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April 6, 2009

In the spring or early summer of 1944 we received a letter from Milton, Wisconsin that challenged us to make a decision impacting the rest of our lives. The letter was a “call” to us to accept the pastorate of the Milton Seventh Day Baptist Church.

It is an interesting sidelight that the Milton church had “called” Rev. Albert Rogers to their pastorate before “calling” me. Al Rogers was pastoring the Second Alfred church following our service there. Because he had served Second Alfred so short a time, he declined the Milton “call”. By this turn of circumstances, I was the next minister to be “called” by the Milton church.

There were a number of considerations for us to ponder before answering this “call”. I thought of the Scout Executive assignment as temporary, perhaps covering the period of the war, though I had not served Pine Tree Council a year-and-a-half yet. What was my obligation to continue in this work?

The pastorate of the Milton church offered perhaps as great a challenge and opportunity for ministry as any church in our Seventh Day Baptist denomination. If I refused this “call”, would any other church “call” me at a later time?

Percy Dunn was typically fair-minded and understanding when I shared the news of our “call” with him. He would support us in whatever decision we made. It became evident that the Council Board was not pleased with the possibility that we might be leaving.

Personal letters from my college friend and classmate, Milton Van Horn and Rev. Willard D. Burdick, both of Milton, were enthusiastic in their hope that we would come to the Milton pastorate. These letters were helpful to us in our decision making.

Our answer to the “call” from the Milton church was in the affirmative. We concluded our work with Pine Tree Council September 1, 1944 and agreed to begin the Milton Seventh Day Baptist Church pastorate October 1, 1944.

During September we visited our families in West Virginia enroute to Wisconsin and the new challenge.

God willing, We intend to add another volume to our autobiography. Perhaps it will be titled, THE MILTON YEARS. Completing the experiences for that period of time, we should move on to our last experiences, THE BOULDER YEARS.

In closing, we can only hope that you, our reader, will find as much pleasure in the reading as we have in the writing.

GOD BLESS!

To Maine with the Boy Scouts and Percy Dunn

April 6, 2009

A surprise letter came from Scout Executive Percy Dunn in the spring of 1943. He had become the Executive of Pine Tree Council in Maine and needed a Field Scout Executive to be Chief of Staff at Camp William Hinds beginning in June. Would I consider joining him again in this new assignment?

The offer was attractive since I was looking for a new and greater challenge in this time of national crises. It was not my intention to leave the Christian ministry. A war time commitment interested me. At Percy Dunn’s prompting, I flew to Portland, Maine for a job interview. It was always inspiring to be with P.L. Dunn and this visit convinced me to team up with him again in Pine Tree Council and Camp William Hinds. Percy introduced me to Maine lobster at Boone’s Place on the wharf in Portland. How delicious!

There were many decisions to make and arrangements to settle before leaving for the Scout camp in early June. Madeline was expecting our third child the first of June so the church agreed for her to stay in the parsonage until I would come for her and the children in August. Clora Harris volunteered to take Madeline to the hospital when the time came. John Preston—named for his two grandfathers–was not born until June 30, 1943, a month later than expected. Through all the stress of this transition period Madeline demonstrated remarkable courage. Looking back, I marvel at her faith and stamina. The ensuing weeks were perhaps the most trying of our lives.

Camp William Hinds, owned and operated by Pine Tree Council Boy Scout of America, was located on Panther Pond with the Tenney river running through the camp and emptying into the lake. Pond was a misnomer. It was a four mile long lake, half a mile wide. The water was clear and refreshingly cool. Most of the camp property was wooded. I was enthralled on my first visit to the camp.

As camp Chief of Staff, I worked with thirty-five adult and junior staff men and two-hundred-fifty Scouts for two-week periods through the summer. Soon after camp began problems with some veteran staff members developed. We learned that the former Scout Executive had in effect turned over the camp program to a few men whose ideas of camping and personal behavior were unacceptable in Scouting. The fact that I was a newcomer to Maine, and a minister, were like two strikes against me with these renegade staff men.

In the course of time we learned that a ring of men on the staff were gambling far into the night and some of them had women on the lake. The junior staff also had their own ring perpetrating activities bad for camp morale. Keep in mind that Percy Dunn had come to Pine Tree Council too late to evaluate and recruit camp staff. He once said to me, “Next summer we’ll be in control”.

It is hard to believe that these adult staff men took all of the dining hall benches out into the woods one night and hid them. Another night these men paddled our canoes down the lake to a women’s camp and exchanged them with that camp’s canoes. Percy and I were waiting for them when they paddled back to our dock so they had to return those canoes and bring ours back. They were unhappy “campers”. It the end of camp this ring of staff men went on a drunken bash, destroying a dory boat and convicting themselves beyond recovery.

I do not want to give the impression that the 1943 camping season at Camp William Hinds was a failure. Five or six adult staff members, and perhaps as many junior staff personnel, created the problems. There were a number of talented and dedicated men who were loyal to me and who helped to make the camping experience memorable for the hundreds of Boy Scouts in camp. However, had it not been for the unwavering support of Percy Dunn, I doubt if I would have survived the summer.

Immediately after camp was over I drove the camp truck to Alfred Station to bring our family and household goods back to Auburn, Maine. Because it was war time, special arrangements to purchase gasoline for the truck and our V8 Ford had to be made with the proper authorities.

Returning to Madeline and the children after the trauma of the summer was an emotionally happy experience. What a thrill to see baby John, now eight or nine weeks old, for the first time. He was a beautiful baby! I could only guess at how difficult the summer had been for Madeline. She was a “survivor”.

Tears were shed as we drove away from Alfred Station in the loaded truck and our Ford car. Madeline had Anne, Daniel and John with her as she drove. The more than four years with Second Alfred church, our first pastorate, had been fruitful and happy. We were leaving our first home, after the Gothic in Alfred, and many friends dear to us were being left behind.

The trip to Maine was arduous, especially for Madeline. We were fortunate to be able to spend the first night on the road in Berlin, New York with our friends, Pastor Paul and Ruby Maxson. It was difficult to find a motel the second night. No lights were allowed outside places of business because of the war so we literally groped our way into a motel kind enough to take us in.

It was heartwarming and reassuring to have Percy and Clara Dunn help us settle in to our rented apartment on Beacon Avenue in Auburn, Maine. Lewiston Auburn is the twin city that was headquarters for the Pine Tree Council district I was to serve as Field Scout Executive. Our first floor apartment was on top of a hill that overlooked the city of Lewiston and the Androscoggin river. Remodeled from an elegant home, the apartment had hardwood floors and a beautiful fireplace with a ceramic arch decorated with a woman’s face, oak leaves and acorns. It was pleasant to come home from night Scout meetings and sit with Madeline in front of a cheery fire. I often brought home a huge Italian sandwich or a lobster sandwich to enjoy together. We paid $30.00 a month for the apartment. A coal furnace was our heat source and, because of war time restrictions, we brought coal home, one bag at a time, in our car. I foolishly used kerosene one morning to relight the furnace fire. The kerosene exploded in my face, singing my hair and burning off my mustache. It could have been a major tragedy but it was an embarrassment for a Scout Executive.

Because washing machines were not available during the war, Madeline was forced to wash all our clothes by hand until the Irish lady next door saw her predicament and gave her a working old electric washing machine. We were thankful for it and did not replace it until after the war. The washing was done by putting the clothes in a revolving basket with wooden slates. The war caused restrictions and inconveniences that are now forgotten.

Being Field Scout Executive for the Lewiston-Auburn District of Pine Tree Council was interesting and demanding. The district covered the communities from Lewiston-Auburn north to Rumford. More than four feet of snow the winter of 1943-44 made travel sometimes hazardous. Days found me in the district office much of the time and most week nights I was visiting Troops or conducting committee meetings relating to Scouting. A number of Troops were made up of French-Canadian Scouters and Scouts whose meetings were conducted using the French language. I remember Freddie LeBranche who was the Scoutmaster of an excellent Troop. He and his wife became close friends.

The British had a base at the Lewiston airport for training British pilots to fly Grumman aircraft. A number of the pilots were English Boy Scouts and came to our office to get acquainted. We had Norman Bleers, a charming British Scout, for dinner several times. We wonder, “Did he survive the war?”. Those were the terrible days when England was being subjected to devastating bombings day and night. “The Happy Gang”, a Canadian radio program we heard almost every day, often sang, “There’ll always be an England, and England will be free, As long as there’s a cottage small beside the crystal sea”. When there was a movement under way to send English children to the United States to escape the bombings, Madeline and I applied to host one. We corresponded with the father of the child scheduled to come to us and he sent us a burned out German fire bomb. It was decided not to evacuate the children.

Madeline and I participated in a number of church and community activities in Lewiston-Auburn. Madeline sang in the Congregational church choir and was active in a Baptist Women’s organization. I preached many Sundays in rural and small town Baptist churches. My “barrel” of sermons was made use of often.

An experience with birds deserves telling. I came home from the office for lunch one day to find a flock of beautiful birds eating the seeds on the ash tree in our front yard. The markings on the birds were yellow and black and a search of our bird guide led us to believe they must be Evening Grosbeaks. One hitch was that the guide said this species was seldom seen east of the Mississippi river. This flock of birds couldn’t have been farther east than this. When I telephoned Dr. Sawyer, a Bates College biology professor and a member of my District Board, he assured me that we were seeing Evening Grosbeaks. They had been observed in Maine for several years.

It was intellectually stimulating to meet monthly through the winter with Peter Bertocci, a Bates College professor, and the local Unitarian minister. We met in our home and took turns presenting a paper on some issue and then discussing it. I believe sociology was Dr. Bertocci’s field. He later became a professor at Boston University and authored one or more books. I can’t recall how the idea of our getting together originated. We enjoyed it.

I joined a group of people interested in target archery in forming the Orumby Archery Club. “Orumby” was the name of a renowned Indian in the history of the area. We established an archery range on which we could shoot the York round requiring a number of 100 yard shots. In the archery club I met Harold A. Titcomb (Uncle “Hat”). His name was prominent in target archery circles and he was most helpful to us in organizing our local club. Madeline and I were honored to have him as a guest in our home and I was in touch with him later.

Our family life in Maine sometimes was lonely, especially for Madeline. We missed our families and friends acutely and were thrilled to have cousin Vida Randolph Barrs bring her three children from Boston to visit us. Christmas Eve we attended the very large and beautiful Saint Peter’s Catholic church Midnight Mass. The priest was active in our Scouting program.

Anne was five years old in June of 1943 and so went to kindergarten in Auburn in September. It was exciting to follow her progress and enthusiasm in school. One winter day Daniel, who was not yet three years old, wandered away from our house causing Madeline to call me at the office greatly alarmed. I rushed home to receive a call from the nearby fire station that a little boy was there who might be ours. Baby John made us all happy as he grew. He was caught one day with a caterpillar in his mouth as he sat on the front lawn.

Before camp began in 1944 we were surprised to receive word from Rabbi Karl and Eva Weiner that Karl was going to be on the staff of a private camp not far from Camp William Hinds. Arrangements were soon made between us to have Eva and their baby, Danny live with Madeline and our children for the camp season. It worked out well for Karl and me to have the same day off each week from our camps and be at home together with our families. Madeline and Eva enjoyed being together. They had religious discussions in which they compared Old and New Testament scriptures. Eva was pleased to learn how to sew from Madeline. After the camping season the Weiners moved to Colorado Springs, CO.

Serving as Chief of Staff for Boy Scout Camp William Hinds on Panther Pond was sheer joy in 1944. Percy Dunn and I recruited the entire staff and we were in full control of the management and program for the camp. I was happily surprised to be inducted into The Order of the Arrow, a national Scout organization, in an impressive Indian ceremony. I supervised the construction of an outdoor chapel and an archery range for the camp.

Blueberries grew in abundance on the camp property and one week we sent the campers out, by tents, with #10 cans to pick blueberries. The winning tent got a watermelon as a prize. Our cook baked blueberry pies and blueberry muffins enjoyed by everyone.

One unique program event during the camping season stands out in my memory. The father of a camper was a talented camper, fly fisherman, canoeist and general outdoorsman. On our invitation he took a day at camp to set up a model camp and demonstrate axmanship, fly casting and poling a canoe. His relating of fishing and camping experiences kept the Scouts spellbound at evening campfire.

An Indian council fire I led at Camp William Hinds one evening when the “Old Timers” from Portland, Maine were our guests is unforgettable. The “Old Timers” were affluent business men who were supporters of the camp and who came to visit every year. The fire was laid in the campfire ring and the Scouts filed silently into the arena with blankets over their shoulders and wearing single feathers on their heads. I wore a full Indian headdress and opened the ceremony by invoking blessings from each point of the compass. Facing north with arms outstretched I intoned, “O north wind, bring us FIREI”. At that moment flames burst out of the wood laid for the fire. It was awesome!

As you may have guessed, the burst of fire was brought on by a mixture of chemicals that were activated by a staff man in the edge of the circle who pulled on a black thread attached to the neck of an open bottle at the base of the firewood. I had never seen it done before but it worked perfectly.

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Camps and Youth Retreats

April 6, 2009

My introduction to church youth camping came at Eggelstone Park, near Belmont, New York where I directed Western Association one week youth camps in 1940 and 1941. There were about twenty teenagers in 1940 and perhaps 30 in 1941. A staff of seven adults made for a good program and happy campers.

Pastor George Shaw, then retired and living in Alfred, led a featured hour in the program that we called, “Grampa Shaw’s Story Hour”. Rather than have a rest period after lunch with the campers lying on their bunks, they gathered after lunch under a huge tree and listened to Pastor Shaw share a series of talks on “Seventh Day Baptists I Have Known”. What a great shame that we were not able to record or video those stimulating, informative historic sessions.

Reverend Harley Sutton, Executive for the Seventh Day Baptist Board of Christian Education, and I co-directed the first Pre-Conference Youth Retreat on Cotton Lake near Battle Creek, Michigan in 1940. I recall that Dean Bond was guest lecturer on the staff and Harley’s wife, Madge Sutton helped too. One evening Harley attempted to lead a worship service from a boat off the shore of the lake but the mosquitoes were so vicious we had to move indoors. Someone composed the following lyrics for a fun song we sang often:

Randy Randolph is a peach,
But he’d rather fish than preach.
Hey, hey, do-anonny, do.

The 1941 sessions of General Conference were held in Denver, Colorado so the second Pre-Conference Young People’s Retreat was held at Rocky Mountain Seventh Day Baptist Camp on Lee Hill above Boulder. Harley Sutton and I co-directed this retreat. I remember the two of us taking a hand saw up on the mountain above the camp and cutting pieces out of a seasoned western cedar tree. Taking them back to Little Genesee, Harley made a cross, or had a cross made, that is now on the mantel at Camp Harley Sutton near Alfred Station.

It is good to observe that Pre-Con Youth Retreats have continued to be a successful part of the Conference program for young people for over fifty years. Now the program has been expanded to provide Young Adult and Family Pre-Cons. How many hundred Seventh Day Baptist youth have attended?

The Boulder Seventh Day Baptist church was without a Pastor at the time of the 1941 Retreat at Rocky Mountain Camp so they invited me to preach for them on Sabbath. Sometime after returning to Alfred Station from the Denver Conference, I received a “call” to the pastorate of the Boulder church. declined for the reason that I had been at Alfred Station so short a time.

Our second child, first son, was born July 30, 1941, seven days before I left for the Pre-Con Retreat at Rocky Mountain Camp. My mother came from West Virginia to help Madeline with the family. We named the new son, Daniel, and the next day, Sabbath, I preached on the text: “And Daniel purposed in his heart”.

In the years since 1941 I have directed a Pre-Con in West Virginia and Madeline and I co-directed a Young Adult Pre-Con at the university in Alfred.

Also tagged baptist, bond, fish, new york, randolph, sabbath, Seventh Day Baptist, sutton, virginia, west virginia – No Comments

Alfred Station “Happenings” to Remember

April 6, 2009

How privileged I was to be invited to join the School of Theology professors in attending the Steuben County Ministers Association. Dean Bond, President Norwood, Dr. Edrar Van Horn and I often rode to the meetings together. The conversations were always stimulating–and sometimes hilarious. Papers read by members of the association on relevant religious topics were discussed and evaluated on the rides home.

I remember a Minister’s meeting held in the Gothic chapel when Dean Bond presented a paper on The Sabbath. In the discussion that followed the Episcopal priest from Hornell pontificated, “I believe every Sunday should be a “little Resurrection”, and every Saturday should be a “little Creation”.

It was at one of the Minister’s meetings that I met Rabbi Karl Wiener. He was the Rabbi of the Reformed Jewish congregation in Hornell. With his wife, Eva, he had escaped from Nazi Germany and had come to the United States by way of Israel. Madeline and I and Karl and Eva developed a warm, vital friendship that has lasted through the years. (More on this friendship later.)

I have never enjoyed a richer fellowship with ministers than in The Ministerium of Greater Alfred and the Upper Reaches of the Kanakadea. Alfred University Chaplain William (Bill) Genne and Betty; Alfred Pastor Everett (Ev) Harris and Clora and Madeline and I had lunch together twice a month. It was always fun being together but there were often serious matters to share and discuss. Bill was a confirmed pacifist and our discussions on that theme often caused deep soul-searching among us.

The three of us became involved in a serious situation with the Board of Education. The board refused to divulge why they fired the high school principal, appreciated in the community for his long tenure and excellent record. With approval from the principal–who insisted he was not told why he was being dismissed–we confronted the board for answers. They gave us none but out of community-wide pressure, the board established a policy giving the public access to their deliberations and decisions. Our efforts were not without good and lasting results. (Bill and Betty honored me by having me perform a Service of Dedication for their baby son, Tom.)

It was a major event in the life of the Second Alfred Church when Dr. Dumont Clark, founder of The Lord’s Acre Plan, shared the plan with our congregation. Dr. Clark was a charming, white-haired minister from the south who presented his Lord’s Acre Plan with enthusiasm and fervor. It was a joy having him as our guest. Our congregation “bought” the Lord’s Acre Plan and incorporated it in our program for several years.

Along with many individual Lord’s Acre projects the first year, we carried on a joint project by planting five acres of buckwheat on land donated by Irving Palmiter. Though there was a profit from the harvest of the buckwheat, it was not as much as expected because the deer rolled in the buckwheat and ate around the edges of the field. Some wag in Alfred Station said, “The deer ate the Lord’s buckwheat”. The Lord’s Acre Sale each fall was supported by people from the area and raised appreciable monies for the church budget.

Madeline sustained a serious injury in the Alfred Station parsonage. Half awake and missing the hall light switch, she walked through the open stairway door in the dark and fell seventeen stairs down onto the kitchen floor. I carried her back up the stairs to bed. Her back pain did not improve over several weeks so we sought help from an orthopedic specialist in Rochester. He advised an operation with six weeks in bed to recuperate. For a second opinion a specialist in Buffalo suggested sleeping on a hard bed and letting time bring healing. We followed that course with some success but Madeline has never been free of some back pain.

The first funeral I was called on to conduct was for a seventy-five year old man from Olean, New York. No one in Alfred Station remembered the man. His wife, from whom he had been separated, told me he did not believe in God but she thought she ought to take him through a church.

As you can doubtless appreciate, the funeral service I conducted was brief. It was reported to me that the undertaker, Phil Place, when asked how the young preacher had done, said, “I like that young man. He’s short”.

My first wedding in the Second Alfred church united Elmer Willard and Bertha Lewis in marriage. Elmer has had a successful career as a school principal and Bertha was an elementary teacher until their retirement.

Charles Bond, with whom I had grown up in Salem, came to the School of Theology to study for the ministry. Madeline and I enjoyed having him spend-a number of weekends with us. During a Christmas vacation in Salem Charley and Margaret Skaggs were married. Margie had to return to Plainfield for a couple of weeks after the wedding and when Charley returned to school to told us about the wedding. He regretted that the Salem friends had not serenaded them. (They were prepared with refreshments). In West Virginia they called it a “serenade”–in New York it’s a “shivaree”.

When Charley and Margie were together in Alfred, we invited them for dinner and a movie with us. On the pretense of taking Anne to a baby sitter, we left the newly weds at the parsonage. By prearrangement, our church people were gathered at the church with all sorts of noisemakers. We surrounded the parsonage and broke the silence with all the noise possible. (Fred Palmer had a public address system with which we summoned the couple to come out). When our bewildered guests could no longer stand the racket they came out to greet their tormentors. We concluded the evening with a reception for the Bonds in the church social room.

When Charles Bond became Pastor of the Hebron, Pennsylvania Seventh Day Baptist church he invited me to preach evangelistic sermons on two weekends with the two of us visiting in the community during the week.

Also tagged alfred university, baptist, bera, bond, lewis, new york, sabbath, salem, Seventh Day Baptist, virginia, west virginia – No Comments

Ordination to the Gospel Ministry

April 6, 2009

After just over a half-year as Pastor of the Second Alfred Seventh Day Baptist Church, the congregation voted to “Call their Pastor to Ordination.” So, on August 11th and 12th, 1939 the Services of Ordination on Sabbath Eve, Sabbath morning and Sabbath afternoon moved me through a spiritual experience that has given my life direction and meaning from that time on.

My good friend, Pastor Harley Sutton of Little Genesee led the Worship Sabbath Eve in which I presented Statements of my Christian Experience and my Christian Beliefs. Following my statements, the Ordination Council “examined” me and voted to continue with my Ordination.

The following is my Statement of Christian Belief: (Each article was prefaced by reading that belief from the Statement of Belief of Seventh Day Baptists–to which I heartily subscribed.)

GOD – I believe we may discover and know God, and find Him sufficient for our every need, as we come to Him in honest faith and humble, thoughtful prayer. I am awed by the mystery and the majesty of God whose plans transcend all time and whose creation leaves man in wonder and amazement. I am impressed by the Law of God and I believe God uses His Law as a manifestation of his love to mankind.

JESUS CHRIST – I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He serves as the true example of God’s plan for all men. I believe the ruling principle of Christ’s life on earth was perfect love and that, as love never dies, Jesus can never die. I believe the power of God’s love, through Christ, is as strong for men today who will follow Christ, as it ever was. The complete sacrifice of self that Jesus made on the cross I believe is the supreme example that men of all time need for salvation.

THE HOLY SPIRIT – I believe that God has the power to enter into the life of men and that the continued presence of God with men is what we know as the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the all pervading presence and force which God in love uses to bring men unto Him. The Holy Spirit, I believe, becomes active in life as men seek after God and attempt to do His will.

THE BIBLE – I believe the Bible is our greatest reservoir of spiritual truth; that it contains the highest and the best that man has discovered in his search for truth; and that it witnesses to the capacity of man to grow in God’s grace to higher spiritual levels. The Bible, I believe, serves as no other book can to lead men into the way of eternal life and to show us the principles upon which true spirituality must be based. I believe we have yet to come into the full understanding and knowledge that God has for us in the Bible and that if man is to progress toward the good in any phase of his life it must be as he discovers and uses the principles of life that flow out of the Scriptures.

MAN – I believe that man, as the noblest creation of God, has unlimited capacity for growth toward the goodness of God. I believe that God has given man a free will, with the power of choice between good and bad in order that man may grow toward the perfect love of God. I believe that good has no virtue in itself except as man chooses it through the strength of his own will.

I believe that man may leave God out of his life, to his own destruction, but that God has the power and the desire to save every man through his infinite grace who will choose to know and serve Him.

SIN AND SALVATION – I believe that sin is any act or condition whereby we fall short of God’s purpose and goal for us. I believe that sin in all it forms is the result of man’s selfishness, and we are all so entangled in the snares of selfishness in every field of our existence that only through the unmerited favor and the forgiveness of God may we find salvation. I believe our salvation depends upon our confession of sinfulness and our active faith that love and truth can bring us into fellowship with God. I believe that God is interested in the soul and the salvation of every individual and that He has given His Son in sacrificial love upon the cross in order that men may catch the spirit of selflessness which alone can save us. Salvation, to me, is not a point at which I have arrived but a condition of life which I must constantly strive to achieve. I believe that as we come more and more into fellowship with God by revolting against all that is not high and true in our lives, and by seeking all that is good and strong and right we come into a knowledge and feeling of salvation. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, ever stands as the example we must follow as we seek salvation.

ETERNAL LIFE – I believe that God is infinite and that his love for man has no end in time. I believe that God’s final aim is to accomplish perfect and complete and universal fellowship of love with all men for all eternity. believe the Kingdom of God is with us in this life now in so far as we have caught the spirit of God as revealed in Christ. As truth and love can never die, so I believe that man, a he grows in fellowship with God, will have eternal life. I believe the physical body is the temple of the soul and that physical and spiritual union are necessary to our existence in this life; but I believe God has greater things in store for us than we have yet dreamed of.

THE CHURCH – I believe man finds strength and courage to face the problems of life as he shares that life with his fellow men. He finds peace and joy and happiness as he shares life with his fellow men and as he joins with others in the expression of his life. I believe the church is an organization, divine in its origin, yet using the corporate powers of men for the bringing of God’s Kingdom on earth. I believe the function of the church is to keep before all men the way of life that Jesus proclaimed; to give men the high privilege of worshipping God in the spirit of beauty and of truth; to offer an organization and plan for service to all men in need; and to bring all men into a universal fellowship of unselfish love. I believe that the church, because it is carried on by men, needs always to rediscover the plan of God, and act upon that plan in undying faith.

THE SACRAMENTS – The sacraments, to me, are the paths by which Christians are led to the “Mountain Top”" experiences of religion. There is in the experience of Baptism and Communion a closeness to God for the true worshiper that is not felt in the routine experiences of life. There is a divine mystery for me, in the sacraments that strikes the deeps of spiritual experience and lifts me away from all that is cheap and coarse and ordinary. Baptism, I believe, through the mysterious power of God, does cleanse us spiritually of our sin and does prepare us for a new life. Communion, I believe, is essential to continued spiritual growth as we join with Christians of all ages who have renewed their covenant by partaking of the bread and wine symbolic of Christ’s body and blood.

THE SABBATH – I believe the Sabbath is a gift of God to man and that the law of the Sabbath is a law of love given by a Father who knows the needs and the weakness of His children. I believe the Sabbath law holds for all time and that men suffer spiritually and physically today because they ignore its meaning and purpose in their lives. There is spiritual significance, for me, in the fact that the Sabbath has been a part of Gods plan since the dawn of religious history. I discover spiritual strength and power as I worship on the same sacred day that the Bible heroes helped to sanctify and glorify. I believe in the power of religious tradition so richly present in Sabbath observance. I am impressed by the importance of keeping God’s time, sunset to sunset, and I firmly believe there are great spiritual values to be obtained as we prepare for our day of worship and rest on Friday evening. lie have yet to learn God’s full blessing for us in true Sabbath keeping. Seventh Day Baptists, I believe, have a tremendous responsibility in spreading Sabbath truth and when we live according to what we believe, then surely the Sabbath of God will find its way into the hearts of many Christians who seek the Way of life.

EVANGELISM – I believe that men throughout the world are eager to discover a better way of life than they now have, provided they can be made to see how that life is better. I believe that the seeds of love will find soil in which to grow in the hearts and minds of men in all conditions of life if these seeds are planted in the spirit of love that we find in Jesus Christ. The task of every Christian and of every church, I believe, is to take the Good News of love and truth to all the world and make it so radiate from life that it will set the world on fire with the love of God.

Dean A.J.C. Bond preached the Ordination Sermon on Sabbath morning, August 12, 1939. The title of the sermon was, THE HELP THAT GOES BEFORE, using a text from John 1:48–”Nathaniel saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him. Before Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.” The full text of the sermon was published in the September 4, 1939 issue of THE SABBATH RECORDER.

In the concluding Ordination Service Sabbath afternoon a Charge to the Candidate was given by Reverend Walter Greene; Reverend Edgar Van Horn gave a Charge to the Church; and Reverend George B. Shaw–my former beloved Pastor-offered the Prayer of Consecration. Reverend Clyde Ehret extended a Welcome to the Ministry to the newly ordained minister.

Mrs. Lois Scholes planned and directed the special music for the services. On Sabbath Eve The Friends of Music sang. In the Sabbath morning worship the anthem was, The King of Love My Shepherd Is, (Shelley). Two anthems were sung in the Sabbath afternoon service: God Be In My Head, (Davies) and Thou Hast a Work for Me to Do, (Robson). The Rev. James L. Skaggs, Pastor of the Salem Seventh Day Baptist Church, offered the Pastoral Prayer in the Sabbath morning service. Paul Maxson, my friend and college classmate, gave the benediction Sabbath Eve and Rev. Emmett Bottoms had the invocation in the Sabbath afternoon service. Francis Palmer was organist for the services.

Awesome is the word to describe an experience that occurred after the Sabbath Eve Ordination service. Our family hurried up Hartsville Hill to observe the most spectacular display of Aurora Borealis (northern lights) I have ever witnessed. It was wonderful to have my parents and Madeline’s parents visiting us for my ordination to the Christian ministry.

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Beginnings in Ministry

April 6, 2009

On December 17, 1938 the Salem Seventh Day Baptist Church, where I had kept my membership to that time, acted officially to license me to preach. It was thrilling to become involved in the life and program of a church so vital and dedicated. It was heartening to have the people accepting of my ideas and patient with my inevitable mistakes.

I submit that there were few rural churches with music programs of the quality we enjoyed in Alfred Station. The adult choir was blessed with good voices in all four parts and under the professional direction of Mrs. Lois Scholes the choir sang the most uplifting choral church music.

Mrs. Scholes was a rare soul with whom Madeline and I became warm friends. Coming to our church to direct the choir–two trips a week–was a labor of love with her. She did insist on being paid $1.00 a trip because, she said, “If you pay me, you can fire me any time.” Lois often made suggestions for changes in the worship services that I was reluctant to introduce for fear the congregation was not ready for such innovative ideas. It was a joy to work with her and I learned many lessons as I came under her dynamic spirit.

Madeline, whose music education in college was extensive, organized and directed a junior choir in the church. Robes were sewed for them and they made a fine contribution to the church worship when they sang.

One idea I had difficulty selling to the church was the conducting of Friday night (Sabbath Eve) worship services. I felt that welcoming the Sabbath with a service in the church was highly appropriate and that such services could bring in community people who would not otherwise be served. Our farming people who lived some distance from the church, liked to take their baths and study their Sabbath school lessons Friday nights.

At one diaconate meeting I pressed again to begin Sabbath Eve services and Deacon Fred Pierce said, “The Pastor wants Sabbath Eve services and I move we let him have them.” That could have been interpreted more than one way but we did plan and lead a long series of services on Friday nights that were well received and attended. I believe those service outlines are still in my files.

After Madeline came to Alfred Station she continued to write her column for THE ALFRED SUN with the title, DAYS TO REMEMBER. The new demands on the Parson’s wife made it seem wise to discontinue the column after a few weeks.

The Boy Scout Troop continued to be active. He put a ping pong table in the front room of the parsonage and the boys were free to come any time. In the spring, after a hard sleet storm, the Scouts came to the parsonage with a strange bird in a cardboard box. It’s feet were webbed and its eyes were red. There was a topknot on its head that raised and lowered. It had been beaten down by the storm and was very weak. We knew it was a water bird so we filled our bath tub and set the bird in it. Our avian guest was obviously pleased when we dropped several of our goldfish in the tub and he swallowed them. When the goldfish were gone the Scouts caught minnows in the creek for him to eat. A bird authority at the university identified this bird as a Horned Grebe.

Our stranded Grebe stayed in our bath tub over the weekend, eating minnows and gaining strength. When we needed to use the bathroom, Scouts and children had to be shooed away from the edge of the tub. The bird bit little Anne’s finger with no serious results. On Monday we crowded the Grebe and eight children into a car and drove to Andover. First we took the bird to be banded by Mr. Watson. He was greatly pleased to band a bird that was only passing through. After the banding we went to Andover pond and set our guest down in the water. Immediately he dived several times and then took off to fly one lap around the pond and land almost at our feet. What a thrill It was like he was saying, “Thanks for everything, folks.” Mr. Watson reported to us that our bird stayed on the pond two or three days before continuing his migration to Greenland for the summer.

Dad and Mother Watts came to spend his vacation with us every year. One year he told me he had been reading a book on Amateur Telescope Making and wanted to grind a mirror for a telescope. My first reaction was to be skeptical. I knew he was an excellent craftsman but I feared grinding a telescope mirror might be too much for him. When I took Dad to visit professor Potter, physics professor at Alfred University who had ground mirrors, it was evident that Dad was already well read on the procedures of telescope making.

Our next trip was to the Corning Glassworks, in Corning, New York, where we interviewed Dr. Gates. Dr. Gates was one of the scientists who worked on the 200 inch Palomar telescope mirror. His son had been at Camp Gorton when I was director. He was most helpful, giving us two pyrex six inch mirror blanks and a source for Dad to order the supplies he needed for the grinding work.

When the folks visited the next year, Dad had the mirror ready for polishing. He set up the mirror on a barrel in the basement and proceeded with the polishing stage. He called me down one day to help him test the mirror, using a knife-edge test he had set up. There were two facing pages in his telescope making book with pictures showing how the mirror should and shouldn’t look with the test. I determined clearly that he had succeeded perfectly with the mirror. Dad had the mirror silvered commercially and their testing confirmed our opinion. He completed his first telescope by building an aluminum tube and a portable mount. Dad gave the finished telescope to me and I have enjoyed excellent viewing with it for more than fifty years. In the ensuing years he ground several mirrors. His crowning achievement, shortly before his death, was the completion of a twelve-and-a-.half inch mirror that is now in use in the John Watts Memorial Telescope at Camp Paul Hummel. More on this at a later point in my life story. I was so proud of Madeline’s Dad!

During our pastorate with the Second Alfred Church, Madeline had the rewarding experience of singing in a trio organized and trained by Mrs. Lois Scholes. Lois was a soprano and Madeline an alto. Betty, whose married name eludes me now, was the third member of the trio that achieved a near professional level of performance. They memorized their programs and sang them a capella. There were many requests for them to sing in our area. Mrs. Elma Strong, a close friend who sang in our church choir, replaced Betty.

Mrs. Scholes also organized a choral group called, Friends of Music. I believe Madeline and I both sang in that group. Music has enriched our lives.

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Honeymoon

April 6, 2009

On Thursday, September 2, we drove to Salemville, Pennsylvania for lunch with Marion and Erma Van Horn. It was great having them meet Madeline, my wife. That afternoon we were on to Punxsutawney, PA, and spent the night in a neat little cabin on the back lawn of a tourist home. Friday we traveled to Alfred Station, New York, where we were guests of Mrs. Ivanna Lewis and daughter, Jean over the Sabbath. I could not have been more proud, introducing my wife to my friends in the Second Alfred Seventh Day Baptist Church. Madeline had her first look at the Gothic in Alfred–soon to be our first home.

Driving to Camp Gorton on Sunday afternoon, we met the Dunn family on their way home to Hornell. All of them seemed especially excited meeting Madeline and we were to learn the reason when we reached Camp Gorton. Going into the Chief’s cottage, where we were to live the next two weeks, we discovered that the Dunns and the staff members left in camp had made special preparations for our coming. Amusing signs and notes were placed in appropriate places in the cottage: On the living room stove, “Old Home Week”. On the bathroom mirror, “Shave twice a day the first week”. Etc., Etc. A large cardboard box on the kitchen table contained forty-two pieces of Corning top-of-the-stove cookware with clamp-on aluminum handles–gift to us from the Boy Scout Council. We had fun discovering the mischievous welcoming ideas my Scouting friends had worked out for us.

Two Sea Scout staff members–one of them Addison Scholes–were still in camp and invited us to dinner with them in the mess hall. Tired of being dressed up for several days, Madeline and I changed into comfortable shorts and culottes. I-Then the dinner bell rang, we went to the mess hall to find our hosts in full Sea Scout uniform dress. Incidentally, the menu they served was scrambled eggs and fried potatoes. After the meal we loaned the men our car to go to a dance on Keuka Lake. It was a good way to start our Camp Gorton honeymoon.

In addition to the use of the pleasant Chief’s cottage, there was a canoe and a sailboat at our disposal. Sailing was a “first” for Madeline. She learned quickly but often preferred to experiment with cooking and baking in the new Corning glassware, I remember that one night we paddled the canoe across the lake, following a shaft of moonlight.

Farmer Wood, a friend of Camp Gorton whose farm was at the end of Lake Waneta, offered us any vegetables we would like from his garden. The sweet corn, tomatoes and other vegetables we gathered made super meals.

One day we found an injured chipmunk on the lake shore. All of our efforts to save him failed. We named him “Rocky” because we found him on the rocks.

It was a good experience to visit my first cousin, Dr. Lowell Fitz Randolph and his wife in Ithaca, New York. Lowell was Uncle Alvah’s only son. He was a world renowned plant geneticist at Cornell University. I believe that visit was the last time we saw him. (Dr. Lowell’s son, Robert and I are in frequent contact now by phone and correspondence.)

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A Christmas Beyond Compare

April 6, 2009

We, like all students, looked forward eagerly to the Christmas holidays. My plan was to spend most, if not all, of the vacation with Mamma and Dad on the farm on Bug Ridge. Arriving at the farm and greeting Mamma joyfully, it was like a stunning blow when she said, “I hear that Madeline (Watts) is married”.

True, I had had no contact with Madeline for at least a year or two. In fact, there was no romantic interest in my life at this time. But the sudden word that Madeline might be married gave me of feeling of loss and panic.

Previously in this book you learned that Madeline’s grandparents lived just a mile or so from our farm. So, to check on what was happening to Madeline, I took a basket of fruit and walked to the Watts home. There I quickly learned that Madeline was not married. How reassuring it was to be shown her college senior picture they had just received in the mail.

Next I made a quick decision. I must net in touch with Madeline and I will go to Salem on the chance that she and her parents will be visiting the Tullys. Madeline wrote later in a letter she thought the chances of our getting together again were about one in ten. I would put those chances at nearer one in a hundred.

The Salem college alumni banquet was scheduled for the next night in Salem. So, on the excuse of attending the banquet, I took a bus to Salem and arrived in the late afternoon the day of the banquet. Walking up main street I looked across to where I knew Madeline’s dad would park his car. IT WAS THERE!

After tidying up a bit at the Bill Price home, I rushed over to the Tully home to find Madeline and the family at the table eating dinner. Our greetings were full of surprise and friendly. It was too late to invite her to attend the alumni banquet with me but she agreed to go to the basketball game after the dinner.

Memory escapes me of what happened at the game. I do know Madeline and I were having a good time getting reacquainted and after the game we joined alumni friends for a good time at a little night spot on the west end of town. Madeline’s Dad had loaned us his car and we sat in it and talked until two o’clock in the morning.

There was no doubt we had much “catching up” to do. She was having an exciting senior year at Fairmont State College. I was happily involved in study for the ministry and in Scouting. I do believe that in those first hours we had a mutual understanding that now our separate ways were moving toward “togetherness”.

During the Christmas vacation we enjoyed several days together In Salem and on my return trip to Alfred I stopped off for a day at 700 Pittsburgh Avenue (the Watts home in Fairmont). That day two or three of Madeline’s suitors came to see her and I waited patiently while she sent them on their way.

The parting was painful when I left for Alfred but I was thrilled to be given a framed senior portrait of Madeline that often warmed my heart through the coming months. (Interestingly, she had intended to give the portrait to a man who failed to keep his holiday appointment with her.)

Returning to the School of Theology and my friends with the exciting news of my holiday experiences, I surprised everyone. Crich and Van looked at Madeline’s picture, turned the frame over several times and Crich said, “That’s a nice frame, Randy”. This response from them was not unexpected.

Dean Bond’s reaction when I showed him Madeline’s portrait and shared my serious love for her was reassuring. His enthusiastic word was, “Elmo, this can’t happen too fast”.

Letters began to be exchanged between Madeline and me two or more times a week. We have preserved them and review them with joy from time to time. It seems strange that we never talked by phone during those months apart. It just wasn’t the thing to do in that faraway year 1937. The letters were wonderful!

Madeline has sometimes complained–not bitterly–that I never proposed to her. Reading over our correspondence from the early weeks of 1937, it is evident that we both were committed to marriage at some not-too-distant date. I do remember following her father all the way to his attic workshop to ask his permission to take her hand in marriage. I don’t remember when that happened but he was graciously approving of our plans.

On Valentine’s Day, 1937, Madeline received her engagement diamond ring in the mail from me. Mr. Russell McHenry of McHenry’s Jewelry store in Hornell was a friend who was a member of the Executive Board of Steuben Area Council Boy Scouts. He sold me Madeline’s ring at a special price. I’m embarrassed now to remember that the diamond ring cost me $25.00. How times have changed.

Classmate Marion Van Horn was courting Erma Burdick in the same time frame of Madeline’s and my engagement. Both Erma and Madeline would bake cookies for us that we shared with Luther Crichlow. When Van would bring Erma’s cookies, Crich would taste them and say, “Randy, I believe Erma has a little the edge on Madeline.” Then, when cookies came from Madeline, Crich would cagily inform us that her baking was slightly superior to Erma’s. The cookies kept coming from both sources and Luther was a beneficiary.

Let me digress briefly to report that I sang in the Hornell Episcopal Church choir during the 1936-37 seminary year. It was an enlightening ecumenical experience. I was interested, but not overly impressed, with the high church formality of the Episcopal service. Learning to sing the chants was most enjoyable. (I’ve never succeeded in persuading Seventh Day Baptist church choirs to master chanting.)

In a letter from Madeline she told me that her best friend, Ruth Powers, wanted to know what we were going to live on after our marriage. In reply I sent an itemized budget for a year that, if not amusing, was indicative of the times. The budget total of expenditures was $300. There was a question mark for how the total income would be achieved. It was significant that rent and utilities for our apartment in the Gothic amounted to $30.00 a semester. I also anticipated working part time for the Boy Scout Council during the school year. I was not told if Ruth was satisfied with my financial future.

A surprise opportunity came for me visit Madeline in West Virginia in late April. Dean Bond’s wife’s sisters, Mrs. Wardner Davis, was ill and the Dean had me drive Mrs. Bond to Salem in their Ford V8 for a few days visit. Alerting Madeline that I was coming, I arrived in Fairmont at 11:00 P.M., picked Madeline up and drove with her and Mrs. Bond to Salem. From Salem the two of us drove to the farm on Bug Ridge, near Sutton, to visit Dad and Mother. The morning of May first, after driving all night, was glorious in the West Virginia hills. We heard cardinals calling. Dogwoods and azaleas were blooming on the hillsides. The world was warm and fresh with springtime and we were happy together. I was thrilled to have Madeline visit Dad and Mother.

I surprised Madeline by coming to Fairmont in late May for her college graduation. The weekend of her graduation (Monday morning) I directed a Boy Scout Camporee for 700 Scouts at Camp Gorton. Percy Dunn learned that Madeline was graduating and urged me to drive the Council Pontiac to attend. After the Camporee was over on Sunday afternoon I started the 350 mile drive to Fairmont, West Virginia, arriving at 700 Pittsburgh Avenue before daylight Monday morning. When Madeline looked out her window she was really surprised to see me. I must have had to fight sleep during the commencement exercises.

We were all thrilled to see Madeline receive her college degree. Her parents did not want her to go to college but now that she was graduating, they were proud and happy. She attended summer school to finish her degree work.

When Percy Dunn appointed me to direct Camp Gorton for the 1937 season I asked to have my friend, Bill Price, come on our staff as craft director. Bill agreed to come and I drove to Salem to bring him to camp for the summer.

On the way to Salem I stopped to see Madeline and her mother showed me a newspaper clipping that stunned me momentarily. The clipping announced that Madeline had signed a contract to teach English and library at East Fairmont High School for the 1937-38 year. (She was a graduate of East Fairmont High.) I went to the college to find Madeline and we went to an Italian restaurant for a spaghetti dinner. I was eager to hear an explanation of her decision to take a teaching position rattler than complete our plan to be married September 1. At some point in our conversation I said, “We will either be married September 1 or we will no longer be engaged”. It was a stressful time for both of us.

Madeline told me that the school board representatives had approached her and pressured her to sign a contract for the teaching position. This in a time when college graduates were finding it difficult to secure teaching jobs. She thought, “Should I turn such a fine offer down? Would Elmo want me to delay our marriage and improve our financial status?” So she signed the contract knowing that she could change her mind and cancel it promptly. It was clear from our sharing that Madeline definitely wanted us to be married according to our plan. She gave up the teaching position and chose to marry me.

Directing the 1937 season at Camp Gorton was an experience of major responsibility for me. The high quality veteran staff was cooperative and the program went smoothly. Having Bill Price with me was a real bonus. In addition to being craft director, Bill brought his experience and expertise in Indian lore to the program–especially to the campfire programs. Bill and I slept in a tent together and his advise and counsel as I looked forward to marriage meant more to me than I can express. Madeline’s wonderful letters all summer highlighted my days and weeks.

The Camp Gorton season ended just days before our September 1 wedding date and again Percy Dunn went the “second mile” to be helpful to me. I was driving the Scout Pontiac back to Salem to take Bill home and the Chief sent Floyd “Beef” Crane, the camp cook, with us to drive the car back after the wedding. We stopped to see Madeline briefly on our way to Salem and then Beef and I drove to the farm on Bug, Ridge where we spent the last day of August with Dad and Mother–my twenty-fourth birthday.

What an eventful wedding day! Beef and I first drove from the farm to Gassaway where I picked up a new 1937 Chevrolet from the garage where brother Brady was manager. As a wedding gift from Brady, the Chevvy cost me $600.

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The Transition–Leaving Home and Entering Graduate Study

April 6, 2009

The summer of ’35 was a period of crucial change in several areas of my life. My classmate friend, Byron Whitford, from Little Genesee, New York, invited me to spend the summer with his family before entering the School of Theology in September. Being in New York State appealed to me if for no other reason than I would close to Helen Mae Button.

In the beginning of the summer Byron and I teamed up with his Dad, Ferris Whitford, selling HURLBURTIS STORY OF THE BIBLE and Bibles door to door in the rural area around Little Genesee. Our salesmanship was not very productive so we gave up on that project. Next Byron and I undertook cutting wood for a pulp mill. I believe we were to receive $6.00 per cord. The trees we cut were elm and willow growing near a stream. Our task was to cut down the trees–some quite large–saw them into four foot lengths, debark them and stack them in cords. I enjoyed working with ax and two man crosscut saw but Byron was inexperienced and that slowed our production. We didn’t stay with it long.

When it was the season to harvest hay, I moved to Helen Mae’s home and began working in the hay fields for neighboring farmers. The pay was $1.00 a day and dinner. I helped harvest the hay for three farmers I can remember and stayed in the Button home nights. Haying was hard, hot work but I soon learned the correct techniques for “pitching,” “cocking”, “mowing away” etc. When I stopped at Mr. Guilford’s barn for my pay, he stood up from his milking stool, paid me and said, “You were better help than I thought you would be”. (I had letters of recommendation from president Bond and Dean Harley Bond but the farmers weren’t interested in them.) It was while we were in a hay field at work that news came of the death of Will Rogers and Wiley Post in an airplane crash in Alaska on a round-the-world flight.

It was very pleasant living in the Button home while working on surrounding farms but as the summer wore on it became increasingly obvious that Helen Mae was no longer interested in more than a casual friendship with me. I suspect that through our correspondence she may have fantasized a “me” that didn’t measure up to her expectations. It is fair to say that I was devastated by the breakup of what I hoped would be a lasting and deepening relationship. She went to Salem College as a sophomore and I entered the Alfred University School of Theology. It tore at my heartstrings when friends in Salem reported to me that the word on the campus was, “Button, Button, who’s got the Button?”

I attended General Conference at Alfred in August and stayed with my uncle Alvah and Aunt Mary Randolph. Uncle Alvah was said to have the highest grade average of any Alfred alumnus up to that time. He taught me a valuable lesson that has helped me through the years.

At Conference I was asked to speak on the Young People’s program. wrote a speech and asked uncle Alvah to critique it for me. In the introduction I was apologetic. Who was I to be addressing the General Conference, etc., etc.?” On reading my speech, uncle Alvah said, “Elmo, if you have to apologize for what you’re going to say, don’t say it.” I rewrote the speech and have always been thankful for the advise.

How the arrangement came about, I can’t remember but Bertha Lewis went from Alfred Station, New York, to Salem College and lived with my mother. My first year in seminary I lived in Alfred Station with Bertha’s mother, Ivanna Lewis and high school age daughter, Jean. Mrs. Lewis was a brilliant woman who was Postmistress of the Alfred Station Post Office for many years. In high school Jean was an outstanding student. I enjoyed an interesting, happy year in the Lewis home. It was often fun teasing Jean and then retreating to my room where she was not allowed to enter. Ivanna Lewis was an educated conversationalist and a good listener. She helped me through homesickness and intellectual and spiritual trauma. The two mile walk to and from Alfred was good exercise but there were times when the wind and the cold were intense.

It was sometimes difficult going in the beginning days at the School of Theology. (Before leaving home in Salem I went to Pastor Shaw for any advice he might have for me. He simply said, “Just use your good horse sense.”) I did experience some loneliness and homesickness. It was my first extended time away from home and Mamma. Then, too, I had been in the limelight through college in Salem and in Alfred few university students knew me or cared. No doubt I suffered a deflated ego from the ending of my romance with Helen Mae.

There were three of us in Dean Bond’s first class: Marion Van Horn, Luther Crichlow and I. Through our years together we developed warm, strong ties of deep friendship. Marion was the son of a Seventh Day Baptist minister, Christopher Van Horn. I believe he was a Milton College graduate. His health was precarious. Luther Crichlow, a Negro, was a graduate of Howard University in Washington, D.C. He was a fine trumpet player and had played varsity football in college. (Alfred’s football coach persuaded Luther to play tackle on a winning team one year.) I believe Luther Crichlow was the first Negro I had known personally. He and I became fast friends during our years together. The three of us, with Dean Bond, became quite successful singing as a quartet.

I came to seminary with an open mind. There was no preconceived intellectual or theological position I was committed to defend. The conservative religious beliefs of Lon and Amelia Button seemed to work good in their lives and so I thought to lean in that direction until something better came along. In church and college experience I had been surrounded with people of intellectual integrity who practiced genuine Christian principals in their daily lives. The School of Theology proved to be an excellent environment in which to discover direction and meaning for my life.

Dean A.J.C. Bond served as a safe harbor in a stormy sea for me often. He brought a wealth of knowledge and experience to his role as Dean. Perhaps even more importantly, he loved and understood his students. A rich sense of humor was one of the attributes we lauded him for. His teaching field included Bible, homiletics and Seventh Day Baptist polity and beliefs. How fortunate we were to come under his teaching and to have him as a counselor and friend.

Dr. Edgar Van Horn was our professor of practical theology, giving us the techniques of pastoring and administering a church and congregation. In addition to his teaching, he pastored the Second Alfred Church in Alfred Station.

The whole range of history courses related to Christianity and other religions were taught by Dr. Walter Green. We admired him for his prodigious knowledge of his field and his enthusiasm in sharing it. In his college days he had been formidable as a football player. His presence was impressive.

Frail, sweet, elderly Dr. Powell was our Greek professor. Some university student wag was reported to say that he knew Dr. Powell moved because when he saw him at one point on the sidewalk and then looked minutes later he was not in the same place. Dr. Powell had a passion for Greek and tried valiantly to imbue us with it.

The little chapel in the Gothic was a perfect setting for the Sabbath Eve worship services Crich and Van and I conducted for Seventh Day Baptist university students. We took turns leading the services and received excellent support from the dozen or more faithful attendees. It was also in this chapel that we did our practice preaching under Dean Bond’s critical but compassionate ear and eye.

Another activity the three of us became en-aged in was the publication and distribution of the Seventh Day Baptist Youth Newsletter, THE BEACON. We ran each issue off on a mimeograph and when it broke down one option was to end the publication. Instead, we mounted a campaign with youth across the denomination to raise a fund for the purchase of a new mimeograph machine. The campaign was successful and publication of THE BEACON continued.

My first opportunity to conduct a Sabbath Morning Worship Service came when Pastor Harley Sutton invited me take over for him in the Little Genesee Seventh Day Baptist Church one Sabbath. I prepared an eight-typed-page sermon and placed the manuscript on the pulpit at the beginning of the service. At the insistence of the choir director, I wore a choir robe with flowing sleeves and before time for the sermon caught the robe sleeve in the corner of the sermon manuscript. Page by page the sermon fluttered to the floor.

A quick decision was called for. Did I go down the steps, stoop over in my robe, pick up the pages one by one and finally, put them in order? I thought, “I wrote this sermon and I know what’s in it, so let it lay.” I preached without the manuscript and at the close of the service an elderly lady stopped to shake hands and said, “If that was your first sermon, I’d like to hear your last one.” I did not ask her to explain her meaning.

On several occasions our Dean arranged for us to visit other seminaries for guest lectures or conferences. One such visit was to an Interseminary Conference at Gettysburg Theological Seminary in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. On the afternoon before the conference began we three had a guided tour of the Gettysburg Civil War battlefield. The experience left a deep impression on us.

At dinner time Crich, Van and I went into a Gettysburg restaurant to eat. As we checked the menu, the waiter said, “Do you want to eat it here or take it out?” Taken aback, we replied, “We want to eat here.” Then the waiter said–looking at Crich–”Your friend can’t eat here.” When he suggested the two of us could stay and eat we informed him, “This place isn’t good enough for us, either”. We were stunned to experience blatant racial discrimination so near the site of a decisive Civil War battle fought less than a century ago.

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The Salem College Years–An Adventure in Higher Education

April 6, 2009

Almost my entire life had been lived next door to the Salem College campus. It would be difficult to put a value on the opportunity afforded me to get a college education. However, there was the question of expense–tuition, books, etc. The Great Depression was still hanging over us and for our family it was a struggle to survive. From the perspective of the college it was important to recruit as many new students as possible, I suppose.

I am forever grateful that an arrangement was made with the administration of the college for me to work out my tuition doing maintenance and janitorial work during the summer months. I don’t remember how much the tuition was. By today’s standards it would be ridiculously low. The arrangement was for me to work ten hours a day, six days a week, during the summer vacation months. The hourly pay rate began at 25 cents and was later raised to 30 cents. A big advantage of the plan for me was that 1 could participate fully in the academic and social programs of college during the school year.

Being a Salem College Freshman was exciting. Friendships quickly developed with classmates and upper classmen. Introduction to a variety of courses, and their professors, was stimulating. At some point I decided to major in English and minor in physical education. The curriculum I chose stressed a liberal arts education including literature, mathematics, history, chemistry, French, physical education and music. Throughout the first three years of college I was committed to preparation to be high school teacher.

I feel especially privileged to have studied math under Dean M. H. Van Horn. He was considered to be one of the outstanding math teachers in I-lest Virginia. The course I had with him introduced us to algebra, geometry and trigonometry.

Chemistry introduced me to science with Dr. Gould as teacher. The lab work was most interesting–especially the experiments in qualitative analysis.

Dr. Ferdinand Ruge taught French and deserved the role of most eccentric professor on campus. There was the incident when he put his lighted pipe in his pocket before stepping on campus. As he walked down the hall, smoke was observed rolling up from his pocket. The pipe was removed promptly.

Dr. Ruge made a practice of harassing one or more students in his French class. He chose me for that dubious role and once said such offensive things about me that I slammed my books on the floor and confronted him eyeball to eyeball. From that time forward Dr. Ruge and I became fast friends. On learning that I planned to enter the ministry, he offered sage advice. Two examples: “Don’t ever preach to the people what they ought to hear. Preach to them what they want to hear. If you preach to them what they ought to hear, the moving van will back up to your door.” “The choir and the ladies aid are the war department of the church” (Dr. Ruge had been an Episcopalian minister). I was invited to tea several times with Dr. Ruge, his lovely wife and daughter, Genevieve.

My English and Literature professors were Dr. M. Channing Linthicum and Miss Nannie Lowe. Dr. Linthicum once suggested to me that I could make a successful politician. Is it not true that a successful minister must be something of a politician? Becoming familiar with English and American literature–especially poetry–inspired me in ways that have lasted through my life.

Pastor George B. Shaw, beloved minister of our Salem Seventh Day Baptist Church, taught a Bible course that was very popular with Salem College students. I still treasure the textbook he authored and have used it often.

I was the first male student to take the Table Service course offered by Miss Cleo Gray. She headed the home economics department and in the course we worked in teams to prepare and serve a number of meals, teas and receptions. College officials were invited as guests for these occasions. I baked an angel food cake and a meatloaf as assignments and for the table decoration for one event I decided to use dandelions. I arranged the decoration in advance of the event but alas, when the class members and guests gathered the dandelions had all closed up. My experience in the Table Service course paved the way for other college men, including a number of athletes, to benefit by it. What I learned from Miss Gray has been invaluable to me through the years.

The credits I acquired in the music department came close to being enough for a minor. Music courses with Miss Elizabeth Bond included Music Appreciation and Sight Singing. I studied piano with Miss Bond and reached the level of playing Chopin and Brahms in recitals. It is one of my educational regrets that I did not become a more proficient pianist.

Following is the text of a brief paper written as an assignment in the Music Appreciation class. At the end of the piece is a comment signed, E. Bond.

“Using the word “appreciation” in its most sincere and deep sense I feel that Music Appreciation has really meant a great deal to me. Strangely enough, Music Appreciation has never seemed to be “just another course”, but rather it has stood among my activities as something finer, something that has had a real appeal–a subject devoted to happiness and true beauty.

I have learned to love music and all that it carries with it. Beautiful melodies and harmonies stir up feelings within me that reach far into my being.

Everything about me seems to have suddenly turned musical. Birds wake me in the morning with their happy chorus and their evening songs haunt my sleep. Nature seems especially musical.

Then too, I have learned to feel a deeper sense of appreciation for the composers who have given us our music. The stories of their lives reflect the beauty and sincerity of their compositions and their tireless work and effort make us appreciate the fruits of their labor even more.

Through the study of Music Appreciation” I have come to recognize some of the possibilities of music and what it can do to make people happy and contented–better able to enjoy the real fullness of life.”

The grade on this piece was A, with Miss Bond’s comment handwritten on the bottom of the page: “Fine! I copied this and intend to keep it. You have been an inspiration in the class and this little essay makes me very happy.”

In addition to the regular required physical education course, I took boxing and wrestling and tumbling. In boxing I was glad to learn rope-jumping. I excelled defensively in wrestling, being difficult for opponents to pin.

Samuel Kistler headed the physical education department. As an alumnus of Salem College, he had earned a reputation as a celebrated athlete in football, basketball and baseball. His teaching skills and dedication were of a high order.

The tumbling class was most enjoyable for me. We developed a team of tumblers who performed in a number of high schools in the area. Our routine included front and back flips, dives and a number of other tumbling maneuvers.

The tennis team was coached by Samuel Kistler, too. I made the team for only a few matches. One I played in against West Virginia Wesleyan on their courts is memorable. I did not win a point in the first game. From then on in the match I won the next eleven games–several of them going to deuce over and over. My opponent conceded the match to me when it began to rain. It is interesting to note that in the period up to college graduation I played endless hours of tennis. Since college I have seldom had a racket in my hand.

I was close to Salem College sports and athletes from childhood through college. Several outstanding athletes boarded at our home and ate Mammals cooking during their college careers. A few of them I remember were: Matthew Bowers, “Peely” Hogue, Doy Neville and Irving Menzel. I’m sure there aren’t many Salem College fans who witnessed more athletic contests than I in the years from 1925 to 1935.

In October 1932, early in my sophomore year, I was elected head cheerleader for Salem College. Sandford Randolph, my cousin, nominated me for the position and after “trying out” for the assembled student body I was surprised and elated to be elected. The Salem College “S”, with a megaphone on it is a treasured memento from many thrilling experiences of yesteryear. How exciting the pep rallies were, with bonfires and snake dances, on the nights before home football games. The Salem College songs still ring in my mind.

Now let me interject some memories of the summer work project that covered my tuition for the four years of college. Okey Davis was head custodian at the college, in charge of all janitorial and maintenance work. I consider it a real privilege to have worked for four summers under his direction. He became my friend as well as boss. He had a hearing problem and I remember him telling me, “One advantage of being deaf is that you can’t hear a mosquito buzzing before he bites you”. We worked on many assignments in the course of a summer: lawn mowing, window washing, floor maintenance, painting and varnishing and miscellaneous other projects. The most physically exhausting work I remember was mixing mortar at ground level and carrying it in buckets to plasterers on the third floor of Huffman Hall.

One summer experience is unforgettable. Nelson Tully and I, with girl friends, attended the summer school picnic on a river near Clarksburg. When we went to our car–after most of the picnickers were gone–we found a girl waiting for her boyfriend in a car. Concerned, we checked in the bathhouse and found his clothes. Quickly getting into our bathing suits, Nelson and I went into the river to search for the man. I carried a good sized rock so I could walk on the bottom of the river between coming up for breaths. It was a shock to step on the body as it drifted along on the bottom of the river. Calling for help, we lifted the body into a boat and brought it to shore. A rescue squad tried resuscitation but it was futile. The summer student’s name was Bailey. I had played tennis with him but didn’t know him well. The memory lingers.

The experience of falling from a window of the physics lab on the top floor of Huffman Hall is still vivid. Roommate Reece Burns and I were washing the windows at the end of a work day. I was standing on the window sill washing the outside of the pane, holding on with one hand on the top of the window. Reece finished the inside of the window and pushed it up briskly, knocking my hand from its grip and causing me to fall backward. I went into a crouching position and landed on my feet on water-soaked ground. I was stunned by the impact and could not see for a brief time. The first sound I heard was Reece flying down the stairs to my side. lost two days work from the soreness of my ankles, knees and hips but did not check with a Doctor. The distance of the fall was about thirty feet.

Twice during the summers I went on B. & 0. railroad weekend excursion trips to Washington, D.C. We got on the train on the night after the Sabbath; arrived in Washington in the morning; walked around the capitol area all day Sunday; came back on the train Sunday night and arrived home–very tired–Monday morning. On one trip I was with Bob Wise. Nelson Tully was on the other with me. I do not think it the ideal way to tour Washington.

It was certainly not unnatural that I should have “an affair of the heart” during college days. Helen McCullough was a classmate from Hole Hill, West Virginia. (The town has now taken the name, “Mountain”–proving that a mole hill can be changed to a mountain.) Helen’s brothers, Tom and Harold, were in college with her. I have forgotten how our friendship started but it grew into a serious relationship over a two year period. We studied together, were a formidable bridge team and enjoyed shooting bows together. Helen transferred to West Virginia University for her senior year and we parted company. I have speculated that her family decided I was not the man she should choose.

It could be said of my life during college that I did not let academics interfere with extra curricular activities. When I tried out for the Men’s Glee Club I made it as the first second tenor. Professor Clark Siedhoff was our director and we were proud to represent Salem College by performing concerts in a number of West Virginia communities. Wearing a tuxedo made me feel sophisticated and debonair. One of our favorite numbers, “Give Me Some Men Who Are Stout Hearted Men” still resounds in my memory. “Creation Hymn” was a real test of our musical competence.

I was fortunate to be chosen by the college as a delegate to a Rural Life Conference in Washington, D.C. On the bus trip to Washington I met Margaret Herndon. She was a harpist and director of music for the Clarksburg Presbyterian Church. A friendship between us blossomed as we walked and talked far into the night on the streets of Washington. The year was 1933 or 1934. We would not walk at night in Washington in 1994. During the conference I rode in an elevator with Secretary of Agriculture, Henry Wallace. Later he became Vice President with President Roosevelt.

Margaret and I continued to see each other after the conference. She was generous in agreeing to give harp recitals I arranged at the college and at our Salem church. The church recital was a benefit for the choir robe fund. Mrs. George Trainer’s large contribution made purchase of choir robes possible. No doubt Margaret was several years older than I. Our rather brief relationship was a happy one. I have wondered what has happened in Margaret’s life.

The spiritual life of Salem College students was not neglected. Daily chapel was mandatory and, for the most part, students appreciated the Christian emphasis. Area ministers and educators brought chapel messages. Our singing was heartwarming. Number 17 in the song book, “In My Heart There Rings A Melody” was a favorite. My theme hymn in that period was, “I Would Be True”. For some reason, that hymn doesn’t appear in current hymnals.

President S. Orestes Bond often led the chapel services. He was a dedicated Christian gentleman who successfully guided Salem College for many years. The students of those years remember that his prayers were eloquent and moving but sometimes overly long. The life of President Bond blessed us all.

YMCA and YWCA organizations were active on campus. It was inspiring to attend Christian Student Conferences on other college campuses. One such experience at Bethany College–founded by Alexander Campbell of the Church of Christ–made a deep impression on me.

The fellowship of our Seventh Day Baptist college youth was wonderful. We often gathered for parties and a number of us sang in the church choir. Dean Van Horn taught our college Sabbath School class. We met in the back pews of the church. I recall how Dean Van Horn stood with one foot up on the pew in front of us, ingling the change in his pocket as he spoke and taught. His teaching was always forward looking and positive. We respected and loved him.

The Christian influence of Pastor George B. Shaw and members of the congregation of the Salem Church was greater and richer than we knew then. And the friendships made in those college days will never be forgotten.

Matthew Bowers, Fisher Davis, Claude Nagel and Reece Burns each had a turn as my roommate during our college years. Matt distinguished himself in football and basketball. While he roomed with me I had a nightmare one night, dreaming that Matt was falling out a hotel window. In a desperate effort to save him, I grabbed him around the neck with both hands. Waking up rudely, he hit me a sharp blow on the chin with his fist. My nightmare ended abruptly.

Fisher Davis, “Eph”, was from Bridgeton, New Jersey–the son of Elizabeth Fisher Davis who wrote the Seventh Day Baptist Young People’s Song. “Eph” was very tall and a good tennis player. He graduated in the class of ’32.

Claude Nagel was also a New Jersey product, from Plainfield. His father was a successful New York artist. Claude was a sophomore in 1935 and wrote in my Dirigo, “Elmo- I can’t adequately express my appreciation for my stay in the Randolph cottage on the hill. I leave here as though I was leaving home.”

Reece Burns roomed with me for our last two college years. Vie became more brothers than roommates. He was sincerely Christian, serving at times as a Methodist Protestant minister. Because Reece’s parents were dead, he came to think of my mother as his, too. Mamma accepted that role graciously. She sewed pajamas for both of us out of feed sacks. She kept a length of rope that she whipped us with to get us out of bed mornings. It was a contest to see who could pull the covers off of the other when Mamma was swinging the rope.

Reece and I worked together at the college one summer doing maintenance and janitorial assignments. His influence on my life–especially when I was considering entering the ministry–was of great import. After college Reece became a minister in the United Methodist Church and was elevated to the position of District Superintendent in southern West Virginia. (I was honored to have him serve as “Groom’s Man” at my wedding.)

My room in our little house during college years was a happy haven for me. I rigged a chinning bar that hung from the ceiling. On the walls of the room I pasted favorite poems and quotations. “The House By the Side of the Road” was one of the poems and I believe “Invictus” was another. Psychologist Coe was popular in that period. A quote from him on my wall amuses me now: “Every day in every way, I’m getting better and better.”

A poem I wrote is illustrative of my darker moods of college days:
Sweep down on me, oh wind!
Why waste thy roaring on the darkened sky
Or on some tempest-twisted tree
From whose lean boughs the leaves were lately torn?
Sound not thy wrath against the silent hills
For naught but echoes will avail thee thus.
But rather, seek thy vengeance to allay
With merciless and unrelenting blasts
Designed to buffet and to purge
My soul, ill-steeped in worldliness.

Reflecting now, I understand that I often felt insecure and inadequate as I struggled through the stresses of college life. However, they were good years.

The experience I record now happened at the beginning of college spring recess in April, 1934. I began hitch-hiking from Salem to Sutton–about a one hundred mile trip–planning to spend the vacation week with Dad on the farm. At four o’clock in the afternoon I was still thirty-two miles from Sutton and wasn’t catching any rides so I began walking. Is it ironic that the name of the town where I started the trek was Walkersville?

During the day the temperature was warm and springlike. With sunset it cooled off rapidly. I wasn’t dressed for cool weather and I was carrying a small suitcase. That stretch of road was through hill country and was sparsely populated. I was not carrying a flashlight. Traffic was very thin.

I walked a few miles until after dark and decided to make a bed in a field beside the road and try to get some sleep. Cushioning the ground with a layer of broomsage (a West Virginia grass) I tried sleeping without success. The only option seemed to be to walk. So I walked all night long. Infrequently a car would approach me and pass, dousing my hopes. As I passed one home near the road I thought of stopping but a dog barked viciously and I kept walking.

Toward morning I came upon the site of a crosstie fire set by railroad workmen the day before. There were still hot coals and the ground was warm. It was restful to lie down for a while. I may even have fallen asleep.

I believe I walked up a final steep hill to brother Brady and Mary’s home at seven or eight o’clock in the morning. A hot tub bath was refreshing and sleep was welcome. When I awoke my knees were so stiff it was difficult to walk for some time. The miles I have covered walking in my life are many but at no other time have I totaled thirty-two miles on a cold spring night carrying a suitcase.

Being elected president of the college junior class in 1933-35 was thrilling for me. The other class officers that year were: Vice president Milton Van Horn, secretary- Virginia Thompson, treasurer- Abby Brent. I must have had a successful year because the class elected me president again for our senior year–1934-35. Arthur Bland was vice president, Leah Virginia Davis was secretary and Fred Early was treasurer. It was another good year. Our class gift to Salem college, for which we raised a sizable amount of money, was improving the electrical system in the administration building.

Following college tradition, our senior class presented a class play near the end of our college days. Miss Nannie Lowe directed THE YOUNGEST for us. I played “the youngest”. Milton Van Horn was my elder brother in the play and Wilma Keys was the female lead. It was fun doing the play and it was well received. (In earlier college years, Shakespearean plays were the tradition.)

There were two “happenings” for me during my senior year that impacted strongly on my life and future. At our Seventh Day Baptist General Conference in Salem in August, 1934 I met Helen Mae Button. Her home was on a farm near Friendship, New York and she was preparing for her freshman year at Alfred University. After our brief introduction in Salem we carried on correspondence through the school year that was heart-warming and exciting for me. (It’s odd that I remember she dotted her i’s with little circles.)

Blossoming romantic interest in Helen Mae led me to borrow Ashby and Ruth’s Plymouth car to drive to New York State for Christmas vacation, 1934. Betty and Ed Bartley and Ruth Sarah Davis made the trip with me and I was Betty and Ed’s guest in Bolivar, New York. We attended Christmas Eve Midnight mass in a Catholic church in Portville, my first experience in a Catholic III church. I visited my aunt Cleo–Dad’s sister–in Olean.

The overnight visit to Helen Mae’s home completely captivated me. If I was falling in love with Helen Mae, I was immediately charmed by her parents and her home. I would call her father, Lon Button, an entrepreneur farmer. He had trout ponds and in the winter trapped foxes. Strawberries were a successful crop in the summer. Amelia, Helen Mae’s Mother, was a quiet, white haired lady who was an immaculate housekeeper and an altogether charming person. They were sincere, committed Christians. Mr. Button was a Deacon in the Nile Seventh Day Baptist Church. I was awed by my visit with the Buttons.

I made a pair of moccasins for Helen Mae as her Christmas present. Here are the verses I placed in the moccasins:

These moccasins I fashioned with a prayer
That they might lead you in your eager quest
For happiness unbounded, wild and free.

O moccasins, like Indian maids did wear,
Thy steps must not stray, thoughtless, like the rest
For in thy trust I leave one dear to me.

Suffice it to say that Helen Mae and I corresponded frequently through the rest of my year in college. It may have been a case where “Absence makes the heart grow fonder”.

The second “happening” that occurred during my senior year in Salem college gave a new direction for my life that has marked all my days since. Rev. A.J.C. Bond had accepted the deanship of the School of Theology in Alfred University and was visiting Salem College to recruit students studying for the ministry. He visited with me on campus, between the Administration building and Huffman Hall, saying that his daughter, Wilma, had suggested I might be a candidate for the ministry. He urged me to consider the ministry as my life “Calling” and join his first class at the School of Theology.

This invitation was something of a “bombshell” of an idea for me. I had pursued my college course with the assumption that high school teaching would be my life work. Working toward that end I acquired the necessary education credits including practice teaching for six weeks in Salem High School. It was interesting to get the reaction of other people on my entering the ministry. An interview with Rev. Herbert Van Horn, Milton and Elston’s father, was very encouraging and helpful for me.

After serious consideration and soul-searching, I made the decision to study for a Bachelor of Divinity degree–a three year course–at the Alfred University School of Theology. At this point in time I was not certain of a “Calling” to the ministry and so made my decision on an exploratory basis.

Graduating from Salem College with the class of 1935 was the ultimate in achievement an excitement at that point in my life. I was the first member of our family to earn a college degree. (Brother Ashby graduated the next year.)

Dr. William L. Stidger, noted radio preacher, was our Baccalaureate speaker. His sermon title was: TITANS OF THIS TUMULT. He highlighted the current roles of Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini in 1935. Then he made the point that Dr. Albert Sweitzer, the Japanese Christian, Kagawa, and Mohandas Gandhi were the real Titans of This Tumult. His prophetic message has stood the test of time.

As president of the graduating class, it was my privilege to be at the head of the receiving line for President Bond’s reception following the commencement exercises. Several years previous to this Mrs. Bond had employed me to keep the punchbowl filled during the reception for the graduates. I carried the punch from the basement of the president’s home up to the reception table. I must be the only person who ever served in both roles.

My family members–including cousins, aunts, etc.–presented me with a gift of money. I had to decide whether to use the gift for buying a class ring or a new suit. Reluctantly, I chose the new suit–I needed it more.

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