Tag: Lewis H. Chrisman

Giants Among Us

Giants

When we think of Giants, what is the image that comes to mind?

Is it the Giants of folklore, like Paul Bunyan or John Henry? Or maybe Goliath, of Old Testament fame? Maybe some sort of mysterious huge person at the top of a beanstalk – or the Jolly Green Giant in the commercials.

At any rate, we are likely to think of someone who is very large.

Dictionaries use words like superhuman, exceptional, extraordinary. They talk of people who have great abilities, influence, power, or importance.

Ordinarily Extraordinary

Most of the Giants that I have discovered at West Virginia Wesleyan were not huge in physical stature, but there are many who have given exceptional love and service to the school. There are many who have had great influence, not because they were trying to be Giants but because they simply were (are).

Some of these names you have heard. Some of these names are on buildings.  Other names have disappeared from common knowledge over the course of time. One such example is Thomas W. Haught (formerly known around campus as “Our Tommy”).

Haught, Thomas W. collage edited

Thomas W. Haught came to Buckhannon as a student at the West Virginia Conference Seminary in the spring of 1891 — just months after the school opened its doors. He completed the Classical Course in 1894. Because the school did not offer college level degrees in those early days, he went on to get his A.B. degree at West Virginia University in 1896.

In the fall of 1896, he returned to teach Science, English, and Mathematics. From 1899-1901 he felt the call to further his education and went to study at Harvard University.

Fall 1901 brought him back to teach at his first Alma Mater once again. That fall a new art teacher also arrived on campus, and a courtship began between “Our Tommy” (as he was known by his students) and Miss Helen Wetmore. They married in 1903 much to the delight of everyone on campus. In the very first edition of the Murmurmontis they were literally on the same page.

Wetmore and Haught on the same page in the 1904 Murmurmontis

Salaries were low, and in 1905 he reluctanly accepted an offer to administer the State school in Keyser – now known as Potomac State – a position he held until 1908 when he finally returned to Wesleyan for good.

He taught until his retirement in 1941, and then World War II made it necessary for him to continue teaching during “the emergency” of 1942.

Beyond the classroom, Thomas W. Haught served the college in many other capacities through the years:

  • Librarian 1901-03
  • Dean and Registrar 1910-26
  • Acting President Three Times (1913, 1922, 1925)
  • Dean 1927-30
  • Countless Committees

Recognized by Other Giants

Upon his death in 1957, others wrote about the gigantic things that Thomas W. Haught had done.

Haught Memorial Booklet 1958

Here are a couple of highlights, but please Click Here to read this booklet.

Lewis H. Chrisman stated:

No name looms larger in the history of West Virginia Wesleyan College than that of Thomas W. Haught. No individual has made a greater contribution to the life of the institution. He belongs to its past, its present, and its future.

Roy McCuskey (former student of Thomas W. Haught) wrote an article titled, The Contribution of Thomas W. Haught to Wesleyan College.   It begins:

https://dreamersandgiants.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/McCuskey-memorial-to-Thomas-W.-Haught-First-Paragraph.jpg

And, James Stansbury closed his article, which was entitled The End of an Era, with these words:

Stansbury quote on Haught 1958

But even with all of the things above, he is most of all a Giant in my eyes for the legacy of the written word about all that took place throughout those sixty-six years. Through his writings, he has given us our history. All of us who seek to know about the early years have consulted his work numerous times. They (we) are standing on the shoulders of this Giant named Thomas W. Haught.

WVWC History Authors

Voices From the Past: Thanksgiving Thoughts

Chrisman, Lewis Herbert 1947
Lewis H. Chrisman 1947 Murmurmontis

Thanksgiving Thoughts, by Lewis H. Chrisman (November 1947)

The request to write a few words of Thanksgiving greetings for the West Virginia Wesleyan College Bulletin causes memory to throw the light of other days around me. In these times of comparatively easy transportation, the Wesleyan campus on Thanksgiving is a rather lonely place. Students can get home easily, and practically all of them take advantage of their opportunity.

This was not so back in the administrations of Dr. Fleming and Dr. Cutshall. Then the whole college community remained in Buckhannon. In the morning most of us went to church. The rest of the day was spent in lazy comfort. Then came the climax, which was a traditional dinner in the Agnes Howard Hall. My only painful memory of the occasion was of a nefarious and unsuccessful attempt being made to compel me to carve the turkey at the speakers’ table. Those of later generations are warned not to picture this company assembled in the present dining room. In those days the girls of the Agnes Howard Hall dined in the large room on the first floor on the side next to the Administration Building. I often think of that crowded room on Thanksgiving evening with the heavily laden tables and the happy company. And I am sure that these memories are shared by many others of that college generation.

Since those days much water has passed down the Buckhannon. Wesleyan has gone through some hard storms and successfully weathered them. Other generations of students have come and gone. Wesleyan men, and some women, have journeyed to the ends of the earth at the call of war’s rude tumult. Yet the life of the college at Buckhannon has moved steadily on. Some of us for almost thirty years have faced students in the same classrooms. It may be hard for Wesleyanites of other days to imagine the chapel packed with students to the top seats of the balcony, as is now the case. We must though, remember that the Wesleyan of yesterday is the Wesleyan of today. The past, the present, and the future march hand in hand.

Although we no longer gather in the Agnes Howard Hall on Thanksgiving Day, there is still no better time for us to relive the experiences of the past, to remember those who made college life richer and brighter, and to renew our allegiance to the great moral and spiritual verities which undergird the universe.

Chrisman, L. H. (1947). Thanksgiving Thoughts. The West Virginia Wesleyan College Bulletin, 40(8), p.2.

Chrisman, L.H. (1949). Our Thanksgiving Heritage. The West Virginia Wesleyan College Bulletin, 42(9), p.3.

Lewis H. Chrisman

Related Post: Curating the Stories

Dreams of Dorothy Lee

Early Days

Once upon a time, in a land far far away, a baby girl named Daw-Say was born. Her father had died before her birth, and her mother was desparately disappointed that she did not turn out to be a son.

In another small village in the mountains in the Fukien province of China there was a small boy named Joo-mook. His family was living in poverty, and his parents both died by the time he was five years old.

Each of them encountered Christian Missionaries who changed their lives by making it possible for them to have an education and to come to the United States for more advanced studies. It was two chance encounters – one in Chicago and one in Moundsville, West Virginia – that brought the two together.

Each receieved new names in America. He became James Cheng and she became Dorothy Lee.

The full stories of their early lives are written in a book called Life Has No Ceiling, by Dr. Frank T. Cutright. Although written as fiction, all of the stories and details have been vouched for by both Dorothy and James and by major people in their lives.

Life Has No Ceiling
1940, Friendship Press

This book includes a great story in the Prologue which takes place in Agnes Howard Hall.

Prologue

If I don’t get a letter by tomorrow night, I am going to call Detroit by long distance and ask him what is the matter — and the charges will be reversed. I’ll teach him to economize on postage stamps!

A group of amused and interested seniors gathered around Dorothy Lee, their Chinese classmate, as she made her spirited threat. The whole student body of West Virginia Wesleyan College had been enjoying their occasional glimpses of this developing Oriental romance. Many of them had seen photographs of the slender, sober-faced Chinese man who was now being threatened with mild revenge. Dorothy’s naive descriptions of him and her comments about him had whetted their appetite for more intimate knowledge.

At supper time that night one of the girs asked, “Has your letter come from Detroit, Dorothy?”

“No, it hasn’t,” she replied indignantly, her usually merry face assuming sterner lines.

“Are you going to telephone him, then?”

“Why, of course. I said I would, didn’t I?”

“We’ll be listening in,” threatened another senior gaily. “I wouldn’t miss the dressing down you’re going to give him for any amount of money!”

“Neither would I!” exclaimed a dozen voices, as the dean arose, signaling that it was time to leave the dining room.

Dorothy tried to escape her tormenters, but they escorted her relentlessly to the telephone booth, insisting that she must leave the door open for ventilation, and then settled themselves comfortably on the stairway outside to await the fun.

Dorothy, seeing that she could not shake off the laughing group, put in her number. She heard the calls along the way–“Long distance…” “Route for Detroit, Michigan…” “Thank you…” “Pittsburgh calling Cleveland…” “Thank you…” –each call punctuated by the buzz or click of connecteions made or broken. And at last the voice of the operator–“Here’s you party. He says he will take the charges.”

“Is that you, James? she said, and at the sound of her voice the huddled girls crowded forward eagerly. They were about to hear the “dressing down.” Then, with a mischievous gleam in her eye, Dorothy went on, “James, I want to know–nu sie-noh-iong-go ci sioh la-bai mo sia pie gie nguai.” And the flow of Chinese was halted only when the operator told her that her three minutes were up! As she walked out of the booth with a demurely innocent face, her disappointed audience eyed her in chagrin.

“We might have known you would fool us,” one girl declared ruefully. “But, what did you tell him?”

Dorothy giggled at their discomfiture and disappeared up the stairs in tantalizing silence. And they never did find out what Miss Lee said to her fiance, Mr. Cheng.

Married on Graduation Day

The couple returned to China to fulfill their childhood dreams of teaching and of helping to reduce suffering among people there. James became a very influential physician – and at one point treated Chiang Kai-Shek, the leader of the Republic of China from 1928-1975. Dorothy and James were invited to his home with a small group of about 18 people to celebrate Chiang Kai-Shek’s return from being held hostage during a regional uprising.

Julia Bee Thomas and Mary
Mary Ellen (born in 1932), Thomas Clement (born in 1930) and Julia B. (Born in 1928)

The Dorothy Lee Scholarship Fund for Overseas Students

As conditions grew difficult through the Japanese occupation of China and the Second World War, the Cheng family lost nearly everything. A group of people from West Virginia Wesleyan College and the West Virginia Methodist Conference Women’s Society for Chrisitan Service went into action to help bring Julia B. (by then ready for college) to West Virginia Wesleyan. The group included such Giants as:

  • Roy McCuskey (S1905, 1908, College President 1931-1941)
  • Wallace B. Fleming (College President 1915-22; College Vice President 1938-44)
  • Edna Jenkins (S1902; Trustee 1943-56)
  • Lewis H. Chrisman (Faculty 1919-56)
  • Dr. Thomas M. Zumbrunnen (1919; Trustee 1931-59)
  • Julia Bonafield (the Missionary who had been the Champion for Dorothy)
  • Mary Scott (at whose home Dorothy and James had started their courtship)
  • and Dorothy’s college friend Laura Rector Hedrick (1930 – who became Julia B.’s American Mother).
Julia B.
Julia B. 1946

Julia graduated cum laude from WVWC in May, 1950 and went on to receive her Master’s degree in social work from Columbia University. She became a generous contributor to the Dorothy Lee Fund in order to help other students have the same opportunity that she had been given.

Dorothy and James
Dorothy and James

The dreams of Daw-Say and Joo-mook came true thanks to the Missionaries who were there when they were most needed, and to the love and generosity of caring Christians from far away. Their dreams were not for themselves, but rather to prepare themselves to help others.

Many other students have benefitted from the Dorothy Lee Fund for Overseas Students since its beginning in 1946. Nearly 100 of them from countries all over the world.

UPDATE: A special edition of the Emeritus Club Newsletter in February 1983 provided information about Dorothy Lee Cheng as well as requested more information. Word had reached WVWC, through Julia Cheng Kurz, that Dorothy died the week after Thanksgiving 1982 in a nursing home in Los Angeles, CA. Here is a link to that newsletter.