – or better yet a recording
  • Which led Leslie to contact Wendy, Paul, Jeff and others to try and get all of the words and the chords from all those years ago
  • Which led to chatter about having a reunion, including those who had not been back to WVWC for decades
  • Which prompted Paula to contact the chapel and alumni offices – and Robert Osburn in AV
  • Which resulted in many stories being told, including some mailed to Leslie by people who really wished that they could be here in person
  • Those stories included both the stories of the beginning of the group in 1976 and the ending of it in 2003.

One thing led to the next and grew into the next and into the next…..

Seeds

Those long ago experiences planted many seeds. In the hearts of the participants. In the hearts of their audiences. In the very fabric of Religious Life on the campus of WVWC.  

On Saturday, July 27, 2019, more seeds were planted. Caitlin was present and talked with the people that she had “discovered” in the archives. She sang with them, laughed with them, asked them questions, answered some of theirs, and made new friends.

Also in attendance were Lucas Trovato (a 2019 graduate and current MBA student) and his fiance Lauren Hatcher (class of 2020 and currently the President of Student Senate). They also learned a few new (old) songs and made new friends. They were able to see the Orange Line in all of its glory.

AND

The event was broadcast well beyond Wesley Chapel. Through the magic of Facebook Live, 50 or so people who wanted to be in the chapel were able to be there virtually. 

AND

The entire event was recorded by Robert Osburn, including a recording session with participants singing the LoveShine Theme Song and another of Leslie Flack’s songs, The Good Song inspired (of course) by John Wesley himself as well as Martin Luther King, Jr.  These songs have been lodged in my head for days now. When the recordings are available, I will post them here. Listen at your own risk!! They are absolutely classics in the making. Until those recordings are ready, click here to hear them from Leslie’s website! 

There is no telling where these seeds may yet take root! Or when. Or where. LoveShine is shining on!

Photos to Share? You can put them here in this folder.

Here is a partial list of those who have been involved with LoveShine through the years. The names were pulled from yearbooks and scrapbooks, neither of which had complete information for all years. Apologies to anyone who might be missing from the list. If that includes you (or others you know) please send their names and the year(s) they were involved to historian@wvwc.edu.

Program from LoveShine Reunion (including the theme song lyrics)

Insert with Good Song lyrics.

Editor’s Note: July 1, 2020 Caitilin Ware will begin serving the college as Spiritual Life Coordinator for one year, during which she will be exploring and helping build a foundation and vision for the future of religious and spiritual life including how the College and the leadership of the West Virginia Annual Conference can continue to look forward to a continued and strengthened partnership. You can read more about this appointment here.

DreamersAndGiants is a webpage and a blog created by Paula McGrew to tell the stories of WVWC. Click here to explore the website.

A Moment in Time And Space

Headlines sound eerily familiar:

  • Congressional subpoenas and testimonies
  • Political unrest around the world
  • Presidents and the word impeachment regularly used in the same sentence
  • Protests
  • Russians creating havok

A major difference is that in 1969 there were only three news channels, and they did not broadcast the news 24/7 – complete with “experts” to explain and spin each and every nugget of information. People read newspapers and books and sought out information. They discussed it in person, often on panel discussions containing actual experts. They  certainly did not always agree.

In 2019 there is 24/7 news on an unlimited number of social media channels. Television has mind-numbing discussions of news and issues which are often just shouting matches. Personal discussions are conducted by way of Tweets or comments on a Facebook post from people who really don’t know what they are talking about. They are just repeating something they heard or saw somewhere else without taking the time to research to find out the truth of the matter.  In a world of nearly unlimited access to information, we are starving for wisdom. We still do not always agree, but chances of encountering a thoughtful discussion with participation of a true panel of experts in person is less likely.

Products of our time (and participants in it)

The 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Mission is everythwere at the moment. We are taking some time to look back through time to discover (rediscover) what life was like the year that we took a Giant Leap for Mankind.

That year contained not one big event, but many.

The country was reeling from the Vietnam War.  The Stonewall Riots began the Gay Rights movement. American Indians seized Alcatraz. The Young Lords group (working for Puerto Rican and other Latino rights) took over the 1st Spanish United Methodist Church in Spanish Harlem to bring attention to their mission of empowering young Latinos, and the Black Panthers were actively engaged throughout the country.

And yet……that year also gave us a great many things that we now consider to be standards in our culture, including: Scooby Doo, Cracker Barrel, Wendy’s, The Brady Bunch, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Frosty the Snowman, PBS, and Sesame Street. The Beatles played their last concert together, released their last album together, and ZZ Top and Led Zeppilin came on the scene. A lot was going on.

Click here to see a timeline of some of the hightlights (including some from WVWC).

1969 at WVWC

All of these things were certainly part of the lives of students and faculty at Wesleyan. But, while the world was busy going crazy in the 1960s, Wesleyan was busy growing. Seven new buildings were added to campus in that decade, creating what I like to refer to as the Oval Side of Campus. The Benson House (now the Erickson Alumni Center) was purchased to house the new nursing program. Six new buildings rose from the mud: Doney Hall, Benedum Campus Community Center, Holloway Hall, Paul G. Benedum Hall,  Christopher Hall of Science, and Wesley Chapel and Martin Religious Center.

These last two in particular embody the importance of both the sciences and Liberal Arts at WVWC. The idea that both buildings are important enough to put forth time and resources at such a time in history to make them a reality.

The Summer 1969 issue of the Sundial was dedicated to covering the importance of science in our world and in the curriculum here at Wesleyan. Sadly, this issue has slipped through the cracks of our scanning!! (Which just points out exactly why we need to finish all of that work). Here is the cover, and I have transcribed a few excerpts.

Sundial, Summer 1969

On the cover:  Recent scientific progress has brought the age of space into our daily lives. We can no longer talk about the prospect of space travel as if it were a remote possibility. Our earth-born “Man-on-the-Moon” has made us dramatically aware that our shrinking world is part of a shrinking universe. The cover shows an astronomer’s view of the Milky Way. Sagittarius is in the center. The two bright spots in the lower right portion are the Magellanic Clouds. (photograph courtesy of J.M. Wiley & Sons, Inc. Publishers)

Haymond Hall of Science had served well since 1914, but it was no longer equipped for the types of things that needed to be done as the 1960s came to a close.  Many people dreamed of more, as we see in this excerpt:

The brick, block, steel, and machinery, even the inconveniences of noise and mud represented the fulfillment of a dream. This was the dream of students and teachers who had labored in the antiquated confines of Haymond Hall. This was the dream of the Board of Trustees and the administration as they worked to improve Wesleyan’s science education program. This was the dream of countless alumni who contributed to our building fund. This had been the dream of Nicholas Hyma to whom our science program owes so much. This was the dream of Mrs. and Mrs. Frank Christopher who gave generously toward the construction of the building. This was the dream that now had become a reality. Wesleyan gazed in wonder as the Christopher Hall of Science rose from the mud.

The doors opened, and the first classes were taught, in February 1969. Just as things were gearing up for that Apollo 11 Moon Landing.

There was so much joy in this accomplishment that there were three days of celebrations centered around science. The three main events were in keeping with the values of the college. Importance of curriculum and preparing students, creative (and very accurate) thinking about the future of the world, and worship.

  • A Panel Discussion: “The education of scientists, as viewed by representatives of industry, foundations, higher education and government was explored at the panel discussion. The general topic of the panel was “Perspectives In Science Education.” The discussion centered on current trends in science education and the preparation of future scientists.”
  • Convocation Speaker:  Arthur C. Clark spoke. Yes, the scientist and science writer who was nominated that year with Stanley Kubrick for an Academy Award for Screenwriting — 2001: A Space Odyssey spoke in Wesley Chapel. His topic was “The World of 2001,” and featured science and technology of the future. In his verbal tour of life in 2001, he discussed the questions of efficient land control, a dwindling food supply, instant communication, agricultural use of the sea, and artificial production of food products.
  • Worship Service: Conducted by Dr. Webster H. Sill, Jr., a 1939 graduate of Wesleyan and now a professor teaching botany and plant pathology at Kansas State University. His topic is “Facts–Undergird Science, Morals, and Faith.” Dr. Sill is a well-known scientific author and lecturer. He has done considerable research on diseases in food crops in the Philippines and India. Dr. Sill is also the minister of the Sedalia (KS) Community Church. He has been pastor at this church since 1963 and has been either minister or assistant minister in New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Kansas churches. He was Kansas Layman of the Year in 1957. Dr. Sill won his letter in football and baseball at Wesleyan. What a wonderful choice of a speaker! Dr. Sill embodied a very successful alumnus, who had been a student athlete, and who had gone on to be very successful in both the sciences and the church. A scientist with a heart for the Liberal Arts.

It was a Moment in Time and Space.

Audra is Awesome

Beautiful. Friends. Springtime. Fall. Relaxing. Inspiring. Unexpected.

Rocks. Rippling Water. Fun. Camping. Tanning. Tubing. Hiking.

Audra State Park is timeless. It seems as if it has been there forever, and yet it seems as if each person “discovers” it for themselves.

Generations of West Virginia Wesleyan students (and faculty) have made the 15 mile trip to get away from their daily routines, to hear themselves think, to be inspired, to be comforted by nature, to bond with friends, and to have fun. Many go to contemplate their place in the world.

This week I asked the Wesleyan Reconnections Facebook group what words came to mind (thanks to all who commented!), and combined their answers with words that are to be found in many articles in the Pharos and in the Murmurmontis. Here is the result of that experiment. 

History of Audra

Since the beautiful river has been part of my own experience, I never stopped to wonder how long the park had been in operation until last week when I was once again sitting by the river bank. Upon investigation, I found the following (via the e-WV, the West Virginia Encyclopedia project of the West Virginia Humanities Council).

To read the entire article, click here.

So, Wesleyan folks from before 1950 had no access at all. From 1950-1961 there was not a campground, and it was a day-trip park for swimming. How interesting, then, that the 1959 Murmurmontis refers to Audra State Park as a Wesleyan tradition. 

Audra and Wesleyan

In 1960, the A Capella Choir, under the direction of Erma Helen Hopkins, apparently “bonded and enhanced the spirit of the choir with an afternoon outing and picnic early in the school year”.

In the 1970s, Larry Parsons took the choirs out to have some publicity photos taken — in full dress on the rocks in the middle of the river! He tells me that he doesn’t remember anyone falling in.

Some find Audra to be a wonderful place to catch up on some reading (or knitting) and enjoy the chance to gather their thoughts.

As the water flows past – sometimes angry, sometimes muddy, sometimes clear, sometimes playful, it helps us to contemplate life in a way that we find difficult during our day-to-day busyness.

We discover that we are part of nature without being the center of it. We realize that these mountains and rivers have been here since before the pioneers settled this area. That we are part of a much larger story.

Refreshed, we return to our daily lives to do our part.

In 1981, the Murmurmontis Included This Introduction

The introduction included pictures of Audra along with pictures of mountains and other West Virginia outdoor treasures. I think it captures the spirit and the power of places like Audra.

Here…where the ageless hills reach upward to the ageless stars
Here…where a century is measured as a day
I hold these numbered years called life within my trembling hands
These fragile years touched with wonder and with mystery
There seems to be so little time in which to learn the purpose of our living and yet…

In the changeless pattern of things that are to be…
There must be both meaning and purpose or we would be insensitive to the healing power of beauty and the sustaining power of love.

Perhaps I am here to touch but a single heart or to fill a single need 
Or to share my strength with one who needs a shield against a hostile world.

I do not know.
Perhaps it is destined that I should not know
But another may know and understand and be grateful.

Compilations and Chronologies

The other day I was talking with a good friend. She said that she enjoyed reading my DreamersAndGiants blog. (That’s great to hear!) When I asked her if she also enjoyed the website, she looked a bit puzzled. Website? What website?!?

This week marks the two year mark of my retirement, and so I thought it would be a good time to take a look at DreamersAndGiants….the progress that has been made and the pathway to the future.

Early Inspirations: Lists

At the very beginning of the project, I really just wanted a place to put lists of things. Things that I had to keep looking up over and over again…..Who WERE all of the presidents of the college over the years? What year was the Annie Merner Pfeiffer Library built?

Lists take some time to compile.  And they tend to lead to more lists to compile.

  • List of all of the faculty throughout the years — which leads to wondering what they taught, which ones were alumni of the college, who served on what committees……another list!
  • List of all of the trustees throughout the years — what committees did they serve on, who were the officers, what were the major issues during their times of service?
  • List of winners of various awards — or spring sing — or homecoming queens…..

At first, DreamersAndGiants was just something I did to help satisfy my own curiosity. When retirement became an option, that just gave me even more time to find out things. One of the first things I had to find out was how to create a website. Luckily, my years of librarian training came in handy as I began to put together something that helped me collect-organize-preserve the information as I found it. Soon, though, it became clear that others were interested in knowing some of these things as well. So, I added a blog as a supplement to my website to highlight stories, people or information and to look at very familiar things with an eye to the back stories. They are published each Monday morning. The full list can be found here.

Taking Another Look

Being an amateur creator of websites, I wasn’t sure that it was sustainable. I called upon Jon Benjamin (who teaches website design among other things) and asked him if he would critique my website. He did, made a few suggestions, and then completely turned my perspective around. He told me that what I had was not a website with an added blog. It was a blog with an added website. What????

And, he was exactly right.

What had started out as a place to store lists became an endless source of material for telling the stories of the people and events of WVWC.

The Chinese concept of yin and yang is all about how things that may look very different may actually be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent on each other. Just like the website and the blog — or the blog and the website.

The information about the people and events had stories that needed told.

The stories needed information about the people and events.

Chronologies

Chronos (time) and Logikos (reason or order) — putting things into order by time.

This is a way that I have begun organizing WVWC History for courses that I teach on the topic. It is a way of thinking about things in terms of before and after. Here is one example. It is a combination list and chronology which I find myself consulting over and over again. One of the first was the Chronology of Buildings.

So which did come first? President McCuskey or President Wark? Click here to find out!

Spring Sing Winners Through the Years is one that took a lot more work to complete than you might imagine. It required digging through Murmurmontis yearbooks (which no longer exist) and newspapers and Sundials. More recent ones even included digging through Facebook and college press releases. No matter how excited people get about these winners at the time of the event, it seems that by the next week/month/year it is hard to remember for sure.

New chronologies are being developed in the background that haven’t yet been posted to DreamersAndGiants (the website). Here are a couple of examples. They are in the very early stages, so consider these a sample of coming attractions.

This Day in Wesleyan History (which was largely developed through the work of my class in June term of this year. It is likely to grow quickly in the next few months. When it is robust enough, I will post it to the website).

Alumni Adventures is one of the newest being developed. The alumni magazines throughout all of the years have included information about the things people did after their days at WVWC. This one is in the experimental stage – and only includes entries from a small number of issues, but is one that could really help to tell the story of the impact of our alumni on the world.

These types of documents are being considered for a vast number of areas of the WVWC story…..each department, each sport, each organization, speakers and concerts and plays and…….

Ironically, all that is stopping all of them from being done is TIME!!

Honoring Our Community – Building Our Community

In the past several months, our campus community has lost two people who were very much considered Giants. People who worked hard, cared deeply, and had what seemed to us to be extraordinary energy. Dr. Rob Hull and Dr. Allison Hull (no relation as far as I am aware) both died very suddenly. People that we thought would be here for many years were suddenly just gone.

This entire project of DreamersAndGiants is meant for just such loss. It is a place and a way to remember all that they did for their students and for the college. Sometimes I am asked why I run the words together in this way. Two reasons, really. First, because that is how the url is formed. More importantly, it is very difficult to find a Dreamer who is not also a Giant, and vice versa.

Moving Forward….One Baby Step At A Time

There is a lot to collect – organize – preserve – and share.

It sometimes seems a bit overwhelming, but I have some secret resources. Student interns and volunteers are stepping up to help discover more about the history of their school. There are some alumni and campus colleagues who are also pitching in. Working together, we can make a lot of progress!

We can build our community while discovering and sharing our history.

If you are reading this, you have already discovered the Blog. Be sure to check out the website as well. It is always under development, and always developing. One baby step at a time.

Camden

Camden Avenue

I am still working on tracking down exactly when the street began or when it was named, but it is already in place and named by 1894 when the Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Buckhannon was published. Click here to see the entire map and legend.

Sanborn Fire Insurance Map 1894 (Library of Congress)

One of the most distinctive streets in Buckhannon, it is a divided highway of sorts and includes a median. I have often admired the street, but never gave a thought to the source of its name.

Johnson Newlon Camden

On March 6, 1828 a baby was born in Lewis County, Virginia. HIs name was Johnson Newlon Camden.  His life was full of successes in the areas of law, banking, industrial development, railroad development and politics.  I post here a brief timeline of some of the highlights of  the life of this man who became one of the most influential and wealthy West Virginians of his time.

  • 1828 – Born on March 6 in Lewis County, Virginia
  • 1843-46 Studied at Northwestern Academy in Clarksburg
  • 1846-48 Studied at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Resigned halfway through the program to study law instead of pursuing a military education
  • 1851 – Admitted to the Virginia Bar and became Prosecuting Attorney for the Commonwealth in Braxton County
  • 1852 – Prosecuting Attorney for Nicholas County as wel
  • 1853 – Settled in Weston where he added clerking and assistant cashier duties to his legal work. In addition, he had become interested in surveying and had secured several tracts of land in Braxton and Nicholas Counties.
  • 1857 – Left both his law practice and banking duties to focus on the West Virginia Oil Fields
  • 1858 – Relocated to Parkersburg
  • 1862 – Helped to found the First National Bank of Parkersburg and was made president of the bank.
  • During the Civil War business was disrupted, but he kept working at it. He was a Union sympathizer but did not participate in the military on either side.
  • After the Civil War he continued to expand the oil business, joining with Standard Oil and becomeing a director and member of the executive committee
  • 1868 – Ran for governor of West Virginia, losing to William E. Stevenson
  • 1872 – Ran for governor of West Virginia, losing to John J. Jacob
  • 1875 – Major emphasis on Railroad Development, resulting in over 500 miles of rails which were referred to as the “Camden System.” Lines included:
    • Clarksburg – Weston
    • Regional extensions including from Weston to Buckhannon
    • West Virginia Central Railroad
    • Ohio River Railroad between Wheeling and Huntington
    • Monongalia Railroad between Morgantown and Fairmont
    • West Virginia and Pittsburgh Railroad (served as president)
  • 1881-87 –  U.S. Senator from West Virginia
  • 1887-93 –  Returned to Parkersburg to practice law
  • 1893-95 – Filled vacancy in U.S. Senate caused by the death of John E. Kenna. During this term he served on the Committee to Audit and Control Contingent Expense and on the Committee of Railroads.
  • After this term he returned to Parkersburg
  • 1908 – Died on April 25 in Baltimore on his way home from a family vacation and is buried in Parkersburg, West Virginia.

He is listed in many biographical resources about the early leaders in West Virginia including:

Men of West Virginia, 1903

Prominent Men of West Virginia, 1890

In some ways, he reminds me of an earlier-day Robert C. Byrd, as his name is attached to a lot of familiar things around the state including Camden Clark Hospital in Parkersburg, Camden Park in Huntington, and Camden-on-Gauley to name a few.

Camden Avenue

The Camden Avenue area of Buckhannon has had a very colorful history. There have been some serious floods, such as those of 1918 and 1967.

Flooding on Camden Avenue on March 13, 1967

In the 1980s, at a time when the number of students was at a high point, a series of buildings was planned to help with the overcrowding in campus housing.

The Fall/Winter 1982-83 issue of the Sundial included a great story describing the new facility in great detail:  Camden Avenue Complex: Housing for the Eighties. You can read the entire story here.

Located next to Middleton Hall, and directly facing Wesley Chapel, the Complex is three buildings: one containing apartments, and two made up of suites. The suite buildings are identical; each contains two ten-person suites (first floor) and two 28 person suites (second and third floors). Each suite unit has direct exterior access. There is a study/TV lounge for each suite, and there are community-type bathrooms.

The groundbreaking ceremony took place in October 1981 with President Hugh Latimer, Dean Kenneth Welliver, Patton Nickell, Jr. (1956), vice president for administration, and Doug Ritchie (1983), vice president of Community Council wielding shovels.

However, a virtual and actual “perfect storm” created a good deal of difficulty.

The nation’s economy was in a period of recession. The state of West Virginia was hit particularly hard due to conditions in the coal industry. Federal aid was severely cut, which also caused a drop in the numbers of students who could attend college.

Six months later, in April of 1982, a violent windstorm caused great damage to the partially constructed buildings adding both time and expense to the project. 

Photo from page 79 of Our Home Among the Hills, by Brett Miller

But eventually the building was completed, and was dedicated in late August of 1982. Generations of Wesleyan students have lived there.

2019

For 37 years these buildings were familiar to us. People assumed that they had always been there and always would be there. However, the buildings were well-used and in need of much repair. This summer they are coming down. Before they do, though, they have served one more noble purpose — local emergency responders have been able to do some emergency drills and to learn from them.