Roots & Fruits: Dreams of the Founders Are Being Fulfilled

Happy Founders Day!

Each year we pause to celebrate our roots.  In the case of West Virginia Wesleyan College, our roots are intertwined with the West Virginia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.

130 years ago, the dreaming, planning, and work of the Founders (people of the conference) resulted in the existence of the school.  In the years since, the school has flourished; and fulfilled many of those dreams.

Fruits of this tree are important to both the college and the conference, as shown in this drawing by Tom Bone.  The drawing is the result of a conversation during the Annual Conference in June 2019 about how the goals of the college and the conference have weaved together through the years.  

Drawing by Tom Bone, 2019

Alumni of West Virginia Wesleyan have consistently been leaders in all of these areas. Our alumni are educators, theologians, pastors, legislators, social workers, lawyers, doctors, nurses, military heroes, first responders, scientists, diplomats, and more. They are leaders in their communities, families, churches, and in government at all levels.

Click here to see some of them.

Thank you to the Founders!

Murphy, Debra (2019) Founders Day Invocation

Founders Day Invocation

West Virginia Wesleyan College

11 October 2019


Let us pray:

For the gift of this place, O God, we are grateful:

For golden light of a warm October afternoon.

For piercing blue skies.

For the trees we love on these grounds: 

   white oak and spruce, linden and red maple, dogwood and tulip trees and so many more.  

And for those who keep this place beautiful through every season, 

   whose daily work often goes unnoticed, unnamed.

We are grateful for spaces outside and in that we remember today with deep affection—

   where teachers and texts, class mates and conversations changed us. For good. For ever.

We love this place. 

And like any place we come home to, it is both familiar and complicated, enchanting and exacting. 

We give thanks this day for those whose vision birthed this place: 

   founders who could not have foreseen the countless persons who would find themselves here—

      find their voice, their vocation; find purpose, find a partner; find a lifelong love of learning.

And in the passage of time we are mindful 

   that there are always both achievements and disappointments,    

      tragedies and graces, setbacks, comebacks, and the gift of coming back even now 

         to be with friends, to remember and give thanks.  

With gratitude, we reflect on how the passage of time can both soften our hearts 

   and strengthen our resolve: 

      how it is we have learned or at least longed to be more charitable to ourselves and to others 

         and how we continue to care about—because this place and its people taught us to—

            justice for the mistreated, inclusion for the marginalized, dignity for all those robbed of it.

And so may we live more fully into these callings, discovered and nurtured in this place we love. 

Give us grace this day and every day, we pray, for this joyful, purposeful, life-giving work.

Amen.


Dr. Debra Dean Murphy, Class of 1984

   

Founders Day Address 2019

Thank you, President Thierstein.  I’m not sure how to follow the great news you’ve just delivered, but I’ll do my best.  There actually is a simpler way to introduce me. I know some of you have heard about the man who goes to heaven and when he gets there, it’s even more wonderful than expected.  Everyone is there… it’s perfect! But he notices there’s a group of people chained to rock over in the corner. After being there a while, he finally gets the nerve to ask, “What’s the deal with those people?”  And St. Peter says, “Oh, don’t worry about them. They’re from West Virginia. We have to do that, or they try to go home on the weekends.” Simply put, I’m a West Virginia boy who loves West Virginia and loves this college.  

I’m so honored to have been asked to speak today.  Lauren, it’s hard for me to believe I was here fifty years ago in the same capacity as you are today, as President of the Community Council, which you now call the Student Senate.  Thank you for your leadership, Lauren.  

The last several weeks, I have found myself reflecting on how my understanding of our Founders has evolved over the years.  My tendency has been to idealize them but, I’m sure they had strengths and frailties, just like the rest of us. But I think I have come to understand the ingredients of their “secret sauce” that has enabled the college to be where it is today.

As I disclose the ingredients, I’ll do my best to keep it real.  For sure, an advantage that comes with being older than the speed limit is learning not to take yourself too seriously.  So, I’ll share with you what I believe about our Founders by telling three real-time stories from my experience working with healthcare projects in underserved areas of the world.

The first is the story of my partners in Nakuru, Kenya.  Kenya is an East Africa country of about 40 million. Nakuru is a city of approximately 500,000, positioned in the Rift Valley about 2 hours northwest of Nairobi, near the equator.  However, its elevation is nearly 6,000 feet, so the climate is quite moderate. It is situated on Lake Nakuru, which is famous for a scene in the movie Out of Africa.  In this scene, the Robert Redford character is flying his love, the Meryl Streep character, in an open cockpit single engine plane at near ground level over incredibly beautiful places in Africa with glorious music playing in the background.  As they fly over Lake Nakuru, thousands of pink flamingo take flight, creating a magnificent pink cloud. Students, if you haven’t seen this movie, I highly recommend that you see it.

30% of the people in Nakuru live below the national poverty level, which is less than $2 income/day.  Many of them live in a ghetto that is built on and around the city dump. My partner is the Presbyterian Church of East Africa, the Nakuru West Congregation.  I’ve been involved there for 10 years. The Nakuru West church property is situated on the edge of the ghetto and many of its members live in the ghetto. By our standards, they are desperately poor. 

If you had traveled with me on my first visit, which was primarily intended as due diligence regarding the needs of the community and the capabilities of the church, it’s likely you would have concluded, as I did initially, that there’s relatively little of any scale they can accomplish. But here are the facts:

They operate a school equivalent to our K-12.  They provide a community health center that includes primary care, an AIDS diagnosis and treatment service, and a very active birthing center.  They have a community women’s center and provide training in sewing, typing and literacy, which have the greatest probability of improving the participants’ economic outlook.  They operate a public health service for health education and disease prevention. They support a residential program for abused women. They sponsor a remarkable self-help group of approximately 150 mostly women who are HIV-positive. Their motto is “living positively with being positive”.  The group farms to improve the quality of their food and have created a small enterprise making beaded jewelry to improve their income. At the time, I believe the church operated the only bus in the city. More recently, they opened an accredited nursing school. In the early days of our relationship, they were considering establishing an orphanage for up to 400 AIDS orphans and they have achieved that goal.

They support this development and assure its sustainability, in part, by creating a revenue generating-platform including such services as delivering clean drinking water, a weekly ministry to local businesses, a conference center including hotel services, a fish farm, and a farming operation.

On the first Sunday I was there, the Women’s Guild was collecting a special offering for the health services.  I attended a 3-hour Swahili service and then a one-and-a-half-hour English service. I felt thoroughly churched that day and believe I earned some extra “going-to-church” credit!  Throughout the service the women were encouraging the members to give what they could… remember, most live in the ghetto and are quite poor. At the end of the morning, I asked one of the ladies how they did with the offering.  She said they collected 470,000 Kenya shillings, which at the time was approximately $6,000 USD – a small fortune there. I was so taken, I asked “How did you do that?” She said, “You need to understand. We love with all our hearts.” 

What an incredible lesson – the power of love, even in the most difficult circumstances.  I’m convinced this kind of love is one of the ingredients in our Founders’ secret sauce. It’s the ingredient that provides the power to sustain for as long as it takes to achieve a critical mission, and it’s the energy source for the other ingredients in the secret sauce.

The second story is about an organization in Catacamas, Honduras.  Catacamas is situated 4 hours northeast of the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa.  It is a city of approximately 115,000 and is the largest city in the Olancho region.  It is very mountainous and is the area with the lowest income in the country. It has become one of the most violent areas in Honduras, due in large part to it being a critical link on the drug trafficking corridor in Latin America.

My partner organization was established 30 years ago to provide health services for those most in need.  It was founded by a husband & wife missionary team from the US and a young local physician who has served continuously as the director.  The founders had almost no financial resources, but endless faith that they were doing what they were being called to do. The health service developed slowly, but by the time I got involved 8 years ago, they were operating a high-quality, faith-based full-service clinic, a surgery center, several clinics in the mountains, and the only Rehabilitation Hospital for patients with addictions in Honduras.

Four years ago, the government approached them about operating government health services in the region, including a very large public clinic in Catacamas and the government’s clinical outposts in the mountains.  As a result, they are now operating two full-service clinics, two satellite clinics, the Surgery Center and the Rehab Hospital in Catacamas, plus 33 mountain clinics throughout Olancho and a birthing center in one of the most remote areas.  They’ve done things like create a virtual connection from that remote birthing center to a world-class obstetrics group in New York City. It has enabled them to advance the quality of care for expectant mothers in that area immeasurably. Their ministries, in addition to healthcare, include spiritual outreach and community development.

In my interactions with the director and the one living missionary, it is so clear that their achievements are rooted in their incredibly strong faith.  I’m certain that our Founders’ secret sauce includes such a faith. It is the ingredient that instills Founders with an unshakable “can do” spirit knowing that, with God’s help, the mission and vision can and will be achieved.

The final story is from Peru.  My involvement is with a US-based ministry serving those in need along the rivers of the world, and an organization based in Peru that is focused on how to better meet the needs of the poorest of the poor in the Amazon region.  The problem that needed addressed was how to serve the healthcare needs of people in hard-to-reach communities that are accessible only by the Amazon river and its tributaries. Essential to the solution was that it had to be local and sustainable.  There were too many examples of well intentioned, one-off mission trips along the rivers that were of minimal value and did not build trust with the local communities. The planning group took great care to assure that Peruvians developed and implemented the solution.  Those of us from the US were strictly support.

The solution they reached is elegantly simple – a riverboat was reconfigured such that as it travels away from a major city, it provides clinical services and, on its return, it serves as a cargo vessel that funds the next trip.  The clinical services are provided by local clinicians that are occasionally supplemented with mission teams.  

The project happened because of the hope and expectations of the founders.  It’s this kind of hope that drives the hard work of planning, organizing, implementing and continuously improving that brings a vision to life. I’m convinced our Founders secret sauce includes such hope and expectations. It is the ingredient which has assured that we continue to advance, grow, improve and sustain, no matter what the circumstances. 

As I was preparing for today, I realized that this secret sauce is hiding in plain sight.  When Paul was concerned about the founders of the church in Corinth, he wrote them a letter, which we know as 1 Corinthians.  The letter was mostly encouraging and a clear statement of what it would take for them to be successful. In Chapter 13, he describes the secret for their success as faith, hope and love.  It is equally true for our founders. Their faith hope and love has made the difference.  

And students, please listen carefully here… this is also the secret sauce for your life.  As you establish your family, pursue your career, provide leadership in your community, or whatever else you may do as a Founder, the faith hope and love I’ve described will make the difference.

One final perspective – I have tended to think of our Founders as historical figures, but have come to understand that, in fact, they have been a part of every generation in the life of the college.  They are students, faculty, staff, alumni, donors, friends, parents, the United Methodist Church and others, who have stepped forward and made the difference, whatever our needs. In my fifty years of association with the college, the Founders I have experienced are many, but to name a few as examples; Dr. Stanley Martin, Dean Sam Ross, Dr. Ken Welliver, Dr. Sidney Davis, Professor David Reemsnyder, Professor Ben Lance, Dean Larry Parsons, Bob Skinner, Bill Goodwin, Harvey White, Randy Scott, Bob Allman, Chris Rapking Cox, Joanne Cadorette Solliday, Jack Owen, K.C. Caldabaugh and so many more.

The great news is we all have the opportunity to be Founders, driven by our faith, our hope and expectations, and our love.  I am so thankful for you and the other Founders who’ve brought us to this place, and for the impact the college has had on my life.  Thanks to our past, present, and future Founders, I believe the future of the college is extremely bright. 

With that, I hope that everyone has a great homecoming weekend.  To prepare, I have listened to sixties music for the last two weeks.  I think it’s worked… I’m ready to celebrate. I assure you, those of us who are here for our 50th reunion intend to celebrate mightily, to the extent our aches and pains will allow!  Enjoy! Thank you!

Alumni and Speakers and Trustees, Oh My

Founders Day is coming up on Friday of this week.

It is, to be sure, a time to say thanks to those who planted the college here in Buckhannon in 1890. We thank them by highlighting examples of how their dreams have turned to reality.

Photo by Robbie Skinner, Class of 2011


Alumni

Graduates of WVWC have excelled in all walks of life. They have done heroic things. They are leaders in science, education, government, political realms, music, healthcare, business, sports, and religious eneavors. The education they received here set them on paths that have led them all over the world to make a difference. Each year, we honor some, but for each one that receives this honor there are hundreds who would be deserving recipients.

Alumni Service and Achievement Awards

Young Alumni Service and Achievement Awards

The Extra Mile Award is also offered – sometimes to Alumni (and sometimes to people who we would love to claim!)

 Speakers

In 1933, Bishop Adna W. Leonard (Resident Bishop of the Pittsburgh Area of the Methodist Episcopal Church) spoke at an event that became known as Bishop’s Day. It was a day set aside to celebrate the college and church connections springing from our original Founders. Bishop Leonard and his successor, Bishop James H. Straughn were generally the speakers for that event, and it was held in Atkinson Chapel. Bishop Straughn changed the name of the event in 1941 to be known as Founders Day.

In 1952, the dedication of the New Men’s Residence Hall (which we now know as Fleming Hall) was mentioned in the October, 1952 issue of the West Virginia Wesleyan College Bulletin:

The program marks the observance of Founders Day, a tradition instituted by Bishop Straughn while the resident bishop of the Pittsburgh area and originally known as Bishop’s Day.”

In the 1950s speakers other than bishops were included, and they were a mixture of prominent Methodist leaders, heads of foundations, civil rights leaders, and alumni who had risen to the ranks of leadership in many areas of work. Some were also Trustees of the college.

On Founders Day 1989, the speaker was Carl Rowan. He was a journalist who began his career by covering the Civil Rights Movement in the south as one of the country’s first African-American reporters at a major daily newspaper. Later in his life, he became the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and the Ambassador to Finland. In the year before he retired in 1965, he was the Director of the United States Information Agency.  He spoke on the real value of an education.

Carl Rowan interviewed by Sarah Lowther (Class of 1984) for West Virginia Public Radio

Another speaker that stands out as I look through the list is J. Roy Price. A member of the class of 1923, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree in 1949. At the Founders Day Convocation on October 28, 1955, Dr. Price presented  the Founders Day Address entitled A Charter for a College of Liberal Arts. This charter looks both back and toward the future. A Trustee from 1949-73, you can read more about him here.

These are but a couple of examples, but there have been many powerful Founders Day  speakers challenging us to keep going and to keep growing.


Trustees

Trustees are present at the Founders Day Convocation, and new ones sign the book which has the names of the leaders and decision makers throughout the years. Some, but not all, are also Alumni. Some, but not all, are United Methodists. All have been duly elected by the West Virginia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church…..who started the entire story.

Leaders of church, government, industry, medicine, law, business, and more, the Trustees are those who guide and make decisions and hire presidents. They are people who are dedicated to West Virginia Wesleyan College. Some, but not all, have been Founders Day Speakers.

Alumni and Speakers and Trustees, Oh My.

I hope that the Founders are proud of the school that they planted so long ago.

The Orange Line

 

Orange Line at Founders Day

This year as the Orange Line passed my seat during the Founders Day Convocation I saw many familiar faces. My parents, former colleagues, former classmates, former students and others who have been part of my life at various times and in various places.


Friday evening we enjoyed visiting with my reunion class at the Decades Reception. These ladies have been friends since the fall of 1974 when we all lived on the 3rd floor of McCuskey together as freshmen. (The photo includes a few significant others we have picked up along life’s way.)

Decades Reception 2018

We had a great time telling stories and laughing and sharing about the many things we have done and accomplished in the 40 years since our graduation from WVWC.

We had a good laugh about some of  our favorite WVWC memories…..box walking in the fall leaves while singing Pumpkin Carols, Campus Pizza deliveries when we couldn’t find a ride clear out to Hills Plaza to the old Pizza Hut. And, of course, the time my roommate signed me up for the bowling team as a joke, only to discover that the joke was on us because unless I actually did sign up they wouldn’t have enough for a team. And homecoming parades and floats like this one were such fun.

Homecoming Float Carlson, Burns, Lowther


Also at the Decades Reception my husband and I ran across some friends who were attending their very first class reunion – his 50th – and were able to catch up on the news since we last saw them more than a dozen years ago.

Decades Reunion Carl and Rita

This is the very nature of the Orange Line. That line weaves throughout our lives and ties us all together.


One of my students in my Legacy of Dreamers and Giants class  (a future member of the Orange Line) turned in an assignment last week in which she referenced a copy of the Sundial in 1973. In that issue was also an article entitled And they Called it Wesleyan written by Jamie Wellman. Jamie Wellman 1973

It was about college history, and had been researched in many of the same places I am finding such information now. It turns out that she was a member of the class of 1973 – which was having a reunion this year as well. So, I stood by as the class of 1973 had their reunion photo taken at the Decades Reception……and I found her! I told her that I had read her articles, and about DreamersAndGiants. We found that we had much in common. You can read her articles here.

And they Called it Wesleyan, part 1, by Jamie Wellman. (Pharos 9-26-1973, p. 8)

From the Roaring 20’s til Now, by Jamie Wellman (Pharos 10-3-1973, p.12)


Saturday evening I watched one of my former students (a member of the class of 2019) perform in the wonderful play at the Virginia Thomas Law Center for the Performing Arts. Frog and Toad and Elizabeth

 

 

 

Sunday morning, I went to chapel to hear Rev. Douglas Miller, Class of 1988 (and classmate and theater contemporary of my sister and brother-in-law) give a wonderful sermon. His parents, also alumni, were there and it turned out that they were friends with my parents. And HER mother was a graduate of the Class of 1923 and had been a Chemistry major studying with Dr. Nicholas Hyma. She was one of the first members of the Benzine Ring.

Alpha Psi Omega 1988

 


All in all, the Orange Line was winding around and around my heart all weekend. These were but a few examples. All around me the same was happening to person after person.

Orange Line Clip Edited


There is a beautiful poem about the Orange Line written by Charles K. Dick. Although Charlie was not a graduate of WVWC himself, he captured the spirit of the college beautifully. He was Assistant Director of Marketing and Communication from 1998-2000 when he wrote the poem.

The Founders Day Program had this to say about the Orange Line Poem:

Ever since 1890, students have entered West Virginia Wesleyan College, where their minds were challenged, their talents nurtured and their hearts inspired. As they completed their studies, they moved on to share their knowledge, experience and values in new settings. Former Wesleyan students have carried the spirit and substance of the College into the global community and into almost every form of human endeavor. Wesleyan’s alumni have formed a constant connection between the College and the world beyond – and both College and world have been strengthened. It is appropriate on the celebration of Wesleyan’s Founders Day that the heritage of the College be symbolized as a line of former students who represent more than 14,000 alumni.

 

The Orange Line

I am the orange line – My beginning was long ago

I have no end – I am perpetual

My source is in the West Virginia hills

My reach embraces the world

 

I am in America’s small towns – I am in her great cities

 

I cross the seas

I grow

Commencement 2018
2018

I am your warm, enduring memories

I am your shared experiences

I am your friends, your teachers

I am your link to the past

I am your dreams for the future

Wherever you are, there too, am I

I am you – You are Me

We — are the orange line.


The DreamersAndGiants project celebrates those in the Orange Line. One of our first semester students in my class this fall put it beautifully. Hannah said, “With DreamersAndGiants, you are connecting generations of Bobcats living and dead.”

Wish I had thought to put it just that way.

 

Thank You Note to the Founders

Dear Pioneers,

Your bravery in coming across the Allegheny Mounains in the 1700s is hard for us to comprehend. We understand from reading our history that you were adventurous, social minded and religious. Many of you were immigrants. The religious among you included our Methodist Founders.

THree Kinds of Settlers


Dear Founders,

Thank you for having the vision, courage and determination to create a college. For having a dream which has turned into our present reality. You were determined and creative and generous. It was not an easy task!

Some of you fought or were chaplains in the Union Army, and one of you was a member of the Virginia Legislature and voted to secede from the Union – and fought with Stonewall Jackson’s troops throughout the war. And yet, in the aftermath of that war you were able to join together in this common cause.

You were business leaders, judges, lawyers, pastors, and legislators who helped to create the new state of West Virginia. In 1890, there were sixeen of you – half of you were Methodist Clergy and half Methodist Laymen, and you were all leaders in the Methodist Conference.

The Lay Members of the Board of Trustees in 1890 included:

John Cambridge Bardall

  • Trustee from 1887-1915
  • He lived in Moundsville, WV and was a manufacturer of leather goods and brooms.
  • He ran one of the largest broom companies in the country at the time.

John Adams Barnes

  • Trustee from 1885-1930, and Secretary of the Board from1894-1921
  • He lived in Weston, WV, and served on the site location committee
  • Mr. Barnes was the Director of Citizen’s Bank of Weston

Benjamin Franklin Martin

  • Trustee in 1890-1894, and Treasurer of the Board
  • Mr. Martin was one of the framers of the West Virginia Constitution
  • He was a delegate to the General Conference in 1876
  • And, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1877-1881

Samuel P. McCormick

  • Trustee from1887-1889 (he died before the school officially opened)
  • He had served in the Army of the Potomac
  • After the war, he was a lawyer and prosecuting attorney
  • In 1880, he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention

Henry C. McWhorter

  • Trustee from 1885-1916, President of the Board from 1898-1913
  • He was a Judge, and lived in Charleston, WV

Alex M. Poundstone

  • Trustee from 1885-1919
  • He served as a Captain in the Federal Army
  • A lawyer in Buckhannon, WV
  • West Virginia Legislature 1872-1879
  • Prosecuting Attorney in Upshur County 1886-1900

William Alexander Wilson

  • Trustee 1890
  • Lived in Wheeling, WV
  • Manufacturing and Businessman

Samuel Woods

  • Trustee 1887-1897, Chairman of the Board 1887-1897
  • Was a member of the Virginia Legislature when they voted to secede from the Union
  • He voted for secession, and fought with Stonewall Jackson’s unit
  • However, after the war, he came back to Barbour County and resumed his Law Practice
  • He was a Framer of the West Virginia Constitution in 1871

The Clergy Members of the Board of Trustees in 1890 included:


Here is an account of the founding of the college in 1890 by one of those who was a participant and leader throughout that process. Captain A.M. Poundstone wrote this account for publication in the 1914 Murmurmontis, some 24 years later.


Ever since that time, there have been leaders carrying on the work of the school and helping the school to grow into what you had envisioned – or maybe even more than you could have possibly imagined. These Giants (Trustees, Administrators, Faculty, Staff, Students) have lived and worked and taught and studied here in this place thanks to you. You have changed and enriched lives.


We will salute you in Wesley Chapel during the Founders Day Convocation.

Because of you we exist and learn….

Because of what we learn, we grow stronger and smarter…..

Because we are stronger and smarter, we are able to make an impact for good in the world.

Love,

Your school in 2018


Harriet Beecher Stowe quote on past, present, future