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COLLEGE MAGAZIN E WINTER 2006

15 Women Wearing White Lab Coats17 How to Act Like a (First) Lady22 Founding Visionary John G. Fee29 Beyond the Blue Gate

150 Years of Coeducational and Interracial Education

On the Inside

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Berea College Sesquicentennial130th Mountain Day

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W I N T E R 2 0 0 6 : Vo l u m e 76 N u m b e r 3 : w w w . b e r e a . e d u BE R E A C O L L E G E M AG AZ I N E

4 Editor’s Note

5 Around Campus

10 Sports Update

13 Faculty and Staff Notes

38 Homecoming

41 Alumni Connections

44 About Berea People

46 Passages

Inside this issue

N ote to our readers: The mission of Berea College is carried out throughactivities guided by Berea’s Great Commitments. Berea’s strategic plan,Being and Becoming: Berea College in the Twenty-First Century, identifiesspecific initiatives which the College is implementing to continue its tradition of learning, labor, and service. While all Berea College Magazinearticles relate to Berea’s mission, specific articles about the strategic plan initiatives are indicated with the symbol.

22Founding Visionary John G. Fee:

His Pre-Berea Years

Departments

Features15 Women Wearing White Lab Coats:

Making Strides in Science

17 How to Act Like a (First) Lady:Berea College’s Legendary Presidents’ Wives

20 Shannon Wilson and the Saga of Berea College

29 Beyond the Blue Gate:Stories from Lincoln Institute

34 Living the Fee Legacy:Edwin Embree and the Rosenwald Foundation

Front Cover: Midyear graduates stand, listening to President Shinn, photo by O’Neil Arnold, ’85

Back Cover: Class of 1897, Courtesy Berea College Archives Inside Front: East Pinnacle overlooking the Appalachian foothills,

photo by Tyler Castells, ’08Above Right: photo by Alice Ledford, ’06

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BEREACOLLEGEMAGAZINE:W

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Normandi Ellis, Editor

Dr. William A. Laramee, Vice President,Alumni and College Relations

Timothy W. Jordan, ’76, Director, Public Relations

Mae Suramek, ’95, Director, Alumni Relations

Correspondence and ReprintsIf you have comments, questions, or suggestions for the Berea College Magazine, or would like information about reprinting any article appearing in the magazine, please contact:

Normandi EllisEditor, Berea College MagazineBerea CollegeCPO 2142 Berea, KY 40404

or email [email protected]

Berea College Magazine (ISSN 1539-7394) is published quarterly for Berea College alumni and friends by the Berea College Public Relations Department.

POSTMASTER: Send address corrections to the Berea College Office of Alumni Relations, CPO 2203, Berea, KY 40404.

Berea College is a 501(c)(3) charitable organizationunder federal guidelines.

COLLEGE MAGAZINE

Web: www.berea.edu

Email: [email protected]

Mail: CPO 2203Berea, KY 40404

Phone: 859.985.3104Toll free: 1.866.804.0591

Fax: 859.985.3178

AT YO URSERVIC E

“The time is always right to do what is right.”—Martin Luther King, Jr.

On January 16th, following the 77th birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,during the anniversary of the 150th year ofthe founding of the College (and the 100thanniversary of the completed constructionof Phelps Stokes Chapel), I attended aBerea convocation by Dr. Molefi KeteAsante. He assured us that the unrelentingpursuit of ma’at (an ancient Egyptian con-cept defined as truth, balance, order, reciprocity, justice, ethics, and equality) is

the only way to fight the chaos of social injustice. Quoting Dr. King, he said, “Ourlives begin and end when we have become silent on things that matter.” Speakingfor himself, he urged his listeners, “It is not enough to know; one must act tohumanize the world.”

This issue of the magazine is filled with the stories of those individuals whoseradical acts of love and whose belief in the true equality of men and women of allraces have guided this College from its beginning. “What was that ‘crazy man’ JohnG. Fee thinking,” Asante asked his listeners, “when he set out to establish a schoolfor blacks and whites, men and women in the backwoods of Kentucky?”

In his article on page 22, President Larry Shinn explores the intellectual and historical terrain that shaped Fee’s decision to come to the Berea Ridge during thecrest of a rising civil war. On page 34, former Berea history professor Albert Perkinsshows how the founder’s grandson, Edwin Embree, came under Fee’s influence,which led him to establish the Rosenwald Fund that provided education and otheropportunities for African Americans. Through a recounting of a few of the oral histories collected by Berea professor Andrew Baskin, Julie Sowell writes about howLincoln Institute, a sister school to Berea College during an era of enforced segregation, influenced the education of generations of African Americans.

These are stories of individuals who did not silently acquiesce to the status quo,who acted upon their beliefs and unique visions, who understood that by takingaction they could create a more egalitarian world of peace, order, and reciprocity. Itis our hope that their histories will inform our own story as we move through thenext century. It is our hope that we, as world citizens, will live out the Collegemotto of equality in the eyes of God.

Dr. Asante brought the legacy of the College and of Dr. King into bright focus.He also brought to mind the challenges that continue to face us—appalling poverty,war, hunger, and class struggle. “I’m not telling you what to do here,” he said, urging his listeners to study everything, to question, to learn, and to act. “Each generation,” he said, quoting French philosopher Franz Fanon,“must out of its relative obscurity discover its mission, fulfill it,or betray it.”

It is my hope that the history of the men and women whoare Berea College will continue to inspire the actions of manygenerations to come.

Normandi Ellis

Molefi Kete Asante

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Around Campus

Around Campus

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150 Years of Labor, Learning, and Service

Interracial Education

Symposium Explores Race RelationsThis fall two prominent historiansof American race relations—Dr. Eric Foner, of ColumbiaUniversity, and Dr. ClayborneCarson, director of the King PapersProject at Stanford—addressed alarge community and national audience on Berea’s campus. Thefree sesquicentennial history symposium, “Race, Repression, and Reconciliation,” explored theblack experience in Appalachia andAmerica.

Dr. Foner, one of America’sforemost historians, is DeWittClinton Professor of H istory atColumbia. He authored the well-known book, Nothing ButFreedom: Emancipation and Its

Legacy. Dr. Carson has been aStanford faculty member since1975. He is the author of InStruggle: SNCC and the BlackAwakening of the 1960s, whichwon the American H istorians’Frederick Jackson Turner Award.

In addition to Foner andCarson, eight other scholarscovered such topics as the slaveexperience after the Civil War, segregation and the South, BereaCollege’s heritage, the AfricanAmerican experience, and the civilrights movement.

Dr. Jacqueline Burnside, ’74,and Dr. Dwayne Mack of BereaCollege were among the presenters.

Dr. Eric Foner, DeWitt Clinton Professor ofHistory at Columbia University, addressesthe audience at Berea College’s symposiumon “Race, Repression, and Reconciliation.

Alice Ledford, ’06

The Berea College Students For Appalachia (SFA) collectedfood for the Berea Food Bank during its 13th annual HungerHurts food drive. The volunteer-run food bank supplies emergency food for hundreds of needy Berea families eachyear. The SFA Hunger Hurts food drive is the single largestprovider for the food bank.

During the drive, SFA volunteers left Hunger Hurts paperbags on local front porches, collected bags filled with non-perishable food, and sorted the donations. SFA director BettyHibler noted that SFA collected 7000 pounds of donated food.“We were very pleased with the amount and quality of foodcollected this year and very appreciative of everyone in thecommunity who filled a bag and set it out.”

In addition to the food requests this year, the SFA handedout envelopes requesting donations to BUURR (Bereans Unitedfor Utility and Rent Relief), a companion project to the BereaFood Bank. “We have received almost $500 in donations toBUURR as a result of those envelopes,” said H ibler.

She estimated that about 100 volunteers, including students from other clubs at the College and volunteers fromthe community, joined the drive organized by SFA.

Students for Appalachia Conduct Annual Food Drive

Betty Hibler, Director of Students for Appalachia(SFA), applauds the group’s work during the annualSFA food drive. This year, the SFA collected 7000pounds of donated food.

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3-D Technology GivesBerea College a New DimensionTwo grants from the Department ofEducation and the National ScienceFoundation have helped Berea College tobroaden its technological horizons withthe addition of new state-of-the-art equipment: a three-dimensional (3-D)printer and a 3-D scanner.

The printer accommodates objectswith maximum dimensions of 8x8x12inches. It builds accurate models layer by

layer using durable ABS plastic, allowing users to evaluatedesign concepts and test 3-D prints for functionality, form, andfit. The laser scanner uses a computer program for accuracy,mapping diverse figures up to 8 feet. Though the printer cannot copy an object that large, the project may be handled insegments that are easily pieced together.

The new three-dimensional teaching tools allow studentsthe ability to print a component and see how to draw themodel, said technology arts professor Gary Mahoney, ’82.Future on-campus uses for the printer and scanner includeusing the machines in engineering classes to copy parts formachinery that may be reproduced and reused. The printerand scanner will also be used to create models that may beused as a 3-D blueprint for larger projects.

Berea College recentlypurchased a three-dimensional printerand a 3-D scannerthat will give studentsthe ability to print a component and seehow to draw themodel.

A More Sustainable LogHouse Craft Gallery Holds ‘Open House’New and old are juxtaposed in the Berea CollegeLog House Craft Gallery as efforts to make thebuilding more sustainable coincided with an exhibitof the College’s historic crafts program.

This fall the College replaced 90 windows in thegallery in order to lower energy costs and consumption.Facilities Management project director Randy Adamssaid the new windows now meet the College’s renovation standards and will save 10% on energycosts. In addition the improved windows will reducethe heating/cooling load which will help the heatpumps of the College’s new heat plant run more efficiently.

Koch Corporation also began retrofitting lightingfixtures. “The old lights wasted energy and increasedthe heat gain for the building,” said Adams. “Thenew lighting should reduce the energy costs by 30-40%.” All of these sustainable changes will reduceglobal warming effects because, Adams explained,“the less energy the power plant has to produce, theless pollution is created.”

Amid all these changes, the Log House CraftGallery held an open house in December to celebrateBerea College’s crafts legacy during the sesquicentennialyear. Objects on display included new and historicitems from Broomcraft, Woodcraft, Weaving,Ceramics, Wrought Iron, and items from StudentIndustries. Peggy Burgio, manager of the Log HouseCraft Gallery, called the exhibit “an important celebration of our past and a look to the future.”

Crewmen from Berea College Facilities Management hanga banner outside the Log House Craft Gallery to commemorate the College’s crafts program.

Norm

andi Ellis

Sustainability

Philip D. DeFeo Joins Berea College TrusteesIn October the College Board of Trustees elected PhilipD. DeFeo to a six-year term on the board. Since 1999,DeFeo has been chairman and CEO of the California-based Pacific Exchange (PCX), an options and equitiesexchange. He also serves the boards of Archipelago, Inc.and Computershare, Inc. DeFeo is past president andCEO of Van Eck Associates Corp., a diversified globalmutual fund and brokerage company. The New Yorknative brings to the board extensive experience in therealm of national and international finance. DeFeo’s professional career began with Proctor and Gamble,where he managed operations.

Technology

Celeste Francis, ’07

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Around Campus150 Years of Labor, Learning, and Service

Appalachia

The 31st Celebration ofTraditional Music, BereaCollege’s October weekend ofold-time music and culture, featured John Harrod andKentucky Wild Horse, alongwith other accomplished musicians from the Appalachianregion.

Local musicians Donna and Lewis Lamb hosted aninformal jam on Friday evening.Musicians of all skill levels participated, often with 16 ormore musicians playing togetheron fiddle, banjo, guitar, mandolin, harmonica, and evenaccordion and cello.

Saturday workshops by some of the area’s best musiciansincluded old-time fiddle masters Paul David Smith and JohnHarrod; Jeff Keith led beginning claw hammer banjo; JimWebb led advanced banjo; and Don Rogers led guitar.Harrod led an afternoon symposium on “A Keen Cut withthe Bow: The Art of Kentucky Fiddling.”

The stellar evening concert by Harrod and Kentucky WildHorse ended with local favorites Donna and Lewis Lamb andthe Berea College String Band keeping them company onstage. The annual traditional music celebration preserves a richheritage of music unique to the Appalachian region.

The Celebration was made possible in part by a grantfrom the Kentucky Arts Council and the NationalEndowment for the Arts.

Old-time musicians Donnaand Lewis Lamb participatedin the workshops and jamsessions with the communityand Kentucky Wild Horseband members during theAppalachian Music Festival.

Members of the Berea College debate teamcarried away a number of poetry and oral interpretation awards at the TransylvaniaUniversity speech and debate tournament held inDecember.

“The competition was very stiff,” said JamarBrown, ’06. Brown and his partner, Morgan Younge,’06, won first place in the duo interpretation category with a scene from Lorraine Hansberry’sA Raisin in the Sun. Kristin Sams, ’08, and ZackKocher, ’08, took second place in the same category with DMV by Nick Zagone. The seriousness of the chosen pieces set the Bereateam apart, Brown noted. “Judges are starting tosee the performance aspect of the competition andare less interested in humorous pieces,” he said.

Brown took second place in poetry interpretation with J. Ivy’s poetic hip-hop lyrics“Dear Father.” Other Berea College winnersincluded Jemisha Fields,’06, third place in poetryinterpretation, April Trent, ’08, fifth place in programmed oral interpretation, and MarkCashwell, ’07, fifth place in dramatic interpretation.

The Berea College speech and debate team isdirected by Dr. Billy Wooten, ’98.

Speech and Debate Triumph through Interpretation

Jamar Brown, ’06, and Morgan Younge, ’06, perform a scenefrom the play, Raisin in the Sun. The pair won first place withthat scene in the duo interpretation category at TransylvaniaUniversity’s speech and debate tournament held in December.


Celebration of Music Keeps Traditions Alive

Charred timbers andautumn color surroundall that remains of thehistoric Pigg Housebuilt in the late 1880s.The cabin located inthe Berea CollegeForest was a popularpicnic site and retreat.The cabin had notbeen reserved at thetime of the fire, which is still underinvestigation.

Historic Pigg House Destroyed

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Around Campus

Berea College Combats AIDS

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Helping to Change Lives inCommunities and the Global VillageIn the wake of two Gulf Coast high magnitude hurricanes,Katrina and Rita, in the South, as well as recent earthquakes andlandslides at the Afghanistan and Pakistan border—all followingon the heels of unimaginable loss of life from the tsunami inIndonesia—many of us may have felt a shift in the world paradigmin which we live. “It is important to be grateful for our blessings,”says President Shinn, “and to recognize our responsibility to reachout to those who have suffered such a great misfortune.”

As did other institutions of higher learning, Berea Collegereached out to needy students displaced from the hurricanes. TheAlumni Association office tried to contact alumni living within theaffected area to help assist communities and individuals in need.

Other relief efforts included a “Back to the Bayou” coffeehouse sponsored by the Center for Excellence in LearningThrough Service (CELTS) and the Campus Christian Center’s“Seven Days of Sharing” fundraiser. The groups raised a total of$2200. The Living Faith Christian Church in Baton Rouge, whichfed and sheltered hurricane refugees, received $800; theAmerican Red Cross received $1400 to help provide relocationassistance.

Katie Basham, assistant campus minister for the CampusChristian Center, plans to continue aiding hurricane reliefvictims, as well as earthquake victims overseas. Basham said, “Aspeople of faith, from many different faith traditions, we believethat it is important to be aware of the varied needs of all people,those abroad, and those in our own backyard, and to attend tothose needs as best we can—through awareness, prayer, and thesharing of our gifts and resources.” She noted that in addition tomoney, students in residence halls gathered supplies to be sent as individual relief kits.

A January short-term service-learning course, taught byCELTS director Meta Mendel-Reyes, brought students and

teachers to devastated communities inNew Orleans andNew Iberia,Louisiana.Students workedto rebuild homesand lives, whilegaining a betterunderstanding ofthe sociologicalimpact of povertyin disaster situations.

Red ribbonsfloodedBerea’scampus asseveral organizationsunited in aweek ofawarenessabout AIDSprevention,testing, andtreatment. Red

ribbons were handed out in the CPO loungeand contributors added squares to an ongoingquilt project. Information on the ONE campaign, an organization to help fight AIDSand poverty in America, was also available.

A “World AIDS Day Panel: Voices ofExperience” in Phelps Stokes chapel includeddiscussions with students, faculty, and staff onthe global impact of HIV/AIDS in Africa,Europe, and America. On December 1, officially World AIDS Day, Danforth Chapelstayed open for prayer, meditation, candle-lighting, and inscription in a memory book.In addition, John Courter twice performed anoriginal carillion composition GregorianTryptic in memory of the 20 million whohave died of AIDS. An open mic night provided students, faculty, and staff an opportunity to present poetry, songs andspeeches on HIV/AIDS.

World AIDS Day began in 1988 as an international day to reflect, memorialize, andshow compassion for those infected andaffected by HIV/AIDS. Worldwide 39.4million people are infected with the virus.

The week-long events were sponsored bythe Black Cultural Center, Campus ChristianCenter, Campus Life, CELTS, Convocations,HEAL, Student Government Association,Theatre Laboratory, Women’s Studies, andWomen Uniting for P.E.A.C.E.

Sociology majors Patrick McGrady, ’07, CELTS chaplin and Micah 6 transportation coordinator, andJoEllen Pederson, ’07, Bonner Scholars freshmen program coordinator, sold tickets and counted proceeds for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.

Beth Bissmeyer, ’09

CELTs director, Meta Mendel-Reyes,Black Cultural Center director,Tashia Bradley, and studentorganizer, Jessica Stone, ’07, participate in the AIDS panel.

Tyler Castells, ’08

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Around Campus150 Years of Labor, Learning, and Service

Berea College Costume StudioMakes More Than Costumes A purple satin gown, adark green dress, a brightred ensemble, a floraltop, and many teddybears are among theitems produced by theBerea College costumestudio this year. The“Buckle Bears” werecreated for a nationalprogram coordinated byLloyd Jordison of theMadison County HealthDepartment. The toybears demonstrate how toproperly install children’scar and booster seats.

In her 22nd year ascostume shop supervisor ofthe Theatre Laboratory, Mary Ann Shupe, ’68, and herstudents use excess fabric and supplies to create thebears, which are given to children to keep as areminder that safety comes first. “Everything has to bechild safe—no buttons, everything sewn downsecurely,” says Shupe. Students sew the bears duringslow times when they are not sewing costumes. It takesthree to four hours for students to complete each bear,depending on their sewing skills.

The costume shop has been making the bears forover a year. “If it saves one life, then it’s more thanworth the time and effort,” Shupe says. “For the students, it improves their sewing skills, and it teachesthem to think of others.”

In the past the costume shop has made turbans forcancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, designedwalker caddies for patients at the local nursing home,and created quilts for animals at the Madison HumaneSociety.

Tiffany Wimsatt, ’06, outlines apattern for a “Buckle Bear” aspart of the Berea College costume shop’s current servicelearning project.


Service Learning

President Shinn shook the hands of 55 seniors onSunday, Dec. 11 at Phelps Stokes Chapel inrecognition of the midyear graduation. Dr. LianeB. Russell, a genetics and radiation biology pioneer, was awarded an honorary doctor of science degree from Berea College.

In her graduation address, “Good Citizensfor the Earth’s Survival,” Dr. Russell encouragedthe graduating class of 2006 to become “trulygood citizens that will return our vulnerable littlespaceship to the miraculous condition that welcomes and sustains all life.” She challengedstudents to “build on the values of good citizenship with which you have been so richlyendowed during your Berea education.”

Her speech encouraged students to becomeactive voices in the protection of the environmentand the governance of their world. Quoting AdlaiStevenson she concluded by saying, “We traveltogether, passengers on a little space ship, dependent on its vulnerable reserves of air andsoil; all committed for our safety to its securityand peace; preserved from annihilation only bythe care, the work, and I will say, the love wegive our fragile craft.”

Dr. Liane B. Russell, genetcs and radiation biologypioneer, urged Berea College’s midyear graduates to use their skills wisely and to worktowards a more sustainable world.

Midyear Graduation

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6 Sports Update

Ginindza Named NAIAScholar-Athlete

Soccer team captainMzwandile “Muzi”Ginindza, ’07, of Swaziland,received two outstandingawards this year. After hewas named to the KentuckyIntercollegiate AthleticConference second team,Ginindza received theNational Association ofIntercollegiate Athletics

(NAIA) All American Scholar-Athlete Award.The NAIA award is given to an outstandingathlete who maintains a 3.5 GPA or higher. Born into a soccer-playing family (his father andeight of his uncles played), Ginindza said,“Soccer just came naturally to me.”

During a 2004 match the Berea Collegeathlete broke two bones in his right leg, requiring major surgery. He feared he wouldnever play soccer again, but after extensive rehabilitation, Ginindza returned to the field.“Like a true Swazi warrior, I stood up to thechallenge,” he said.

During their awards banquet,cross country coach MikeJohnson noted both the highsand lows of their “pretty good”season. Challenging his studentathletes, he told them to remember, “It’s a competitionnot only with others, but withyourself. Don’t just apply whatI’ve said to cross country, but to life.”

Although the team didn’tparticipate in the NAIA(National Association ofIntercollegiate Athletics) tournament this year, the men’steam won three meets. Theirfinest victory came at theKentucky Intercollegiate AthleticConference (KIAC) in whichPaul Winker, ’08, took first placeand was awarded “Runner of theYear.” Jimmy Rop, ’09, and TomMcGann, ’08, came in second and third respectively.Raul Portillo, ’06, took sixth. All received all-conference awards.

The KIAC awarded Coach Johnson “Coach of theYear” status.

At the banquet, women’s cross country runnerLaura Finley, ’09, took Rookie of the Year award, andLeesa Unger, ’08, received Most Valuable Runneraward. From the men’s team, Jimmy Rop took Rookieof the Year, Paul Winker received Most Improvedaward, and Most Valuable Runner award went toDavid Webster, ’07.

Cross Country Team Reaches Finish Line

Coach Mike Johnson

Paul Winkler

Mzwandile Ginindza

Visit the athletics website atwww.berea.edu/peh for updated schedules, orcall the athletics department at 859.985.3423.

Come Support the Mountaineers!

Ginindza captures the ball and stymies a defensive player from Shawnee State College.

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Sesquicentennial Founders’ Day Honors Fee’s Family

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150 Years of Labor, Learning, and ServiceO

’Neil Arnold, ’85

More than 50 descendants came toBerea College on this sesquicentennialFounders’ Day to celebrate their ancestor,college founder John Gregg Fee. Fee’sattending descendants, aged from 94years to 14 months, ranged from great-grandchildren to 4th-great-grandchildren.

The eldest surviving members ofFee’s five grandchildren were presentedwith an award box by President LarryShinn. They are Everitt Fee Hardin,Thomas R. Palmer, Kelly Fee McElfresh,Nancy Embree Sando, and JonathanWilson. Family genealogist AnnePirkle, great-granddaughter of JamesW. Fee (John Fee’s brother) alsoreceived an award. Hardin, Sando, andPirkle’s son, Mac, recalled their experiences with Berea College andthe stories of Fee that had passedthrough their family.

Founders’ Day was established in2001, first, to honor outstandingAfrican American alumni from 1866-1904, and, secondly, to honor thosewho have provided distinguished

service and dedication. This is the firstceremony to honor John Fee’s contributions. President Shinn’sremarks drew from Fee’s philosophies“‘. . . [W]ith nobler, higher, broaderview,’” quoted Shinn, “‘we must graspin our embrace men of every climeand of every nation.’”

The John G. Fee Award is a walnut box featuring a cast-bronzemedallion of an African symbol calleda sankofa. The sankofa means, literally,“‘Go back and retrieve’,” said Shinn; itsymbolizes the need to know andunderstand one’s heritage. BereaCollege Woodcraft created the box.The medallion was created by Bereaartist Ken Gastineau.

The Black Music Ensemble openedand ended Founder’s Day with inspiringarrangements of Negro spirituals.

Sesquicentennial Founders’ Day Honors Fee’s Family

The eldest surviving members of John G.Fee’s grandchildren—Jonathan Wilson, KellyFee McElfresh, Thomas Palmer, Everitt FeeHardin, and Nancy Embree Sando—are honored with an award box on Founder’s Day.

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Berea College began its 130th Mountain Day celebration with a Mountain Day Eve bonfire atIndian Fort Theatre and music by the College’sWind and Jazz Ensembles. The next day studentsgathered at the Pinnacle in a record attendance to partake in various “old-time” games (such as log sawing), eat kettle corn and caramel apples, and listen to a special performance by the nationallyacclaimed Recycled Percussion group.

Students enjoyed a leisurely hike to the Pinnacle or participated in the “Raceto the Summit,” in which teams tried to hike the mountain in the shortest amount of time for a prize. April Aldeen, 07, hiked to the Eastern Pinnacle for the first time, taking the opportunity “to meet up with friends and to reflect on life and the year thus far.”

I remember our hikes to the mountain and recall vividly the joy ofsitting on top of West Pinnacle, listening to the whippoorwills callingto one another across the moonlit valley below.

—Monroe R. Jennings, M.D., 1942

A spectacular sunrise awaits early risers at the Pinnacle on Mountain Day.

Berea Celebrates 130th

Mountain Day

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Caricature drawing and logsawing were but a few ofMountain Day’s many attractions.

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Faculty and Staff Notes150 Years of Labor, Learning, and Service

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In October Berea College honored Dr. GordonMcKinney, former director of the AppalachianCenter, with a plaque for his leadership and dedication. H is award ceremony was well attendedby the College community, the Appalachian Centerstaff, the regional presses, colleges and organizationswho have worked closely with him throughout thelast decade. McKinney currently chairs the historydepartment.

Stephanie BrownerIn January Choice magazine selectedDean of Faculty Stephanie Browner’sbook Profound Science and ElegantLiterature (University of PennsylvaniaPress) as an outstanding academic titlefor 2005. Choice book reviews areused by faculties, libraries, and professional associations across thenation as a key resource for acquisitions.

Browner’s work offers a fresh perspective on the waysnineteenth-century literature views the medical professionand the body. In similar vein Browner’s recent KineticExpressions student performances on campus have provided cross-fertilization between creative writing anddance-movement collaborators.

Tammy ClemonsIn December 2005Tammy Clemons,’99, accepted atwo-year positionas SustainabilityCoordinator forthe Berea campus.Former executiveassistant toPresident LarryShinn, she has served on the steeringcommittee for the College’s local foodinitiative, as well as working with localnonprofit organizations focused on sustainable agriculture and communitydevelopment.

Clemons will initiate new programsto establish and strengthen sustainablepractices across the campus and fostercollaboration among the areas of teaching, research, campus operations,student life, and community. This fallBerea College received a grant to supportthe Sustainability Coordinator positionfrom the Jessie Ball DuPont Fund.

Rita FoxRita Fox, editorial assistant in AcademicServices, recently published her first book,Garrard County in World War II (ArcadiaPress, 2005). Since 2001 she has publishedthe quarterly historical magazine Paint LickReflections. A portion of the proceeds ofher book will be donated to the DisabledAmerican Veterans Chapter 25.

McKinney Honored at Appalachian Center

Gordon McKinney shared his appreciation with retiredhistory professors Paul Nelson and Loyal Jones at anAppalachian Center luncheon in his honor.


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This fall, feminist, social critic, andauthor bell hooks, distinguished professor-in-residence at Berea College,explored the themes of equality, spirituality, and diversity through a seriesof informal seminars, convocations, andlectures. hooks conducts seminars thesame way she writes—in a very personal,fully engaged style, often providing anec-dotes from her own experiences, anddrawing out others’ stories as well.

Carolyn Newton, academic vice-president and provost, called the eventsfeaturing hooks “an exciting opportunityto be in conversation with a writer andthinker who has earned attention andrespect across the world. She is able todevelop community through conversation.She is a truly amazing person.”

The Monday night open forum onthe theory and practice of feminism, sponsored by the women’s studiesdepartment, offered women and men anopportunity to listen and to be heard.Feminism, says hooks, is “an end to sexism and sexist oppression. Feminismisn’t solely for women, either. There aremen at this discussion who are just asdedicated to ending sexism.” The forumcovered a wide array of topics from freedom of expression, fashion,Christianity, and AIDS, to appropriatereading material for children.

On Tuesday and Thursday morningshooks offered Berea faculty, students,and community members a semester-longseminar on “Building Beloved Community:The Practice of Impartial Love.” Oftenthe morning group opened with readingsfrom Hidden Wound, Wendell Berry’sbook-length essay on the pernicious

effects of racism on white people inAmerica. Berry’s text stimulated questionsand discussion about how diverse membersof a community respond to each otherand how they might live in impartial loveon a daily basis.

“When I tell people that we are havingthis conversation at Berea College onimpartial love, they look at me in afunny way,” hooks says. “Berea is aunique place in that regard. The chal-lenge is how to bring the real impartiallove into the classroom, how to moveimpartial love into action, not just rhetoric.” hooks encourages students tocontinue to ask questions and to carrythat sense of impartial love across racesinto other communities after graduation.“Love is an active practice,” she saysemphatically.

Beverly Guy-Sheftall, director of thewomen’s research and resource center atSpelman College, joined hooks in thePeanut Butter & Gender forum, on blackwomen and feminism. Each womanoffered insight into issues of gender,class, culture, education, and ‘third-wave’feminist thinking. Both women called foran embrace of the black feminist agenda.They encouraged young women, orthird-wave feminists, to speak out aboutthe profound effects of bias in race andgender.

In November, hooks joined DayaSingh Sandhu, Fulbright scholar and professor of counseling psychology at the

University of Louisville, as speakers for“Diversity in Spirituality: Implicationsfor Wellness,” a campus-wide symposiumheld in Phelps Stokes Chapel. The symposium was sponsored by theCampus Christian Center and Counselingand Psychological Services to addressissues of health and spirituality. hooksspoke of coming to her Buddhist perspective through study of the poetryof Gary Snyder, and of learning compassion and activism in the samebreath. “Love,” she has said, “is neversimply a feeling; it is an action.”

While hooks offered her Buddhistperspective and Sandhu spoke from hisSikh religious tradition, both suggestedthat true spirituality is equal to one’scompassion for others, and that healingoften occurs in community. The paneldiscussion that followed included comments on faith and healing from Berea College counselor, Ellen Burke,and Carole Garrison, of EasternKentucky University’s criminal justicestudies, who spoke from a Jewish cultural perspective.

hooks has authored more than 40books, garnered a 1991 American BookAward, and has received accolades fromwriters, thinkers, and critics nationwide.Her most recent book, Soul Sister:Women, Friendship, and Fulfillment, wasreleased in April 2005.

COMMUNITY, SPIRITUALITY, DIVERSITYExplored in bell hooks Forums

During the fall semester well-known writer and feminist thinker bell hooks led workshops in “BuildingBeloved Community.”

Beth Bissmeyer, ’09

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15

If you asked a group of people to describewhat a typical scientist looks like, theiranswers might include depictions of astern-looking man wearing a white labcoat, glasses, and an eccentric hairstyle.But what do women scientists look like?They might resemble alumna Dr. BettyMaskewitz, ’39, or Dr. Tessie McNeely ’79,or even Dr. Dawn Anderson and Dr. MeganHoffman, Berea College biology facultymembers.

A study by the National ScienceFoundation reports that women nowaccount for half of all science and engineering bachelor’s degrees awardedin the U.S. Since 1973 thirteen winnersof the H ilda Welch Wood Award for outstanding achievement at BereaCollege have been graduates in biology,chemistry, geology, or psychology.

Betty Maskewitz, ’39, left Berea as a sociologist, but earned internationalrecognition for her long career in nuclearradiation technology. Among her accomplishments and awards, Maskewitzco-founded, then directed, the RadiationShielding Information and ComputationalCenter. In 1983 she was named anAmerican Nuclear Society (ANS) fellow,and in 2003 earned the ANS WeinbergMedal given to honor her sharing ofradiation shielding technology throughoutthe world as a means of exploiting

nuclear energy forthe benefit ofhumankind.

Maskewitz beganher career at OakRidge NationalLaboratory in 1952,in the midst of theCold War. “In theback of everythingI’ve done,” she says,“I’ve wished to dosomething forhumankind, not tocrawl into a hole infear, but to worktogether for thecommon good.”

She joined other notable women inscience making strides for the benefit ofhumankind, including Nobel prize-winner,Marie Curie, who received the first awardin 1903 for her discovery of the elementradium, which, Maskewitz notes, is nowa standard part of every medical radiationtreatment facility.

Since her graduation in the 1930s,Maskewitz has seen a dramatic rise in thenumber of women pursuing sciencecareers. “When I started out, I was justone woman among men. Most womenwere secretaries,” she says. “As time goeson, more young women enter

engineering schools, and they’re capableof doing very well in nuclear engineering.”

Dr. Wanda Dodson, ’63, professoremerita at Mississippi State University andtwo-time Fulbright Scholar, spent sixmonths last year at the University ofMysore in India, studying nutrition andmedical sciences. Her work has alwayscentered on the biochemistry of foods—for example, she studied the effect ofmuscadine grape extract on brain function.Although she taught nutritional biochemistry, nutrition, and researchmethodology in Mysore, Dodson, whoretired to Monticello, Kentucky in fall2005, was pleased to learn from herIndian counterparts. She received herfirst Fulbright in 1996, that allowed herto travel and lecture at the SecondTashkent State Medical Institute inUzbekistan.

Despite being atwo-time FulbrightScholar, Dodson saysher career in sciencewas never easy.Although women are the residentnutritionists in theirfamilies, she says, “inthe field of food science and nutrition,men hold many of

Making Strides in Science

By Beth Bissmeyer, ’09

I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done.

—Marie CurieClarissa Harris, ’08, prepares slides of tissue for study under a microscope duringher short-term biology class, Animal Histotechnique. Photo by Beth Bissmeyer, ’09

Betty Maskewitz, ’39,retired from herresearch work at OakRidge Laboratories,then returned to workas a consultant. Sheis also a member ofthe Alumni ExecutiveCouncil at Berea.

Wanda Dodson, ’63,visited Mysore Palacein India during hersecond Fulbright visitabroad.

Women Wearing White Lab Coats

Coeducation

Women WearingWhite Lab Coats:

Lindsay Bruner, ’06

Courtesy W

anda Dodson

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Women Wearing White Lab Coats

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the top positions in academia and industry.As a woman, I have always felt that Ineeded to do more than expected.”

Dr. Tessie McNeely, ’79, a doublebiology and chemistry major, has researchedinfectious diseases since 1987; she currentlyworks in the vaccine and biologics researchdepartment for Merck. McNeely hasstudied HIV/AIDS, streptococcal infections,meningitis, and other infectious diseases.

While more women are continuingin their studies to become medical doctors,the women in scientific research still experience disparities. Says Dr. McNeely,“It is still difficult for women to riseabove a certain glass ceiling in manyfields, and at many institutions.”

At Berea College, the number ofwomen graduating with science degrees hasincreased. According to Dr. DawnAnderson, who heads the biology department, 17 women and 3 men graduated from her department in 2003;and female graduates still exceed theircounterparts.

This fall semester several Berea students presented results of their undergraduate research at the 91st annualmeeting of the Kentucky Academy ofSciences (KAS) at Eastern KentuckyUniversity. Six Berea students receivedtop awards; four of them were women,including Elizabeth Novak, ‘06, firstplace, cell and molecular biology postersession; Lindsay Parsons, ‘06, first place,

ecology and environmental sciences oralpresentation; Ni Ji, ‘07, first place, physiology and biochemistry oral presentation; and Caitlin Szalay, ‘07,third place, psychology oral presentation.Two men received KAS awards—PartamManalai, ‘07, first place, health sciencesposter session, and Patrick Mono, ‘07,third place, physics and astronomy oralpresentation.

One winner, Elizabeth Novak, whopresented the results of the cancer andleukemia research she worked on duringa summer-long project at the VanderbiltMedical Center, says she plans to continuegraduate school to receive her doctoratein immunology or virology. She says shedoesn’t recognize any gender gap in science.“I believe that females have an equalopportunity in pursuing a scientific career.Science is an ever-growing field, so thereis no room to discriminate betweenmales and females.”

Associate professor of biology, Dr.Megan Hoffman sees no gender gap inthe classroom. “In the biology department,

we shape our female scientists in the sameway that we shape our male scientists.Especially on this campus, gender is simplynot an issue.” While the biology department has three male and threefemale faculty members, the majority ofscience faculty on campus are male. Onthe other hand, Dr. Hoffman notes,“Berea graduates a good proportion ofwomen in those fields.”

While women have made great stridesin medicine and science, one nationaldisparity that Dr. Hoffman feels needs tobe addressed is that of race. “I’m verypleased that Berea’s biology departmenthas the third largest graduation rate forAfrican American students,” Hoffmannoted proudly. “These are the studentswe need to encourage to consider fieldsin science, especially science teaching andresearch. White women and men sharedominance in biology. The gender biashas disappeared, and now it is time forthe racial differences to disappear as well.”

Gender and race aside, Dr. Andersonfeels that, “A good scientist is a good scientist. . . . no matter his/her gender.Women are really no longer consideredto be a minority in my area. My hope isthat we will all soon get beyond the concept of woman scientists, and thatwe’ll just talk about scientists withoutgender (or other) qualifiers.

“We see ourselves as a single community of scientists.”

Vicki LynnMorgan, ’83Chemistry

Clary Speilberger, ’87Chemistry

Ping Chen, ’88Chemistry

Karen Rule, ’92Biology

Kim Hudson, ’93Chemistry

Etta Boss-Cole, ’94Chemistry

Tria Bottorff, ’98Biology

Rebecca HeidStephenson, ’03

Geology

Jana Vandegrift, ’05Biology & Chemsitry

Hilda Welch Wood AwardHilda Welch Awards represent the highest academic and personalachievement possible for a graduating Berea female. Jana Vandegrift,’05, last year’s Hilda Welch Wood recipient who majored in biologyand chemistry, graduated the College with a 4.0 GPA and severalscholarships that sent her forward into her graduate studies in pediatric medicine at Johns Hopkins. Past winners in the sciences are:


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Ann Adams, ’78Biology

Tessie Brown, ’79Biology & Chemistry

Vicki Jo Brumback, ’81Geology

Four females receive awards at the 91st annualKentucky Academy of Sciences fall conference,including Liz Novak, ’06, Caitlin Szalay, ’07,Lindsay Parsons, ’06, and Ni Ji, ’07.


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How to Act Like a (First) Lady150 Years of Labor, Learning, and Service

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5y

Whether or not First Lady AnneSmith Weatherford was given thisadvice is uncertain, but she certainly lived it.

The Weatherfords had five children aged five to ten years oldwhen they moved into the president’s home in the summer of1967. Anne was the kind of motherwho spent lots of time with anddoing for her children. She led theUnion Church youth group for a

How to Act like aLady(first)

By Linda C. Reynolds

Berea College’s Legendary Presidents’ Wives

Anne Smith WeatherfordFirst Lady 1967-1984

Jane Baucom StephensonFirst Lady 1984-1994

Nancy Albright ShinnFirst Lady 1994 to present

There is no handbook on how to be a college

president’s wife,” says First Lady Nancy Shinn.

“One of the nicest things about Berea is no one

says you have to fit a particular mold. The best advice

I was given was ‘Be yourself because people want to

know who you are, not what role you are trying to play.’”

President’s House builit in 1931

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Portraits by Brunner Studio, David Stephenson, and O’Neil Arnold, ’85

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How to Act Like a (First) Lady

number of years and took on many ofthe youth service projects. She affectionately nicknamed the children’s group of friends the FBI(Faculty Brats Incorporated).

When asked how each first ladymade a home in the President’sHouse, Anne’s description was succinct. “Moving into the President’sHouse with five young children madeit our home immediately with wagons, bikes, and toys displayed atthe front door.”

Many formal dinners and receptions took place in theWeatherford home. Although Anneplanned the meals and menus, shecompliments housekeeper GoldaBailey for her help on those manyoccasions. In keeping with the familyatmosphere, she served the food buffet style. On some occasions thechildren—enticed by the chance toearn some money—removed dinnerplates and served coffee and dessert.

Anne fondly recalls the childrenpicking apples from the nearbyorchard for Golda to make pies.These pies Anne took to newcomersas a way to say welcome. “I saw myduty at the College as getting to knowfaculty, staff, and students and helpingto build community in that specialplace,” remembers Anne.

For 17 years the Weatherfordfamily called Berea home. Edith, ’79,Julia, ’79, Will, ’83, and twins, Susan,’85, and Alice, ’84, matured and

graduated from Berea CommunitySchool and the College. Over thattime Anne was involved in many community activities through UnionChurch, the community school, and awider playing field, such as theKentucky Commission on HumanRights (KCHR). Invited to join byGalen Martin, ’51, founding directorof KCHR, Anne was appointed byGov. Julian Carroll in 1975. In 1984she was appointed vice-chairperson.

She also chaired the H indmanSettlement School Board and accompanied her husband Willis onthe faculty tours through EasternKentucky; she attended board meetings at Frontier Nursing Serviceand Pine Mountain Settlement School.Active in the nuclear freeze movement,she formed several “Peacemaker”groups to campaign against nuclearweapons proliferation and production.In 1982 she received her master’s ofdivinity from Lexington TheologicalSeminary. All these activities allowedher to meet Berea alumni and connectwith a range of people beyond theBerea community.

Anne treated everyone she metwith respect. “Mary Halstead gave mea big compliment when we wereabout to leave the President’s House.She said she would miss me because ‘Iwas nobody, and you treated me likesomebody.’ I assured her that she wassomebody in my eyes, and I realizedthat all those ‘somebodies’ I hadencountered in that place hadenriched my life for 17 years.”

Jane Baucom Stephenson has oftenbeen described as visionary andvery much her own person.

Before her husband John Stephensonbecame Berea College president inJuly 1984, Jane was directing the newnontraditional student advocacy program at the University ofKentucky, providing academic supportservices, and working on her doctorate.

Once the couple moved to the president’s home, Jane found that making the house a home was firstpriority. Jane loved the house, especially decorating it at Christmas,but the dining room was her favoriteroom. Because she delighted in entertaining and showing her hospitality with food, the dining roomwas usually full.

By way of convocations,Elderhostels, and other receptions,dinners, and gatherings for faculty,staff, and trustees, nearly 3000 guestsflowed through the doors of the president’s home each year. Janerecalls meeting convocation speakerNorman Vincent Peale; having tea with Carl Sagan before his convocation; entertaining Mrs. Toyotaand her two bodyguards; meetingNAACP director Benjamin Hooks;Spelman College president JeanettaCole; the Tibetan spiritual leaderDalai Lama; and dining with writersAlex Haley and Maya Angelou.

Jane’s passion for music wasapparent from the beginning. Whenher children Jennifer, Rebecca, andDavid were growing up, she hadoffered piano lessons in their home.When she came to Berea she began taking piano duo lessons with BobLewis. Lewis recalls her as “a verybright student;” the two gave a pianoduo concert for the Forum, a groupJane founded for College retirees. Shealso learned to play the ten-bell

“I saw my duty at theCollege as getting toknow faculty, staff, andstudents and helping tobuild community in thatspecial place.”

Anne Weatherford

By way of convocations,Elderhostels, and otherreceptions, dinners, andgatherings nearly 3000guests flowed through thedoors of the Stephensons’home each year.

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How to Act Like a (First) Lady150 Years of Labor, Learning, and Service

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chimes from College chimes ringerand mathematics professor GilbertRoberts.

Active in civic groups, shebecame executive director of theChamber of Commerce for two years;served the Berea Hospital board for14 years; and co-founded the Lightsof Life program, which pays forhealth care for indigent patients coming to Berea Hospital. Her mostwell-known visionary undertaking wascreating the New Opportunity Schoolfor Women (NOSW)—a nationallyrecognized program aimed to helplow-income Appalachian womenbecome employed. In 2004 the NewOpportunity School for Womenopened a second service site at Lees-McRae College in North Carolina.

In order to get to know Berea’s students, Jane hosted Sunday night dinners and freshman ice creamsocials. One of many students Janemet was Mike Oney, ’89, a freshmanwhen the Stephensons came to Berea.“I answered the doorbell and therestood Mike,” Jane recalls. He hadread that Rebecca, Jane’s daughter,would be attending Ohio State and he wanted to pass along to her someinformation he had assembled. Whilewaiting for Rebecca to return home,the first lady and the freshman dranklemonade on the porch. They stayedin touch during Mike’s entire fouryears at Berea. When he graduated,his mother made especially for Jane aquilt based on the stained glass window in the science building.

“I still enjoy it in my home, butsomeday it will go to the College,”she says.

After her husband Larry becamethe eighth president of BereaCollege in August, 1994, Nancy

Albright Shinn retired from 25 years ofteaching (first grade, then kindergarten)to assume an unfamiliar role—thewife of a college president. The

decision to work at Berea College wasone that Larry and she made together.Although she was happy in her profession, they wanted to spend timeworking alongside each other. Nancywanted to travel with the presidentwhen it was appropriate (she travels70-75 percent of Larry’s 110 daysaway from Berea each year); and sheknew it took a fulltime job to supportthe president’s work at the College.Having a fulltime housekeeper allowedNancy the time to engage in significantcollege-related responsibilities.

Due to the age of the President’sHouse, major renovations were neededbefore the Shinns moved in. Nancyworked with the decorator choosing

colors, fabrics, and style of window,wall, and floor treatments. The beautyof the completed renovations madeher reluctant to put a nail in thoseclean, pristine walls to hang personalitems of art and family photographs.“Once I pounded that first nail,” shesaid, “I was okay.” The President’sHouse became the Shinn’s home.

During her first years in Berea,Nancy carried homemade cookies tothe five freshmen dorms where sheand Larry met with students and listened to their concerns. She initiatedsoup suppers to become betteracquainted with faculty. Not onlywere the Shinns meeting new people,but by mixing the faculty from different departments, people at Berea

came to know each other as well. Ona yearly basis Nancy hosts 60-70 dinners and numerous receptions inthe president’s home, serving about1500 guests with the help of theCollege food service and BooneTavern. She prefers to shop and cookfor small dinners of 10 guests or less.

A very organized person, Nancyoversees many college-related campusevents. She also attends athletic,choral, and dramatic events in whichstudents are involved; attends committee meetings to plan activitiesinvolving students, donors, alumni,and guests on campus; goes to community meetings; and travels withLarry for development and alumnimeetings. During her tenure at Berea,she has chaired the Spouses’ TaskForce for the national Council ofIndependent Colleges (CIC) andserved on such local boards asChristian Education of Union Church,Hospice Care Plus, Kentucky RiverFoothills, and Madison CountyChildren’s Action Network.

Once a week she integrates herown and Larry’s calendars, makingadjustments and additions, occasionallyfinding some quality time for the twoof them—usually a dinner out and a movie in Lexington. “No responsibilities; just let-down time,”Nancy describes it. They jokingly saythat they get one weekend a monthwithout Berea College.

These three strong, genteel, educated individuals did not simplyfollow their husbands to Berea; rathereach First Lady—Anne SmithWeatherford, Jane BaucomStephenson, and Nancy AlbrightShinn—linked arms with her spouseand carved her own niché beside herhusband.

Or, as author and former Collegetrustee Alex Haley might have saidabout the connection between firstladies and presidents. . . “When yousee a turtle sitting on a fence post,you know he had help getting there.”

During her first yearsin Berea, Nancy carriedhomemade cookies to thefive freshmen dormswhere she and Larrymet with students andlistened to their concerns.

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What do authors do at the end of theirwork day? Head to the local coffee shopto eavesdrop on the regulars for newmaterial? How about wait at the schoolbus stop, pick up their child, and headhome… That’s what Shannon Wilson,’81, does everyday while his wife, Janey,studies for the Episcopal priesthood atSeabury-Western Theological Seminary.With his new book set to debut, Wilsonis eager to talk—time permitting. Schoolbuses don’t wait.

Before devoting most of his freetime to his youngest son Graff, Wilsonspent the better part of four yearsresearching and writing a new history ofBerea College. Separated into eight presidential eras, Berea College: AnIllustrated History, published by theUniversity Press of Kentucky, chroniclesthe history of the College and the peoplewho have led it along the way. On asunny November afternoon I sat downwith Wilson and asked him about hisbackground and his upcoming book.

Bridget Carroll: What brought you backto Berea after graduate school?

Shannon Wilson: I came here on an 18-month grant to preserve photographs ofmountain settlement institutions, and 20years have passed. I became archivist in1986.

BC: How did the book come about?

SW: President Shinn cheerfully called meone summer day a few years ago, andsaid, ‘Shannon, the administrative committee and I would like to invite youto write a new history of the College forthe sesquicentennial.’ The reason beingthat as the College archivist, I amimmersed in the documents every dayand have a feel for them. The primaryquality he wanted was a chronologicalnarrative that would tell the institution’sstory. In a very important book calledThe Distinguished College, Burton Clarkeintroduces this idea of ‘the saga’ as a historically formed story that presentsthe notion of a distinguished institutionas almost legendary and heroic.

Now, plenty of schools have reallygreat stories about their origins, butBerea’s is true. By true I mean that we

can point to who we are. When we say thatthe institution stands for equal educationfor men and women; we can point tothat as a founding ideal. When we say thatwe are committed to interracial education,we can point to that as a founding ideal.From the beginning, we have embracedthese two ideals, among many others.

This whole notion ‘God has made ofone blood all peoples of the earth’ is notwindow dressing. We mean it. TheCosmopolitan Club emerged in the 1920s,but international students have beenattending longer than that.

When you look at the College motto,at the first constitution, and at our GreatCommitments, there is a linear connection.Before it was fashionable, we were committed to interracial education andto the coeducation of men and women.We were committed to serving peoplewho were underserved long before it wasfashionable, long before Pell Grants, federal aid, and state aid. Before thosethings were encouraged or mandated,Berea was doing them.

The administrative committee andPresident Shinn wanted an accurate,

Shannon Wilsonand the Saga of BEREA COLLEGEBy Bridget Carroll

Lindsay Bruner, ’06BEREACOLLEGEMAGAZINE:W

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Shannon Wilson and the Saga of Berea College150 Years of Labor, Learning, and Service

truthful, and authoritative narrative, anda photographic history. I found myselflooking at Berea’s origin—at the Fees,the Rogers, and so on who articulated ourvalues for the first time. Each president—in 150 years we’ve only had eight—hashad to decide how to manifest these corevalues. What each chapter does is to lookat three or four incidents within thoseadministrations that confirm, enhance, orat times deny who we are as a school. Iset the scene and describe these eventsaccurately and carefully so that the readercan make his or her own judgment.

BC: Did any surprises come out of thewoodwork?

SW: There were photographs I’d neverseen. One photograph of a class in 1889shows students of all ages, sizes, and colors; and it’s a model elementary gradeclass. That really captures what Bereawas in the beginning and what it aspiresto be in terms of our interracial commitment and our life on campus. Webring people together from differentbackgrounds, with different abilities andlevels of preparation, and we don’t makeany apologies for that. Francis Hutchinsmade an observation that intrigued me.He said, ‘The great number of our studentswill have to work for a living. Therefore,we need to prepare them in those subjectsand in those areas where they can do that.’

That’s the tension that we sometimessee on campus between what is calledpractical education and liberal learning.It’s a historical tension.

BC: Why didn’t you include the presidentof Lincoln Institute as one of our presidents?

SW: I talked about Lincoln Institutewhich was created during the Day Lawcrisis. We were trying to overturn thelaw through the courts. Berea Collegewas also wondering, how are we goingto provide for whichever population isdisplaced from the campus? What are we going to do for them in terms of educational preparation? When our institution segregated, our endowmentwas divided, and we embarked on ourfundraising expedition to raise moneyfor what then became Lincoln Institute.When it opened, it had its own principal,faculty, and board.

Lincoln Institute developed its ownhistory, its own practices, developed itsown alumni, and so on. It became, albeit

sadly, a separate institution because thestate forbade us from integrated, interracial education.

Lincoln had aspirations for a collegedepartment, but in 1906 the immediateneed was for skilled African Americansto enter the workplace rather than waitfor students to complete four-year bachelor’s degrees. Thus, Lincoln offeredprimarily a normal and industrial curriculum, and never realized its collegiatedream. Similarly, Berea developed a seriesof normal and industrial diploma programsfor mountain people that were also two-year degrees. Under Frost’s administration,

the collegiate department remained theCollege’s smallest academic department.

BC: How did the college return to theliberal arts?

SW: William J. Hutchins brought the liberal arts and the liberal learning outlook to the College. He was thefather of Berea’s President FrancisHutchins and of Robert Hutchins,University of Chicago president.

Now, William Hutchins had studiedGreek under professor Frost as a studentat Oberlin. Intriguingly, some years laterpresident Frost had not selected WilliamHutchins to follow him as Berea’s president; Hutchins was his secondchoice. The first candidate that Frost hadin mind was then a new trustee namedWillis Weatherford Senior. WhereasBerea might have had a Weatherforddynasty, instead we have a Hutchinsdynasty with William J. Hutchins from1920-39, then Francis Hutchins from1939-67. For 47 years this family wasintimately woven into the fabric of ourschool.

BC: What if I’m interested in furtherreading?

SW: The book has an extensive bibliography that is laid out by eras sothat if the reader is really interested in aparticular president, he or she can just lookat that. If they look at that bibliography,plus the listing of more general sources,then they’ll have plenty to get them started.

This book is, in many ways, a prologue to much larger work—whetherit’s one volume, or multiple volumes ordozens of articles. This book should createconversation and research by many different people because that’s the onlyway we can map this larger history of theschool. I think that Berea’s story is onewe’ve often told, but it is perhaps notwidely known; I think it is a story that isworth knowing.

Shannon opens the first carton of books to signat Berea College Bookstore.

Shannon and his son, Graff, joke around at thebus stop.

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To order Berea College: An IllustratedHistory, contact the College Bookstoreat 1.859.985.3197, or [email protected].


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John G. Fee: His Pre-Berea Years

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Posing the Question:Who was the 36-year-old pastor namedJohn G. Fee who came to the BereaRidge in 1853? What was the source ofhis inspiration to create the early Berea community and schools?

Most histories of John Fee andBerea College identify their spiritual andintellectual roots as twofold: evangelicalChristianity and the second GreatAwakening led by Charles GrandisonFinney (1792-1875). These 19th-centurymovements provided both the religiousmotive to social action and the techniques(camp meetings, “anxious bench,” andmultiple day revivals) to bring aboutsocial change in the communities of Feeand many other pastors. This essayargues that these two major influencesare not enough to explain the radicalegalitarianism that the 36-year-old pastorbrought to the Berea Ridge.

Lane Theological School inCincinnati is viewed as a significant—ifbrief—source of antislavery activism westof the Alleghenies. In the spring of 1834,Lane’s 75 rebellious students (and one

faculty member) raised the question ofthe legitimacy of slavery to a feverishpitch. In the winter of 1834, 95 studentsquit Lane. Nearly half of the Lane Rebelsmoved to Oberlin in the fall of 1835,including professor John Morgan and aboard member, Reverend Asa Mahan,who became Oberlin’s first president—allof this making Oberlin the first interracial and coeducational college inAmerica.

Also in 1834, New York abolitionists Arthur and Lewis Tappan funded thenew American Missionary Association (AMA). Led by Joseph Payne, an Oberlingraduate, and George Whipple, anOberlin professor, the AMA would commission and fund John G. Fee, J.A.R.Rogers, and many other faculty and staffduring Berea College’s first 25 years.

Although Fee is considered thefounder of Berea’s Union Church (1853)and its schools (1855), John G. Fee andBerea College can be seen as the naturalextension of such movements asChristian revivalism and such institutionsas Oberlin and the AMA. Several historians even call Berea “a littleOberlin.” Such a simplistic account failsto consider the unique contributions ofFee, this Southern abolitionist whoseegalitarian vision and passion separatedhim from his counterparts. This essaysuggests that the roots of Berea Collegemay also be found in Fee’s upbringing inBracken County, at Lane Seminary inCincinnati, and in his Lewis County pastoral career of the 1840s. This periodof Fee’s life explains both the Christian


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Fee at Union Church

FoundingVisionary


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John G. Fee: His Pre-Berea Years150 Years of Labor, Learning, and Service

His Pre-Berea YearsBy Larry D. Shinn, President

Berea schoolhouse, 1855

The roots of Berea Collegemay be found in Fee’supbringing in BrackenCounty, at Lane Seminaryin Cincinnati, and in hisLewis County pastoralcareer. This period of Fee’slife explains both theChristian inclusivenessand radical egalitariansim ofthe young manwho arrived onthe Berea Ridgein the 1850s.

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inclusiveness and radical egalitarianismof the young man who arrived on theBerea Ridge in the 1850s.

A long the Ohio River:1825-1840

Cincinnati and Ripley, Ohio.Although they were a part of the freestate of Ohio, Cincinnati and other mid-19th century Ohio River cities mostlyshared the pro-slavery sentiments of theirKentucky neighbors. In 1830, Cincinnati’spopulation was 25,000, and by 1840,Northern and Southern immigrants hadnearly doubled its size. A large meat-packing center and one of the busiestOhio River ports, Cincinnati became acultural center with theatres, libraries,museums, and a number of preparatoryschools and colleges. The city housedmore than two dozen churches and aJewish synagogue. Lane Seminary’s firsttrustee chairman, Joshua L. Wilson,preached at the First PresbyterianChurch, while Lane trustee, Asa Mahan,pastored the Sixth Presbyterian Church.Some of the city’s conservative,

influential, proslavery leaders served on the LaneSeminary board.

Early in 1832, Rev.Samuel Crothers ofGreenfield, Ohio published a series of 15 antislavery letters inthe Cincinnati Journal.That summer, a Lane seminary student organized

a public debate on whether theNorth should support the South if

slaves rebelled. In the spring of 1834,a group of Lane students held 18 days

of public debates on slavery and abolitionism. During the 1830s and 40s,Cincinnati held numerous religious antislavery conventions, finally creatingan active Underground Railroad to helpslaves seeking freedom in the North.Among other abolitionists from nearbycommunities, John Rankin of Ripley,Ohio frequently visited Cincinnati topromote antislavery ideals.

Fifty miles east of Cincinnati, Ripleywas one of the busiest river towns andthe second largest pork-producing port.Here, John Rankin became one of Ohio’smost active Underground Railroad conductors in the early and mid-19thcentury. Born in 1793 in the remote areaof Assumption Creek, Tennessee, Rankin,an outspoken Southern preacher, movednorth to carry out his abolitionist ministry. After his antislavery views created hostility in Tennessee, he madehis way to Carlisle, Kentucky, where heserved the Concord Presbyterian Churchfrom 1817-21. On December 31, 1821Rankin, his wife, and four childrenarrived in Ripley, Ohio.

Rankin fought slavery, believing thatblacks were born equal to whites butsimply never received the education andcultural support to be treated as equals.Acting on this premise he created schoolsfor blacks in Kentucky and Ohio.

In August 1832, The Liberator, anational antislavery journal published aseries of Rankin’s letters on the evils ofslavery. He was invited to Philadelphiaon December 4, 1832 to inaugurate theNational Anti-slavery Society. This high-level exposure catapulted him into

national prominence and led to Rankin’swork with Theodore Weld in 1832-33,two years before Weld led a group ofstudents from Oneida to Lane Seminary.Rankin became acquainted withCincinnati’s antislavery leaders, includingLane seminary president Lyman Beecherand trustee Asa Mahan. Rankin evenspoke at the 1834 Lane debates, urgingimmediate abolitionism.

John Rankin also was a longtimecollaborator with John G. Fee.

Lane Theological Seminary.Founded in 1829 as the Presbyterianseminary in the West, Lane TheologicalSeminary was composed of a very smallliterary institute and seminary with onlyone professor, Rev. T.J. Biggs. In 1832,New York abolitionists Arthur and LewisTappan provided enough funds for Laneto attract Lyman Beecher, the outstandingpreacher of Boston, as Lane’s first


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John Rankin fought slavery,believing that blacks wereborn equal to whites butsimply never received theeducation and cultural support to be treated asequals. Acting on this premise he created schoolsfor blacks in Kentucky andOhio. Rankin also was alongtime collaborator withJohn G. Fee.

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president. Lane installed Beecher alongwith the Biblical scholar Dr. CalvinStowe (later to be the husband of HarrietBeecher Stowe). With three strong professors, Beecher, Stowe, and Biggs,and with solid financial backing fromCincinnati and New York philanthropists,Lane became an attractive ‘frontierschool’ for young men wanting to spreadevangelical Christianity and oppose slavery.

One antislavery movement of theday was called the “ColonizationMovement” that sought to end slaverygradually, send slaves back to Africa, and,thereby, not upset slave owners in theprocess. This antislavery view was firmlyheld by Lane’s president Lyman Beecherand several Lane trustees.

In 1834, Theodore Weld brought 24of his fellow students from the OneidaInstitute in New York into Lane’s fledglingseminary. At age 30, Weld’s reputation asan abolitionist had spread west and southfrom his Connecticut birthplace. A convertof Finney, Weld likewise converted manyothers, including Southerner James G.Birney of Danville, Kentucky (and laterCincinnati), to evangelical and immediateabolitionism. Weld assisted Finney forsome years and worked closely with theTappans throughout their lives. Invitedto Lane Seminary as a faculty member,Weld instead came as a student, tellingTappan before he left New York that heintended “to introduce antislavery sentiments, and have the whole subjectthoroughly discussed.” Later Weld led hisstudent peers to develop Lane’s 18 daysof debates on slavery in February of 1834.

At the end of the Lane debates, students voted unanimously to supportimmediate abolition of slavery. Duringthe summer of 1834, many Lane studentsassisted black families in Cincinnati’s“Little Africa” with literacy, religiousinstruction, and other educational skills.Most Lane trustees, and faculty membersBeecher and Biggs, felt that studentactivism threatened the seminary’sfuture. While comfortable with Beecher’santislavery colonization beliefs, mosttrustees felt threatened by immediateabolition. ‘Abolitionism’ (which in the1800s meant immediate abolition)threatened not only the powerful

slaveholders, but the economic lifebloodof Cincinnati’s business community andsupport for Lane Seminary itself.

When students held their nowfamous 1834 debates, they distributed1600 copies of James Birney’s anti-colonization tract. Some students regularly conducted passage through theUnderground. In the fall of 1834, 95 of103 Lane students left, and 75 of themcontinued their abolitionist and evangelical reform in the Cincinnati area.

What happened to Lane TheologicalSeminary after the student rebellion?Most historians see Lane as inconsequentialto the antislavery movement after 1834.I believe the answer is more complexthan that and reveals one importantsource of Fee’s spiritual transformation.When John G. Fee arrived at the supposedly post-radical Lane Seminary in1842, seven years after the rebels left, hewas converted in his first year to an“immediate abolitionism.” So, a reasonablequestion to explore is, “What radicalantislavery influences persisted at Laneand in Cincinnati post-1834 that couldhave shaped the 26-year-old Fee?”

Throughout the1830s, abolitionistsJohn Rankin and James Birney were very

active in Cincinnati’s UndergroundRailroad and in public meetings promotingantislavery views. In January 1836,Birney began publishing his antislaverypaper, The Philanthropist, in Cincinnati;by August mobs had twice destroyed itspresses. In the fall of 1836, JohnRankin’s eldest son, Adam “Lowry”Rankin, entered Lane along with a freedman named Benjamin FranklinTempleton, who had been the first blackstudent at Ripley College several yearsearlier. Templeton graduated in 1838,and Rankin followed in 1840. JonathanBlanchard, a firm abolitionist and laterpresident of Wheaton College, was aclassmate of Templeton and Rankin; hegraduated from Lane in 1838.

Like Rankin and Birney, a numberof Lane students actively conductedCincinnati’s Underground Railroad after1835. Baxter Dickenson, a proslaveryprofessor from 1835-39, tried to catchLowry Rankin trafficking in the UndergroundRailroad, but never succeeded. On theother hand, in 1837 Lane professor CalvinStowe took Lowry Rankin’s place onenight, helping a slave escape through theCincinnati Underground. Calvin Stowe’swife, Harriet Beecher Stowe, certainlyused the story of a slave escaping acrossthe Ohio River to Ripley in her novelUncle Tom’s Cabin. Throughout his Laneyears, Lowry Rankin helped hundreds ofslaves escape through the Underground,which was directly connected to theCincinnati Anti-Slavery Society.

By 1837, fundamental differencesover antislavery activism split thePresbyterian Church into the Old School,(a Calvinistic vein that scorned attemptsto alter social conditions) and the NewSchool (focused on human spiritual perfection and social action—includingabolitionism). Lane Seminary and four ofCincinnati’s six Presbyterian churchesespoused New School theology. In 1841,the Cincinnati New School Presbytery(which included Dayton and Ripley) denounced slavery as a sin. For the next two years it forcefully insisted that itschurches cease relationships with slave-holding activities. After leaving Lane,John Fee was ordained into a NewSchool Presbytery in Kentucky.

When John G. Fee arrived atthe post-radical LaneSeminary in 1842, sevenyears after the rebels left, hewas converted in his firstyear to an “immediate abolitionism.”

Lane Theological Seminary, 1841, by CharlesCist.

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Following the departure of the LaneRebels in 1835, the smaller seminarygraduated only 25 students from 1834-37.Classes from 1838-42 averaged 15-20graduates each year. Lane’s conservativeproslavery professors, Rev. T.J. Biggs andBaxter Dickenson, resigned in 1839. In1840, President Lyman Beecher hiredRev. D.H . Allen who espoused moremoderate views on slavery issues. By thattime even President Beecher had movedbeyond his earlier colonization views,arguing now that pastors could not usethe Bible to support slavery. Thus,spokespersons at Lane Seminary (andthroughout Cincinnati) held strong anddiverse antislavery and abolitionist sentiments when Fee arrived in 1842.For example, abolitionist Calvin Stowetaught Fee Biblical literature while themore moderate Beecher taught Fee aswell. In 1844, John Fee’s graduatingclass included 36 students—comparableto that of other seminaries.

Life across the Riverfrom Ripley

Kentucky’s northern river counties andOhio’s southern communities (Cincinnatiand Ripley) affected the early life of JohnGregg Fee, who was born September 9,1816 across the river from Ripley, Ohioin Bracken County, Kentucky. TheBracken community was founded with thehelp of Fee’s grandfather, John Fee, Sr.,along with relatives John Hanson, JohnC. Hamilton, and John Gregg.

Fee’s mother andher brother,John Gregg,

came from anantislavery

Quaker family.In 1823, in his

home and community there

was significant antislavery influence,

even though hisfather, John Fee, Jr.,

owned 13 slaves to help him run hisextensive farm.

When John G. Fee was 14 years old,he was converted to evangelicalChristianity by Joseph Corliss, a localteacher boarding in his home. By age 16,Fee had joined the Presbyterian Churchin Augusta and pledged to become aminister. In 1836, he attended AugustaCollege, a Methodist college in BrackenCounty that often hosted religiousrevivals. Augusta’s debating societies heldproslavery and antislavery debates; theJefferson Club being proslavery and theUnion Club, which Fee joined, beingvocally antislavery. After two-and-a-halfyears at Augusta College, he transferredto Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

Although the Lane Rebels hadalready departed, their legacy lived on inCincinnati and at the seminary, despitethe hope of Lane’s conservative trustees

and officials. Fee arrived at LaneTheological Seminary in 1842, much tothe dismay of his conservative father. Healso attended the June 1842 conventionof Presbyterian and Congregational ministers held in Cincinnati, whereBeecher and Stowe produced an antislavery report that called slavery “aheinous sin against God.” That fall,Cincinnati hosted a national antislaveryconference attended by Lane faculty andstudents, including John Fee.

Clearly, Lane Seminary and post-1834 Cincinnati were steeped in antislavery activism. Among Lane studentsin 1842 who were deeply committed tothe cause were John M. Campbell, Fee’sclassmate at Miami of Ohio, and JamesC. White, a Boston-born abolitionist.Campbell and White insisted that byapplying the Two Great Commandments(i.e., love God and love one’s neighboras oneself) along with the Golden Rule (i.e., do to others as you would wantdone to you) made clear that slavery waswrong and sinful. After a night of intensediscussion with Campbell and White, Feewalked alone in a garden near the seminary and prayed, “Lord if needs be,make me an abolitionist.” Shortly afterthis experience, he looked across theOhio River from his Cincinnati boardingroom and vowed to work toward theimmediate abolition of slavery in hishome state of Kentucky. Though heattended Lane only one-and-a-half years,Fee had become another Lane Rebel inhis radical abolitionism. He was forcedto leave Lane in 1843 when his fatherrefused to pay his fees.

John G. Fee returned home in 1843-44, where he tried and failed to converthis father to abolitionism. Following anabolitionist sermon he preached in alocal church, Fee was disowned by hisfather, and he proposed marriage to his cousin Matilda Hamilton. One monthafter they married in September 1844, hewas accepted into the “New School”Harmony Presbytery. Although offeredthe pastorate at churches in BrackenCounty and in Louisville, Fee refused togo to churches that were not open to hisall-out abolitionist views. Fee, discouragedby the lack of support he received fromhis ministerial colleagues in Bracken

When John G. Fee was 14years old, he was convertedto evangelical Christianityby Joseph Corliss, a localteacher boarding in hishome. By age 16, Fee hadjoined the PresbyterianChurch in Augusta andpledged to become a minister.

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John G. Fee: His Pre-Berea Years150 Years of Labor, Learning, and Service

County, felt they had abandoned theChristian gospel for the convenience ofslaveholding parishioners.

In January 1845, Fee preached several revival sermons at the CabinCreek Presbyterian Church in LewisCounty, on the Ohio River east ofBracken County. Thus, began Fee’slengthy church ministry that deepenedhis abolitionist feelings and actions.Because this small church of six members

was without a minister when they calledFee, he appealed to the American HomeMissionary Society (AHMS) for financialsupport. H is appeal asserted that he wasstaunchly abolitionist and wanted tospread such views in Kentucky throughthe Cabin Creek Presbyterian Church.On April 2, 1845, Fee received a “commission” (salary and institutionalsupport) from the AHMS.

Fee was only one of twoSoutherners to attend the LibertyPolitical Convention in Cincinnati heldon June 11-13, 1845. Even though heagreed with Arthur Tappan that evangelicalChristian rebirth was the best way to endslavery, both men supported the LibertyParty’s attempt to address slavery at theballot box. When Fee returned home, aCabin Creek parishioner asked him topreach on slavery, and his church, whichsupported his reasoning, became a leaderof abolitionism in Kentucky. Cabin Creekwas the first church among the majordenominations in the South to excludeslaveholders and to argue for the fullequality of blacks and whites.

Fee’s abolitionist actions inflamedconversations during the September1845 meeting of the KentuckyPresbyterian synod. The synod arguedthat church doctrines allowed slavery;Fee argued that they did not and theBible was the higher authority. Thesynod asked the AHMS to withdraw itsfinancial support of Fee. Feewrote of his experience to a fellow minister in Pennsylvaniawho promptly sent Fee’s letter(and the story it told) to LewisTappan in New York. Tappanpublished the letter in hisUnion Missionary journal.

Within the next year, several journals such as theNew York Evangelist, a “NewSchool” publication, and theChristian Observer fromPhiladelphia were publishingFee’s plight and promotinghis abolitionist work inKentucky to a wider EastCoast audience. As withRankin before him, thepublication of Fee’s ministerial plight and hisabolitionist thinking elevated Fee into nationalprominence and collaboration withnational abolitionistleaders, includingTappan, Weld, and theAMA’s leadership.

When in the spring of 1847 theNew School Presbyterian GeneralAssembly met in Cincinnati, Beecher,Stowe, and Fee were active participants.This meeting deepened Fee’s connectionsat Lane and solidified Cincinnati as aplace that would support his work inKentucky. When Kentucky’s Presbyteriansynod met again in 1847, it voted to censure Fee. They instructed the HarmonyPresbytery to take action against Fee’santislavery activities. When Fee met withhis Presbytery, he offered to end his formalrelationship with them. They releasedhim in good standing—save for what hiscolleagues viewed as his misguided abolitionist views. Fee abandoned hisecclesiastical roots for a Biblical gospel of“impartial love” that under girded theabolitionist views he brought to theBerea Ridge a half decade later.

During 1845-47, Fee published 14articles in The True American journal,published by controversial Kentucky abo-litionist Cassius M. Clay. He addressed

the question “Is Slavery Right?”

Matilda Fee

In January 1845, Feepreached several revival sermons at the Cabin CreekPresbyterian Church inLewis County, on the OhioRiver east of BrackenCounty. Thus, began Fee’slengthy church ministry thatdeepened his abolitionistfeelings and actions.

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He argued for an immediate end to slavery and for equal rights and status forfreed blacks. He based his appeal onConstitutional and Biblical grounds. Theantislavery society that he founded inLewis County invited Clay to speakthere—an invitation that Clay later honored. Fee’s report to the Tappans inNew York in 1851 said that his CabinCreek Church was fully integrated.Shortly thereafter it was burned to theground. Undaunted, Fee reorganizedwith a new “Union Church” that mergedthe congregation of Cabin Creek withanother small congregation in LewisCounty. He encouraged blacks andwhites to sit together—perhaps the firstchurch in the South to do so. At a timewhen even most Northern abolitionistsfelt reluctant to grant equality to blacks,Fee clearly acted on his egalitarianbeliefs—in slave-holding Kentucky.

From October 14 to December 2 of1847, Fee engaged in an extensive lec-ture and sermon tour of southern Ohio.He spoke in Presbyterian, Wesleyan(Methodist), and Baptist churches. Hespoke at Rankin’s church in Ripley. H islectures derived from the Anti-SlaveryManual he was writing at the time. Inthis text, Fee argued that both the Bibleand the U.S. Constitution argued forimmediate abolition of slavery and forrecognition of racial equality—somethingfew abolitionists anywhere urged. Hesaid that racial prejudice was a form ofcaste sentiment that was more insidiousand difficult to overcome than slaveryitself, which was only an external,brutish manifestation of prejudice.

H is Anti-Slavery Manual, published in 1848 and revised in 1849, received

considerable national attention.Alongside it, Fee distributed antislavery tracts writ-ten by John Wesley,founder ofMethodism;antislavery position

papers written for the1792 Kentucky constitutional

convention by the Presbyterian pastorDavid Rice; and antislavery letterspenned by John Rankin and others. InJanuary 1849, Fee and Clay participatedin an ‘emancipation’ convention inFrankfort. There Fee argued stronglyagainst supporters of colonization, sayingthat the gospel of impartial love demand-ed freed slaves who had an equal opportunity for education and could lead productive lives—in America. Feeand other Kentuckians used the term ‘emancipationist,’ rather than ‘abolitionist,’to set themselves apart from theirNorthern allies who could state theirviews and take action in the free states.

ConclusionSo, who was the young pastor who cameto Madison County, Kentucky at theinvitation of Cassius Clay to establishUnion Church and the Berea schools?From Fee’s education, ministry, and antislavery work in the 1830s and 1840s,he arrived in Berea in 1853 at the age of36, already a respected leader of abolitionism in America. As the object ofat least 22 personal, and often physicallyviolent, attacks by individuals and mobs,Fee was one of the few abolitionists fromthe South who dared to practice his convictions openly in a slave-holdingstate. At the end of an antislavery con-vention in Cincinnati in 1850, the mem-bers set forth a statement extolling Fee’swork in the South. At this same meeting,Rankin stood alongside Fee to support aresolution that said, friends of “a pureChristianity ought to separate themselvesfrom all slaveholding churches.” Fee’sBiblically-based Christianity was almostas strongly non-sectarian as was his radical antislavery egalitarianism.

Clearly Union Church was open to allpeoples of the earth in a way Fee had notexperienced in his own denomination—or any other church.

In the early 1850s Fee attended, led,and wrote resolutions for many antislaveryconventions. Several of those conventionspraised his work, and his collaborationwith abolitionist leaders such as Tappan,Weld, Blanchard, Rankin, and Whipplecontinued. Not every abolitionist agreedwith Fee’s radical egalitarian abolition-ism, but all respected him. This was thewell-seasoned and experienced 36-year-old pastor who arrived in MadisonCounty in 1853.

Upon arriving in Berea, he stated hisdesire to establish “a school in Kentuckylike Oberlin is in Ohio.” It should beclear to us now, however, that BereaCollege was never simply a “littleOberlin.” Oberlin graduates broughttheir experience of interracial educationto the Berea Ridge in such teachers asGeorge Candee and William Lincoln in1853; in Berea’s first principal J.A.R.Rogers in 1858; in the first Berea CollegePresident Edward Henry Fairchild in1866; and in the numerous teachers and staff who served Berea in its firstdecade. Yet, it was the mature, devoutabolitionist preacher named John GreggFee whose vision shaped the nonsectarianand “anti-caste” Union Church, theBerea community, and its schools.

Fee’s radical belief in the equality ofall humans—black and white, men andwomen—grounded in an inclusive gospelof “impartial love,” led to the interspersionof white and black family homes on theBerea ridge and to startling policies thatmade real the equality of all people. JohnG. Fee’s compassionate and inclusivevision created the Berea community andits schools in the 1850s and 60s. Thatvision still inspires the work of BereaCollege in the early part of the 21st century. In our 150th year, we celebratethat radical egalitarian vision of impartiallove of John G. Fee and the BereaCollege that it created and from whichthe whole world of our day could enormously benefit.


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Bylaws from the College’s constitution

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Beyond the Blue Gate150 Years of Labor, Learning, and Service

From Interstate-64, 20 miles east of Louisville, youcan see the distinctive design of Berea Hall’s tower,once the landmark building on the campus ofLincoln Institute. In fact, the interstate runs throughland that was once part of Lincoln’s original 444-acre campus. Most travelers never realize they’repassing what remains of a remarkable school thatplayed a unique role in the education of AfricanAmericans in Kentucky.

Andrew Baskin, ’72, associate professor ofAfrican and African American studies at Berea,began gathering Lincoln Institute’s history after hejoined the College’s faculty as director of the BlackCultural Center in 1983. “For more than 50 years,Lincoln was the salvation of many Kentuckians,” hesays. “It offered them an opportunity for an education when no other options were available. Itwas the crucial first step on the path of educatingthe black population.”

Lincoln Institute was born after the KentuckyGeneral Assembly passed the Day Law in 1904 making interracial education illegal. The law specifically targeted Berea College, which had beenadmitting black and white students following the CivilWar. Berea unsuccessfully challenged the law all theway to the Supreme Court. Finding themselves at acrossroads in 1908, the trustees considered severaloptions—including a move to Ohio or West Virginia.Ultimately, they decided to admit only white studentsto Berea; the College would create another school forAfrican American students.

From 1912-66 Lincoln Institute educated thousands of African Americans from Kentucky andmany other states. After briefly serving as the site ofa program for gifted students, the Shelby County

campus became the home of the Whitney M. YoungJob Corps Center.

Since 2003, Baskin has brought LincolnInstitute back to life by videotaping interviews withformer students and teachers of the school. He beganthe oral history project after a historical preservationproject about African Americans in his hometown ofAlcoa, Tennessee led him to ask ‘What can I do tocontribute to the history of African Americans inKentucky?’

“I instantly thought of Lincoln Institute,” saysBaskin. “The buildings still remained, but not theInstitute. The number of living former studentsgrows fewer and fewer every day.” As a Berea graduate, he felt obliged to safeguard this part ofthe College’s history and preserve Lincoln Institute’shistoric place in Kentucky’s education. “I saw it as away to allow those who attended the school to tellabout their experiences there.”

With the aid of his wife, Symerdar, and formercolleague Dr. Paula McGee, Baskin has taped interviews with 84 “Lincolnites,” as they call themselves, who attended or taught from the 1930sthrough the 1960s. The tapes become part of theCollege library’s special collections to be preservedand used for research.

“I want people to be able to go to the archivesof Berea College and find out about LincolnInstitute from Lincolnites. Since Berea played a rolein creating Lincoln, I feel I should play a role inkeeping its memory alive,” he says. “It’s a token ofappreciation for people who made it possible for meto be where I am today.”

One of Baskin’s early interviewees was Dr.Eleanor Young Love, who graduated from Lincoln

Beyond the Blue Gate:Stories from Lincoln Institute

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Institute, having been born in1922 while her father WhitneyM. Young, Sr., himself a graduate,taught there. He became theschool’s first black president,serving nearly 40 years. Loveearned a doctorate and taught atthe University of Louisville for27 years; her brother, WhitneyM. Young, Jr., became executivedirector of the National UrbanLeague from 1961-71 and a prominent civil rightsleader.

Love speaks fondly of her time at Lincoln andrecalls the Institute’s caring, loving faculty. “Theymade each student feel as if he or she could make itin the world, and that’s why ninety percent of themturned out to be somebody,” she says. “We alwayshad a houseful of students, and something going onevery night. . . . Lincoln was one in a million.”

Not everyone wanted an all-black school inShelby County or near the town of Simpsonville. Inthe earliest days when her father was a student, Lovesays, students and faculty slept with guns under thebeds for security. She recalls her father telling her,

“They felt fearful sometimes, but were determinedto stay.” Over time Lincoln gained acceptance.

It was also true, she says, that her parents neveracted like second-class citizens, even when facingdiscriminatory practices. She recalls an outing withher sister and mother that included segregated restrooms. “One said ‘For Colored Women’ and theother said ‘For White Ladies.’ My mother said, ‘Comeon, girls; we’re ladies, so we’re going in this one,’ andthat’s what we’d do.” Love said no one stopped them,and the community treated her family with respect.

Her father and the Lincoln faculty instructedstudents to have that same confidence and respect

1855

Cassius Clay sent a check for$25 to support the “schoolhouse.”

1866

During Berea’s first full year ofeducation after the Civil War, theCollege was attended by 96blacks and 91 whites.

1872

On July 2nd, Berea trusteesapprove interracial mixing insocial situations.

Berea Hall at Lincoln Institute, 1913

1913 Lincoln Institute Faculty

Eleanor Love

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Beyond the blue Gate150 Years of Labor, Learning, and Service

for themselves in the larger world, too, says Love.“They taught them to look everyone straight in theeye when they talked, and they preached ‘hold yourhead high.’”

Carl Talbert, of Lexington, was 90 years old whenBaskin met him in 2005; he is the oldest alumnusinterviewed thus far. When Talbert attended Lincolnin 1930 all students boarded there. H is parents hadsent him because Fayette County offered no schoolingfor African Americans beyond the eighth grade. Atage 14 the idea of attending school away from home,“tickled me to pieces,” Talbert says. Lincoln’s first curriculum offered teacher training, as well as vocational education—home economics, agriculture,building trades, and maintenance engineering. Talbertchose engineering. “I learned the basics of electricityand plumbing,” he says. Whitney M. Young, Sr. washis teacher.

H istorically, all students worked a few hourseach week, without pay, to assist with the running ofthe school. (When commuters began to attend, thepolicy changed.) Talbert worked first as a cook, firingup the wood stove in the women’s dormitory eachmorning. Later he used his engineering know-howto keep Lincoln’s ‘power house’ going. He and three

other boys roomed in the bell tower because eachhad jobs that required them to rise early. “One boy’sjob was to ring the bell that got people up every dayand sounded at the change of classes,” he said. “Twoboys rose early to milk the cows.”

In 1941, Kentucky legislation mandated thatboards of education provide all students in their districts with the opportunity to receive a highschool education. Because more than half of Kentucky’scounties had no high school facilities for AfricanAmericans, many school boards signed contractswith Lincoln Institute to meet their obligation toeducate black students. In 1947, Lincoln officiallybecame a state-supported public school.

The Warren family boasts six Lincoln graduates—sisters Vivian Warren Overall (1960),Wanda Warren Brown (1958), Barbara WarrenWhyte (1963), and Joan Warren Bradley (1966), aswell as their mother Anna Warren (1939), andfather, Edward D. Warren (1936). Baskin interviewedthree of them during a group interview.

Vivian Overall and Wanda Brown commutedeight miles from Shelbyville to Lincoln, even thoughthey could have attended the public high school inShelby County. Overall recalls that the all-black high

1875

The first Mountain Day, May 12.

1901

John G. Fee dies.

1903

Carter G. Woodson graduatesfrom Berea College and goes onto become the “Father of BlackHistory.”

Dining Hall at Lincoln Institute

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1904

On January 12, Carl Day (D) ofBreathitt County, Kentucky,introduces a school segregationbill, dubbed The Day Law, targeting Berea College.

1908

On November 9, the SupremeCourt of the United Statesupholds The Day Law, forcingBerea College to segregate. As aresult, Berea established LincolnInstitute in Shelby County as anall-black institution.

1909

The Berea Board bought threefarms in Simpsonville totaling444 acres, which became thesite for Lincoln Institute.

school offered a challenging curriculum that preparedthem for careers and college. As supporters of the“Lincoln Tigers” high school athletes, she and hersister participated in a variety of extracurricularactivities. “It was an experienceI wouldn’t take anything for,”says Overall. “I loved LincolnInstitute. It was like a family.”

Overall, ’97, works in theShelby County school systemand is the only known graduateof both Lincoln Institute andBerea College. (Another Bereagraduate, John Berry, ’62, of

Ann Arbor, Michigan, attended Lincoln for oneyear, but returned to graduate from WilliamsburgHigh School in his hometown of Williamsburg,Kentucky.)

This July, Baskin plans toattend Lincoln Institute’sNational Reunion, held inSimpsonville, as he did in 2004.It was there, he says, that hefelt the warm appreciationalumni have for their almamater. Although the schoolstruggled financially and couldn’talways offer the advantages ofsome more well-funded schools, alumni don’t recallbeing affected by any shortcomings.

“As a historian and Berea alumnus, I am botheredthat African Americans had to leave Berea. Thewhole idea of de jure segregation, separate butequal, was wrong,” Baskin says.

Yet out of that, something great happened, andthat was Lincoln Institute. “I’ve been amazed at howmany of the Lincolnites say that they wish that theirchildren and grandchildren had had the opportunitythat they did to attend Lincoln,” he says. “Themajority of those who attended Lincoln recall a John Berry

Andrew Baskin

Musical performance at Lincoln Institute tent revival

The four older Warren sisters attended Lincoln Institute: (Backleft) Joan W. Bradley, back right) Vivian W. Overall, (front leftto right) Wanda W. Brown and Barbara W. Shyte.

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Beyond the Blue Gate150 Years of Labor, Learning, and Service

1924

George Washington Carverspeaks at Berea College.

1950

The Day Law, which had forcedBerea to segregate in 1904, wasamended and Berea became thefirst undergraduate institution inKentucky to reintegrate, thusbeginning a long process ofreclaiming the original intent ofthe Berea College misson.

1955

Jessie Zander is the first AfricanAmerican to graduate from BereaCollege after the repeal of theDay Law.

ww

w.archives.state.al.us

positive experience they’ve never forgotten. When yougo to a reunion, you see the joy there, you see themsing the school song, you know it’s still important.”

Many alumni share a memory of the “BlueGate” at the entrance to Lincoln Institute fromHighway 60. That memory symbolizes the bondthey feel and their love for Lincoln. “It was so blueout there because students cried coming and goingfrom Lincoln,” recalls Eleanor Young Love. “Whenthey came as teenagers—and some came from as faraway as California, Chicago, and even other countries—they would be crying. But four yearslater, when they were ready to leave, they were crying because they had to go.”

Love serves on the board of the LincolnFoundation, continuing the Lincoln legacy througheducational programs for academically talented, disadvantaged youth. One issue the Foundationgrapples with is what to do with the remainingacreage and buildings, now leased to the U.S.Department of Labor. “I’m always telling theFoundation they should not sell that property,” Loveinsists. “That light in Berea Hall should be like abeacon light to all African Americans telling themthey can make it if they’ll only try.”

The Lincoln Institute Oral H istory Project continues. Baskin wants to record the memories ofas many alumni and teachers as possible, beforeopportunities are lost. Contact him at:

859.985.3393by mail at

CPO 1715, Berea College, Berea, KY 40404 or by email at [email protected].

For more about the history of Lincoln Institute and the Lincoln Foundation, visit

www.lincolnfdn.org.

Carpentry Shop at Lincoln Institute, 1913

Sewing Class at Lincoln Institute, 1913

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Living the Fee Legacy:Edwin Embree and the Rosenwald Foundation

By Dr. Alfred Perkins

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Living the Fee Legacy150 Years of Labor, Learning, and Service

In the early decades of the twentieth century, a Chicago-based foundationspent millions of dollars to improve thelives of African Americans and to eliminatethe problems of race relations. It providedinitiative, money, and guidance for thebuilding of more than 5300 schools forrural black communities in the South. Itsupported conferences to address deep-seated difficulties between black andwhite citizens, underwrote efforts to reducedisease and advanced the preparation of black health careprofessionals. During World WarII, when the War Departmentbegan training black men as aviators, it built the airstrip onwhich the Tuskegee Airmentrained. It facilitated the federation of the historicallyblack colleges in Atlanta.

From this foundation camemore than one-third of the funding the National Associationfor the Advancement of ColoredPeoples (NAACP) used to combat racial segregation in thepublic schools, an undertakingthat culminated in the U.S.Supreme Court’s decision inBrown v. Board of Education.This foundation established aprogram of fellowships for budding writers and artists,scholars and scientists—most ofwhom were black—for the pursuit of advanced degrees orcreative projects. Moreover, ittook the lead in efforts to integrate formerly all-white fac-ulties of colleges and universities. Thefoundation’s total expenditures came tomore than $22 million, the equivalent ofover $600 million today.

All this, and more, was the work ofthe Julius Rosenwald Fund.

Chartered in 1917 as a family philanthropy by the president of theSears, Roebuck Company, the Fund wasreorganized with a professional staff in1928. From that time until it closed itsdoors in 1948, it was the most activefoundation in the United States fightingracial discrimination. The RosenwaldFund became an extension of the

influence of John G. Fee through themediation of its 20-year president,Edwin Rogers Embree.

Born in Nebraska in 1883, EdwinEmbree was the youngest child of JohnG. and Matilda Fee’s daughter, LauraAnn, and William Norris Embree; he wasalso nephew of early Berea teachers,Elizabeth Embree and J.A.R. Rogers.After discharge from the Union Army, hisfather William Embree worked for Berea

before taking a more lucrative job as atelegrapher with the Union PacificRailroad. The railroad moved theEmbree family through a succession ofwestern states, but when her husbanddied in 1891, Laura Fee Embree returnedto her parental home in Berea withEdwin and three of his older siblings. Asyoung Edwin grew up, he attended BereaAcademy and came under the powerfulinfluence of his maternal grandfather.

John Fee was clearly instrumental inframing his grandson’s perspective andforming his values. H is grandfather,Embree said, was “the great inspiration

of my life. The ideas for which he stoodbecame axioms for me.” Embree spokewith pride about Fee, even naming hisonly son for him—John Fee Embree.More than three decades after Fee’sdeath, Embree dedicated his first book tohim (and to Julius Rosenwald, ‘great-hearted friend of the Negro’). In his mostsignificant publication, Brown America:The Story of a New Race, Embree devoteda full 20 pages to an account of his

grandfather’s life.Having completed his

studies at Berea Academyand taken some college-levelcourses, young Embreeenrolled at Yale, graduatingin 1906 with a philosophydegree. After a year as ajournalist in New York, heworked for 10 years at Yalein alumni affairs. Then in1917 he joined the staff ofthe Rockefeller Foundationin New York, serving first assecretary, then as director ofthe Division of Studies,finally as one of three vice-presidents. And when JuliusRosenwald decided toorganize more systematicallyhis own philanthropy, hetapped Embree to lead thenew organization. It wasthrough the work of theRosenwald Fund thatEmbree best exhibited theunswerving belief in racialjustice learned from hisgrandfather.

By the time Embree took over theRosenwald Fund, its main school-buildingprogram was being phased down; JuliusRosenwald himself died four years later.Thus, it fell to Embree to envision freshpossibilities for Rosenwald largesse, andto move Fund efforts into new, promisingdirections. In this process both his imagination and his boldness came intoplay. One of his most creative, successfulinitiatives was an effort to guaranteeblack citizens participation in federaldecision-making. Under this New Dealarrangement, African Americans filledspecial federal positions, with the Fund

One hears these days about a ‘rainbow coalition,’ an alignment of people committed to social unity and ethnic

diversity. Long before that term became current,however, Edwin Embree had the concept, and eventhe language. In a slim volume published in 1942,his first words were:

T he United States of America is arainbow: a blending of many colors and creeds and cultures; apromise that diverse peoples maylive together happily and successfully w ith personal libertyand national solidarity.

As an outgrowth of his firmly rooted religiousconvictions, John G. Fee believed—deeply, passionately—in that promise. Edwin Embree, hischaracter shaped from an early age by his grandfather’s example, embraced it no less fervently. Few of their contemporaries labored sotirelessly, and with such great effect, to move thatpromise toward fulfillment.

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covering their salaries. These individualscame to be known as FranklinRoosevelt’s informal ‘Black Cabinet.’

Embree’s wide-ranging activities puthim in touch, directly or indirectly, withvarious people connected to Berea.Carter G. Woodson, a 1900 graduatewho founded black studies and BlackHistory Week (now Month), attendedBerea College while Embree wasenrolled in the Academy. Though theirage difference may have prevented anyacquaintance, they came to know eachother when Embree was at theRockefeller Foundation; and during theearly 1930s, the Rosenwald Fund largelysupported Woodson’s Association for theStudy of Negro Life and History.

One of the African American graduates of the class of 1901, alongwith Embree’s sister Hallie, was WallaceA. Battle. Battle met with Embree at theRockefeller office on numerous occasions, and Edwin and his brother, (along-term Berea trustee) William DeanEmbree, maintained a lively interest inthe industrial school that Battle led inOkoluna, Mississippi.

Another Berea graduate and trustee,James Bond, saw both of his sons receiveRosenwald fellowships and go on to distinguished careers. The elder son, J. Max Bond, earned a doctorate in sociology, then served in a number ofuniversity posts, including that of president of the University of Liberia.The other son, Horace Mann Bond, wasa child prodigy who could read at age 3,entered college at age 14, and graduatedfirst in his class at Pennsylvania’s prestigious Lincoln University.

The younger Bond established himself as a scholar in the history andsociology of education. At Embree’s urging, he turned to administration,becoming dean of Dillard University,president of Georgia’s Fort Valley StateCollege, and finally president of LincolnUniversity, his own alma mater. As ascholar, Bond played a key role for theNAACP in the Brown v. Board decision,interpreting the 13th, 14th, and 15thamendments to significantly influencethe U.S. Supreme Court. Embree considered Bond, even at age 27,

‘superior in every way,’ and cited him asan example of “what any Negro maybecome if he has a stimulating homeenvironment and a little more than half achance in the world.”

Embree’s activities on behalf of persons of color were not limited toRosenwald Fund projects. For five yearsin the 1940s he chaired the ChicagoMayor’s Commission on Race Relations,a model for similar bodies in other cities.During that same period, when theentire faculty of the Chicago YMCACollege resigned to protest a trusteedecision to limit the number of minoritystudents, Embree joined faculty leadersto create non-discriminatory RooseveltCollege, becoming the first chairman ofits board. He also served on the boardsof three other colleges, as well as on theNational Council of the United NegroCollege Fund. Co-founder of theAmerican Council on Race Relations, hehelped organize the National Committeeon Segregation in the nation’s capital in1948. In the last full year of his life, afterthe Rosenwald Fund dissolved, Embreeserved as president of the LiberianFoundation, a philanthropy devoted toassisting Africa’s oldest republic in healthand education.

What personal attributes did EdwinEmbree share with his grandfather JohnFee? Both were implacably hostile toracial discrimination in all its forms andfought racism throughout their adultyears. Both men regarded education asthe means to economic advancement andpublic respect, especially for AfricanAmericans. Unconventional in their ownviews—the grandfather more than thegrandson—they were impatient withthose who allowed unconsidered opinionsand regional mores to obstruct the societal changes they championed. Bothhad a keen eye for hypocrisy, especiallyin those who professed Christian beliefsyet, in regard to blacks, refused to followthe clear teachings on brotherly lovefound in the Gospels. In matters involvingrace, both manifested a stubbornnessrooted in conviction, and neither shrankfrom controversy. Indeed, they wel-comed a good argument, and Embree on occasion even seemed to enjoy shocking

The list of Rosenwald fellowsreads like a list of Who’s Whoamong Black Americans of theTwentieth Century.

Contralto Marian Anderson usedher Rosenwald to spend a yearsinging in Germany. Her performancesreceived such high acclaim that,when she returned to the U.S. in 1931,her career blossomed; she became avocal legend.

A fellowship funded the firstoverseas experience for Ralph J.Bunche—a research trip to WestAfrica. At the peak of his career, thisUnder-Secretary-General of the UnitedNations won the Nobel Peace Prize.

In 1931 with the nation deep inthe Depression, a penniless CharlesR. Drew verged on dropping out of medical school. A Rosenwald fellowship allowed him to completehis degree, graduating second in aclass of 137. He later discoveredblood plasma and created the firstAmerican Red Cross blood bank.

Ralph Ellison struggled to makeends meet as he wrote a first novel. A1945 Rosenwald allowed him to concentrate on Invisible Man. In1965, 200 literary authorities voted it the most distinguished novel published in the last two decades.

The 1940 fellowship enabledpainter Jacob Lawrence to establishhis New York studio where the 23-year-old completed 60 canvasesdepicting the migration of southernblacks to the North, a series thatsoon had the Museum of Modern Artand the Phillips Memorial Gallerycompeting to buy the entire set. Bythe 1980s, Current BiographyYearbook described him as ‘long recognized as the most importantblack painter in America.’

William Grant Still played piccolo in Paul Whiteman’s jazz orchestra and worked many longhours. Rosenwald funding in 1939allowed him to devote two years full-time to composition; he went onto become one of America’s pre-eminent composers.

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Living the Fee Legacy150 Years of Labor, Learning, and Service

his audience, as a means of provokingfresh thinking.

Yet significant differences exist.Separated in age by almost three-quartersof a century, Embree was far better educated, more sophisticated than hisgrandfather, and he played on a muchlarger stage. As his correspondence indicates, he was at ease with persons ofpower and influence—congressionalleaders, eminent scholars, men of wealth,U.S. presidents, Supreme Courtjustices, and officials of foreign governments. Fee’s circle ofacquaintances was much morenarrowly circumscribed.

In their public advocacy,their emphases varied substantially. For Fee, the caseagainst racist beliefs and behavior rested on his understanding of the fundamentalsof the Christian faith. In addressing white audiences,Embree was more likely toemphasize fair treatment ofblacks as a matter of ‘enlightenedself-interest.’ Racial discrimination limited the well-being of the entire nation,he insisted. The United Statescould not be healthy “with one-tenth of the people ill-nourished,sick, harboring germs of disease whichrecognize no color line.” Full prosperity,he said, could not be achieved “with onegreat group so ill-trained that it cannotwork skillfully, so poor that it cannotbuy goods.” There could be no “enlight-ened democracy with one great groupliving in ignorance.” As blacks hadgained more freedom and greater opportunity, their own lives hadimproved, and the whole nation hadbecome richer and stronger. Only asremaining obstacles were removed, heproclaimed, would minority citizens beable to make their full contribution tothe progress of all Americans.

Unlike Fee, Embree traveled widely—throughout the United States,most of Europe, Asia, Central America,Australia, and New Zealand—an astounding 45 countries in all. He spentthree months studying education in

Indonesia, co-authoring a book on whathe had observed. Yet another book introduced his fellow countrymen to thehistorical cultures of Native Americans.In his travels and writing he manifestedan interest in cultural anthropology, centering on the question of how different peoples might live togetherhappily and productively in an increasingly interconnected world.

That question lay at the heart of allhis efforts to remove the barriersbetween citizens of color and theAmerican mainstream. Even so, he worried that success in that regard mightgo too far, resulting in the total disappearance of a distinctive black culture. He feared that, mainstreamed,blacks would “succumb to the great standardizing influences of industrialismand the Rotary Club,” and that Americacould “ill afford to have such expressivegifts lost in drab and strident mediocrity.”Embree had profound appreciation forcultural diversity. In this, as in much else,he was far ahead of his time.

In May 1948, one month before theJulius Rosenwald Fund was to close itsdoors forever, Edwin Embree received aletter, posted in Lexington, Kentucky. It

came from a guidance counselor at PaulLaurence Dunbar H igh School, Sadie M.Yancey. Ms. Yancey had just won aRosenwald fellowship, one of the last tobe granted. After thanking Embree, shereminded him of an incident involvinghis grandfather that he had described inBrown America.

Toward the end of the Civil War,when John G. Fee was at Camp Nelson,he entered the faculty dining barracks

with a young black womanrecently appointed as a student/teacher. When they sat down ata table, several other diners—allwhite—moved away; a chaplainfrom Maine stormed from thebuilding; and the waitressrefused to serve the youngwoman. As the tense sceneunfolded, Fee was given a filledplate. Immediately he passed itto his companion and insisted,vigorously, on another plate forhimself. That woman, Yanceywrote, was her grandmother,Eliza Mitchell Jackson.

Often she had heard hergrandmother tell that story andother stories demonstrating Fee’s“humanitarianism and greatcourage.” Her grandmother andgrandfather, Yancey reported,

became “two of the most outstandingcontributors to the progress of their racein Lexington.” She told Embree this connection now, Yancey concluded,because she considered it “rather singularthat your grandfather was instrumentalin the continuance of my grandmother’seducation, and you, though unwittingly,have been instrumental in the continuanceof mine.”

In a gracious note, Embree respondedthat the story remained vivid in his ownfamily. Even as a small boy growing upin Fee’s home, Embree recalled, he hadrecognized he was “in the presence ofgreatness.” With his grandparent andYancey’s in mind, Embree wrote, it was“especially fitting that the grandchildrenof these two pioneers should find themselves in association.”

During his work with the Rockefeller Foundation, Embree traveledseveral times to Japan. First row on left, Mrs. Edwin (Kate) Embree;on right, Mrs. Conklin. Second row, l to r, Edwin Rogers Embree, sonJohn Fee Embree (then 17), Professor of Biology Edward G. Conklinof Princeton. Other individuals not identified.

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BEREA COLLEGE

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150 Years of Labor, Learning, and Service Homecoming 2005

Four alumni received Homecoming awardscelebrating their work. Research chemistGeorge R. Lester, ’54, received the 2005Distinguished Alumnus Award. GraduatesJeanette Humphrey Byrd, ’89, and PaulWhite, ’89, each received the OutstandingYoung Alumni Awards, and Susan CurtisVaughn, ’80, received the Rodney C. BusseyAward of Special Merit.

The College celebrated “150 Years ofLearning, Labor, and Service,” providing students, faculty, and alumni with sesquicentennial activities that included mural painting facilitated by Alfredo Escobar,department- or club-sponsored breakfasts,teas, dinners, and social hours, musical performances, and many other pursuits.

Friday evening the Black Student Unionheld its Homecoming Pageant, crowning twofreshmen, John A. Holbert and ShekinaHuffman, as BSU king and queen. Saturdaymorning brought a parade of wagons, carriages, vintage autos, and homecomingcontestants rolling down Chestnut Street. AtUnion Church the Black Music Ensemble(BME) fall concert celebrated its history andwelcomed the Hairston Sisters as guest performers. The six sisters include foundingBME members Willene Hairston Moore, ’70,and Sue Hairston Jones, ’72, as well asNancy Hairston Abasiekong, ’74, AnnHairston H ill, ’74, Cynthia Hairston H ill,’79, and Vivian Hairston Blade, ’85.

During halftime of the men’s varsitybasketball game against Milligan College, thehomecoming queen and king were crowned.Queen De-An Watkins, a junior psychologymajor, also played in the women’s homecominggame for the Lady Mountaineers and isactively involved in Black Music Ensemble.Homecoming King Valton Jackson, a sophomore business marketing major, is amember of the College dance team.

Alumni homecoming dances—one featuring music of the 70s, 80s and 90s—were held in the Alumni Building and in theupper Seabury Gym.

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Research chemist George R. Lester, ’54,received the Distinguished AlumnusAward during the 2005 Homecoming.Lester pioneered development of the catalytic converter used in exhaust emissions control and for extensions ofthat technology for environmental, airpurification, and energy-conservationapplications. His catalysts for automobilesare designed to destroy noxious exhaustpollutants and improve fuel-lean engines.He also helped to create a lightweightcatalytic converter used in airlines toremove ozone, among other inventions.Lester holds 46 U.S. patents. After retiring in 1996, he has continued towork as a consultant on catalysts in environmental and energy conservationapplications, and to teach at the Centerfor Catalysis and Surface Science atNorthwestern University.

Language arts specialist forCummings Elementary School inHouston, Jeanette Humphrey Byrd, ’89,received an Outstanding Young AlumniAward. She has been a kindergarten andelementary school teacher in NorthCarolina, New Jersey, and London,England. Byrd has won numerous recognition, including four Teacher of

the Year awards. She received an M.A. in education with an emphasis onintercultural education from theUniversity of London, England.

Paul White, ’89, associate professorof psychology and ethnic studies at theUniversity of Utah, received anOutstanding Young Alumni Award. H isnumerous published articles on race anddiversity in higher education make him asought-after lecturer and speaker ondiversity, prejudice, and stereotyping. He is part of a statewide task forceexploring ways to reduce prejudice anddiscrimination in Utah. White earnedadvanced degrees in experimental socialpsychology from NortheasternUniversity.

Susan Curtis Vaughn, ’80, receivedthe Rodney C. Bussey Award of SpecialMerit for her 24 years of service to theCollege in the offices of admissions,institutional research and planning, thepresident’s office, and dean of faculty’soffice. Currently, she is senior administrative assistant in the office ofthe dean and associate dean of the faculty, and provides administrativesupport to several important Collegecommittees.

George R. Lester Jeanette Humphrey Byrd

Paul White Susan Curtis Vaughn

Alumni Award Recipients

Names of alumni in class photos are available online at the alumni page—www.berea.edu

20052000

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Alumni Connections150 Years of Labor, Learning, and Service

Alumni Connections

With more than 17,000 membersaround the world, the BereaCollege Alumni Associationrepresents a diverse yet connectedextended community. We

encourage all our alums to developstrong ties with your friends and toBerea by engaging in our many programs, services, and activities.

Berea is Coming to You! Berea College Alumni Chapters areall over the country—one is probablymeeting near you! Chapter meetingsfor 2006 run through May, so don’tmiss out! For more information,contact the Office of AlumniRelations at 1.866.804.0591, or e-mail [email protected].

Alumni Executive CouncilOfficers

President: Dr. J. Mark Estepp, ’77President-Elect: Iverson Louis Warinner, ’66

Past President: Dr. Steele Mattingly, ’50Larry D. Shinn

Mae Suramek, ’95William A. Laramee

Alumni TrusteesVance Edward Blade, ’82

Dr. Robert N. Compton, ’60Tyler Smyth Thompson, ’83Janice Hunley Crase, Cx’60

Members-At-LargeKristin Conley Clark, ’92

Pansy Waycaster Blackburn, ’58Rachel Berry Henkle, ’64

Virginia Hubbard Underwood, ’73Rob Stafford, ’89

Dr. Charlotte F. Beason, ’70Marisa FitzGerald, ’99

Eunice Hall, ’78Betty Maskewitz, ’39

Celeste Patton Armstrong, ’90Larry Woods, ’75

James Cecil Owens, ’66Jennifer Jones Allen, ’01

MARK YOURCALENDARSfor these specialopportunities to

come back to campus in 2006!

Check the next issue of theBerea College Magazine for

more details, or log on toour website at www.berea.edu/alumni

for the most up-to-date information.

Navy V-12 Reunion: June 2-4Summer Reunion: June 9-11Foundation Reunion: October 6-7Homecoming: New Date November 10-12

A Call for New Chapter Coordinators . . . Have you always wanted to get involved with the Alumni Association? We needYOU to help plan future alumni get-togethers in your area.

If you are interested in serving as a Chapter Coordinator, please email JenniferMills at [email protected]; or call toll-free, 1.866.804.0591. Chaptercoordinators are needed in the following areas:

Washington, DC Big Sandy, KY Pulaski/Somerset, KY Whitley County, KYBaltimore, MD

Raleigh, NC Greater Cumberland County, TNKnoxville, TN Nashville, TN

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Winter/Spring 2006 Alumni Chapter Dates and Coordinators

East Central Florida Chapter – February 26, 2006Chapter Coordinator: Vanessa Lane, ‘87Email: [email protected] Springs, FL

Boone, North Carolina Chapter – March 10, 2006Chapter Coordinators: Dr. J. Mark and Patricia

Campbell Estepp, ‘77Email: [email protected] State University campus

Arizona Chapter – March 11, 2006Chapter Coordinator: Terry L. Mull, ‘68Tel: 520.294.3863Sun Lakes, AZ

Western Kentucky Chapter – March 11, 2006Chapter Coordinators: George Ballard, ‘67, and

Raymond, ‘51, and Annabelle Phipps Beverly, ‘52Email: [email protected], KY

Colorado Chapter – March 18, 2006Chapter Coordinator: Ursula Boehm Dickinson, ‘52Tel: 303.499.6128Westminster, CO

South Carolina Chapter – March 18, 2006Chapter Coordinator: Walter Jacobs, ‘52Email: [email protected]

Central Virginia Chapter – March 25, 2006Chapter Coordinator: Judy Ann Coates Fray, ‘67Strasburg, VA

Greater Kanawha Valley, West Virginia Chapter –April 30, 2006Chapter Coordinator: Brandy Sloan Brabham, ‘00Email: [email protected], WV

Columbus, Ohio Chapter – May 6, 2006Chapter Coordinators: David and Jennie Tallent Nickel, ‘65Email: [email protected] Arlington, OH

For more details on chapter meetings in your area, please visitwww.berea.edu/alumni/chapters.

Join the Great Commitments Relay

The Great Commitments Relay, from Marchthrough May, runs along 1855 miles of Appalachiaand the South. In a walk, run, bike, bus, andwheelchair goodwill tour, alumni and friends willrelay a copy of the Great Commitments through 6states and 50 communities.

The following Alumni meetings are being held in conjunction with the Great Commitments Relay route.For more information, please contact Mae Suramek toll-free at 1.866.804.0591.

Bluegrass Chapter – March 31, 2006Kick-Off Relay in Lexington, KY

Greater Cincinnati Chapter – April 3, 2006

Louisville, Kentucky Chapter – April 6, 2006

Nashville, Tennessee Chapter – April 9, 2006

Birmingham, Alabama Chapter – April 14, 2006

Atlanta, Georgia Chapter – April 21, 2006

Asheville, North Carolina Chapter – April 27, 2006

Knoxville, Tennessee Chapter – April 30, 1006

Williamsburg, Kentucky – May 3, 2006

Big Sandy, Kentucky Chapter – May 8, 2006Pikeville, KY

Hazard, Kentucky Chapter – May 20, 2006

Madison County, Kentucky Chapter – May 12, 2006Finish Line Celebration

Register on Berea Alumni Online Community Directory atwww.bereaonlinecommunity.com/authenticate.htm

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Summer Reunion150 Years of Labor, Learning, and Service

Date:___________ Name (as you want it to appear on your name tag):_________________________________________ Class Year:________

Spouse/Guest:_____________________________________________________________________ Class Year:________

Address:__________________________________________________City:___________________________State:_______Zip:___________

Home Phone:__________________________________________ Email:_______________________________________________________

Number of Tickets:

Summer Reunion 2006 June 9–11, 2006150 Year of Learning, Labor, and Service

Welcome Back Special Reunion Classes of 1941, 1946, 1951, 1956, 1961, 1966, 1971, 1976, Academy, Knapp Hall, and Foundation.

Renewing of Wedding Vows, 6/9Friday, 4:30 p.m. A time for alumni to renew wedding vowswith spouse in Danforth Chapel.

______ Check if attending (no charge)

Outdoor Social on the Quad, 6/9Friday, 6:00 p.m. Enjoy gathering with classmates on thecampus quad for dinner, fun, and music!

______ Adult ticket $10 each

50th Reunion Breakfast, 6/10Saturday, 8:00 a.m. This special breakfast is hosted by Presidentand Nancy Shinn in their home for the 50th reunion class(1956).

______ Number of Guests attending (no charge)

Sweetheart Breakfast, 6/10Saturday, 8:00 a.m. For couples who met at Berea College. Atime of story sharing with other Berea College couples overbreakfast.


Alumni Class Luncheon, 6/10Saturday, Noon. Enjoy a nice lunch with classmates at BereaCollege Dining Services.


Alumni Awards Banquet, 6/10Saturday, 6:00 p.m. Elegant dinner for reunion classes andfriends. Meet this year’s award recipients:

Distinguished Alumnus Awards:Dr. Harry D. Stambaugh, ’50 Dr. H .H . Cheng, ’56Alumni Loyalty Award:William Edward White, ’65


_____ I’m coming but do not need any tickets!

For a pre-printed name tag and registration packet, early reservations must be made by May 26, 2006. Registrationpackets will not be mailed, but will be available for pick-up atthe Alumni Building beginning June 9, 2006. Tickets can alsobe purchased at the registration desk during Summer Reunion.Tickets purchased after May 26th are non-refundable.

Registration forms must be postmarked by May 26th and sentto: Berea College Alumni Relations, CPO 2203, Berea, KY40404, or FAX to 859.985.3178, or call 1.866.804.0591. For acomplete Summer Reunion schedule check back with us on ourwebsite: www.berea.edu/alumni, or give us a call at 1.866.804.0591.

PAY BY CREDIT CARDCharge my Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express, orDiners Club card.

Contribution to Berea Fund: $__________________

Ticket Costs $__________________

TOTAL CHARGE AMOUNT: $__________________

Card:_______________________ Expiration Date:__________

Card Number: ________________________________________

_____________________________________________________Printed Name of Card Holder

_____________________________________________________Signature of Card holder

PAY BY CHECKPayable to Berea College.

Contribution to Berea Fund: $__________________

Ticket Costs $__________________

TOTAL CHECK AMOUNT: $__________________

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Charlotte Beason, ’70

1939Betty F. Maskewitz led a Hadassah group to

Washington DC for the 91st National Convention.

1940Mr. J. Knox Singleton facilitated a program titled

Successful Aging in Virginia at the Northern VirginiaCommunity College.

1941

1944Alice Fox Smith has retired after 33 years of

teaching high school accounting. She currently lives inCrossville, TN.

1946

1951

Ted Smith retired from 30 years of teaching, coaching, and administration from the DeKalb CountySchool System. He continues to conduct educationalresearch and resides in Tiger, GA with his wife, MaeWatts Smith, ’49.

1954Nancy Biddix McKinnis and Bill McKinnis recently

celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. They reside inPolk City, FL.

1955Billy Edd Wheeler, co-wrote a novel with Ewel

Cornett, founder of the Actors Theatre of Louisville.Kudzu Covers Manhattan/Chinatown, Knockoffs, &Contraband was published in May 2005.

1956

1958Curtis Cox and Loretta Cunningham Cox, ’59,

both retired from teaching at Crowley’s Ridge College inParagould, AK. They were presented with a Senate Citationfor “service beyond the call of duty” by Arkansas SenatorTim Wooldridge. The couple recently moved back toLebanon, VA.

1961

Dr. Chella David is the 2005 recipient of the Lee C.Howley Sr. Prize for Arthritis Research, recognizing hisoutstanding contribution to research that represents amajor advance in the understanding, treatment, or prevention of arthritis and rheumatic diseases.

1965Garland Rice has successfully completed

requirements for a North Carolina General Contractorslicense for commercial and residential structures.

1966

1970Charlotte Beason was recently named Executive

Director of the Kentucky Board of Nursing after a careerwith the Department of Veteran Affairs during which shedirected a number of national programs that had directimpact on health care policy and education of the nation’shealth care professionals. She resides in Louisville, KYand serves on the Alumni Executive Council.

1971

Muse Watson is a feature character on the television series Prison Break which airs on Mondays at 9pm on FOX television.

1972Linda Knox has been promoted to the new position

of breast feeding coordinator of Region II HealthDepartment of South Carolina.

1976

Margaret Allie Beckett is an early childhood specialist in Wayne County, WV.

1978Clyde Viers is the district seed consultant for

Stewart Seeds Inc., a division of Monsanto Co. He residesin southwest Indiana with his wife and daughter.

1980James Fisher recently gave a lecture entitled “Can

Atheists Face Death with Tranquility? The Case of DavidHume” at Berea College. Dr. Fisher is an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Tennessee atMartin. He is author, co-author, and editor of seven textbooks and founder and general editor of the InternetEncyclopedia of Philosophy.

1981Guy Adams was named consultant to Gonser Gerber

Tinker Stuhr. He has more than 20 years of experience ininstitutional advancement. Most recently, he served as vicepresident of Development for Lindsey Wilson College inColumbia, KY. He resides in Warrenville, IL with his wife,Beth Adams, ’84, and children.

1982Bryn Gabriel has been appointed middle school

principal at Mount de Sales Academy in Macon, GA. Heresides in Macon with his wife, Zulema, and children,Taryn and Kylynn.

David Hincks has retired from the U.S. Air Forceand has relocated to Walton, KY.

1985Larry Pelfrey, ’85, signed his recent book, A Life at

Gethsemane, at the Berea College Bookstore. His self-help book recounts a brave personal battle with severedepression and the healing that comes through prayer.

About Berea People

65thSUMMERREUNION

Chairpersons June 9-11, 2006James T. and Eileen McDaniel Prewitt

60thSUMMERREUNION

Chairpersons June 9-11, 2006Helen Davis Hieronymus and Mary Kay FielderKauffman

55thSUMMERREUNION

Chairperson June 9-11, 2006Pete McNeill

50thSUMMERREUNION

Chairpersons June 9-11, 2006Barney Davis

45thSUMMERREUNION

Chairpersons June 9-11, 2006Marlene Ellis Payne and Truman Fields

40thSUMMERREUNION

Chairpersons June 9-11, 2006James “Bones” and Rachel Upchurch Owens andIverson Warinner

35thSUMMERREUNION

Chairperson June 9-11, 2006James O. Hicks

30thSUMMERREUNION

Chairperson June 9-11, 2006Mary Ann Daniel Singleton

Dr. Chella David, ’61

Foundation ReunionAll Classes and Years!

October 6-7, 2006Berea College CampusMark your calendars to join us for aweekend of reminiscing and reconnectingright where it all started! There will besomething for everybody, including toursof campus, an evening dinner, music anddancing, and shuttles to area attractions.A registration form can be found atwww.berea.edu/alumni. For more information please contact Eddie andHosea Pullins by electronic mail [email protected] or by mail at 117Lakeshore Drive, Richmond, KY 40475. Billy Edd Wheeler, ’55

Winter06-BCM 2/21/06 4:31 PM

45

About Berea People150 Years of Labor, Learning, and Service

The title was inspired by Christ’s night praying in the garden of Gethsemane and is available from www.amazon.com.

1986Birth: A son, Aidan Finn, to Gene Zaparanick-

Brown and Michelle on August 27, 2005.Kyle Walker is a supervisor at Sara Lee Bakery

Group in Elizabethtown, KY. Kathy Miller Walker, hiswife, teaches first grade at Cox’s Creek Elementary inBardstown, KY.

1988Andrea Higgins Bolton and her husband Don

Bolton, reside in Lexington, KY with their two children.

1989Kevin McQueen recently released two books by

McClanahan Publishing, More Offbeat Kentuckians andMurder in Old Kentucky: True Crime Stories from theBluegrass.

Birth: A daughter, Erin Renee, to Jeffrey Phelpsand Beth Phelps on July 7, 2005.

1991Michelle Blevins Lemmon is the library media

specialist at Model Lab School at Eastern KentuckyUniversity. She lives in Estill County, Kentucky with herhusband and son.

1992Juliana Renault Faria is a marketing manager for

Kraft Foods. She resides in Hoboken, NJ with her hus-band, Peter Gallagher.

Kevin Wasson is beginning his 12th year working forLockmasters Inc. He resides in Lancaster, KY with hiswife, Laura, and their new son, Benjamin.

1993Birth: A daughter, Lauren Nevada Barber, to Tom

Barber and Linda Johnson Barber, ‘95. The Barbersalso have a 3-year-old daughter Mary Beth.

Amanda Burns Jenkins currently resides in Berlin,Germany with her husband and 7-month-old son.

1995Michelle Eirich Bullens is the reference librarian

at Clear Creek Baptist Bible College. She resides inPineville, KY with her husband, Jeffrey. Russell Couch iscompleting a Ph.D. in counseling psychology at theUniversity of Kentucky, where he also teaches courses infine arts, arts and science.

Erica Hensley Foster is a research analyst at DukeUniversity Medical Center. She resides in Durham, NC withher husband, Scott.

1996Gene “Chip” Lilly is currently serving in Iraq.Amy Beth Nash recently returned to Berea to

facilitate a music therapy workshop for Berea Collegemusic majors. She resides in Asheville, NC.

Leonard Poage is teaching English and languagearts at Gallia Academy High School in Gallipolis, WV.

Claribel Hinton-Sawyer is pursuing a master’sdegree in community health nursing and public health atJohn Hopkins University. She resides in Beltsville, MDwith her husband and their two children.

1997Married: Abby Cameron to Len Heidebrecht on

September 24, 2005 in Ontario, Canada.Joseph Eric Hardin is the new principal at

Fredricktown Elementary School, where he also teachesseventh and eighth grades. He lives in Lebanon, KYwithhis wife Kim, and their two children, Hank and Anna Kate.Teresa Miller completed her MBA and is a program financial analyst at Nova Engineering inCincinnati, OH.

1998Nicole Masica Montgomery was invited by

University of Kentucky’s faculty to join the Beta Phi MuInternational Library and Information Studies Honorary.

She was also co-awardee of the Melody Trosper Award for2005.

Sarah Stricklen Schilens recently traveled to themountains of the Dominican Republic with Viaje deCompañeros of the Diocese of Orlando to build a three-room schoolhouse for elementary students.

Birth: A daughter, Callie Nicole, to LewissaBrandenburg Shewmaker and Bentley Shewmakeron March 11, 2005.

1999Birth: A daughter, Anna Carolyn, on May 5, 2005 to

David Dooley and Latonialson Dooley. David is per-sonnel manager for the Kentucky Department for PublicProtection and Latonia is a systems analyst for the FinanceCabinet.

2000Michelle Smith Tipton and Joseph Tipton both

received their master’s degrees from the University ofKentucky. Michelle is an early education trainer, andJoseph is a Latin teacher. They reside in Raleigh, NC.

2001Married: Lesley Clifford Isom to Patrick Isom on

May 28, 2005. Lesley is a special education teacher atFairview Middle School in Ashland, KY.

2002Christiana Cataldo graduated from Wake Forest

University Divinity School in May, 2005 and is currently aclinical pastoral education resident at the University ofTennessee Medical Center in Knoxville.

Birth: A son, Bryson Joseph, to Paula and JoeRiffe, ’03, on January 16, 2005.

2003Birth: A daughter, Isabella Rose, to Summer Pace

Musanje and Keith Musanje on May 25, 2005.

2004Adrienne Steinfeldt is working as a bureau

reporter for the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer inOwensboro, KY.

2005Ashley Miller was chosen 2005 Top Model of the

USA. She represented the United States in the 13th annualTop Model of the World Finals in Humen, China whereshewas awarded the Photogenic Award.

Jana Vandegrift was featured as a 2005 graduatefellowship recipient in the summer 2005 issue of the PhiKappa Phi Forum.

Keven McQueen, ’89Muse Watson, Cx ’71

The Berea College AlumniAssociation enjoys hearing fromBereans from all over the U.S. andthe world. The “About BereaPeople” section of Berea CollegeMagazine reports verifiable newsthat has been sent to the Associationby the alumni/ae. BCM reports thenews you wish to share with youralumni friends and associates.“About Berea People” reportschanges in careers, addresses, weddings, retirements, births, andother items of importance to ouralumni/ae. Please include yourclass year and name used whileattending Berea. Notes may beedited for style and length. Formore information on how tosubmit class notes and photographscall 1.866.804.0591, [email protected], or logon to www.berea.edu/alumni.

Keep in Touch

Tom and Linda Johnson Barber, ’93,with their daughters

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Passages

1920sEmily Portwood Duteil, Cx’28, of Cincinnati,

OH died on October 1, 2005. She is survived by herchildren.

1930sIda Williams Knight, ’36, of Surgoinsville, TN

died on May 14, 2005. She is survived by her nephew,John K. Williams.

Arthur Hale, ’37, of Grand Junction, CO died onMay 8, 2005. He had a long and successful career withthe U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and served in the ArmyCorp as an aviation physiologist.

Louise Gunnell Mowery, ’38, died on September10, 2005. She is survived by her husband Calvin.

Mary Waits Smith, ’39, died on September 6,2005. She is survived by her children.

1940sThada Briscoe Davidson, ’40, of Lexington, KY

died on October 2, 2005. She was a 45-year member ofthe Order of the Eastern Star. She is survived by her husband, Albert Allen Davidson.

John S. Hamilton Jr., Cx’40, of Monroe, LAdied on September 17, 2005. He is survived by hisbrother Tom Hamilton.

Fred W. Davis, ’41, died on September 6, 2005.He is survived by his wife of 68 years, Jessie Collins Davis.

Elizabeth Robertson Stamper, ’42, ofGreensboro, NC died on July 7, 2005.

Carl C. Ward ’42, of Elizabethton, TN died onSeptember 21, 2005. He is survived by two sons and adaughter.

John D. Alexander, ’43, died on August 21,2005. He was a U.S. Navy veteran of World War II. He issurvived by his wife Virginia Gragg Alexander.

Melvin A. Cassady, ’45, died on September 12,2005. He spent 40 years in the missionary service of thePresbyterian Church. He is survived by his wife, Mary Anna Shupe Cassady.

Ronald V. Hill, ’48, of Tampa, FL died onAugust 3, 2005. He was a World War II veteran andretired Colonel of the Air Force.

Robert W. Gammon, ’49, of Forest City, NC diedon September 16, 2005. He was a veteran of the U.S.Marine Corps, and a retired principal from Forest CityElementary School. He is survived by his wife, PaulineDeal Gammon.

1950sBurley Creech, ’52, of Frankfort, KY passed

away on November 23, 2005. After a 20-year career withTexas Instruments, he retired in 1980 to his KentuckyRiver farm in Franklin County. He was a published poet,World War II veteran, builder, and stonemason. He andhis wife, Mary, celebrated 63 years of marriage.

Rena Mullins Ferguson, ’52, of Roanoke, VAdied on January 25, 2004. She is survived by her husband.

Barbara Fain Shoener, Cx’52, of Corona, CAdied on October 5, 2005.

Sallie Gurley Sludder, Cx ’56, of Asheville, NCdied on August 31, 2005. She is survived by her husband,Conley “Pete” Hamlin.

William “Ron” Pucket, ’57, died on August 25,2005. He was an American literature teacher for 46years. He is survived by Edith Wood Smith ’58.

Joy Dedman Gasta, ’59, of Nashville, TN diedOctober 2, 2005. She is survived by her daughters.

1960sElizabeth Smith Ackley, ’61, of Fairfield, OH

died on July 22, 2005. She taught for 45 years on thehigh school and college level. She was most recentlyaffiliated with Wilmington College as director of theWriting Center and as an adjunct faculty member. She issurvived by her husband of 33 years, Lan Ackley.

Doris Goins Ketner, ’62, of Clinton, TN died onSeptember 20, 2005. She taught for 36 years in theAnderson County School System. She is survived by herhusband, Clarence “Bud” R. Ketner.

1990sCraig A. Thompson, ’91, of Arlington, VA died

on September 3, 2005. He is survived by a sister andtwo brothers.

Faculty & StaffLillian Hall passed away. She was the wife of Jim

Hall, who retired from the College Department ofTechnology several years ago.

The “Passages” section of the BereaCollege Magazine honors Bereanswho have passed away. If you knowof a Berean who has died, please letthe Alumni Association know bycalling 1.866.804.0591, or [email protected]. Pleaseinclude the person’s class year orconnection to Berea, and the dateand place of death.

PassagesCollege Officers

M. Elizabeth Culbreth, ’64Chair of the Board

Dr. Larry D. Shinn President

Dr. Carolyn R. NewtonAcademic Vice President and Provost

Dr. Stephanie P. BrownerDean of the Faculty

Gail W. Wolford Vice President for Labor and Student Life

E. Diane Kerby, ’75 Vice President for Business and Administration

Jeffrey AmburgeyVice President for Finance

Dr. William A. Laramee Vice President for Alumni and College Relations

Judge B. Wilson II, ’78General Counsel and Secretary

College TrusteesM. Elizabeth Culbreth, Arlington VA

Chair of the BoardDr. Larry D. Shinn, Berea KY

President of the CollegeVance E. Blade, ’82, Louisville KYNancy E. Blair, Stamford CTAnn Bowling, Vero Beach FL Dr. Robert N. Compton, ’60, Oak Ridge TNMartin A. Coyle, Sonoma CAJan Hunley Crase, Cx’60, Somerset KYDr. Chella S. David, ’61, Rochester MNPhilip D. DeFeo, New Canaan CT Glenn R. Fuhrman, New York NY James P. Gray II, Lexington KY Hon. William R. Gruver, Eagles Mere PAHeather Sturt Haaga, La Canñada CADonna S. Hall, Lexington KY Marian L. Heard, Natick MA Dr. Geneva B. Johnson, Brookfield WI Rev. Canon Lucinda Rawlings Laird

Louisville KYBrenda T. Larsen, Kiawah SC Dr. Eugene Y. Lowe, Jr., Evanston IL Dr. Elissa May-Plattner, Camp Springs KY Dr. Harold L. Moses, ’58, Nashville TN James E. Nevels, West Chester PADr. Charles Ward Seabury II, Westlake

Village CADr. David E. Shelton, ’69, Wilkesboro NC Mark Stitzer, Greenwich CTDavid S. Swanson, Walpole METyler S. Thompson, ’83, Louisville KYDavid O. Welch, ’55, Ashland KYDawneda F. Williams, Wise VADrausin F. Wulsin, Cincinnati OHRobert T. Yahng, ’63, Kentfield CA

Honorary TrusteesAlberta Wood Allen, Bethesda MDDr. John Aulden Auxier, ’51, Lenoir City TNJames T. Bartlett, Cleveland OHBarry Bingham, Jr., Glenview KYJack W. Buchanan, ’46, Jensen Beach FLFrederic L. Dupree, Jr., V-12, ’45, Lexington KYKate Ireland, Tallahassee FLDr. Juanita M. Kreps, ’42, Durham NCDr. Alice R. Manicur, ’54, Frostburg MDThomas H . Oliver, Dataw Island SCKroger Pettengill, Cincinnati OHWilma Dykeman Stokely, Asheville NCR. Elton White, ’65, Sarasota FL

Winter06-BCM 2/21/06 4:31 PM

G if t P la n n in g

Clockwise from top left:Paige Cordial, ’06, David

Coffman, ’06, DanessaPollard, ’06, Leslie Oden, ’07,

and Patrick McGrady, ’07.

With thoughtful gift planning, you can maximize the personalfinancial benefits of charitable giving and make a larger gift toBerea than you might have thought possible. You can alsoreduce or eliminate capital gains taxes while converting appreciated assets into cash payments for yourself or others.

Please contact the Office of Gift Planning for further information on establishing a life-income agreement, makingbequests, or making an outright gift to Berea College.

Types of Life-Income Gifts toBerea College include:

Charitable Gift AnnuityDeferred Gift AnnuityPooled Income FundCharitable Remainder AnnuityTrust or Unitrust

Other planned gifts include:Retirement Plan AssetsIndividual Retirement AccountsBequestsLife Insurance Policies

Planned gifts may include cashor gifts of appreciated propertysuch as securities. Real estate,in certain cases, can be used tofund a trust.

With your support, thesestudents and many

others are writing their own amazing

chapters in the Berea story.

Rosette Salins, CoordinatorOffice of Gift Planning859.985.3027

Office of Gift PlanningCPO 2216Berea, KY 40404

Toll Free: 800.457.9846Fax: 859.985.3905email: [email protected]

www.berea.edu

Berea College is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization under federal guidelines. BereaCollege Federal Identification No: 61-0444650.

Please consult your attorney or financial advisorfor legal advice and counsel about financial andcharitable planning.

Winter06-BCM 2/21/06 4:31 PM

COLLEGE MAGAZINEPeriodical postage paid at Berea, KY and additionalmailing offices. Send address changes to BereaCollege Magazine, c/o Berea College AlumniAssociation, CPO Box 2203, Berea, KY 40404

Winter06-BCM 2/21/06 4:31 PM

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