Connections and Legacies

Sometimes You Really Can Come Home Again

On Saturday, I had the chance to sit down and talk with Bishop Peter D. Weaver. He was reflecting on his time at West Virginia Wesleyan and how it had prepared him for his life’s work.

Coming to Buckhannon

Pete Weaver was about 10 years old when his father, a Methodist minister, was assigned to the Emory Methodist Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A member of that congregation was Michael Late Benedum, the native of Bridgeport, WV who had amassed a fortune in the oil and gas industry. In spite of the large mansion and all of the trappings of a rich man, Weaver’s impression of Mr. Benedum was that of Christian humility.

The choir from Emory would go to Bridgeport and sing at Mr. Benedum’s home church each year, and when the time came for Pete to attend college, Mr. Benedum encouraged him to seek out a Methodist college. After visiting a few, he came to Buckhannon and immediately felt at home here among the beautiful campus and friendly people.

Values Taught, Learned, and Lived

He arrived as a freshman in 1962, and had the opportunity to learn from such Wesleyan Giants as Ralph C. Brown, Sidney Davis and Jose Franquiz. These men taught him Bible, Religion, Philosophy. All three of these had earned the Doctor of Sacred Theology degree from Boston University. President Stanley H. Martin and Dean Orlo Strunk, Jr. had also earned that degree from Boston University. Boston University’s program emphasized Social Justice, Mission, Ecumenical work, Counseling, and Ethics. These emphases are evident at West Virginia Wesleyan to this day — perhaps still echoing the legacy of these men and others.

Brown (1915), Davis (1936), and Strunk (1953) were also graduates of WVWC.

Many other faculty members from Bible, Christian Education, History, Sociology, Psychology, and Religion were graduates of other theological schools as well including: Garrett-Evangelical, Iliff, Lutheran, Wesley, Western, and Yale Divinity School. The subjects being taught were being taught from the perspective of Love, Justice, Hope, and facing the realities of povery and injustice which was to be seen all throughout the world in various contexts.

In particular, he especially remembers the impact that Dr. Herb Coston had on his life in the class called Fundamental Social Problems. This was a course that was required of all freshmen. Read the course description here.

Other things kept Pete busy at Wesleyan as well, including writing for the Pharos, acting in plays, Phi Sigma Epsilon Fraternity, and serving on the Program Board for the new Benedum Campus Community Center.

Formative Times

College is always a formative time for students, and Peter Weaver was here at a very formative time for the college as well. Even as he was learning to struggle with the many social issues of the 1960s from faculty members who challenged and supported him, the college itself was being transformed.

The Stanley H. Martin era was one of incredible change and growth. New buildings included:

• 1958 McCuskey Hall
• 1959 Jenkins Hall
• 1962 Doney Hall
• 1963 Benedum Campus Community Center
• 1963 Holloway Hall
• 1964 Paul G. Benedum Hall
• 1967 Christopher Hall of Science
• 1967 Wesley Chapel and Martin Religious Center
• 1972 Middleton Hall
• 1972/1973 Wraparound addition to the Annie Merner Pfeiffer Library

Coming Full Circle

After graduating from West Virginia Wesleyan in 1966, Peter earned his Masters of Divinity at Drew University and then followed in the footsteps of some of his mentor professors and went to Boston University to pursue the Doctor of Theology degree. He served churches for several years before being elected to be a Bishop in 1996 serving as Bishop in  Eastern Pennsylvania and Deleware conferences. From 2004-2006 he served as the President of the Council of Bishops.

In 2004, Peter Weaver was appointed to the New England Conference. As he was sitting in Boston University’s Marsh Chapel in that role, he looked up and saw the plaque bearing the name of none other than Stanley H. Martin. The chapel was dedicated in 1950.

On Thursday, Peter Weaver gave the opening sermon for the West Virginia Annual Conference worship service — in Wesley Chapel. On Sunday, he assisted West Virginia’s Resident Bishop, Sandra Steiner Ball, in the ordination service for new clergy. He was home again on this campus which had so helped to build him even as Stanley Martin was building the campus.

I have to believe that Michael Benedum, Ralph C. Brown, Herb Coston, Jose Franquiz, Stanley Martin, Orlo Strunk, Jr., and all the rest, must be pleased.