February 2020 – DreamersAndGiants.com

Frank B. Trotter – Summa Cum Laude

“There were giants in the earth in those days.”

Thomas W. Haught, in his book, West Virginia Wesleyan College: First 50 Years, 1890-1940, had that to say about those who were in leadership positions on the very first day (September 3, 1890). Quoting Genesis 6:4 seems very appropriate.

Today, I am focusing on one of these Giants — Frank B. Trotter. He was a major factor in the early success of the college.

Frank Trotter, born February 27, 1863, was only 27 years old on that opening day. He thought back to that time in an article, entitled Our First Years, which he wrote for the 1904 Murmurmontis. You can read the entire article here.

These were trying times compared with the present. Our equipment consisted of the main building, furnished with one piano, one organ, and about three hundred chairs. No window blinds, no office furniture, no carpet for rostrum or office, no library, no apparatus of any kind in the class rooms, no accomoations for the literary societies except the bare halls, and above all no money. But happily the teachers were ambitious to make the new work succeed; the students were patient and industrious, and the town people expecially kind and helpful. With perserverance the work was carried on, and before many months things assumed a better shape.

p.s. Frank B. Trotter is also the one who is credited with suggesting that the yearbook be called Murmurmontis, which means Voice of the Mountain in Latin.

Growth Years in Buckhannon

From 1890 to 1907, Frank B. Trotter continued to lead and to grow. Highlights of these years include:

He continued his education with masters studies at Harvard University
1894 he became Vice President of the West Virginia Conference Seminary
1895 he married Lillian Steele. Lillian’s father, Rev. Samuel Steele had played an active role on the Conference committees leading up to the founding of the Seminary. The service was conducted by President Bennett Hutchinson.
1896 – Sister, Jessie Trotter, graduated from the Seminary. She then taught at the school from 1896-1911. She was so well-respected that she became the first woman to have a class named in her honor (1907).
1898 – Frank B. Trotter served as the Interim President of the College before President Simon Boyles arrived.
1905 – He was in charge on the day that the Seminary Building burned down as President Wier was in Charleston for some meetings. Frank Trotter wrote an article about it for the Pharos in the days following the fire. Through his account, we know much of what we know about that event. The article was titled Our Calamity. You can read the article here.

The alarm was at once given and classes were dismissed in a very orderly manner, there being about two hundred students at work at the time in the building. Everybody did all that was possible, but very little could be done on account of the impossibility of reaching the seat of the flames. The town fire company respondedd immediately and fought bravely, but to other hindrances was added that of frozen hose as the weather was intensely cold.

And much credit was given to students, fire company, citizens of Buckhannon.

Al the students in school deserve credit for their orderly conduct and good behavior, and our thanks are due to them, and to the fire company and to all the citizes who so kindly ame to our aid; also to all the pastors who so generously offered the use of their churches and their own services as teacheers if needed.

Frank Trotter served on the committee to rebuild, and thus had input on the building that we now know as the Lynch-Raine Administration Building. The work progressed quickly, as that building opened in 1906.

1907 and Beyond

In 1907, Frank B. Trotter resigned from Wesleyan to accept a position as the first professor of Latin at West Virginia University.

In 1908, Frank’s brother, John Russell Trotter, joined the faculty as well, and taught in the School of Law.
In 1910, Frank and John Russell were charter members of the WVU Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.
In 1911, Frank B. Trotter was named Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences.
In 1914, he was named Interim President of West Virginia University. He was called upon to lead West Virginia University through the difficult days of World War I.
Also in 1914, West Virginia Wesleyan College honored Frank B. Trotter with a Doctor of Laws degree.

1916

1916 is the year that Frank Butler Trotter became President of West Virginia University, a position that he held until his retirement in 1928. That year, he retired from the presidency, but continued to teach Latin.

Dr. Trotter is a native of Ohio, but came to Preston County, this state, early in youth. As a young man he taught in the country and town schools. He is a graduate of Roanoke College, and later took his other degrees at Harvard University. He was Professor of Latin at West Virginia Wesleyan College before coming to the University as Professor of Latin in 1907. In 1911, he was made Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and became Acting President of the University in 1914. Dr. Trotter is an energetic administrator of the University affairs, and has a broad view of the scope of its activities.” (Monticola 1917)

His administration had a great impact on many things that have shaped the WVU that we see even today. For example:

1916 Harry Stansbury (WVWC class of 1916) was appointed Athletic Director at West Virginia University. He continued to serve in that position until 1937.
1925 The Old Mountaineer Field was completed. The first game played on that field was between WVU and WVWC with WVU coming out victorious 21-6.
1925 Frank Trotter moved to settle a dispute between the ROTC Band (started in 1901) and the Rebel Band (11 non-ROTC musicians). He had the Rebel Band to become an official university organization, and two years later the University Band that we know so well today was born by combining the two grous. (History–WVU Bands)
1926 West Virginia University joined the North Central Association of Colleges and Universities. President Trotter was adamant about academic standards of excellence.
1927 Clay Crouse was designated as a Mountaineer. It was not until the mid 1930s that this became an organized tradition at the university.

Strong Connections Remained

On the occasion of the West Virginia Wesleyan College’s 50 Year Celebration, Frank Trotter was invited to give the opening address at Founders Day on Setember 22, 1939.

West Virginia Wesleyan College Bulletin Sept. 1939

He died six months after this talk, on March 7, 1940.

His wife, Lillian, died only two days later on March 9, 1940. A double funeral was held for them. Funeral services were conducted by Rev. W. Sproule Boyd (WVWC 1922), their pastor. The address was given by Rev. Joseph C. Hoffman (WVWC 1921) who was pastor of Christ Methodist Church in Charleston, WV.

Assisting in the funeral was Dr. Bennett W. Hutchinson, who had married them almost a half century before. The same Dr. Hutchinson who had brought Frank B. Trotter to Buckhannon in 1890.

Well done, Frank B. Trotter (Summa Cum Laude.)

Helen Keller is Still Speaking

During the past week, I have encountered Helen Keller out of the blue several times. First, in a podcast done by a former student, then in a new project which has digitized her speeches and writings, and third the re-emergence of some articles I had read a few years ago. Therefore, I have decided to write this week about her visit to West Virginia Wesleyan in May 1916.

Visit to Buckhannon

A capacity crowd welcomed Helen Keller and her teacher to Atkinson Auditorium at 2:45 on Tuesday, May 30, 1916. She had been scheduled to be here the week before, but was prevented by illness. Special trains had been scheduled to bring over three hundred area residents to hear her, and tickets had to be sold. Somehow all of this was able to be worked out and a capacity crowd of about 1,500 were present to hear her.

In the publicity for the originally planned time, one local paper mentioned that:

Helen Keller for twenty years has been the most talked of woman in America and when she lectures at the College chapel on Saturday night of this week she will be greeted by the largest crowd that has ever heard a speaker of whatever prominence in Buckhannon.

The article went on to say that “For Buckhannon to secure the great Helen Kellar is a distinct recognition of the intellectual standards of the town.” (Although they missspelled her name!) The only places she was scheduled to speak in West Virginia were Buckhannon and Huntington.

The Record reported that on May 30th:

According to schedule, Helen Keller, the most wonderful woman of the age, appeared at the College Auditorium on the afternoon of May 30; and not-withstanding the former disappointment, a very large and eager crowd greeted her. The seating capacity of the auditorium was taxed, and the balcony was well filled for this was indeed a rare occasion, and one that was highly appreciated by all who were permitted to be present.

A Bit About Helen Keller

When we think of Helen Keller, we tend only to focus on the part of her life where she was deaf, blind, and dumb. We have somewhat of an image in our mind from “The Miracle Worker” – either the Broadway version or from the 1962 film version with Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke. We tend not to think of her as an academic, a political activist, and one who fought for the rights of various groups in society. I wonder what the gathered crowds thought they might hear when she spoke on campus that day.

The truth is that during her visit to Buckhannon, Helen was 36 years old and the college itself was only 26 years old. She had already been educated at the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, MA and the Wright-Humason School for the Deaf in New York City. She had done college prepatory work at the Cambridge School for Young Ladies, which was the first time she had been in school with sighted and hearing classmates. Finally, her dream of going to college became a reality, and in 1904 she graduated from Radcliffe College (now part of Harvard University). She graduated Cum Laude, was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and was the first deaf-blind person ever to earn a Bachelor of Arts Degree.

Introductions and Getting Started

Anne Sullivan Macy, Helen’s teacher, was introduced by Dr. Wallace B. Fleming (who was only nine months into his presidency). Mrs. Macy explained about Helen’s early life, and about the experiences that followed, before leading her out onto the stage.

Miss Keller then recited Longfellow’s familiar Psalm of Life, so as to accustom her hearers to her enunciation, which is still far from being distinct. Then she spoke of the great possibilities of life; of this good world, and her happiness in it; and of how “much better it will still be when all have tried to make it so, as she wants to do.”

This poem had been a favorite of hers for many years. The messages of optimism and possibility were major themes of her life.

She never hesitated to use her voice to advocate for the causes she believed in. I’ll just include a few, but she had many.

NAACP

Although her father had been a commanding officer in the Confederate Army, and she was born in Alabama in 1880, she was a strong advocate for racial equality. For example, on February 13, 1916 she wrote a letter to Mr. Oswald Garrison Villard, Vice President of the NAACP who lived in Clarksburg, WV. You can read the full letter here.

I include some excerpts, but the entire eight pages are worth reading:

I am indeed whole-heartedly with you and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. I warmly endorse your efforts to bring before the country the facts about the unfair treatment of the colored people in some parts of the United States.

It should bring the blush of shame to the face of every true American to know that ten miillions of his countrymen are denied the equal protection of the laws.

Nay, let me say it, this great republic of ours is a mockery when citizens in any section are denied the rights which the Constitution guarantees them, when they are openly evicted, terrorized and lynched by prejudiced mobs, and their persecutors and murderers are allowed to walk abroad unpunished. The United States stands ashamed before the world whilst ten millions of its people remain victims of a most blind, stupid, inhuman prejudice.

Suffrage

Helen Keller was a strong advocate for the Suffrage Movement. For example, On June 11, 1916, only twelve days after she spoke in Buckhannon, she addressed the new Woman’s Party in Chicago to endorse the movement. Again, I include an excerpt as well as the link to her full speech.

We have prayed, we have coaxed, we have begged, for the vote, with the hope that men, out of chivalry, would bestow equal rights upon women and take them into partnership in the affiars of the state. We hoped that their common sense would triumph over prejudices and stupidity. We thought their boasted sense of justice would overcome the errors that so often fetter the human spirit; but we have always gone away empty handed.

We shall beg no more. The the ballow (ball now?) in our hands, we demand suffrage for all women.

Labor

Helen Keller believed that many cases of blindness were caused by injuries in the workplace. She advocated for labor laws and regulations, especially those concerning Child Labor. In September 1916, about three months after her visit to Buckhannon, the Child Labor Act of 1916 was passed in the U.S. Congress. I would suspect that she may have talked about it during that afternoon in Atkinson.

The very same day that she spoke here, she received a letter from Lucy Mason, who worked with Factory Girls in Richmond, VA through a Y.W.C.A. program. She was writing to tell of the impact of Helen Keller on these girls. The full letter is here. An excerpt:

I quoted passages from your letters and addresses and it was good to see how such high, true thoughts find a welcome in lives that have been cramped and deadened by too much work and too little play and education. It made me realize the potential lovliness of all human life under the best conditions. If packing cigarettes nine or ten hours a day in the roar of machinery, and going home to squalid homes packed close on dusty streets leaves a girl’s soul with so much appreciation of beauty in it still, what might she be if her sense of beauty and goodness were developed by environment and training.

Questions From The Crowd

As was her custom, Miss Keller took questions from the audience. The Record reports:

Then she spoke of the great possibilities of life; of this good world, and her happiness in it; and of how “much better it will still be when all have tried to make it so, as she wants to do.” (In answer to) several interesting questions asked her by auditors, such as what she thought of President Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt, and her views on Equal Suffrage, she answered with a promptness and intelligence that could hardly have been surpassed. She wholly approved of the Wilson administration; and shook her head and frowned concerning T.R. as president, and added “If he were in the saddle there is no telling where he would drive to.” She said she was in favor of equal suffrage because she felt that it took both men and women to run the affairs of the world. In answer to the question as to how she kept in touch with the outside world, her teacher showed how the current events of the day were spelled into her hand at the rate of eighty-five words the minute, and she has many books in raised letters as well as a few leading magazines.

Message for All

Helen Keller had many prominent friends. She had, for example, been close friends with Alexander Graham Bell since 1886 and Mark Twain since 1895. Throughout her life, she met many well-known people and shared her messages with them. She dedicated her 1903 autobiography The Story of My Life to Alexander Graham Bell. You can read many of her books online here.

Those in attendance that afternoon in May 1916 in Buckannon were living in a time of great social upheaval. Many would be sent to fight in World War I. Many would become public officials, educators, and church leaders. Many would have been from farms, mines, and factories in the area. Many would have been women who needed to hear these words of support, and to remember them when the ratification of the suffrage amendment did not pass in WV that November.

No wonder Helen Keller came to my attention so many times just this week, nearly 104 years after her visit to Buckhannon. She has inspired, and is still inspiring, many people to do their best and to be their best. Her themes sound a bit familiar to us all these years later.

How amazing that a woman who was blind, deaf, and dumb could see and hear so clearly – and is still speaking to us today.

Remembering Mort

This week we were saddened to hear of the death of Mort Gamble.

He was a truly remarkable man, and a prime example of the way that relationships are formed at West Virginia Wesleyan that enrich people throughout their lives. He was a teacher, mentor, friend, and colleague to many among the WVWC family.

He came to WVWC in 1975 and taught English, Humanities, and Communication. During this time he was also the advisor for the Pharos.

After teaching from 1975-83, Mort was named Assistant to the Vice President for Development at West Virginia Wesleyan. During the year that he held this position, he did all of the research and writing of the application to have Agnes Howard Hall included on the National Register of Historic Places. You can read this eleven page document here.

In February of 1984, he became the Director of College Relations. The Summer 1984 issue of the Sundial, of which he was the editor, listed this notice:

Mort Gamble became Director of College Relations in February. A former assistant to the vice president for development and special projects coordinator for the admissions office, Gamble distributes public information for the College. He is also a publications contributor to the admissions office. A teacher at Wesleyan for eight years, Gamble joined the development staff in 1982. He is a graduate of West Virginia University.

Teacher, Mentor, Friend

Mort kept in touch with many of the people from WVWC throughout his life, both students and colleagues. I would like to highlight just a few here, but there are many who could tell similar stories.

Scott Miller, ’81 (now President of Virginia Wesleyan University) first met Mort as a freshman at WVWC. Both as Mort’s student and as a writer (and later editor) of the school paper, The Pharos, Scott was taught, mentored, and encouraged by Mort. As the years progressed, Mort and Scott worked closely together at more than one institution of higher education of which Scott was president.
Dr. William Mallory remembers Mort’s collegiality in the English department, and having a good working relationship in the early days of the Humanities program. It was also Dr. Mallory who remembered Mort’s work on the Agnes Howard application. As Mort transitioned to the development office, Dr. Mallory remembers and appreciates Mort’s continuted willingness to collaborate on literary projects.
Bob Skinner, ’75 (now Vice President for Advancement at West Virginia Wesleyan), was the Sports Information Director when Mort first came to Wesleyan, and by the time Mort moved into his administrative position Bob was the Director of the Campus Center. Having moved on into roles held by Mort and doing similar jobs in Advancement, they have certainly worked together and kept in touch throughout the years.
Will Armistead, ’81 (recently retired Associate Vice President for Alumni & Advancement at West Virginia Wesleyan College) graduated the same year as Scott Miller. In the Summer 1984 issue of the Sundial, the very next paragraph following the notice of Mort’s appointment mentioned that William B. Armistead (1981) had been named Associate Director of Admissions. His duties would have had him crossing paths with Mort Gamble at that time. In addition, he followed in Mort’s footsteps at the Fairmont State Foundation from 2012-15.
Sarah Lowther Hensley, ’84 (former colleague at Fairmont State University and now serving as the Marketing and Communications Director for the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at West Virginia University, was Mort’s Colleague at Fairmont State, and remembers him as a thoughtful person who cared about standards and who was supportive of his colleagues. She says that he was someone you could go to to talk about things and get a calm perspective – the very definition of a teacher, a mentor, and a friend.

Each of these knew Mort Gamble as a friend, a mentor, and a colleague. Each remembers his positive encouragement, his honest advice, his joy in supporting them and in helping to present other people (and the institutions where he worked) in the best light.

Eulogy

Dr. Scott Miller gave the eulogy for his long-time friend at a service at Virginia Wesleyan University last week. He has graciously shared that eulogy with DreamersAndGiants, and has given permission to post it here.

Wesleyan memories abound in this eulogy as Scott shares memories of Mort as a professor and as an advisor on the Pharos. The eulogy actually begins with a summary of Mort’s life which was written by Mort himself last fall. How very fitting that he would provide this wonderful gift.

Beyond Higher Education

One aspect of Mort’s life which may not be as familiar to those who didn’t spend time with him was his passion for the history of the Circus. Scott Miller writes:

Mort had a lifelong passion for the circus, and even worked for two seasons as a crew member with “Circus Kirk,” a three-ring traveling big top show which appeared in the Eastern U.S. in the 1970s. He was a regular presenter on circus history, culture, and media exposure at national conferences, and is the author of book reviews, articles, essays, and features on circuses for regional and national publications. He contributed three chapters to the 2007 book “The Many Worlds of Circus,” edited by Robert Sugarman. And at the time of his passing, he was at work with Maureen Brunsdale of the Milner Library at Illinois State University on a book-length biography of trapeze artist and show manager Arthur M. Concello.

Mort’s Chapters in The Many Worlds of Circus included:

Chapter Nine Circus Kirk: A Mud Show Back to the Future (What the Circus did for Us)
Chapter Eleven Circus Noir: Peering into the Dark Corners of the Big Top
Chapter Fifteen Circus in a Box: The Big Top on TV

Remembering Mort

Mort Gamble touched many lives with his teaching, his sense of humor, his enthusiasm and his encouragement. It has been thirty-three years since he was at WVWC on a daily basis. Many generations of students, faculty, and administrators have come and gone during that time. Today we celebrate the impact he had on those who had the good fortune of being here when Mort Gamble was among us.

Thanks to those who shared their memories with me in order to write this blog post. One person’s memories are good — the memories of many help to paint a more complete picture.

Those 60 Acres More Or Less

Those “sixty acres, more or less”

So said Dr. Kenneth Plummer in his book, A History of West Virginia Wesleyan College 1890-1965. The founders of the college had some questions to answer and one of those was where to locate the school. So, what did Dr. Plummer mean by “sixty acres”? And what was the land like before the college was built?

It starts with one of the pioneer families of Buckhannon, the Carpers.

The Family

Abraham Carper (Kerber), born in Reading, PA in 1763, was the son of a German immigrant. Arriving in the area about 1800, he built the earliest known dwelling within what is now the city limits of Buckhannon, well before the town was surveyed and platted in 1815. He settled on the very land behind where the L. L. Loar and Family Memorial Music Building and the Paul G. Benedum Halls are located, building a log house for his growing family. The property was described as a thick forest and he would have to clear the woods to build on it.

Much of what is known about this family comes from The History of Upshur County, West Virginia; This book was written by W. B. Cutright in 1907, but the photo on the title page is actually the Honorable William Currence Carper, Daniel’s older brother, who was a lawyer, state senator, and judge. This is an indication of the great esteem in which the family was held.

Church Ties

The family was very religious, and built an early Methodist meeting place on the corner of College Avenue and Kanawha Street. An illustration survives for us today. It was called the Carper Church since the family constructed and maintained it. In 1834, Abraham Carper sold this property to the Methodists, signing over the deed to the trustees of what is now First United Methodist Church (George Carper, John Dean, Isaac Dix, Henry Reger, Philip Reger, Benjamin Rohrbough, and John W. Westfall).

The Land

Passed down from Abraham to his son, a portion of the land was eventually sold by Daniel and his wife to another influential man in the region, Levi Leonard, and his wife Elizabeth. Below is part of the deed signed over to them by Daniel and Sarah in 1865.

Methodists Seek A Location For A School

As early as 1874, the Methodists in West Virginia were feeling the necessity of building a school in West Virginia. At their meeting in 1874, the report of the Committee on Education indicated that there were many reasons for this. They did what many groups do, they formed a committee to “receive, consider, and if the way be entirely clear, act on a proposition or propositions such as above suggested, and report to this Conference at its next session”. You can read their full report here. There was much discussion, progress, frustration, and there were many meetings and reports for well over a decade. You can follow along with some of this by reading the reports from 1875, 1877, 1878, 1879, and 1880. The meeting in 1886 was held in Morgantown, and the report stated that:

Your committee deem it imperative on them to place prominently before you the subject of a Conference Seminary. For Years the Committee on Education has kept this enterprise in view, but all action hitherto has been tentative. The time has come when this Conference ought to take definitive steps toward this work.

By 1887, the committee had become a Board of Trustees, and work began in earnest. First of all, a site for the school must be chosen. Although many other locations were considered, Buckhannon was the choice for locating the school. The trustees took out an option to purchase 60 acres from Daniel Carper and his son, Wilbur Fisk, on July 15, 1887. After much discussion, the trustees decided not to purchase this land after all, and let the option expire on August 1, 1887 because they would have had to build a bridge across the Buckhannon River. This added too much expense.

Instead, they accepted an offer from Levi Leonard to purchase 43 acres for the price of $5,551.86. The required $300 down payment was assumed by trustee J.W. Reger, and there was a resolution included “to pay to Wilbur F. Carper any moneys he has heretofore paid out in having his option of land surveyed and platted.”

Thus the Seminary was born. But the twist: Daniel Carper had sold this property as part of three parcels of land to Levi and Elizabeth Leonard. So ultimately, the Carpers saw their land used after all as the place where the college grew and became “our home among the hills.”

But What About The Carpers?

The Carper family did not all stay in the area. They began moving out to other towns in other states and many did not see the school grow from a small Seminary to a full accredited college called West Virginia Wesleyan. One notable exception to this is Daniel’s granddaughter, Grace Tamblyn.

A 1913 graduate of West Virginia Wesleyan, Grace was active in many organizations. Her obituary in the Sundial News (March 1980) tells much about her story – before, during, and after her days at the college – as well as the connection between the family, the church, the community, and the college.

“Memorial services were held Feb. 5, 1980 in First United Methodist Church in Buckhannon for Mrs. Grace Tamblyn Cox, 90, who died January 28, 1980 in The Hermitage, Alexandria, VA where she had been a resident for several years. The Rev. Mr. Harry P. Light (1952) officiated. The widow of Dr. Oliver C. Cox, a Washington, D.C. surgeon who preceded her in death in 1968, Mrs. Cox was a member of a pioneer Upshur County family. Her father, the Rev. Mr. Silas D. Tamblyn was a Methodist minister in Buckhannon, and her family has long been associated with the local church, Wesleyan College, and the Buckhannon community. She graduated with a bachelor of literature degree in music magna cum laude. She is survived by a niece, Mrs. June Tamblyn Leskuski (1943) of St. Petersburg, Fla., a nephew, and two grand nephews”.

It is a shame that there is no plaque or monument to any of the Carpers. They had helped found the town of Buckhannon, and their property ended up being the beautiful campus that we love.

The history of the town, and the people who founded it, is tied into the history of Wesleyan. Buckhannon’s townspeople have been active participants in helping to make the dreams of a quality education for the young people of the area (such as Grace Tamblyn) to come true. Likewise, the college is active in civic life and provides enriching opportunities to all who live in the town, and maintains a strong relationship with the people.

The Carpers could be thanked for offering to sell us this land, as the Leonards could be, but they are not around. The graves of some of them are in the Heavener Cemetery east of town, having been moved there from the simple family cemetery that exists on South Florida Street. Yet, the fenced in area is still there, and ironically it is owned and maintained by the college. Perhaps that is our final thank you to the family that played a role in our being located on this land.

Still, some memory of them lingers on. Maybe the next time you are walking near the L. L. Loar and Family Music Hall or Paul G. Benedum Hall, you might give them a nod.

Written by Guest Blogger Jim Watson (1979)

Edited by Paula McGrew (1978)

Special thanks to Amy Tenney and the Upshur County Historical Society. Their help was crucial in finding the details and in helping Jim satisfy his insatiable curiosity through many hours of searching through records at the Upshur County Courthouse.

Month: February 2020