Thomas Haught – DreamersAndGiants.com

Verse three of the West Virginia Wesleyan Alma Mater talks about the Guardian of Romantic Years. As we celebrate Valentine’s Day, I thought it would be fun to think about that for a minute.

Yes, many people have found their life partners while here. At last count there are more than 1,400 Wesleyan Sweetheart Couples. These are people who met while students here.

Sometimes the courtship has involved long walks on the beautiful campus. Sometimes there were long hours in choir or band practices or lengthy science labs involved. Sometimes romances flourish in the library or in the cafeteria.

Even faculty members have fallen in love!

Literary Society Love

In the early years, it was not uncommon to find love in the Literary Societies (Chrestomathean or Excelsior) because these were organizations where it was approved for boys and girls to gather together. After all, you wanted that debate, or performance, or speech to be extra good! Some notable couples in this category would be Charles and Ireta (Lowe) Jones Seminary graduates in 1904 and 1906 respectively and Edward and Gayzelle (Rusk) Boetticher in the late 1920s.

Whatever the setting, there are people who have an interest (or a challenge) in common and who are spending a lot of time together at a time in their lives when they are discovering who they are and who they want to become.

Alma Mater

But sometimes the love doesn’t involve another person. Sometimes it is the love of learning that is discovered and celebrated. Sometimes it is the love for the place where we spend those romantic years dreaming and growing.

Wallace B. Fleming caputured some of the romantic spirit of the college when he wrote the words to our Alma Mater in 1918, and highlights some of the elements of love.

Verse 1 is about the magic mystic fountains (before we had ACTUAL magic mystic fountains on campus) and the noblest dreams of life. People who were making plans for their lives.

Verse 2 may be my favorite of all. It is about loving to learn as well as learning to love. And, again, the future is imagined.

Verse 3 actually mentions the romantic years. The exciting and mysterious time in life when plans are imagined and dreams are followed is described in this verse along with the call to high endeavor and never ending relationships.

Verse 4 is the same as the first verse. It reiterates the importance of following those noblest dreams of life which have begun and grown during the college years.

All kinds of love.

Agape (unconditional love for everyone).
Philia (deep friendship)
Eros (romantic love)
Storge (familial love….for the college family as well as biological ones)

Ann Lorentz, class of 1931, wrote this lovely poem which wraps up my thoughts for this Valentine’s Day. Not about her sweetheart, but about her college. It is a bit difficult to see, so I will also transcribe it here. The images will sound very familiar to those of us who have walked these same pathways.

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.

Building the Buildings

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.

Construction of Fleming 1952 — Fleming 1952 (photo by Howard Hiner)

Construction 1963 Campus Center — Benedum Campus Community Center, 1963 (photo by Howard Hiner)

Chapel Steeple 1967 – Photo by Howard Hiner

Construction 2008 September Reemsnyder — Reemsnyder September 2008 – Looking from the parking lot toward the back of the library (photo by Allison Hull)

Working in the 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.

Labor Day Graphic — Thanks for all you do!!!

Buildings Build Us

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 Lynch-Raine Administration Building builds Business Leaders, Communicators, and Educators.
The English Annex builds writers and those who love literature.
Haymond builds historians, political scientists, and those who focus on issues such as Gender Studies and Social Justice. It used to build scientists, but Christopher and Reemsnyder do that now.
The Library provides resources and a space for learners to interact with all of the wisdom of the ages (and their own thoughts).
Loar builds musicians.
The Martin Religious Center, connected to Wesley Chapel, builds people who think deeply and who tend to spiritual matters. Our founders would be especially proud to know of Bishops Peter Weaver (1966) and Thomas Bickerton (1980), and several others who have become leaders in the United Methodist denomination.
Middleton builds Nurses.
John D. Rockefeller, IV Physical Education Center builds Excercise Scientists and Athletic Trainers.

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.

Class at Harmer Gateway 2018 — WVWC Class of 2022

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.

Tag: Thomas Haught