Jeannie O’Roark (Class of 1970) married billionaire Bruce Nordstrom, of Nordstrom’s Department Store, and they wanted to give back to our school as well.
This building provides a convenient and welcoming place for prospective students and their families. It is considered to be the front porch of campus.
Built in 2010, this dorm was opened in August of 2011. Like many buildings before it, the name of New Hall was used initially. On October 12, 2012 it was officially named Dunn Hall. This dorm added 140 beds for students, and included 4-person suite-style living as well as single rooms with bathrooms and kitchenettes. Social lounges were provided on each floor as well as three large study lounges and laundry and vending areas.
The building is named Dunn Hall in honor of Thomas B. Dunn (Class of 1964) and Carol J. Campbell Dunn (Class of 1963) and their family, which has been very supportive of the school. Tom was a member of the Board of Trustees from 1984-1990 and again from 2000-2008.
Wesleyan to Name New Residence Hall in Honor of Dunn Family (Emeritus Club Newsletter 2012-09, p.2.)
Buildings. We pass by them every day.
We enter them without a thought that they might not always have been there.
First we build our buildings, and then they build us.
Bishop Frederick P. Corson echoed Churchill’s words on May 27, 1953 at the dedication ceremony of the Annie Merner Pfeiffer Library . His remarks cover a wide range of things that are relevant for today, and I would encourage you to take a look at what he had to say about such things as Liberal Arts, education and democracy, the great success and growth of WVWC, and more.
The buildings themselves provide the space for us to learn, live, grow, and share as a community. But buildings do not just appear by magic. They take a lot of planning and fundraising. Then they take a lot of detailed work by architects. Then, the hard work and sweat of those who build them. It takes time, effort, and resources to build buildings.
People work in them once they are finished. There are those who work hard to maintain and clean them. People who do the painting, fix the windows, keep the air conditioning and heat at the proper levels. People who are locksmiths, carpenters, groundskeepers, and who make sure that the physical environment is clean, comfortable, and safe. It takes time, effort, and resources to maintain our buildings.
The more buildings there are, the bigger job this becomes!
On this Labor Day 2018, I especially salute all of these hard workers. Many I know by name because I have been in the buildings where they work. Others I do not know, but your work makes everything else possible.
At a college, there are those who teach in them and those who learn. Through this process people are built just as surely as the physical brick and mortar building is built. It takes time, effort, and resources to build our students.
The original building on campus is shown here with the student body in 1892. Included in that group of students would be Thomas W. Haught and several others who became trustees and faculty and administrators in later years. They helped to guide and build the school, and wrote the histories so that we would be able to know more about our heritage.
This group (Class of 2022) is studying The Legacy of Dreamers and Giants (WVWC History) this fall. They will be learning about all of our buildings, those who built them, and those who have been built within the walls.
And the building goes on.
Mother’s Day makes the news each year. We hear a lot about Anna Jarvis and the First Mother’s Day in 1908. But, as with most things, there are subplots to that story.
What do the things in the photo above have in common?
L.L. Loar
Lawson L. Loar was a successful merchant in Clarksburg, WV. He was also the Superintendent of the Sunday school of Andrews Methodist Episcopal church, in Grafton, W. Va. during the first Mother’s Day service held there in 1908, and gave of his time and money to help lead the plans for establishing the annual memorial to Motherhood. He died in 1938.
Until 1941, the West Virginia area was supporting two colleges: West Virginia Wesleyan and Morris Harvey College (now University of Charleston). With the uniting of the Methodist Episcopal North, the Methodist Episcopal South, and the Methodist Protestant Churches in 1939, it became obvious that the area could not support two colleges, and West Virginia Wesleyan was named the one college of what was then the fourth largest Conference in the Methodist Church. 1943, there was a campaign to help provide for the future and strengthening of the college (The Great Wesleyan Movement).
Through the close connection between West Virginia Wesleyan College and the Methodist Church, Mrs. Lawson L. Loar agreed in 1943 to provide funds for the Hall of Music as a memorial to the Loar Family. This was a great act of faith and commitment at a time when the nation was facing World War once again. The building was not finished until 1953, but the funds were assured.
L.L. Loar had a connection to Mother’s Day, and to the Methodist Church.
Mrs. L.L. Loar provided funds for the Hall of Music in memory of the family through her own strong connection with the Methodist Conference and her belief in West Virginia Wesleyan College.
Music — Methodists — Mother’s Day
There is another interesting connection between Mother’s Day and West Virginia Wesleyan College. Dr. Katharine Antolini, Assistant Professor of History and Gender Studies, did her doctoral studies about Anna Jarvis and the Mother’s Day Shrine in Grafton, WV. According to Chapter 2, p. 46 of Antolini’s book, Jarvis was later offered a teaching position at the West Virginia Conference Seminary (now WVWC) to teach English and Shorthand. For reasons unknown, she did not come. Antolini is considered to be a primary expert on the subject of Anna Jarvis and serves on the Board of Trustees of the International Mother’s Day Shrine in Grafton.
Sources
Antolini, K. L. (2014). Memorializing motherhood: Anna Jarvis and the struggle for control of Mother’s Day. Morgantown, WV: WVU Press.
The Great Wesleyan Movement. (1943). The West Virginia Wesleyan College Bulletin, 36(3), 1-2. Retrieved May 14, 2018, from http://cdm16111.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16111coll2/id/482
Loar Memorial Hall Dedication Today. (1953). The Pharos, XLVII(6), 1-1. Retrieved from http://cdm16111.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p271901coll13/id/1653
West Virginia Wesleyan College Bulletin, 47 (2), Catalogue 1954-55, 23. (1954). Retrieved from https://archive.org/stream/westvirginiawesl19541955west#page/22/mode/2up.
To find out more about the history of West Virginia Wesleyan College, check out https://DreamersAndGiants.com
