Remembering Stanley Martin

This week marks the 35th anniversary of the death of one of West Virginia Wesleyan College’s biggest Giants (January 30, 1985). [Note this was written in January 2020]

Stanley Hubert Martin is our longest-serving president to date. He served from 1957-72. Throughout the tumultuous decade of the 1960s he provided strong leadership which went far beyond maintaining the status quo. In fact, our campus looks as it does today because of his insistence on the style of architecture we have come to take for granted.

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

Remembering Stanley Martin

The Summer 1985 issue of the Sundial included a wonderful tribute to Stanley H. Martin. Many other Wesleyan Giants were quoted in this article.  Sam Ross was the Managing Editor, but the editorial staff also included such people as Mort Gamble, Jerry Beasley, Patton Nickell, and Herbert L. Sharp. I don’t know which of these people wrote the actual article, but we owe them a debt of gratitude.  The photography for this issue was done by Howard Hiner.

The article gives great detail about the life and accomplishments of Stanley Martin. I encourage you to read it here.

On April 25, 1985, a great celebration of the life of Stanley Martin was held in the chapel that he had envisioned. There, other Wesleyan Giants gave tribute.

Bishop William Boyd Grove

Those who came here to have their minds transformed…across the coming of them all falls the shadow of Stanley Martin.

Dr. Sidney Davis, Dean of the Chapel (and member of the class of 1936)

While many could not see the enormous measure of his dreams for the college, we are surrounded by the breadth of his vision.

President Hugh A. Latimer

Stanley Martin believed wholeheartedly that Wesleyan is a community…one in purpose and identity.

Dean Kenneth Welliver recalled Martin’s concern for a balance between liberal arts and career training. To understand more, one can read Stanley Martin’s own  thoughts on this in the April 1966 issue of the West Virginia Wesleyan College Bulletin in his article entitled “Critical Issues in Christian Liberal Arts Education.”

Dr. Sidney Davis, as he closed the service, summed up the message of the day.

Thank you for coming. The College thanks you — the College of the past…the College yet unknown.

The writer of the article concludes that, although he was speaking to the crowd that had gathered that day, these words could have been directed at Stanley Martin as well, and states that “his monument, when you return to Wesleyan, is all around you.”