Winter 2012 - Wayland Baptist University Alumni Association
Winter 2012 - Wayland Baptist University Alumni Association
Winter 2012 - Wayland Baptist University Alumni Association
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Welcome<br />
Miss <strong>Wayland</strong>
The President’s Pen<br />
“You can be proud<br />
of your <strong>Wayland</strong>.<br />
Her future is filled<br />
with possibility and<br />
opportunity.<br />
“<br />
Welcoming 2013<br />
Challenges lie ahead for WBU<br />
As hard as it is to believe, <strong>2012</strong> is<br />
just about gone. I am amazed at<br />
how quickly time seems to pass<br />
in life. As I think about where we are, both<br />
as a university and as individuals, a few<br />
words come to mind.<br />
Blessings<br />
Your university is having a great school<br />
year. With record enrollments at several<br />
of our campuses, including Plainview and<br />
San Antonio, we have been given wonderful<br />
opportunities to practice the ministry<br />
to which God has called <strong>Wayland</strong> <strong>Baptist</strong><br />
<strong>University</strong>. New opportunities to expand<br />
the scope and reach of the school’s service<br />
are always given serious consideration, and<br />
invitations to consider such expansions<br />
seem to come to us regularly. We have<br />
added to and expanded the university’s academic<br />
offerings, constructed a new men’s<br />
dorm, and remodeled our university center.<br />
There is a strong spiritual vibrancy among<br />
our students which is deeper and more<br />
pronounced than at any time in the recent<br />
past. Many of the individuals attending<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong> today are deeply and passionately<br />
committed to changing our world through<br />
the word and the power of Christ. In many<br />
ways, our job as a faith-based institution of<br />
higher learning is to give these students the<br />
tools they need to fulfill that very calling.<br />
Challenges<br />
Because of growing concerns surrounding<br />
government budget issues, student aid<br />
programs at both the state and national<br />
level are being examined with a view<br />
towards large reductions and contractions.<br />
Last year, <strong>Wayland</strong> students received $5.3<br />
million in need-based federal sponsored<br />
Pell Grant assistance. In Texas, our students<br />
received around $2 million in Tuition<br />
Equalization Grant funding from the state<br />
legislature. Both of these programs are<br />
facing serious challenges and threats. If<br />
reductions are enacted, the impact on our<br />
students will be significant—especially on<br />
first-in-family college attenders.<br />
Military tuition assistance is also in<br />
danger of being substantively reduced.<br />
Such a reduction would impact about 47%<br />
of those students who attend our external<br />
campuses. While no final decisions have<br />
been made yet regarding MTA, the news<br />
out of Washington D.C. is, at this point in<br />
time, discouraging.<br />
Because of the looming “fiscal cliff”<br />
in our nation’s capital, all kinds of revenue-generating<br />
proposals are being given<br />
consideration. One of these ideas is to limit<br />
and/or eliminate the charitable deduction<br />
provision in the nation’s IRS tax code. Institutions<br />
like <strong>Wayland</strong>, which depend heavily<br />
on the generosity of their friends and<br />
alumnae, are deeply concerned about such<br />
possibilities. The way philanthropy has<br />
been supported through the years is under<br />
grave threat of being changed forever.<br />
Gratitude<br />
In spite of the challenges we face, <strong>Wayland</strong><br />
<strong>Baptist</strong> <strong>University</strong> has been blessed.<br />
All of us who serve here have a very clear<br />
sense that the future clearly is bright for<br />
the school. You can be proud of your <strong>Wayland</strong>.<br />
Her future is filled with possibility and<br />
opportunity.<br />
Your friendship towards and support<br />
of this school is more important than ever<br />
before. While the environment in which we<br />
serve changes on a daily basis, your belief<br />
in <strong>Wayland</strong>’s ministry remains strong and<br />
sure and steady. Thanks for your prayers<br />
and your gifts. They encourage and sustain<br />
us strongly on a daily basis.<br />
We hope that 2013 will be for you and<br />
your family a blessed and happy year.<br />
Grace and peace... .<br />
What the President is Reading: Team of Rivals, Doris Kearns Goodwin; Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet,<br />
Spy, Eric Metaxas; Ike’s Bluff: President Eisenhower’s Secret Battle to Save the World, Evan Thomas
FOOTPRINTS<br />
Volume 58, No. 3<br />
Editorial Board<br />
Danny Andrews, BA’72<br />
Publisher<br />
Jonathan Petty, BA’95, MA’09<br />
Editor<br />
Richard Porter, BA’87<br />
Assistant Editor<br />
<strong>Alumni</strong> Officers<br />
Sally Dillman Eaves, BS’75<br />
President<br />
Tyke Dipprey, BSOE’96<br />
Vice President<br />
Danny Andrews, BA’72<br />
Director, <strong>Alumni</strong> Development<br />
Blake Durand, BA’10<br />
Assistant Director, <strong>Alumni</strong> Development<br />
Amber Smith, BS’07<br />
<strong>Alumni</strong> Assistant<br />
Executive Board<br />
Dr. Gary Abercrombie, BS’73<br />
Kevin Carter, BBA’93<br />
Rose Ann Chavez, BSOE’06<br />
Michael Cox, BA’98, MA’10<br />
Brenda Gonzalez, BA’73<br />
Stacie Hardage, BBA’90<br />
Mike Manchee, BS’94, MEd’97<br />
Richard Miller, BS’87<br />
Danny Murphree, BS’69<br />
Daleyn Schwartz, AAS’85<br />
Caren Smith, BA’92<br />
Courtney Williams, BSIS’02<br />
Danny Wrenn, BA’84<br />
FOOTPRINTS is published by the <strong>Association</strong><br />
of Former Students at <strong>Wayland</strong> <strong>Baptist</strong> <strong>University</strong>.<br />
No outside advertising is accepted. <strong>Wayland</strong> <strong>Baptist</strong><br />
<strong>University</strong> is affiliated with the <strong>Baptist</strong> General<br />
Convention of Texas. <strong>Wayland</strong> is accredited by the<br />
Commission on Colleges of the Southern <strong>Association</strong><br />
of Colleges and Schools to award degrees<br />
at the associate, baccalaureate and master’s levels.<br />
Contact the Commission on Colleges at 1866<br />
Southern Lane, Decatur, GA 30033-4097 or call<br />
404-679-4500 for questions about the accreditation<br />
of <strong>Wayland</strong> <strong>Baptist</strong> <strong>University</strong>. Non-profit rate<br />
postage paid at Lubbock, Texas 79404. Telephone<br />
(806) 291-3600.<br />
POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to<br />
FOOTPRINTS, <strong>Wayland</strong> <strong>Baptist</strong> <strong>University</strong>, 1900<br />
West 7th St. CMB 437, Plainview, TX 79072.<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong> <strong>Baptist</strong> <strong>University</strong> does not discriminate<br />
on the basis of race, color, religion, age, sex or<br />
national origin in administration of its policies,<br />
admission policies, scholarships and loan programs,<br />
athletic and other school administration.<br />
Features<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong> <strong>Baptist</strong> <strong>University</strong> students excel<br />
in the classroom and in life.<br />
2<br />
6<br />
10<br />
Miss <strong>Wayland</strong> 2013 has a heart for<br />
helping the homeless.<br />
Dr. John Blevins uses medicine to<br />
share the gospel.<br />
Anchorage student finds Christ in the<br />
classroom.<br />
Also Inside<br />
12 Music student earns prestigious honor<br />
14 Professor releases Piano CD<br />
15 Harkey chosen to sing with quartet<br />
22 Alum takes charge Down Under<br />
24 Pioneer sports wrap<br />
29<br />
36<br />
Andrews is decorating with memories<br />
Class Notes<br />
If you have any questions or comments about Footprints, e-mail Danny at andrewsd@wbu.edu,<br />
Jonathan at pettyj@wbu.edu, or write to us in care of the <strong>Wayland</strong> <strong>Alumni</strong> Office.
Page named Miss WBU<br />
newly crowned Miss <strong>Wayland</strong> shows her heart for missions<br />
Story by Jonathan Petty<br />
Amanda Page has a plan.<br />
Being Miss <strong>Wayland</strong> wasn’t part of it.<br />
Page moved to Plainview to live with and care<br />
for her 93-year-old grandfather, longtime Plainview businessman<br />
John Page, as well as continue her education.<br />
She has taken no fewer than 19 hours per semester<br />
since starting school and will graduate from <strong>Wayland</strong><br />
<strong>Baptist</strong> <strong>University</strong> with her bachelor’s degree in English<br />
next May, completing her degree in three years. She<br />
plans to attend graduate school, earn her master’s and<br />
doctoral degrees and find a position teaching college<br />
English by the time she is 30. All the while, continuing<br />
her humanitarian work which, to this point, has included<br />
starting a nonprofit organization to benefit the homeless<br />
in Bend, Org. – a fairly impressive resume for a 23-yearold.<br />
Throw in the fact that she writes a blog targeting<br />
college women and promoting college life, sings, plays<br />
the ukulele, and never fails to get her grandfather to Mc-<br />
Donald’s in time for breakfast with his friends, and you<br />
can see why spending time rehearsing and competing<br />
for the title of Miss <strong>Wayland</strong> was not high on her list of<br />
priorities … until someone talked her into it.<br />
“As you can tell,” Page smiled, “I like to overcommit<br />
a little bit.”<br />
The daughter of Garry and Ann Page, Amanda grew<br />
up in Plano. While familiar with Plainview and <strong>Wayland</strong><br />
the thought of pursuing her education at the West Texas<br />
school never really crossed her mind even though her<br />
father and uncle, J. Don George who pastors Calvary<br />
Church in Irving, are both WBU graduates.<br />
“I grew up coming to Plainview every year for my<br />
whole life,” Page said. “We would come the July 4 week<br />
because my grandfather’s birthday was July 5 so we<br />
would make a big family trip. I knew <strong>Wayland</strong>, I knew<br />
Plainview, but I don’t know why I just never thought<br />
about coming here.”<br />
After graduating from high school, Page attended a<br />
school in Florida. Her sister was a student there at the<br />
time, but Page didn’t feel like Florida was the place for<br />
footprints 3
her. She left school and took a few<br />
years off from education. Her time<br />
was well spent, however, as she<br />
began working with the homeless.<br />
Page and a friend volunteered two<br />
days a week to work with a ministry<br />
at the Cornerstone <strong>Baptist</strong> Church<br />
in Dallas, providing meals to the<br />
homeless.<br />
“It was set up where it wasn’t really<br />
like a soup kitchen,” Page said.<br />
“It was restaurant style and you<br />
were a server to the tables. You got<br />
to know the people and they had a<br />
fun experience.”<br />
Page said the experience made<br />
an impression on her life. Over time<br />
she and her friend developed lasting<br />
relationships with many of the<br />
4 footprints<br />
Amanda Page entertains the crowd during the talent portion of the Miss<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong> competition in November.<br />
people they served, some of whom<br />
Page remains in contact with by<br />
sending letters to the church which<br />
are delivered to the individuals.<br />
“We realized very quickly that<br />
we couldn’t really change anybody’s<br />
situation, but we could give them<br />
all we had to offer, which was our<br />
friendship,” Page said.<br />
During that time, Page said<br />
some of her friends moved to Bend,<br />
an area of the country that was<br />
hit hard by recession. Page said<br />
her friends, knowing she had been<br />
working with a nonprofit organization,<br />
contacted her and asked if<br />
she would move to Oregon to assist<br />
in setting up an organization that<br />
would benefit the homeless there.<br />
“[Bend was] really hit hard by<br />
the economy,” Page said. “Living in<br />
Dallas, I didn’t really see the hit as<br />
much. I moved to Bend and it was<br />
like, ‘Oh! This is what the news is<br />
talking about.’”<br />
Many of the middle class had<br />
lost their jobs and homes and were<br />
living on the streets or in tent cities.<br />
Page and her friends set up an<br />
organization that coordinated a network<br />
of doctors, dentists and other<br />
groups that would donate their time<br />
and services once a month to help<br />
those who were less fortunate. In<br />
time, they combined efforts with<br />
another nonprofit organization to<br />
set up a network using technology<br />
to benefit the homeless. If someone
needed something specific, they would contact others in the network and<br />
find a way to have the goods or services donated.<br />
“Using the technology like that made it to where we could meet the<br />
needs very quickly,” Page said. “It was really fun to be part of it, and it is still<br />
going on now.”<br />
But it was the need of her own family that drew her to Plainview. As her<br />
grandfather fell into declining health, Page moved to Plainview to care for<br />
him. She also wanted to continue her education so she enrolled at <strong>Wayland</strong>.<br />
Although Page had never really considered <strong>Wayland</strong> as an option, what she<br />
found was a warm and inviting environment where her professors really<br />
seemed to care about her.<br />
“I feel like a person with them,” Page said. “I feel like they want to see<br />
their students succeed.”<br />
Leading her list of caring professors is Dean of the School of Languages<br />
and Literature Dr. Cindy McClenagan.<br />
“She is doing what I want to do,” Page said. “And she is doing it in such a<br />
way that she is an inspiration to her students. She cares about your schooling,<br />
but she cares about you.”<br />
Page said there have been periods when she spent a good deal of time<br />
at the heart hospital with her grandfather. Dr. McClenagan and others were<br />
always there to make sure she had the freedom and support to care for her<br />
grandfather and still work with her to meet the classroom requirements.<br />
It was Dr. McClenagan and the School’s administrative assistant Annette<br />
Coon who persuaded Page to compete for Miss <strong>Wayland</strong>.<br />
“I told them no,” Page smiled. “I’ve never done a pageant. That is kind of<br />
not in my realm of things to do, I guess.”<br />
But McClenagan and Coon wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer.<br />
“They said that I should try something outside of my box. They thought<br />
I would really enjoy it,” Page said. “I’m really glad that they pushed me<br />
around.”<br />
Sponsored by the School of Languages and Literature, Page joined the<br />
competition, not knowing any of the other 15 girls competing.<br />
“I was a little intimidated going into a room full of girls fighting for one<br />
position,” she said. “That is not something I would put myself into, but everyone<br />
was so wonderful. I made 15 new friends.”<br />
Although rehearsing for several hours each night for a month prior to<br />
the pageant was difficult and time-consuming, Page said she really enjoyed<br />
getting to know each of the contestants and she has fully embraced what it<br />
means to be Miss <strong>Wayland</strong> and to represent the school to the community of<br />
Plainview.<br />
“I have always loved public speaking,” said Page, who as a young girl got<br />
to meet Zig Ziglar whom she admired. “When I was told I would have the<br />
opportunity to speak about <strong>Wayland</strong> and promote the school around town, I<br />
thought that would be such a fun opportunity.<br />
As her reign as Miss <strong>Wayland</strong> begins, Page is looking forward to promoting<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong> and its programs. She said <strong>Wayland</strong> has offered her so many<br />
opportunities that she probably would not have had at a larger school and<br />
she will forever be grateful.<br />
“I have so many heartstrings attached to (<strong>Wayland</strong>),” Page said. “I love<br />
this school.”<br />
“We realized very<br />
quickly that we<br />
couldn’t really<br />
change anybody’s<br />
situation, but we<br />
could give them<br />
all we had to<br />
offer, which was<br />
our friendship.<br />
“Amanda Page<br />
Miss <strong>Wayland</strong> 2013<br />
footprints 5
As Dr. Herbert Grover<br />
summed up the presentation<br />
given by the<br />
guest speaker for the School of<br />
Mathematics and Sciences’ <strong>2012</strong><br />
Homecoming Lecture, he made an<br />
observation.<br />
Grover, who is Dean of the<br />
School of Mathematics and Sciences,<br />
looked out over the lecture hall<br />
and then drew attention to a particular<br />
part of the crowd.<br />
“Look over here and in this corner<br />
is half the religion faculty — in<br />
the science building,” Grover said,<br />
6 footprints<br />
alluding to the worldviews of the two<br />
disciplines, which many believe are<br />
in conflict with one another.<br />
Those worldviews are not in conflict<br />
for that day’s speaker, <strong>Wayland</strong><br />
graduate Dr. John Blevins who is a<br />
medical doctor in Midland. Blevins’<br />
topic was how his time as a student<br />
at the university helped prepare him<br />
to do medical mission work. He was<br />
quick to point out his impression<br />
of the compatibility of science and<br />
religion as he spent an hour talking<br />
to students in the Moody Science<br />
Building.<br />
Blevins explained that from his<br />
perspective as a medical doctor<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong> graduate Dr. John Blevins was<br />
on campus as the guest speaker for the<br />
School of Math and Sciences during Homecoming<br />
<strong>2012</strong>. Here, Blevins, right, talks with<br />
Dr. Glyndle Feagin after his presentation.<br />
Blevins uses medicine to share the gospel<br />
Story by Richard Porter<br />
who also is a Christian, science and<br />
religion are not in conflict because<br />
“they answer two very different<br />
questions.” Science answers the<br />
question of how the world was<br />
created while religion addresses the<br />
question of why.<br />
In fact, he continued, his spirituality<br />
is critical to much of his<br />
day-to-day work as a physician. He<br />
pointed out that particularly in West<br />
Texas doctors treat people who have<br />
a background of faith but regardless<br />
of background patients often will<br />
be dealing with faith issues — particularly<br />
those who have critical or<br />
terminal illnesses. It is a challenge
to help those patients without a<br />
spiritual perspective, he said.<br />
For him, that was a critical part<br />
of what he got from his time as a<br />
student at <strong>Wayland</strong>.<br />
“I feel like the faculty all helps<br />
you integrate that,” he said, adding<br />
that he should know since his interests<br />
required that he take classes<br />
under several different disciplines.<br />
Blevins explained that he had always<br />
felt that God was calling him to<br />
be a doctor, but also to do mission<br />
work. At the same time, he enjoyed<br />
music and was active in the university’s<br />
music program. He realized as<br />
a teenager that he could combine<br />
his callings through medical mission<br />
work and that realization played<br />
a key role in the choices he made<br />
about his future and the focus he<br />
was going to need to reach the goal<br />
of becoming a medical missionary.<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong>’s role in that process<br />
was not only to allow him to get a<br />
quality education, but one with a<br />
strong emphasis on spirituality and<br />
“ethically-based research.” The faculty<br />
not only taught him the appropriate<br />
material in the classroom but<br />
helped him understand the importance<br />
of organizing his time, maximizing<br />
his energy and continuing<br />
to learn on his own, outside of the<br />
classroom. In short, <strong>Wayland</strong> taught<br />
him the discipline he would need to<br />
make it through the challenges of<br />
medical school.<br />
“<strong>Wayland</strong> taught me how to<br />
teach myself,” he said, adding that<br />
the faculty prided itself in “teaching<br />
you how to become a lifelong<br />
learner.”<br />
Blevins said he went to med<br />
Patients line up outside<br />
a medical clinic in rural<br />
Uganda hoping to see<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong> graduate and<br />
physician Dr. John<br />
Blevins. Blevins was part<br />
of a medical mission<br />
team that spent several<br />
days in the country.<br />
school (UT Galveston) with students<br />
from prestigious universities from<br />
across the country and was surprised<br />
at how well he fit in, academically.<br />
In fact, he continued, he spent<br />
much of his first two years simply<br />
reviewing what he already had<br />
learned as an undergrad.<br />
“I graduated number five in my<br />
class because <strong>Wayland</strong> prepared<br />
me,” he said.<br />
While that academic background<br />
was important, Blevins told the<br />
students that the mental toughness<br />
and discipline he got from his <strong>Wayland</strong><br />
professors was just as important,<br />
if not more so. After all, he said,<br />
while he had first felt called to be a<br />
medical missionary as a teenager,<br />
it took him almost two decades to<br />
realize that goal.<br />
Blevins got his first opportunity<br />
footprints 7
<strong>Wayland</strong> grad and physician Dr. John Blevins addresses students as the<br />
guest speaker for the <strong>2012</strong> Homecoming School of Mathematics and<br />
Sciences guest lecture. Blevins, who practices medicine in Midland, recently<br />
went on a medical mission trip to Uganda.<br />
8 footprints<br />
“If you get a<br />
chance to travel,<br />
travel, especially<br />
to a third-world<br />
country. God still<br />
is asking that<br />
question, ‘Who<br />
can I send?’<br />
“Dr. John Blevins<br />
BS’99, MA’03<br />
to follow his calling this past summer when he<br />
spent several days on a medical trip to Uganda.<br />
A group from Fort Portal, Uganda had visited his<br />
church in Midland and had asked for help. Blevins<br />
explained that he had not been able to attend<br />
the actual service but when his wife, Lisa, called<br />
him and told him he needed to come meet with<br />
the visitors he got to the church as quickly as he<br />
could.<br />
The doctor ended up as part of a team that<br />
did medical work in some very remote areas of<br />
the country — areas where there was only a small,<br />
ill-equipped clinic and a single nurse practitioner<br />
treating all of the people of the region.<br />
Blevins explained that the trip was very<br />
eye-opening on a lot of levels. To begin with,<br />
because of the poverty in the rural area where<br />
he was working, the medical professionals were<br />
thrilled with anything they could get their hands<br />
on. His team had put together 29 pallets of donated<br />
medical supplies — material that was expendable<br />
in the United States — that were seen as a<br />
true blessing to the people of Uganda.<br />
He also was amazed at the level of medical<br />
need in the region and how God was able to use<br />
his commitment to serve as a way to meet that<br />
need.<br />
“I saw some very, very, very sick kids,” he said<br />
(see related story on page 9).<br />
In concluding his talk to the students, Blevins<br />
encouraged them to take their time at <strong>Wayland</strong><br />
seriously and be grateful for the opportunity to<br />
get an education at a faith-based university. He<br />
encouraged them to dream big and take advantage<br />
of any opportunity they had to travel and<br />
expand their worldview.<br />
“I’m going to encourage you guys, if you get<br />
an opportunity to go on a trip like this, go,” he<br />
said. “If you get a chance to travel, travel, especially<br />
to a third-world country. God still is asking<br />
that question, ‘Who can I send? Who can I send?’”<br />
Finally, he told them to stay focused and<br />
strong because sometimes it was a long road that<br />
had to be travelled to get from vision to reality.<br />
“It took me until I was 35 years old to get to<br />
do what I was called to do when I was 17,” he<br />
said.
Blevins recalls<br />
experience in Uganda<br />
(Dr. John Blevins, BS’99 and MA’03 from the Lubbock<br />
campus, was the speaker for the School of Math<br />
and Science lecture during Homecoming in October.<br />
He is a hospitalist in Midland and recently did medical<br />
mission work in Uganda. Here are his recollections.)<br />
On July 7, a small team embarked on an<br />
incredible journey that took us to the Pearl of<br />
Africa, also known as Uganda.<br />
The word that an American Christian physician had<br />
arrived spread like wildfire. I was able to see about 85<br />
people in an 8-hour time span on the first day as well<br />
as caring for the president and several members of his<br />
entourage.<br />
The second day, I was able to treat over 220 people<br />
in about an 11-hour marathon. While I was hardly even<br />
able to stop to catch my breath, I felt the Lord giving me<br />
the energy, knowledge, and drive to continue to push<br />
through the day. By around 6 p.m. of the second day,<br />
there were about 40 people who had been waiting since<br />
about 2 p.m. to be seen as we had been forced to stop<br />
taking new patients due to the sheer number.<br />
I looked at my incredibly resilient team members<br />
and said I was going to see each one of these patients<br />
because they had been waiting to be seen by a doctor.<br />
They thought I was joking, but I just prayed for strength<br />
and guidance. I then went out into the waiting room<br />
and announced that I would see each one of them and<br />
address one or two problems for each one. I went down<br />
the line and was able to see each one of them. The Lord<br />
gave me the strength and patience to do it.<br />
I was able to treat several extremely ill children as<br />
well as one who was virtually on death’s doorstep. I<br />
prayed that God would heal her, giving me the knowledge<br />
to do so. You know what? He delivered!<br />
Several hours later that child was breathing much<br />
easier and her fever had greatly reduced. It was His<br />
doing, not mine, that saved that little child. You see, it<br />
was in the middle of the day and I heard that still small<br />
voice telling me to step out into the waiting area. I did<br />
not know why, but I did.<br />
When I went out there,<br />
I was able to hear the child<br />
struggling to breathe and<br />
was able to bring her back<br />
into the examination room<br />
and treat her there on the<br />
spot. Otherwise, that child<br />
might have died waiting to<br />
be seen as her number was<br />
more than 50 away at that<br />
time.<br />
We then left Fort Portal<br />
for the bush area and<br />
Dr. John Blevins<br />
Rwebsingo. There, I was<br />
introduced to a nurse practitioner<br />
who ran the only<br />
clinic for miles around. I told her what I would be doing<br />
and while she was reluctant at first, she did eventually<br />
warm up to us and off to the races we went.<br />
In just nine hours we were able to treat, document<br />
and supply medications to over 100 people. The following<br />
day we began where we left off; unfortunately, we<br />
were shut down by the government medical group as<br />
we were competing with their vaccination push. Despite<br />
efforts by the local nurse practitioner to combine the<br />
two clinics, our clinic was disbanded and the people<br />
were dispersed. By then we had seen probably 30-40<br />
people in just over two hours.<br />
I was able to say a quick prayer over each patient<br />
while examining them and documenting their issues<br />
and was able to share much more about Jesus’ love<br />
with several other patients. In every encounter the Lord<br />
was praised for our work. When people would thank me,<br />
I would immediately tell them, “Thank Jesus for bringing<br />
us here. It is for His glory we do this, not ours.”<br />
This was truly a life-changing trip for me as well as<br />
those who traveled with me. The Lord was truly glorified<br />
and His kingdom was advanced.<br />
footprints 9
Anchorage student finds<br />
Christ in the classroom<br />
Story by Richard Porter<br />
It never occurred to Julie Arthur<br />
that enrolling at a Christian<br />
university could ultimately lead<br />
to her spiritual salvation — and in<br />
the process give her a focus that<br />
could change her life completely.<br />
Funny how things work. That<br />
is exactly what happened and the<br />
new convert took advantage of her<br />
recent graduation address to make<br />
that point to her fellow students.<br />
Arthur graduated this past<br />
spring from <strong>Wayland</strong> <strong>Baptist</strong> <strong>University</strong>-Anchorage<br />
and was afforded the<br />
opportunity to present a graduation<br />
address during the ceremony.<br />
Her “civilian job” is a base engine<br />
manager for Pratt and Whitney and<br />
she is a member of the Alaska Air<br />
National Guard. In beginning her<br />
remarks to her fellow students she<br />
made it clear what had been her<br />
initial motivation for enrolling at<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong>.<br />
“When I first began attending<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong> <strong>Baptist</strong>,” she said, “it was<br />
because I felt it was what I had to do<br />
and not what I wanted to do.”<br />
Arthur went on to explain that<br />
she didn’t have very good self-esteem,<br />
had not been a particularly<br />
good student in high school and<br />
college didn’t seem like a realistic<br />
goal to her.<br />
She was faced with a conflict,<br />
however. Her mother had always<br />
10 footprints<br />
“ On my 19th birthday<br />
my mother died from<br />
breast cancer. I was<br />
angry at God and<br />
hurt. I took her death<br />
personally.<br />
dreamed of her children going to<br />
college.<br />
Even that, though, was complicated,<br />
Arthur told her classmates.<br />
“On my 19th birthday my mother<br />
died from breast cancer. I was<br />
angry at God and hurt. I took her<br />
death personally,” she said, adding<br />
that even in her 30s she still was<br />
“full of doubt about myself, academics<br />
and God.”<br />
Despite those doubts, Arthur<br />
explained that out of love for her<br />
mother and respect for her mother’s<br />
dream, she went ahead and<br />
enrolled at the Anchorage campus<br />
of <strong>Wayland</strong>.<br />
“I was scared and nervous,” she<br />
said. “My first class was English<br />
1301 with Dr. (James) Waller. He<br />
wasn’t so scary until he said he<br />
gave his wife a C. Then I thought to<br />
myself, ‘Oh no! If he gave his wife<br />
a C, what kind of a grade could I<br />
possibly get?’ ”<br />
As it turned out, Arthur wound<br />
up with a B in her first college class<br />
and that success, along with the<br />
support from her husband, Don,<br />
and her sister, gave her the confidence<br />
to keep taking classes.<br />
Something still was missing,<br />
though.<br />
“Every grade I got, every test I<br />
passed, I longed to call my mom,”<br />
Arthur told her classmates.<br />
She acknowledged that she still<br />
did not see any benefit to going to a<br />
faith-based university other than as<br />
an opportunity to fulfill her mother’s<br />
dream for her. She still was a long<br />
way from a personal relationship<br />
with the God toward whom she felt<br />
so much anger.<br />
While she admitted in a subsequent<br />
interview that she had attended<br />
church as a child, she pointed<br />
out that it had little impact on her<br />
and that her husband had no spiritual<br />
background at all, even though<br />
he had decided to take a course in<br />
Old Testament with her.<br />
Arthur told her classmates, “Don<br />
and I were not religious people. We<br />
went (to the Bible class) with the<br />
mindset that it was just another<br />
class and wondered who would get<br />
the higher grade.”<br />
Funny how things work.<br />
Arthur went on in her address<br />
“
to explain that it was in that class,<br />
without her and Don even realizing<br />
it, that a change began to occur in<br />
her life.<br />
“Before I knew it,” she said, “we<br />
were talking about God. We didn’t<br />
even realize we were having Bible<br />
studies at our dinner table. We<br />
would go to bed talking about the<br />
verses we read and how they made<br />
us feel until we fell asleep.”<br />
Then came the kicker.<br />
“That anger that I felt towards<br />
God was disappearing without me<br />
even paying attention to it. I started<br />
hearing God’s whisper of encouragement<br />
and love,” she said.<br />
It was in a New Testament<br />
course, taught by Dr. Mark Goodman,<br />
that Arthur became a Christian.<br />
“I felt the entire time that Dr.<br />
Goodman was only talking to me,”<br />
she told her fellow students. “He<br />
was pulling me out of the darkness<br />
I had been surrounded by for so<br />
long.”<br />
In the subsequent interview, Arthur<br />
elaborated. She explained that<br />
as she studied the New Testament<br />
and learned about the life of Christ<br />
and the struggles He went through<br />
– ultimately on her behalf – she<br />
began to gain a new perspective on<br />
her personal problems. At the same<br />
time, through her studies of Christ’s<br />
temptations, she determined that<br />
He already had conquered Satan<br />
and had done so, again, on her<br />
behalf.<br />
“I felt like the whole time He<br />
was saying, ‘I’ve been through this.<br />
Come on. You can do it,’ ” she said.<br />
On the podium at her graduation<br />
ceremony, Arthur laid it out for her<br />
classmates.<br />
“It went from God’s whisper to<br />
God shaking me by my shoulders<br />
and saying, ‘I never left you. I’m<br />
here.’<br />
“The testament classes took this<br />
self-doubter to a person of faith.<br />
I not only believed in Christ, but<br />
for the first time in my adult life I<br />
Julie Arthur enjoys a<br />
post-graduation celebration<br />
with her husband, Don, and<br />
stepdaughter, Erika, after<br />
delivering her graduation<br />
address to fellow students<br />
during a recent ceremony at<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong> <strong>Baptist</strong><br />
<strong>University</strong>-Anchorage.<br />
Courtesy Photo/Joselynn Finch Photography, Anchorage, Alaska<br />
believed in me. I learned to organize<br />
my life and school and, dare I say it,<br />
I loved college. Because of <strong>Wayland</strong><br />
<strong>Baptist</strong> I am now a chaplain’s<br />
assistant for the Alaska Air National<br />
Guard one weekend a month. If you<br />
had told me before <strong>Wayland</strong> I would<br />
be a chaplain’s assistant, I would’ve<br />
laughed in your face. <strong>Wayland</strong> not<br />
only gave me the ability to get a<br />
degree, but to be a better wife,<br />
stepmother and steward of Christ,”<br />
she said.<br />
Arthur’s graduation address was<br />
several months ago, but her excitement<br />
still is fresh. She talked about<br />
it with enthusiasm as she thought<br />
about the way she feels God has<br />
blessed her in her new relationship<br />
with Him.<br />
“I think I realized that if I hadn’t<br />
turned my back on (God) I would<br />
have gotten through my mother’s<br />
death more easily. I was too busy<br />
blaming Him.”<br />
She agreed — funny how things<br />
work.<br />
footprints 11
Operatically Gifted<br />
WBU music student recognized for outstanding talent<br />
Story by Jonathan Petty<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong> <strong>Baptist</strong> <strong>University</strong><br />
sophomore Christion<br />
Draper has known<br />
from an early age what he wanted<br />
to do with his life – and it wasn’t the<br />
typical dream of adolescent youth.<br />
Draper wants to sing opera.<br />
“I know I want to gig,” Draper<br />
said. “I want to go to some opera<br />
12 footprints<br />
house and just tear it up on stage<br />
and leave it all out there. I want to<br />
sing in Sydney (Australia). I want<br />
to sing all over the world and be in<br />
every single opera I can be in for the<br />
baritone role.”<br />
It is Draper’s insatiable love of<br />
music that led to his being selected<br />
to represent the WBU School of Music<br />
in the prestigious Texas <strong>Association</strong><br />
of Music Schools scholarship<br />
competition at which Draper was<br />
named the grand-prize recipient.<br />
A charismatic soul, Draper<br />
quickly made a name for himself on<br />
the <strong>Wayland</strong> campus, being named<br />
Freshman of the Year by faculty and<br />
staff. Hungry for knowledge, his professors<br />
took note of his willingness<br />
to learn and his passion for music.<br />
“He is so excited to be a music<br />
scholar,” said Dr. Ann Stutes, Dean
of the School of Music at <strong>Wayland</strong>. “He loves performing, but he<br />
also loves learning. When we have students in our classes who enjoy<br />
learning as much as he does, it makes our jobs incredibly worthwhile.”<br />
Not only is Draper a model student, but his professors also<br />
realized that he is phenomenally talented. As a result, Draper was<br />
nominated as the school’s representative in a scholarship competition<br />
hosted by the Texas <strong>Association</strong> of Music Schools.<br />
Stutes explained that a generous donation from the Clara<br />
Freshour-Nelson family funds the scholarship competition. The gift<br />
was given to the state organization due to the family’s desire to give<br />
music students from across the entire state a chance to earn scholarship<br />
money. As a result, TAMS set up three competitions, for two-year<br />
schools, four-year private institutions and four-year public institutions.<br />
“Every school that is a member of TAMS is allowed to nominate<br />
one true second-semester freshman for the scholarship competition,”<br />
Stutes said.<br />
The contestants compete and scholarships are awarded based on<br />
musical performance and need. Stutes, who judges the two-year and<br />
four-year public schools competitions, said the judging committees<br />
generally award multiple scholarships in each category depending on<br />
how many students they feel are worthy. The judging committee also<br />
names a single grand-prize recipient for each of the three categories.<br />
Draper was nominated by the School of Music and submitted an<br />
essay and a 10-minute recording of his music. As a result, he was<br />
named the grand-prize recipient for the four-year private schools<br />
competition, competing against music students from schools such as<br />
Baylor, Southern Methodist and Texas Christian <strong>University</strong>.<br />
“Christion is probably one of the finest vocal students we have<br />
ever had at <strong>Wayland</strong>,” Stutes said.<br />
As a grand-prize winner, Draper will be invited to perform at the<br />
TAMS meeting in January.<br />
“I get flown to Au stin to sing for all the deans in Texas. I get to<br />
put on a mini concert. It’s very prestigious. They are flying in my<br />
family, my accompanist, my voice teacher and my fiancée by then …<br />
probably,” Draper said with a smile.<br />
His girlfriend/fiancée, Andrea Hamric, has also been recognized<br />
as a scholarship winner at the TAMS competition.<br />
Draper said he plans to complete his degree in opera at <strong>Wayland</strong><br />
then continue his education, earning a doctorate in vocal performance.<br />
“We know he is going to go on from this institution and – what we<br />
like to say around here – make the world a better place through his<br />
music,” Stutes said.<br />
“ We know he is going<br />
to go on from this<br />
institution and –<br />
what we like to say<br />
around here – make<br />
the world a better<br />
place through his<br />
music.<br />
Dr. Ann Stutes<br />
Dean, School of Music<br />
“<br />
footprints 13
Fountain releases<br />
‘American Ivory’ CD<br />
Story by Jonathan Petty<br />
It was a couple of years in the making, but on<br />
Thursday, Sept. 27, Dr. Richard Fountain released<br />
his first professional CD featuring himself, a Steinway<br />
Model D grand Piano and original compositions by<br />
his friend and colleague, Dr. Gary Belshaw.<br />
Both professors in the School<br />
of Music at <strong>Wayland</strong>, Fountain and<br />
Belshaw began discussing the<br />
idea of collaborating on an album<br />
a couple of years ago when a<br />
school-sponsored visit to Germany<br />
and the Czech Republic sparked a<br />
creative fire in Belshaw.<br />
While sitting in the practice<br />
room for the Prague Philharmonic<br />
Dr. Richard<br />
Fountain<br />
Orchestra, Belshaw, Professor of<br />
Music Composition, said he should<br />
write something for piano, “some-<br />
thing virtuosic.”<br />
“[Fountain] said I should write a sonata,” Belshaw<br />
said.<br />
Belshaw wrote the first movement of a sonata that<br />
he hoped to finish through the course of the summer.<br />
However, he was unable to complete the piece so he<br />
called it a rhapsody and gave it to Fountain, Assistant<br />
Professor of Collaborative Piano, to premiere on the<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong> performance stage. Following the performance,<br />
the two began discussions on recording several of<br />
Belshaw’s compositions.<br />
When the School of Music purchased a new Steinway<br />
concert grand piano as the initial phase of its move<br />
to an All-Steinway School designation, Fountain thought<br />
the time would be right to actively pursue a professional<br />
recording. After raising more than $7,000 through the<br />
help of kickstarter.com and “the generosity of friends,<br />
family and total strangers,” Fountain and Belshaw began<br />
the technical process of producing the recording.<br />
The compilation features the works of renowned<br />
composers Edward MacDowell, Samuel Barber and Aaron<br />
Copland and six original pieces from Belshaw.<br />
Both professors and other members of the School<br />
of Music say having the recording really validates what<br />
the school is trying to accomplish. And it hasn’t gone<br />
unnoticed by students.<br />
“I’m really excited about it and I think it is great for<br />
the School of Music,” said <strong>Wayland</strong> senior music major<br />
Aaron Prentice. “It makes me that much more eager<br />
to study under someone when I can actually listen to<br />
a professional recording. It’s much more evident how<br />
good a musician he is.”<br />
Belshaw said Fountain was definitely the right person<br />
to perform the selected pieces of music.<br />
“Having my music played by someone of his caliber<br />
is a rewarding experience,” Belshaw said. “I think he is<br />
the most gifted pianist I have ever shaken hands with.”<br />
For information on purchasing a CD for $15, contact<br />
the School of Music at 806-291-1076.
Harkey selected to sing bass<br />
with Signature Sound<br />
Southern Gospel music<br />
fans were buzzing recently<br />
with word that a new bass<br />
singer was joining Ernie Haase and<br />
Signature Sound.<br />
On blogs and online forums, it<br />
seemed to be unanimous that while<br />
music lovers were sad to see Ian<br />
Owens move on to other opportunities,<br />
they are excited that <strong>Wayland</strong><br />
graduate Paul Harkey will be the<br />
newest member of EHSS – an opinion<br />
shared by Owens himself.<br />
“Owens posted a heartfelt congratulatory<br />
welcome on Harkey’s<br />
Facebook page, and that kind of<br />
support can only make the transition<br />
even more positive for the whole<br />
EHSS family,” one gospel music<br />
observer said.<br />
“And since Harkey calls the legendary<br />
bass singer George Younce<br />
one of his early influences – especially<br />
Younce’s rhythm, his phrasing,<br />
and his heart – Harkey can’t help<br />
but feel right at home with Ernie<br />
Haase, son-in-law of the late great<br />
Cathedrals bass singer.”<br />
According to Haase, Paul Harkey<br />
“has a voice that fills up the room”<br />
and will bring “another level of<br />
excitement” to any live listening<br />
audience.<br />
On the road since 2007, Harkey<br />
has enjoyed singing and touring<br />
with respected groups like Crystal<br />
River (during a two-month stint in<br />
Branson, Mo.), Anchormen and The<br />
LeFevre Quartet. With a bachelor’s<br />
degree in Church Music from <strong>Wayland</strong><br />
in December 2003, the Plain-<br />
view-born Harkey is well-prepared<br />
for a new adventure with Signature<br />
Sound with whom he debuted Oct.<br />
18 in Elizabethtown, N.C.<br />
“I was called into ministry,” Harkey<br />
said about his positive time serving<br />
as a church minister of music<br />
– including time in Petersburg where<br />
he lived as a youngster as well as<br />
Abernathy before graduating from<br />
Plainview High in 1998. But he was<br />
encouraged to learn that singing on<br />
the road is “what I’m supposed to<br />
do,” and “lets me fulfill what God’s<br />
will is for me.”<br />
Harkey, who said his deep voice<br />
came about in his late teens (“I was<br />
a very late bloomer”), was introduced<br />
to gospel music during a<br />
Homecoming Texas Style concert<br />
produced by Bill Gaither in Fort<br />
Worth “when I was 14 or 15.” Now<br />
living his dream, Harkey got to sing<br />
with the Gaither Vocal Band during a<br />
concert in Myrtle Beach, S.C. but has<br />
not yet appeared on a Gaither video.<br />
Harkey complimented the music<br />
staff at <strong>Wayland</strong> while he was a<br />
student. “All of them had a profound<br />
impact on who I am today as a singer<br />
and as a Christian. Robert Black<br />
(who retired last May as Director of<br />
Church Music) had a tremendous<br />
influence on me,” he said.<br />
Harkey, a self-described “regular<br />
guy” who loves hunting and fishing,<br />
has the support of his whole family<br />
as he joins Ernie Haase and Signature<br />
Sound. He and his wife Jennifer,<br />
and their 9-year-old daughter<br />
Cameron are also looking forward<br />
to meeting a new member of their<br />
family – a boy due in late April,<br />
2013. The singer and his family live<br />
in Randleman, near Greensboro, N.C.<br />
Harkey said his new group performs<br />
115-125 days a year in the<br />
United States and outside.<br />
footprints 15
Stephen Padilla, his wife, Judi, and daughter, Elizabeth are joined by WBU President Dr. Paul Armes, right, and Alph Chi faculty sponsor Dr. Perry<br />
Collins, after a pinning ceremony signifying Padilla’s induction into the national honor society.<br />
Because they let me<br />
Alpha Chi inductee admits reason for choosing <strong>Wayland</strong><br />
Story by Richard Porter<br />
Stephen Padilla has an<br />
interesting reason for<br />
attending <strong>Wayland</strong> <strong>Baptist</strong><br />
<strong>University</strong>’s San Antonio campus.<br />
He signed up for classes there because<br />
they let him.<br />
While that may seem like a<br />
strange reason, Padilla elaborated<br />
while visiting <strong>Wayland</strong>’s home campus<br />
in Plainview for his induction<br />
into the university’s chapter of the<br />
16 footprints<br />
Alpha Chi Honor Society. He made<br />
the almost 900-mile round trip<br />
journey with his wife, Judi, and their<br />
daughter, Elizabeth.<br />
Padilla, who currently is getting<br />
a master’s degree in Christian<br />
ministry after receiving a bachelor’s<br />
degree from <strong>Wayland</strong> in scientific<br />
analysis technology in 2010, spent<br />
25 years in the United States Air<br />
Force. He enrolled at the university’s<br />
San Antonio campus after completing<br />
an associate’s degree through<br />
the Community College of the Air<br />
Force. However, when he began trying<br />
to enroll in a four-year program<br />
he discovered that many four-year<br />
colleges would not accept the work<br />
he had done for his associate’s<br />
degree.<br />
Enter <strong>Wayland</strong> <strong>Baptist</strong> <strong>University</strong>,<br />
which has a long history of working<br />
with the military to provide opportunities<br />
for higher education to servicemen<br />
and women, and allowed<br />
him to transfer all of his credits.
“<strong>Wayland</strong> is one of the military-friendly<br />
schools that partners with the Air Force in a<br />
program called the Associates-to-Bachelors<br />
Cooperative. I started with <strong>Wayland</strong> for my<br />
four-year degree because they accepted my<br />
two-year degree,” he said matter-of-factly.<br />
Padilla spent much of his time in the Air<br />
Force working in nuclear treaty monitoring and<br />
research and development. He and Judi both<br />
are on their third marriage and he acknowledged<br />
that much of his adult life was anything<br />
but conducive to strong family values.<br />
“Judi and I are both divorced twice. This is<br />
our third marriage each. We’ve seen firsthand<br />
what it does to adults and children,” he said as<br />
he explained the choice of an advanced degree<br />
in Christian ministry despite all of his training<br />
and prior education in science and technology.<br />
“I want to educate people to help prevent<br />
divorce and help heal people who have done it<br />
anyway,” he said.<br />
One of his primary focuses will be on the<br />
impact of divorce on children and he plans<br />
to pursue that work by volunteering through<br />
Family Life Ministries and as a writer and<br />
author. In his own experience, he explained,<br />
he heard a lot about how the Bible condemns<br />
divorce and how those who get divorced and<br />
remarry are committing adultery.<br />
“They don’t give practical and day-to-day<br />
solutions,” he said.<br />
Padilla explained that when the Air Force<br />
transferred him to San Antonio, he and Judi<br />
decided that church would be a good place<br />
for their family. However, he acknowledged, he<br />
had not always felt that way.<br />
“As a child I had been raised Roman Catholic.<br />
As an adult, I realized that my childhood<br />
faith was not in Jesus but in the rituals of the<br />
Church,” he said. “I drifted away from anything<br />
even nominally Christian.<br />
“I spent the first 20 years of my adult life<br />
as an alcoholic and the Lord saved me from<br />
that,” he said.<br />
Padilla became a Christian in 2004 and he<br />
and his family attend Northwest Hills Christian<br />
Church. His trip to Plainview for the induction<br />
ceremony into Alpha Chi was a whirlwind affair<br />
that both he and Judi felt was important for<br />
their family.<br />
From a personal standpoint, Padilla said<br />
there were two reasons he wanted to make<br />
the trip. The primary reason was because Judi<br />
said they were coming.<br />
“When I told Judi I was inducted into this<br />
she asked me, ‘When’s the ceremony and<br />
where?’ Then she said, ‘I guess we’re going<br />
to Plainview in two weeks,’ ” he said, adding<br />
that when the time came, the couple pulled<br />
Elizabeth out of school for the day and headed<br />
north.<br />
From his perspective, Padilla continued,<br />
a secondary reason was that the induction<br />
into Alpha Chi provided affirmation for what<br />
he wanted to do with his talents through his<br />
education.<br />
“I’m already in Mensa but Mensa is a recognition<br />
of the gifts God gave me. Alpha Chi is<br />
recognition that I’m using those gifts the right<br />
way,” he said.<br />
The family perspective? Judi responded<br />
to that. She pointed out that because both<br />
she and Stephen are full-time students, their<br />
young daughter “sees a lot of homework”<br />
being tackled at their home.<br />
“It’s important that Libby sees (Stephen’s)<br />
recognition and what she can accomplish, as<br />
well. It’s important that she sees that the hard<br />
work pays off,” Judi said.<br />
As for her take on the trip?<br />
“I’m very proud of him and it doesn’t matter<br />
how far we have to travel,” she said.<br />
Padilla said that he decided to stay at<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong> for his master’s degree because he<br />
had such a good experience with the school as<br />
an undergrad.<br />
“I had such a good experience with<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong> philosophically, educationally and<br />
culturally that I decided to stick with <strong>Wayland</strong>,”<br />
he said.<br />
Once he completes his master’s degree he<br />
plans to become a high school science teacher<br />
through the Troops-to-Teachers program while<br />
pursuing his passion for ministry.<br />
footprints 17
Oldest alum celebrates 104<br />
(This story about 104-year-old <strong>Wayland</strong> graduate,<br />
AA’28, Cecile Weathers, appeared in the Sherman<br />
Herald Democrat in September. She is believed to be<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong>’s oldest living graduate.)<br />
Story by Lynette George<br />
Sherman Herald Democrat<br />
If you ask Cecile Weathers of Sherman to tell about<br />
her life, you may need to pull up a comfortable<br />
chair and clear your schedule … for a week or so.<br />
After all, the lively, little lady has been around awhile —<br />
104 years, to be exact. That calculates out to be 37,960<br />
days and 911,040 hours — a lot of living that few people<br />
get the opportunity to experience.<br />
Cecile celebrated her birthday at Traditions in Sherman<br />
where she resides. She was surrounded by some<br />
of her favorite people and things — her daughter and<br />
son-in-law, Nelda and Don Allen of Sherman, friends<br />
from both outside and inside the facility, a chocolate<br />
cake and pink decorations.<br />
Dressed to the nines in a sparkly, dark mauve/pink<br />
suit, dangly, crystal-like earrings and a bright smile, the<br />
honoree greeted guests, visited with friends and blew<br />
out the candles on her birthday cake quicker than most<br />
youngsters.<br />
Her daughter and staff members laughed and shook<br />
their heads in amazement as Weathers happily dug<br />
into her birthday cake, followed by two helpings of ice<br />
cream, in between welcoming lots of birthday hugs and<br />
well-wishes. Even Sherman Mayor Bill Magers dropped<br />
by to present Weathers with a special birthday proclamation<br />
honoring her achievement.<br />
Like many people in 1908, Cecile was born into a rural<br />
family. The eldest of seven children, she grew up on<br />
a cotton farm in Haskell. It was a life of hard work, the<br />
days stretching from well before daylight until long after<br />
dark. Somewhat of a tomboy, Cecile says she preferred<br />
plowing the fields and handling the teams of mules<br />
and horses to actually picking cotton. She also handled<br />
other daily chores, helping in the house and caring for<br />
her younger siblings. She developed a lifelong passion<br />
for baking by using the family’s wood stove.<br />
After high school, the determined young woman be-<br />
18 footprints<br />
Cecile Weathers (right) is pictured with Carolyn Andrews, <strong>Wayland</strong>’s<br />
Administrative Assistant to the President and wife of alumni director<br />
Danny Andrews. Danny and Carolyn visited Cecile and presented her<br />
wtih a <strong>Wayland</strong> history book.<br />
gan attending <strong>Wayland</strong> <strong>Baptist</strong> College (now <strong>University</strong>)<br />
in Plainview. There she met her husband, Elmer Merle<br />
Weathers, who was also a student at the school. They<br />
married when Cecile was 20, and the two finished their<br />
college education, even walking down the aisle together<br />
to receive their college diplomas in 1928.<br />
From there Merle Weathers began his lifelong work<br />
as a <strong>Baptist</strong> minister and Cecile remained at his side,<br />
aiding the ministry, raising their daughter, and keeping<br />
the family’s home. The family lived in small communities<br />
throughout Texas as Merle Weathers ministered to<br />
various churches.<br />
After Merle’s death, Cecile remained in her home<br />
in Canyon until 2004 when she moved to Sherman to<br />
be near her daughter and son-in-law. She remained in<br />
an independent senior living apartment until several<br />
injuries forced her to switch into an assisted living site.<br />
Though no longer able to walk, Cecile is still doing fairly<br />
well physically, considering her age, says her daughter.<br />
She takes only one prescription medication, wears<br />
glasses so she can see, is somewhat hard of hearing<br />
but not deaf, and still has enough of her own teeth that<br />
eating isn’t a problem. She enjoys visiting with family<br />
and friends and is still crazy about chocolate.
An Evening for the Arts<br />
YÜ|wtç? TÑÜ|Ä H? ECDF<br />
In order to provide scholarships for students, the School of Fine Arts and the Friends of Fine Arts are hosting “An<br />
Evening for the Arts.” The purpose is to support the recruitment of talented students in art, theatre and communication<br />
studies. The fundraiser event will be a semi-formal evening spotlighting artists and theatre students and offering an<br />
opportunity to purchase artwork to benefit the Friends of Fine Arts fund. The following are guidelines for those desiring<br />
to support <strong>Wayland</strong> by submitting artwork for the event:<br />
Entry is open to all artist alumni and current and former art students of <strong>Wayland</strong> <strong>Baptist</strong> <strong>University</strong><br />
Entries are open to all media: painting, drawing, photography, mixed media, textiles and digital<br />
artwork<br />
Artists will receive a donation acknowledgement form for tax purposes since all proceeds from the show will go<br />
to the Fine Arts scholarship fund.<br />
Donating artists will receive a discounted ticket to the event if they plan to attend.<br />
Entry requirements<br />
Donated art is due to the School of Fine Arts by March 29. The artwork sheet/canvas size must be 5x7<br />
inches total (with image size variable on the 5x7 sheet/canvas). No framing is required. Photos should be<br />
mounted on board. Signature and title should be placed on the back of the sheet to provide anonymity during<br />
the artwork sale. Each donated 5x7 work will be exhibited anonymously, and each work will sell for $75.<br />
Patrons will find out who the artists are after the purchase of the works!<br />
All artwork must be delivered ready to hang or install but does not have to be framed.<br />
All accepted work will become the property of the School of Fine Arts for fundraising purposes.<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong> <strong>Baptist</strong> <strong>University</strong> retains the right to reproduce artwork for publicity purposes only.<br />
Artists should submit an entry form with artwork for inventory and promotion purposes.<br />
An Evening for the Arts Entry Form<br />
Name:______________________________________________________________ WBU class year_______________<br />
Mailing Address____________________________________________________________________________________<br />
Email Address_________________________________________________________ Phone_____________________<br />
Name of Artwork___________________________________________________________________________________<br />
Media (circle one): Oil Acrylic Pastel Pencil Photography Digital Mixed Media Textiles<br />
This is ________ of _______ pieces I am donating for An Evening for the Arts.<br />
I have enclosed $15 in a check or money order payable to <strong>Wayland</strong> <strong>Baptist</strong> <strong>University</strong> for each ticket to the April 5<br />
event that I am reserving as my special discounted donor artist rate. Number of tickets needed: _______<br />
Please complete an entry form for each piece of artwork you are submitting. Questions regarding entries may be<br />
addressed to: Dr. Candace Keller, 1900 W. 7th, CMB 1249, Plainview, Texas 79072 or kellerc@wbu.edu
Members of the <strong>Wayland</strong> Student Chapter of the American Chemical Society include (from left): Dr. Gary Gray, Sarah Kelly, Hailey Budnick, Jessica<br />
Kenneson, Anna Kite, Libby Saultz, Trevor Burrow, Taylor Eaves and Dr. Robert Moore.<br />
Chem students recognized for achievements<br />
Story by Richard Porter<br />
For the second consecutive<br />
year, the <strong>Wayland</strong> Student<br />
Chapter of the American<br />
Chemical Society has been recognized<br />
for outstanding accomplishments.<br />
According to Professor of<br />
Chemistry Dr. Gary Gray, the chapter<br />
received the ACS Certificate of<br />
Achievement for its chapter activities<br />
for the 2011-12 school year.<br />
The recognition is based on an annual<br />
report outlining each chapter’s<br />
activities for the year.<br />
20 footprints<br />
“It’s definitely not an automatic.<br />
Most schools don’t get one. It’s a<br />
reflection of [our students’] effort.<br />
Last year they were really busy,”<br />
Gray said.<br />
The <strong>Wayland</strong> chapter, which<br />
has a core group of 8-10 students,<br />
meets every two weeks throughout<br />
the school year and has a number<br />
of departmental and community<br />
activities in which it is involved,<br />
Gray said. In 2011-12 those included<br />
selling Christmas cookies as a<br />
fundraiser, chemical demonstrations<br />
at Plainview public schools and<br />
spending an afternoon in Lubbock<br />
with students at Trinity Christian<br />
High School.<br />
“The benefit for them (of receiving<br />
the certificate) is it shows they<br />
are working their tails off, but it also<br />
makes them eligible for various<br />
grants the American Chemical Society<br />
gives out,” Gray said, explaining<br />
that the group received a $500<br />
travel grant they were able to use for<br />
a trip to the ACS National Meeting in<br />
San Diego.<br />
The report is compiled by the<br />
chapter secretary which last year
was Jessica Kenneson, a sophomore<br />
molecular biology/chemistry student<br />
from Wiggins, Colo. — she recently was<br />
elected to be the chapter president for<br />
the coming year.<br />
Kenneson said that one of her<br />
colleagues, past president Stephanie<br />
Whitaker, helped her compile the report<br />
but it still was a pretty big undertaking.<br />
“It took forever,” she said with a<br />
laugh.<br />
Kenneson said the recognition is<br />
affirmation for the close-knit nature of<br />
the group.<br />
“We spend every day together,” she<br />
said. “I’ve told a lot of people it’s like<br />
a family down here,” she said, adding<br />
that one common characteristic of the<br />
group is its willingness to serve others.<br />
“I’ve noticed the people in this<br />
group have a heart for service,” she<br />
said.<br />
That willingness is manifesting itself<br />
in one of the chapter’s big projects,<br />
a weekly program where members<br />
assist area homeschool students<br />
with chemistry labs. Dr. Gray said the<br />
program meets two needs. It provides<br />
an excellent service opportunity for the<br />
chapter while also giving them a legitimate<br />
fundraiser (since they do charge<br />
a minimal fee for participation in the<br />
program).<br />
“I think this group is finally starting<br />
to realize the potential for good they<br />
have for the university. I think they are<br />
realizing they can be clever enough in<br />
designing programs that both benefit<br />
the community and provide them with<br />
travel money,” Gray said.<br />
While the group has demonstrated<br />
over the past couple of years that it is<br />
a consistently high-performing chapter,<br />
Kenneson said the time has come<br />
for the chapter to step up to another<br />
level because of the activities they want<br />
to do, and that means getting more<br />
participation.<br />
“We’re going to need more people<br />
involved,” she said. “Somehow we’re<br />
going to have to make ourselves known<br />
(to other students).”<br />
That means having more social<br />
activities and coming up with better<br />
ways to integrate the organization into<br />
the regular functions of the university,<br />
she said.<br />
Kenneson pointed out that students<br />
don’t have to be chemistry majors to<br />
be a part of the <strong>Wayland</strong> chapter.<br />
One of the things the chapter is<br />
looking at in the future is establishing<br />
an endowed scholarship to help future<br />
students. Gray said that will give students<br />
yet another opportunity to help<br />
the community.<br />
Outgoing president Trevor Burrow,<br />
a junior math/chemistry/molecular<br />
biology student from Lubbock, pointed<br />
out that the organization gives students<br />
a chance to use their passion to benefit<br />
the university, as well as individual students.<br />
Through the ACS chapter, they<br />
can help incoming students get a good<br />
start in the sciences at the collegiate<br />
level while also helping current students<br />
move onto graduate school.<br />
“It’s kind of reaching in both directions,”<br />
he said.<br />
“If you have a passion for something,<br />
you want to share it with people<br />
and maybe they’ll become interested in<br />
it as well,” he said.<br />
For Kenneson, the notion of the<br />
chapter being able to endow a scholarship<br />
made an already big smile grow<br />
and her reaction was an indication<br />
of the enthusiasm she and her fellow<br />
students have for helping others.<br />
“We’re really interested in starting<br />
an endowed scholarship. There’s<br />
nothing better than being able to help<br />
somebody get through school,” she<br />
concluded.<br />
footprints 21
Harrelson tagged as Player/Coach<br />
The Collie Crane Hire West<br />
Slammers have pulled off<br />
a major recruiting coup<br />
by wooing Goldfields Giants combo<br />
guard Ty Harrelson to Bunbury in<br />
Western Australia on a three-year<br />
deal, according to the South Western<br />
Times newspaper.<br />
Harrelson, a two-year starter for<br />
the Pioneers after transferring from<br />
Collin County Community College,<br />
was <strong>Wayland</strong>’s first-ever first-team<br />
NAIA All-American as a senior in<br />
2003. A former high school star<br />
at Sonora and Wichita Falls Rider,<br />
he still holds the <strong>Wayland</strong> school<br />
records for most assists in a game<br />
(15) and season average (6.8) and<br />
for best free throw percentage for a<br />
season (.888 on 191 of 215 chances).<br />
He also is tied for 28th on the<br />
all-time Pioneer scoring list with<br />
1,111 points.<br />
Harrelson, 32, will join the<br />
Slammers as player/coach in a significant<br />
boost to the program. The<br />
American’s signature will go part of<br />
the way to filling the void left by the<br />
departure of the previous coach and<br />
two key players.<br />
During his two years in the SBL<br />
Harrelson, who suited up for the<br />
Giants last season and played for<br />
Cockburn in 2011, has been widely<br />
regarded as part of the competition’s<br />
elite.<br />
He averaged almost 20 points<br />
a game for Goldfields and was<br />
named as a small forward in the<br />
SBL’s <strong>2012</strong> All-Star Starting Five.<br />
Harrelson also won the SBL Point<br />
Guard of the Year title in 2011 after<br />
he helped the Cougars, who had<br />
missed the playoffs the previous<br />
season, make a semifinal series.<br />
22 footprints<br />
Despite also being an assistant<br />
coach with the Giants, Harrelson<br />
said the chance to take on a senior<br />
coaching position had been a major<br />
drawing card.<br />
His father, Scott Harrelson, was<br />
an assistant coach at <strong>Wayland</strong> and<br />
also coached the West Virginia <strong>University</strong><br />
women’s team. His mother,<br />
sister and brother-in-law are also<br />
coaches.<br />
‘‘I come from a long line of<br />
coaches – it’s kind of in my blood,’’<br />
Harrelson said. ‘‘The opportunity<br />
to do it and hopefully improve the<br />
Slammers over the next three years<br />
was definitely attractive.’’<br />
While his coaching appointment<br />
has been a major coup, club officials<br />
anticipate Harrelson will provide a<br />
much-needed injection of experience<br />
to the Slammers’ roster.<br />
He scored 20 points or more on<br />
13 occasions last season, while his<br />
mammoth 50-point haul for Cockburn<br />
against the Perth Redbacks<br />
in the 2011 playoffs was one of the<br />
best individual performances in<br />
recent history.<br />
Despite conceding his new role<br />
would be challenging, Harrelson<br />
said he was confident of helping the<br />
club, which has won three consecutive<br />
wooden spoons (championship<br />
awards) be more competitive.<br />
‘‘I am going to do my best to<br />
have us prepared,’’ he said. ‘‘I’m not<br />
promising anything other than I am<br />
going to give it 100 percent and that<br />
I’m going to expect the same from<br />
our team.’’<br />
Harrelson said he had already<br />
spoken to several contacts about<br />
how to approach the task of having<br />
both on and off-court roles. ‘‘They<br />
gave me some good advice on how<br />
to handle in-game strategy,’’ he said.<br />
‘‘I think preparation will be vital – we<br />
have to have a plan going into every<br />
game.’’
Harrelson makes lead gift in<br />
lockerroom renovation project<br />
Ty Harrelson, BA’03, recently<br />
made a gift of $10,000 toward a<br />
goal of $25,000 to refurbish the<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong> Pioneers’ dressing room in<br />
Hutcherson Center.<br />
Harrelson’s gift came after he<br />
learned that former Flying Queen<br />
All-American Linda Pickens Price,<br />
BA’69, had given $25,000 for the<br />
renovation of the Queens’ locker<br />
room. Dedication for that project<br />
was made in October during a spe-<br />
Show your<br />
WBU Pioneer Pride<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong> <strong>Alumni</strong> Services is<br />
offering sturdy metal trunk medallions<br />
of the university sports<br />
logo (affixed with an adhesive<br />
strip) for $12 with proceeds going<br />
to the general scholarship fund<br />
and alumni activities. Cost is $12<br />
each and they can be secured<br />
by check, cash or money order<br />
by writing: Medallions, <strong>Wayland</strong><br />
<strong>Baptist</strong> <strong>University</strong>, 1900 W. Seventh,<br />
CMB 1291, Plainview, TX<br />
79072 or by calling credit card<br />
information to 806-291-3603 or<br />
e-mailing andrewsd@wbu.edu.<br />
cial recognition for members of the<br />
1953-58 teams that won a national<br />
record 131 consecutive games.<br />
An appeal was made to about<br />
300 former Pioneers who have<br />
played between 1960-<strong>2012</strong> in<br />
hopes the funds can be raised for<br />
the remodeling to be done before<br />
the 2013-2014 season.<br />
However, gifts from all friends<br />
of <strong>Wayland</strong> for any amount are<br />
appreciated and may be made to:<br />
Pioneers Dressing Room, <strong>Wayland</strong><br />
<strong>Baptist</strong> <strong>University</strong>, 1900 W. Seventh,<br />
CMB 1291, Plainview, TX 79072 or<br />
by credit card by calling Danny Andrews<br />
at 806-291-3603 or e-mailing<br />
andrewsd@wbu.edu<br />
“We are most appreciative of<br />
our alumni like Linda Pickens Price,<br />
Ty Harrelson and others who are<br />
helping us upgrade our athletic<br />
facilities,” said Athletic Director Greg<br />
Feris.
Fall success for<br />
Pioneer sports<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong> <strong>Baptist</strong> <strong>University</strong><br />
sports teams have<br />
seen an historic fall<br />
semester with the return of football<br />
after a seven-decade absence and a<br />
record number of wins in both the<br />
men’s and women’s soccer programs.<br />
Those, coupled with strong<br />
seasons in volleyball and cross<br />
country, have given WBU sports fans<br />
plenty to yell about.<br />
Football:<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong> <strong>Baptist</strong>’s first football<br />
game in 72 years ended with a<br />
24 footprints<br />
loss, but also with a whole<br />
lot of promise. The Pioneers<br />
dropped a 59-21 decision to<br />
Monterrey Tech of Mexico at<br />
Heroes Stadium in San Antonio<br />
Sept. 1.<br />
Approximately 4,000 fans turned<br />
out at Plainview’ Greg Sherwood<br />
Memorial Bulldog Stadium as the<br />
Pioneers made their home debut<br />
against Adam State <strong>University</strong>. The<br />
crowd remained enthusiastic despite<br />
a lopsided 55-7 loss.<br />
The <strong>Wayland</strong> faithful got their<br />
first taste of victory with a thrilling<br />
27-23 victory over Howard Payne<br />
<strong>University</strong> at Bulldog Stadium in<br />
front of about 3,000 fans on Sept.<br />
15.<br />
“That was fun,” <strong>Wayland</strong> coach<br />
Butch Henderson said after the historic<br />
win. “The kids made play after<br />
play after play.”<br />
Looking half overjoyed and half
elieved to<br />
get that first<br />
win under the<br />
team’s belt, Henderson<br />
admitted<br />
to getting a bit<br />
choked up in his<br />
post-game speech<br />
to his players.<br />
It would take<br />
five weeks for the<br />
Pioneers to get their<br />
second victory of the<br />
year. That came during<br />
Homecoming as <strong>Wayland</strong><br />
defeated Southwest<br />
Assemblies of God, 58-<br />
37 on Oct. 20.<br />
The matchup saw star<br />
running back Kendall Roberson<br />
earn five touchdowns on the<br />
ground and one in the air for 262<br />
total yards in a game in which the<br />
Pioneers would pile up a staggering<br />
560 yards on offense.<br />
Despite a 2-7 record (the opening<br />
game was officially an exhibition<br />
game and did not count toward the<br />
team’s record), the Pioneers pulled<br />
off some major accomplishments<br />
for a first-year program.<br />
“We got our first win and our<br />
first homecoming win. Those are<br />
two big starting places,” Henderson<br />
said. “That gave us a good start.”<br />
Roberson lead the Pioneers in<br />
rushing with 669 yards on 138<br />
carries for a 4.8-yard average. He<br />
also led the team in scoring with 12<br />
touchdowns (72 points) and all-purpose<br />
yards with 868 total yards<br />
(199 receiving yards combined with<br />
his rushing total).<br />
The Pioneers leading receiver<br />
was Chris Acosta, a freshman from<br />
Amarillo, who had 34 receptions for<br />
344 yards for a 10.1-yard average.<br />
Two<br />
Pioneers<br />
shared much of the quarterbacking<br />
duties with El Paso freshman<br />
Anthony Campuzano completing<br />
111 passes out of 191 attempts<br />
for 1,089 yards. Luis Gonzalez, a<br />
freshman from Alamo, Texas, had<br />
68 completions on 120 attempts for<br />
701 yards.<br />
On defense, Jon-Lucas Poe, a<br />
freshman from Midland, led the<br />
team in tackles with 33 solo and 35<br />
assisted tackles, for a total of 68.<br />
Irving, Texas freshman Kevin Carter<br />
led the team with 2.5 sacks.<br />
Men’s Soccer:<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong>’s soccer program had<br />
one of its most successful years<br />
ever with both the men’s and women’s<br />
teams setting records for most<br />
wins in a season.<br />
On the men’s front, on Sept. 4,<br />
in their first field appearance since<br />
receiving votes in the NAIA Top 25<br />
poll for the first time ever, the Pioneers<br />
didn’t disappoint.<br />
Samman Hassan, Samson<br />
Defeugaing and Travis Somersall<br />
scored one goal apiece, and the<br />
Pioneers posted a 3-2 victory over<br />
Athletics Wrap<br />
Oklahoma <strong>Baptist</strong> in<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong>’s Sooner<br />
Athletic Conference<br />
opener.<br />
“Today was a<br />
total team effort<br />
against an extremely<br />
talented OBU<br />
squad,” <strong>Wayland</strong><br />
coach Jamath<br />
Shoffner said.<br />
“We knew going<br />
into the game it<br />
was going to be<br />
a tough place<br />
to play and come<br />
away with a win.”<br />
WBU finished with an 11-5-2<br />
record and advanced to the SAC<br />
Tournament semifinals where the<br />
third-seeded Pioneers lost to Oklahoma<br />
<strong>Baptist</strong>, 2-1 in overtime.<br />
The Pioneers fared well in endof-season<br />
honors. <strong>Wayland</strong> <strong>Baptist</strong>’s<br />
Miguel Teos was named Newcomer<br />
of the Year in the Sooner Athletic<br />
Conference, preventing a sweep of<br />
the top men’s soccer honors by the<br />
<strong>University</strong> of Science and Arts of<br />
Oklahoma. Joining Teos, a midfielder,<br />
on the first team was WBU<br />
goalkeeper John-Ramses Thomas,<br />
while Pioneers making the second<br />
team were defender Vitalis Atemafac<br />
and midfielder Jevaughn Vance.<br />
Teos, a junior form Greenville,<br />
S.C., had three goals and a<br />
team-leading seven assists for 13<br />
points for the Pioneers. His seven<br />
assists ranked third in the SAC. He<br />
took 19 shots (.158 shooting percentage)<br />
and had 10 shots on goal<br />
(.526).<br />
Thomas, a sophomore from<br />
Plymouth, Tobago, who was SAC<br />
Goalkeeper of the Year as a freshman,<br />
ended the season with 62<br />
footprints 25
Athletics Wrap<br />
saves while allowing 20 goals. He<br />
faced 178 shots and had a .756<br />
save percentage. He recorded seven<br />
shutouts.<br />
This is the second straight year<br />
Vance was honored on the all-conference<br />
second team. The sophomore<br />
from Arima, Trinidad, produced<br />
five goals and five assists for<br />
15 points, making him third on the<br />
team in all three categories. He got<br />
off 19 shots (.263) and nine shots<br />
on goal (.474).<br />
Atemafac, a junior from New<br />
Carrollton, Md., led a Pioneer<br />
defense that allowed 81 goals on<br />
the season. Offensively, he had two<br />
goals and three assists for seven<br />
points. Additionally, he took 16<br />
shots (.125), including six SOG<br />
(.375).<br />
Women’s Soccer:<br />
On the women’s side, on Oct. 18<br />
the Pioneers defeated Mid-American<br />
<strong>University</strong> 1-0 for their record-setting<br />
eighth win in a season.<br />
The victory gave <strong>Wayland</strong> (8-6-1<br />
overall, 2-3-1 SAC), despite a roster<br />
depleted by numerous injuries, its<br />
record eighth victory of the season,<br />
eclipsing the seven wins posted<br />
during the 2008 season.<br />
The women collected a number<br />
of individual honors with freshman<br />
Jessica Bell being named to the<br />
women’s soccer All-Sooner Athletic<br />
Conference second team.<br />
Bell, a 5-foot-3 forward from Cibolo,<br />
scored six goals and tallied 13<br />
points for the Pioneers, the second<br />
most on the team in both categories.<br />
She ended with 34 shots, a<br />
.176% shot percentage, 13 shots on<br />
goal (.382 shot on goal percentage)<br />
and one assist. She had a team-high<br />
two game-winning goals for the Pioneers<br />
(8-9-1), who qualified for the<br />
26 footprints<br />
SAC Tournament. WBU lost to No. 6<br />
Oklahoma City <strong>University</strong>, the eventual<br />
champion, in the first round.<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong> <strong>Baptist</strong> women’s soccer<br />
players Haley Hill and Katherine<br />
Teinert were named to the Capital<br />
One Academic All-District 7 Team.<br />
Teinert, a sophomore from<br />
Portland, Texas, was honored for her<br />
4.0 GPA as a mass communications<br />
major. She is a 5-foot-4 forward for<br />
the Pioneers.<br />
Hill, a graduate<br />
student from<br />
San Angelo, was<br />
honored for her<br />
3.91 GPA.<br />
Volleyball:<br />
After the<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong> <strong>Baptist</strong><br />
volleyball team<br />
Hawkins<br />
lost seven of its<br />
first eight matches,<br />
fans might<br />
have believed<br />
they were in for<br />
a long season.<br />
Although it might<br />
have taken a<br />
while for the Pioneers<br />
to pick up<br />
Giacomazzi steam, the squad<br />
was rocking<br />
and rolling by the time its Sooner<br />
Athletic Conference schedule rolled<br />
around, going 8-4 in conference<br />
and 19-15 overall. Perhaps even<br />
more impressive, the team of seven<br />
underclassmen and four upperclassmen<br />
thrived at the conference<br />
tournament, finally falling in the<br />
championship match to first-seeded,<br />
No. 10-ranked Oklahoma <strong>Baptist</strong>.<br />
With 10 of the team’s first 12<br />
matches coming in tournaments,<br />
the Pioneers experienced a trial<br />
by fire, playing 44 sets in just two<br />
weeks. They struggled, but even<br />
then, head coach Jim Giacomazzi<br />
saw glimmers of hope, including<br />
when the team set a new record for<br />
match digs with 163 versus Eastern<br />
New Mexico, toppling the old mark<br />
of 145 which had stood since 2000.<br />
Individually, the Pioneers had a<br />
strong season, as well.<br />
Shahala Hawkins was named<br />
regional Freshman of the Year and<br />
Natasha Giacomazzi also was recognized<br />
by the American Volleyball<br />
Coaches <strong>Association</strong>.<br />
Both Pioneer players, who led<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong> to the Sooner Athletic<br />
Conference Tournament championship<br />
match, were honored on the<br />
AVCA’s NAIA Midsouth Region team.<br />
Hawkins made the team as a middle<br />
hitter and Giacomazzi as a setter.<br />
Hawkins, of Denver City, was<br />
the only freshman on the 14-member<br />
Midsouth team, and only one<br />
sophomore made the squad. The<br />
6-foot Hawkins led the Pioneers in<br />
many major statistical categories,<br />
including kills (364, 3.01 per game),<br />
hitting percentage (.290), aces (35),<br />
blocks (138) and points (483).<br />
Natasha Giacomazzi, a 5-5 setter<br />
from Canyon, ended the season with<br />
1,090 sets, an average of 9.48 per<br />
game, and a .790 set percentage.<br />
Her 28 aces were third on the team<br />
and she recorded a team-best 464<br />
digs (4.03 pg).<br />
Men’s Cross Country:<br />
The <strong>Wayland</strong> <strong>Baptist</strong> <strong>University</strong><br />
men’s cross country team finished<br />
12th in the <strong>2012</strong> NAIA Coaches’ Top<br />
25 Postseason Poll.<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong>’s Edward Taragon, a<br />
senior from Kenya, finished fourth<br />
at the NAIA National Cross Country<br />
Championships for the second year<br />
in a row.
At the end of a wet, muddy day,<br />
things just did’t go the way the<br />
team had planned as the Pioneers<br />
finished 12th overall.<br />
Out of 309 runners, Wyatt<br />
Landrum wound up 66th with a<br />
time of 25:49, Hildon Boen was<br />
78th in 25:56 and Lopez was 124th<br />
in 26:25.<br />
The heartbreaker of the day for<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong> was a fall by senior Lucius<br />
Lopez.<br />
“Lucius was in the top 45 and<br />
running really well,” Whitlock said.<br />
“About halfway through the race,<br />
somebody stepped on the back<br />
of his shoe, he fell down and the<br />
shoe came off. Since the laces were<br />
double-knotted, it took him around<br />
a minute to get it back on and back<br />
on the course.”<br />
Until his fall, Lopez was on pace<br />
to finish in under 26 minutes and<br />
was running somewhere between<br />
teammates Boen and Landrum. He<br />
ended in 195th place in 26:59.<br />
In other competition this fall,<br />
after having struggled with knee<br />
pain due to tendonitis,Taragon had<br />
a spectacular performance at the<br />
Sooner Athletic Conference cross<br />
country championships, capturing<br />
the individual title.<br />
The men’s team finished second<br />
in the team standings with 47<br />
points, just 12 behind conference<br />
winner and meet host, Oklahoma<br />
<strong>Baptist</strong>, which had 35 points. The<br />
Pioneers all finished in the top<br />
20, with an average team time of<br />
25:15.40.<br />
Taragon’s championship time<br />
was 24:13.00, a full 25 seconds<br />
faster than the second place finisher.<br />
Hildon Boen was fifth with<br />
a time of 24:43.00, followed by<br />
Wyatt Landrum in seventh with a<br />
25:09.00. Julian Lopez finished in<br />
26:00.00, good enough for 16th<br />
place, and Lucius Lopez was 19th<br />
with a 26:12.00.<br />
Women’s Cross Country:<br />
On the women’s side, <strong>Wayland</strong><br />
freshman Emileigh Willems earned<br />
an at-large spot in the NAIA Cross<br />
Country National Championships.<br />
SAC champion Oklahoma <strong>Baptist</strong><br />
was the only conference team<br />
in the national field, although five<br />
individuals also will represented the<br />
conference. In addition to Willems, a<br />
freshman from Lubbock who came<br />
in seventh at the SAC meet, other<br />
national qualifiers are Brenda Felipe<br />
of Rogers State, Katrina Nolan of<br />
Oklahoma City, Monika Kalicinska of<br />
St. Gregory’s and Gladys Miranda of<br />
Lubbock Christian.<br />
Wrestling:<br />
In wrestling, the <strong>Wayland</strong> program<br />
gets high marks for partnering<br />
with the local YMCA to establish a<br />
youth wrestling program.<br />
The program’s season will run<br />
from Dec. 3 to Feb. 29. Open to<br />
both boys and girls ages 5 through<br />
Athletics Wrap<br />
14, the program, will cost $24 per<br />
month for YMCA members and<br />
$45 for non-members. Additionally,<br />
a $40 fee for a USA Wrestling<br />
membership card must be paid for<br />
with the first month’s program fee.<br />
Financial assistance is available.<br />
WBU assistant wrestling coach<br />
Luke Salazar said that while wrestling<br />
is considered a combat sport, it<br />
is practiced in a controlled environment.<br />
In addition to teaching participants<br />
how to wrestle, Salazar said<br />
the skills they will learn will translate<br />
positively into many other areas of<br />
their lives.<br />
“Wrestling teaches kids that<br />
what you put in to something is<br />
what you’re going to get out of it,”<br />
he said. “It teaches them discipline,<br />
good nutrition, the importance of<br />
a healthy lifestyle, body awareness<br />
and staying out of trouble. Wrestling<br />
is also good for kids that maybe haven’t<br />
connected with another sport.<br />
It doesn’t matter what size or shape<br />
you are, we can teach the skills necessary<br />
to be successful.”<br />
footprints 27
From a Friend<br />
Dr. Joel Boyd<br />
Bachelor of Science ’97<br />
Dr. Joel Boyd, BS’97,<br />
served on the faculty<br />
of the School of Mathematics<br />
and Sciences<br />
from 2001-2010, was<br />
co-chair of the Division<br />
of Math and Science<br />
for one year and was<br />
then associate dean<br />
of the School of Math<br />
and Science for a year.<br />
For the past two years,<br />
he has been Associate<br />
Professor of Chemistry<br />
at Gordon College<br />
in Wenham, Mass. He<br />
has been a consistent<br />
contributor to various<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong> scholarships<br />
for the past several<br />
years.<br />
28 footprints<br />
Building endowment<br />
important to education<br />
My wife, Kerri (WBU ex, and<br />
Houston <strong>Baptist</strong> alumna),<br />
and I have contributed to<br />
various endowed scholarships at <strong>Wayland</strong><br />
over the past several years. It has<br />
never been much, and the gifts have<br />
been spread out over a period of years,<br />
but <strong>Alumni</strong> Director Danny Andrews recently<br />
asked me to give a short description<br />
of WHY we give to WBU endowed<br />
scholarships. I think the answer is pretty<br />
straightforward, and can be summed up<br />
in a few simple points.<br />
Christian higher education is<br />
extremely important, but increasingly<br />
expensive. As both a product and employee<br />
of a Christian academic institution,<br />
I am keenly aware that there is no<br />
better education available anywhere.<br />
The illumination of God’s word and the<br />
influence of his people really do make<br />
an enormous difference in the process<br />
and outcomes of higher education.<br />
Kerri and I benefitted greatly from<br />
our time at <strong>Wayland</strong>, and hope that our<br />
kids have a similar experience when the<br />
time comes. Unfortunately, the cost of<br />
a college education has been growing<br />
at a pace that far outstrips the rest of<br />
the economy. WBU is the most affordable<br />
Christian college that I know of,<br />
but even <strong>Wayland</strong>’s tuition costs have<br />
been subject to significant increases in<br />
recent years. College costs are going to<br />
continue to increase for the foreseeable<br />
future, and the best way that I know of<br />
to keep WBU tuition costs affordable for<br />
students of modest means, is by building<br />
the WBU scholarship endowment.<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong> has been blessed with<br />
some incredibly dedicated and talented<br />
faculty through the years, and an<br />
endowed scholarship in their name is<br />
a great way to acknowledge the contributions<br />
that they have made to our<br />
lives and to WBU. Kerri and I have had<br />
the honor of contributing to scholarships<br />
named for Dr. J. Hoyt and Joanne<br />
Bowers, Dr. Harold and Audrey Temple,<br />
and Dr. Vaughn and Johnene Ross.<br />
Collectively, these folks have done more<br />
for my family and my alma mater than<br />
I can ever repay. It is truly a privilege<br />
for us to help acknowledge their service<br />
through permanently endowed scholarships<br />
in their names.<br />
We know exactly where these funds<br />
are going, and exactly how they will<br />
be spent. As stewards of the financial<br />
resources that God has given our family,<br />
it is very important to Kerri and me that<br />
we not only give back a portion of these<br />
blessings, but that we carefully consider<br />
how we invest God’s money. A contribution<br />
to an endowed scholarship at WBU<br />
is an investment that we know will be<br />
properly and conservatively managed,<br />
and we trust that God will use these<br />
funds to reap dividends beyond our<br />
ken in the lives of generations of young<br />
people.<br />
I hope that you’ll add your own contributions<br />
to the WBU endowed scholarship<br />
of your choice – or to any <strong>Wayland</strong><br />
endeavor – soon. Collectively, our little<br />
contributions spread out over many<br />
years can make a huge difference in<br />
what WBU can do for students seeking<br />
a truly Christ-centered education.
Decorate with memories<br />
that have special meaning<br />
One of the things I love most<br />
about the Christmas season is<br />
decorating the tree.<br />
Carolyn and I have hundreds of ornaments<br />
collected over 43 years of marriage<br />
– everything from the shiny <strong>Wayland</strong> ornaments<br />
the Museum of the Llano Estacado<br />
offers every year to the plastic “Hamburglar”<br />
one of our three kids got in a McDonald’s<br />
Happy Meal when they were little.<br />
Each ornament carries a good memory.<br />
In that vein, I’d like to hang some “precious<br />
memory” <strong>Wayland</strong> ornaments on my<br />
mental tree.<br />
n Being encouraged in the summer of<br />
1967 by Dr. Neil Record, assistant to<br />
the president and possessed with the<br />
“Voice of God,” to abandon plans to<br />
attend West Texas State <strong>University</strong> and<br />
come to <strong>Wayland</strong><br />
n Meeting on my first visit to Gates Hall<br />
one of the nicest people I’ve ever known<br />
– public relations secretary Melba Jo<br />
Willis, who remains a dear friend<br />
n Having the honor of being editor of The<br />
Trailblazer newspaper for two years,<br />
producing the first 12-page edition and<br />
selling advertising for the first time<br />
n Being in the second pledge class of Alpha<br />
Phi Omega, men’s national service<br />
fraternity whose motto is “Leadership,<br />
Friendship and Service”<br />
n Covering <strong>Wayland</strong> basketball games for<br />
The Plainview Herald and first broadcasting<br />
them on 10-watt campus radio<br />
station KHBL (forerunner of KWLD) in a<br />
cranny of Gates Hall – good experience<br />
even though we only had about one<br />
listener per watt. I also enjoyed being a<br />
late-night disc jockey even if you could<br />
not play back-to-back 45s unless you<br />
talked while cueing the second record<br />
since we only had one 45 turntable<br />
n Making friends with such guys as Danny<br />
Murphree, Gary Abercrombie, Dick<br />
Helms and Mike Ballew who are the<br />
same great fellows today they were<br />
when we met more than 40 years ago<br />
n Having Dorothy Jamar for English – even<br />
if she did decide that classmate Charles<br />
Hardin and I had a “personality flaw”<br />
because we didn’t turn in our term<br />
papers on time<br />
n Having fun officiating flag football games,<br />
even though the Men of McDonald Hall<br />
are still mad at me four decades later<br />
for forfeiting a game due to a player<br />
who insisted on tackling the opposing<br />
runner<br />
n Enjoying eating tacos and watching a<br />
new program called “Hee-Haw” on<br />
Monday nights on the black-and-white<br />
TV with friends in our concrete-block<br />
Collier Hall apartments – $62.50 a<br />
month, all bills paid<br />
n Continuing to realize that but for the<br />
grace of God…and that of French<br />
teacher Christa Smith and biology prof<br />
Gerald Thompson I would not possess a<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong> degree<br />
n Getting to come to my Alma Mater<br />
to take over alumni services from a<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong> legend – Joe Provence – and<br />
working with some of the best people<br />
on earth<br />
n Being a part of a faith-based institution<br />
preparing young men and young women<br />
to be great leaders wherever God<br />
takes them<br />
The title of the iconic Christmas movie<br />
says it all – “It’s A Wonderful Life.”<br />
Blessings to all <strong>Wayland</strong> alumni and<br />
friends at this most wonderful time of the<br />
year…and for a happy, healthy and prosperous<br />
2013.<br />
Thinking Out Loud<br />
Danny Andrews<br />
Director of <strong>Alumni</strong><br />
Development<br />
“ The title<br />
of the iconic<br />
Christmas<br />
movie says<br />
it all – “It’s<br />
A Wonderful<br />
Life.”<br />
footprints 29<br />
“
<strong>Wayland</strong> Mission Center<br />
Dr. Richard Shaw<br />
Director, <strong>Wayland</strong><br />
Mission Center<br />
Upcoming Mission Trips:<br />
w Kenya, January<br />
w Michigan, spring break<br />
w Brazil, May<br />
w Turkey, June<br />
w Kenya, July<br />
w Eastern Europe, August<br />
All of the <strong>Wayland</strong><br />
Mission Center’s<br />
global missions are open<br />
to WBU students and<br />
others committed to sharing<br />
the love of<br />
Jesus Christ.<br />
30 footprints<br />
WMC focuses on local<br />
missions; plans for 2013<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong> Mission Center has<br />
focused on local missions<br />
through the fall of <strong>2012</strong>.<br />
Three mission groups, operating under the<br />
auspices of the WMC, serve the Lord Jesus<br />
through meeting the needs of the community<br />
of Plainview.<br />
Apostolos, now in its fifth year of community<br />
ministry, partners <strong>Wayland</strong> students<br />
with youth at risk from Plainview High<br />
School. The collaborative effort, overseen<br />
by two student co-directors, sees <strong>Wayland</strong><br />
mentors meet with their “little brothers”<br />
and “little sisters” twice each week. Strong<br />
relationships have been established, with<br />
WBU students leading the way in helping<br />
PHS students develop life skills and stronger<br />
self-esteem, as they work to complete<br />
their high school education. Mentors also<br />
focus on helping high school youth learn of<br />
Jesus Christ and His love for them.<br />
Diakonia, also led by students, is ready<br />
to launch a weekend food backpack program<br />
with children attending Thunderbird<br />
Elementary School. WBU students will pack<br />
a weekend’s supply of ready-to-eat foods<br />
for some of the most food-insecure folks in<br />
Plainview. A large, anonymous donation to<br />
the <strong>Wayland</strong> Mission Center, has allowed<br />
Diakonia to purchase a large quantity of<br />
food through the South Plains Food Bank<br />
in Lubbock. Each Friday in the spring 2013<br />
semester, Diakonia (which means “ministry”<br />
in New Testament Greek) will minister<br />
to children in the name of Jesus Christ.<br />
The third student-led mission group,<br />
Kerygma, meaning “proclamation of the<br />
Gospel,” has been working in east Plainview,<br />
in the area known as the “Barrio.”<br />
Kerygma students have gone door-to-door,<br />
sharing the love and story of Jesus Christ<br />
with residents. Understanding that the<br />
Gospel of Jesus Christ is about the whole<br />
person and the whole community, mem-<br />
bers have surveyed the residents of the<br />
Barrio, discovering and recording people’s<br />
needs.<br />
The group was formed out of the<br />
introductory religion course, “Introduction<br />
to Christian Missions,” with students<br />
expressing and then demonstrating their<br />
obedience to God’s call to do missions<br />
right where they are, to the residents of<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong>’s Jerusalem—Plainview.<br />
2013 will see global missions highlighted<br />
with students, graduates, and West<br />
Texas Christians joining in mission. In conjunction<br />
with WBU’s Kenya Program, we<br />
will lead teams to the east African nation in<br />
January and July. In July a team composed<br />
of the Youth Choir “Breath of Heaven”<br />
and sponsors from First <strong>Baptist</strong> Church of<br />
Plainview, and members from First <strong>Baptist</strong><br />
Church of Petersburg, is planning to lead a<br />
youth conference in Kakamega, Kenya, of<br />
<strong>Baptist</strong> youth from the Western <strong>Baptist</strong> <strong>Association</strong><br />
of Kenya. The July team will also<br />
work in Limuru and among the Maasai.<br />
Spring Break 2013 will see the return of<br />
WBU students to the U.S. cities of Dearborn<br />
and Detroit, Michigan.<br />
Summer mission trips include WMC’s<br />
third year to travel to Salvador and Torrinhas,<br />
Brazil, working with pastors and<br />
indigenous missionaries from the Igreza<br />
Batista Metropolitana, in May. The first ever<br />
trip to Istanbul and Izmir, Turkey, in June<br />
will be highlighted by loving service to the<br />
people of western Turkey, and the study<br />
of the seven churches of the Revelation.<br />
WMC’s sixth trip to the eastern European<br />
countries of Macedonia, Kosova, and<br />
Greece, will cap off the WMC’s summer<br />
missions program in August.<br />
All of the <strong>Wayland</strong> Mission Center’s<br />
global missions are open to WBU students<br />
and others committed to sharing the love<br />
of Jesus Christ.
BSM touching students’<br />
lives through ministry<br />
The semester has been packed<br />
with ministry opportunities and<br />
has been a very fruitful time. We<br />
have focused on evangelism, discipleship<br />
and missions.<br />
In the area of discipleship we have had<br />
a successful dorm small group ministry. Every<br />
dorm on campus has had at least one<br />
small group that met weekly. These groups<br />
came in all shapes and sizes. Some were<br />
made up of very strong believers that dove<br />
deep into The Word. Others were filled with<br />
seekers and not-yet-believers and many<br />
questions were answered about faith and<br />
what it means to be a Christian.<br />
Each week it was exciting to hear what<br />
had taken place in the small groups. God<br />
was at work in the hearts and lives of many<br />
students and our small groups played a<br />
vital role.<br />
Another ministry in the area of discipleship<br />
was Focus, our weekly worship service.<br />
This was a great time of Bible teaching,<br />
worship through music and the sharing of<br />
testimonies and prayer. It was exciting to<br />
see how quickly our students opened up<br />
and prayed for each other and our campus.<br />
This semester was also filled with ministry<br />
to our athletes. I led daily devotions<br />
after each football practice and a chapel<br />
service after the pregame meal every Saturday.<br />
The Gospel was shared openly and<br />
each player was challenged to be the man<br />
God created him to be. I had the privilege<br />
of baptizing one of the players and anticipate<br />
more to make a decision to follow<br />
Christ.<br />
We have started an accountability<br />
group that meets every Friday to help these<br />
young men continue to grow in relationship<br />
with Christ. These men are hungry for<br />
change in their lives.<br />
In the area of evangelism we have<br />
focused on being on mission right where<br />
you are. Look around see where God has<br />
placed you because you are not there by<br />
accident. Develop a friendship with those<br />
around you. Get to know people and listen<br />
to their story and share your story. Many<br />
students have taken this challenge and are<br />
continuing to invest in the lives of those<br />
around them.<br />
We also had one day set aside for intentional<br />
evangelism to take place on campus.<br />
We set up different stations using Soularium<br />
cards and also an empty chair. Both of<br />
these methods give students an opportunity<br />
to share their spiritual journey. Several<br />
students heard the gospel and many seeds<br />
were planted. We continue to pray for the<br />
harvest.<br />
Missions has also been our focus. Each<br />
summer Texas <strong>Baptist</strong> BSMs send students<br />
to the nations through GoNow missions. In<br />
the fall semester, each BSM raises money<br />
to help send students. This year we had a<br />
No Shave November fundraiser. It was a<br />
competition between two people to raise<br />
money. The loser had to spin the wheel of<br />
doom and get his face shaved in an odd<br />
way and wear it for a week. The girls did<br />
not want to be left out, so they did not<br />
shave their legs for a month. The loser had<br />
to wear a dress for a week, revealing her<br />
bushy legs. Let me just say, this was very<br />
disturbing. Our goal was to raise $1,500<br />
and we raised $2,500. Praise God! Way to<br />
go Pioneers.<br />
We are also planning for several mission<br />
trips. We will be in Haiti Jan. 1-9, serving<br />
at an orphanage, conducting VBS and<br />
leading an Experiencing God study for the<br />
adults. Over Spring Break we will be at<br />
South Padre Island sharing the Gospel with<br />
thousands of college students. May 19-29<br />
we will be serving in Guatemala, helping a<br />
church with construction projects. In July<br />
we will be in Billerica, Mass., conducting<br />
VBS.<br />
<strong>Baptist</strong> Student Minitries<br />
Donnie Brown<br />
Director , <strong>Baptist</strong><br />
Student Ministries<br />
“<br />
Looking back I<br />
can see that God has<br />
blessed us in many<br />
different ways. He<br />
has been at work<br />
in students’ lives.<br />
Looking ahead, I<br />
know He will con-<br />
tinue to work. So<br />
we continue to plant<br />
seeds and pray for<br />
the harvest.<br />
footprints 31<br />
“
$5 million gift will fund Dean museum<br />
Story by Jonathan Petty<br />
The legend of Jimmy Dean<br />
continues to grow in his<br />
hometown of Plainview; specifically<br />
at <strong>Wayland</strong> <strong>Baptist</strong> <strong>University</strong>.<br />
On the heels of a $1 million gift in<br />
2008, Dean’s death in 2010 and the<br />
opening of Jimmy Dean Hall in August,<br />
Dean’s influence continues to impact<br />
his hometown university as a $5<br />
million donation has been made by his<br />
widow, Donna Dean-Stevens, to fund<br />
a Jimmy Dean Museum. The museum<br />
will serve as a memorial to a man who<br />
grew up in the poor neighborhood of<br />
Seth Ward on the outskirts of Planiview<br />
and became a legend in the entertainment<br />
industry.<br />
“The museum will be a fitting and<br />
attractive tribute to Jimmy’s life and<br />
career,” explained <strong>Wayland</strong> <strong>Baptist</strong><br />
<strong>University</strong> President Dr. Paul Armes.<br />
“The new building will be more than a<br />
museum; it will be a gathering place<br />
for our university and community.”<br />
Tentative plans call for the Jimmy<br />
Dean Museum to be built adjacent<br />
to the existing Museum of the Llano<br />
Estacado on the <strong>Wayland</strong> campus<br />
and include a community venue that<br />
can be used for various activities and<br />
events.<br />
Dean-Stevens originally planned to<br />
use the money to fund a museum on<br />
the Dean property in Virginia. However,<br />
zoning and construction complications<br />
made the project exceedingly difficult<br />
to undertake. In her ongoing conversations<br />
with <strong>Wayland</strong> representatives,<br />
she decided to donate the money to<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong> with the stipulation that it be<br />
used to fund a museum.<br />
“Construction will probably begin<br />
sometime next summer,” Armes said.<br />
32 footprints<br />
Jimmy Dean Hall opened in August, housing<br />
350 men. A generous donation from the Dean<br />
family will now fund a Jimmy Dean Museum<br />
addition to the Museum of the Llano Estacado.<br />
“We are currently meeting with museum<br />
consultants to develop a conceptual<br />
plan for the structure.”<br />
The museum will house memorabilia,<br />
videos and awards earned by<br />
Dean throughout his long career as an<br />
entertainer, singer, television personality<br />
and businessman. The Sara Lee<br />
Corporation that purchased the Jimmy<br />
Dean Sausage Company in 1984, has<br />
also committed to donate a life-size<br />
bronze of the legendary pitch-man.<br />
Dean’s personal items and memorabilia<br />
have already been shipped from<br />
Virginia and are in storage, awaiting<br />
construction of the museum.<br />
Armes said the majority of the<br />
donation will be used for construction<br />
and to set up an endowed fund<br />
to offset the cost of maintenance and<br />
upkeep on the structure. Dean-Stevens,<br />
who will have input into the process as<br />
it moves forward, stipulated that any<br />
additional funds may be used at the<br />
university’s discretion.<br />
Armes said the Deans’ generosity<br />
has had a major impact on the university.<br />
“At just the right moment, the<br />
Deans intersected the life and ministry<br />
of the university,” Armes said.<br />
“Their support represents more than<br />
the dollars they have contributed. By<br />
their generosity, they have enhanced<br />
and empowered the mission of the<br />
school. They will always be cherished<br />
at <strong>Wayland</strong>.”<br />
In total, the Deans have donated<br />
approximately $6 million to <strong>Wayland</strong><br />
since 2008. A Jimmy Dean exhibit is<br />
already in place as part of the Hale<br />
County Hall of Fame exhibit in the<br />
Museum of the Llano Estacado. Jimmy<br />
Dean Hall, a 350-bed men’s dormitory,<br />
opened in August of <strong>2012</strong>.
WBU recognizes scholarship donors<br />
Story by Richard Petty<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong> <strong>Baptist</strong> <strong>University</strong><br />
administrators took time<br />
during homecoming to<br />
recognize several families that have endowed<br />
scholarships to benefit <strong>Wayland</strong><br />
students.<br />
During the Homecoming Chapel,<br />
Director of <strong>Alumni</strong> Development Danny<br />
Andrews recognized Charles and<br />
Mary Abercrombie with three honors,<br />
including an endowed scholarship established<br />
by the couple’s four children.<br />
The Abercrombies were also presented<br />
with the Distinguished Benefactor<br />
Award and the Keeper of the Flame<br />
Award, recognizing individuals for significant<br />
donations to the university.<br />
Although the couple did not attend<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong>, two of their four children did.<br />
Dr. Gary Abercrombie (wife, Janice), of<br />
Plainview, and his sister, Trisha Worthen<br />
(husband, Bill), both graduated<br />
from the university and currently Dr.<br />
Abercrombie serves as the chairman of<br />
the board of trustees.<br />
The Joanne Bowers Chemical<br />
Education Endowed Scholarship was<br />
dedicated during a special reception<br />
held in the Moody Science Building.<br />
The scholarship was in recognition<br />
of Bowers’ 50-plus years of service<br />
through chemical education, teaching<br />
at the high school and collegiate levels.<br />
Joanne Bowers is married to Dr. J.<br />
Hoyt Bowers, former longtime science<br />
faculty member at <strong>Wayland</strong>, and the<br />
couple has a son, Mark, and two grandchildren.<br />
Other scholarships were dedicated<br />
at a special luncheon. The Weldon and<br />
Betty Beckner scholarships honor Dr.<br />
and Mrs. Beckner who graduated from<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong> <strong>Baptist</strong> College in 1955, Betty<br />
with a B.A. in English and Dr. Beckner<br />
with a B.S. in business administration.<br />
Dr. Beckner’s career as an educator<br />
included serving as a vice president at<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong>.<br />
Dr. Fred and Sally Meeks were<br />
recognized with the endowment of a<br />
scholarship that will benefit students at<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong> who plan to pursue vocational<br />
Christian ministry. Dr. Meeks served as<br />
a pastor before entering education. He<br />
taught courses in Bible, theology and<br />
Christian ministry for 21 years at <strong>Wayland</strong><br />
and held the position of Dean of<br />
the Division of Religion and Philosophy.<br />
He now serves as the director of the<br />
Logsdon Seminary Lubbock Program.<br />
Sally Meeks is a registered nurse<br />
who served in various hospitals and<br />
public schools. She retired as school<br />
nurse at Plainview High School in<br />
2006. The couple has two daughters,<br />
Marnie and Meredith.<br />
Loren Phillips of Lubbock established<br />
the Garland L. and Waty D.<br />
Phillips Endowed Scholarship in honor<br />
Scholarship plaques line the<br />
podium as <strong>Wayland</strong> President Dr.<br />
Paul Armes adresses the crowd<br />
at the homecoming luncheon in<br />
October.<br />
of his parents out of gratitude for their<br />
love, provision and Christian influence<br />
on his life. Garland Phillips was a<br />
native of Rotan and worked for Vulcan<br />
Materials in Denver City. Mrs. Phillips<br />
was a native of Emory, Texas and was a<br />
homemaker.<br />
The university also recognized the<br />
Browning family for a series of scholarships<br />
established based on a generous<br />
in-kind gift, including the Hollis W. and<br />
Venita Browning Scholarship. Hollis<br />
and Venita Browning were married in<br />
1928 and were owners of cotton gins,<br />
ice plants and grocery stores, while<br />
also being engaged in farming. Hollis<br />
died in 1967 and Venita in 1998.<br />
Four other scholarships were<br />
named in honor of other members<br />
of the Browning family, including the<br />
Jeane Lee II and Sandra Sioen Browning<br />
Scholarship, the Paul and Kathryn<br />
Browning Holloway Scholarship, the<br />
James and Karen Browning Higgins<br />
Scholarship, and the John T. and Alicia<br />
S. Browning Scholarship.<br />
footprints 33
News in Brief<br />
Enrollment up; students impress at conference<br />
Enrollment shows<br />
modest increase<br />
The Fall <strong>2012</strong> enrollment numbers<br />
show a modest 1.11 percent<br />
increase throughout <strong>Wayland</strong> campuses<br />
with the Plainview campus<br />
enjoying a 5.86 percent increase in<br />
student enrollment. Plainview campus<br />
enrollment reached 1,826 students<br />
while the system enrollment<br />
grew to 6,834. Those students are<br />
enrolled in 48,779 credit hours with<br />
17,927 being taken at the Plainview<br />
campus, an increase of more than 3<br />
percent.<br />
The Plainview campus shows<br />
a 3.43 percent increase in undergraduate<br />
enrollment with 1,387<br />
students, up from 1,341 a year<br />
ago. The largest increase came in<br />
the number of students enrolled in<br />
graduate programs with 439, a 14.3<br />
percent increase from the 2011<br />
numbers. <strong>Wayland</strong> offers graduate<br />
programs in history, English, counseling,<br />
education, business administration,<br />
management, religion, Christian<br />
ministry, public administration<br />
and multidisciplinary science. The<br />
WBU School of Nursing, based at<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong>’s San Antonio campus, also<br />
offers a master’s degree in nursing.<br />
The San Antonio campus remains<br />
the largest <strong>Wayland</strong> campus<br />
in terms of head count with 1,969<br />
students, an increase of nearly 4<br />
percent from a year ago. The enrollment<br />
at <strong>Wayland</strong>’s Lubbock campus<br />
dropped to 624 students, down<br />
from 686 a year ago. The campus in<br />
Amarillo remained steady with 109<br />
students, up from 106 in 2011.<br />
34 footprints<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong> students Rick Ross (from left), Hailey Budnick and Jessica Kenneson stand next to a<br />
poster that was presented by Budnick and Kenneson at a recent research conference dealing with<br />
science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Budnick and Kenneson won second place for<br />
their presentation. Ross took second place for his mathematics talk dealing with graph theory.<br />
STEM students<br />
present findings<br />
The <strong>Wayland</strong> <strong>Baptist</strong> <strong>University</strong><br />
School of Mathematics and Sciences<br />
participated in the STEM (science,<br />
technology, engineering and mathematics)<br />
conference at Midland<br />
College on Oct. 5-6 in Midland. Two<br />
presentations from <strong>Wayland</strong> students<br />
were awarded second place in<br />
their categories.<br />
Rick Ross, a senior from Muncy,<br />
Ind., received second place for<br />
his mathematics talk concerning a<br />
graph theory problem on which he<br />
is preparing an honors thesis.<br />
Hailey Budnick, a senior from<br />
Missouri City, and Jessica Kenneson,<br />
a junior from Wiggins, Colo., presented<br />
a poster on their research<br />
project identifying an alternative and<br />
more cost effective way to identify<br />
and analyze enzymes.<br />
Dr. Robert Moore, assistant<br />
professor of chemistry, said their<br />
specific research deals with analyzing<br />
an enzyme that plays a role in<br />
the tuberculosis organism’s ability<br />
to adapt and mutate. However, he<br />
feels their discovery of an alternative<br />
method could be hugely beneficial<br />
to small schools with tight research<br />
budgets.<br />
Scholarship started<br />
to honor O.T. Ryan<br />
The <strong>Wayland</strong> <strong>Baptist</strong> <strong>University</strong><br />
Office of Development announced<br />
that an endowed scholarship fund<br />
has been established in honor of the<br />
late longtime Plainview High School<br />
band director O.T. Ryan and his wife,<br />
Pat.
According to Executive Director of the<br />
Office of Institutional Advancement Mike<br />
Melcher, the fund is a way to honor the<br />
enormous impact the Ryans have had on<br />
Plainview and the surrounding area, as well as<br />
the band director’s role in establishing what is<br />
now a state-record 75 consecutive First Division<br />
ratings in the annual <strong>University</strong> Scholastic<br />
League marching festival.<br />
Individuals who want to contribute to the<br />
fund may do so in a variety of ways. Melcher<br />
explained that people can come by the Advancement<br />
office, located at 810 Utica, and<br />
donate either through cash or with a check<br />
— simply memo the check as going to the<br />
O.T. and Pat Ryan Scholarship. Additionally,<br />
individuals may donate by going to the <strong>Wayland</strong><br />
<strong>Baptist</strong> <strong>University</strong> website, www.wbu.edu,<br />
and clicking on the yellow Give Now icon on<br />
the left side of the site. That will take them to<br />
the giving page where they can select “Other<br />
Designated Areas” from a drop-down menu<br />
and designate the donation for the O.T. and<br />
Pat Ryan Scholarship. The site then will allow<br />
them to enter the appropriate credit card<br />
information.<br />
Music school honors<br />
All-Steinway supporters<br />
The School of Music continues to move<br />
forward with its All-Steinway Initiative, raising<br />
money to replace every piano on campus with<br />
a Steinway, Boston or Essex model.<br />
As part of Phase II of the four-phase project,<br />
longtime Plainview attorney Bill LaFont<br />
and his wife, Peggy, provided a $50,000<br />
challenge gift to help raise money for the new<br />
Steinway pianos. The gift was given in honor<br />
of Dr. Ann Stutes, Dean of the School of Music.<br />
In recognition for their support of the<br />
All-Steinway Initiative, the LaFonts were honored<br />
at a reception on Sept. 27.<br />
For information on giving to the All-Steinway<br />
initiative, contact the School of Music at<br />
806-291-1076.<br />
Sally, Cary Eaves recognized<br />
for contributions to WBU<br />
Representatives from <strong>Wayland</strong><br />
<strong>Baptist</strong> <strong>University</strong> attended<br />
the 17th annual National<br />
Philanthropy Day Awards Luncheon<br />
at the Lubbock Country<br />
Club in November, where<br />
longtime <strong>Wayland</strong> supporters<br />
Cary and Sally Eaves were recognized<br />
for their contributions<br />
to and support of the school<br />
and its mission.<br />
In a prepared statement<br />
that was read in recognition of<br />
the Eaves, university officials<br />
said, “<strong>Wayland</strong> <strong>Baptist</strong> <strong>University</strong><br />
has no better friends and<br />
supporters than Cary and Sally<br />
Eaves. They are a complete<br />
package as they generously<br />
volunteer their time, share<br />
their resources and truly<br />
support every aspect of the<br />
university.”<br />
A longtime, Plainview busi-<br />
nessman, Cary, who graduated<br />
from West Texas A&M, is a<br />
partner in the Morgan-Eaves<br />
Agency. Sally, who graduated<br />
from <strong>Wayland</strong> in 1975,<br />
currently serves as a member<br />
of the WBU Board of Trustees.<br />
She is also president of the<br />
<strong>Association</strong> of Former Students<br />
and a charter member of<br />
The Sally Society, a women’s<br />
philanthropy group at <strong>Wayland</strong>.<br />
“Every university should be<br />
so fortunate to have the energy<br />
and enthusiasm of Cary and<br />
Sally Eaves working on their<br />
behalf. For their loyal and committed<br />
efforts, <strong>Wayland</strong> <strong>Baptist</strong><br />
<strong>University</strong> is honored to recognize<br />
this humble, gracious<br />
couple for their extraordinary,<br />
philanthropic spirit.”<br />
footprints 35
Class notes<br />
In Loving<br />
Memory<br />
Christian love and sympathy is<br />
extended to the family and friends<br />
to these members of the <strong>Wayland</strong><br />
family.<br />
Cecelia Gibson: Died Oct.<br />
9, <strong>2012</strong>, in Lubbock, at age<br />
81. She was the wife of DR.<br />
JOHN S. “JACK” GIBSON,<br />
former speech and theater<br />
professor at <strong>Wayland</strong>. She<br />
taught school in Lubbock, Plainview<br />
and Arlington for more<br />
than 30 years before retiring<br />
in 1993. Surviving are her husband<br />
of more than 60 years,<br />
a son, a daughter, a sister and<br />
two grandchildren. (5713 68th<br />
St, Lubbock, TX 79424)<br />
Violet Laverne Guess Mayfield:<br />
Died Sept. 11, <strong>2012</strong>,<br />
in Rowlett, Texas, at age 93.<br />
She was the mother of DR.<br />
ARCH MAYFIELD, BA’72,<br />
a member of the English<br />
faculty in the School of<br />
Languages and Literature at<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong> for 40 years and his<br />
wife, EDY LOU WILKENS<br />
MAYFIELD, BA’72, a teacher<br />
at Estacado Junior High.<br />
She is also survived by two<br />
daughters, two brothers and<br />
36 footprints<br />
three grandchildren. (mayfielda@wbu.edu)<br />
DR. MARVIN EMBRY<br />
TATE JR.: Died Nov. 16,<br />
<strong>2012</strong>, in Louisville, Ky., at age<br />
87. After teaching at <strong>Wayland</strong><br />
in the 1950s, he was professor<br />
of Old Testament interpretation<br />
at Southern Seminary<br />
from 1960 until 1995, and<br />
then a senior professor until<br />
2003. Surviving are his wife of<br />
55 years, Julia, four daughters,<br />
a son and five grandchildren.<br />
(3212 Five Oaks Place, Louisville,<br />
KY 40207)<br />
Dora Maye Todd: Died Nov.<br />
25, <strong>2012</strong>, in Allen, Texas, at<br />
age 90. She was the mother<br />
of DR. JIM TODD, Dean<br />
of the School of Education<br />
at <strong>Wayland</strong>, and was a pastor’s<br />
wife. Also surviving are two<br />
daughters, seven grandchildren<br />
and two great-grandchildren.<br />
(toddj@wbu.edu)<br />
COL. (RT.) ROBERT Mc-<br />
CLELLAN WRIGHT: Died<br />
June 10, <strong>2012</strong>, in Albuquerque,<br />
N.M., at age 67. He was<br />
a longtime employee at the<br />
Albuquerque campus and was<br />
instrumental in opening and<br />
running the Kirtland Air Force<br />
Base office for the last decade.<br />
Surviving are his wife, Marcia,<br />
three stepsons, two stepdaughters,<br />
two brothers, two sisters<br />
and several grandchildren.<br />
1940s<br />
W.G. “BILL’ TUDOR,<br />
EX’45: Died Aug. 28, <strong>2012</strong>, in<br />
Dallas, at age 86. A U.S. Navy<br />
veteran, he was a Certified<br />
Public Accountant for more<br />
than 50 years. He received a<br />
Ph.D. in history from Texas<br />
Christian <strong>University</strong> and<br />
enjoyed writing and teaching.<br />
Surviving are Mary, his wife<br />
of 63 years; a daughter, a son,<br />
two sisters, six grandchildren<br />
and five grandchildren. (9625<br />
Brentgate Drive, Dallas 75238-<br />
1813)<br />
1950s<br />
LAURA BROOKS HAR-<br />
RIS, BA’53: Died Sept. 1,<br />
<strong>2012</strong>, in Lawton, Okla., at age<br />
81. She taught children with<br />
learning disabilities and also<br />
was a Realtor. She enjoyed<br />
working with international<br />
students at <strong>Wayland</strong>. Surviving<br />
are her husband, REED<br />
HARRIS, BA’56, former<br />
advancement officer and<br />
<strong>Alumni</strong> Director at <strong>Wayland</strong>; a<br />
daughter, CINDY HARRIS<br />
ADAY, BA’79, ministry assistant<br />
at First <strong>Baptist</strong> Church<br />
of Lawton; son-in-law, PHIL<br />
ADAY, BS’76, a dentist, and<br />
a brother and two grandsons.<br />
(Cindy and Phil: 1602 NE<br />
45th, Lawton, OK 73507;<br />
pcaday@sbcglobal.net)<br />
HENRY BRUCE RICH<br />
JR., BA’54: Died Sept. 12,<br />
<strong>2012</strong>, in Amarillo, at age<br />
85. He served as a pastor in<br />
Oregon and later as a teacher<br />
and principal and then had<br />
a career with a subsidiary<br />
of IBM. He also served as a<br />
chaplain in Albuquerque, N.M.<br />
Surviving are three daughters,<br />
a son, eight grandchildren and<br />
eight great-grandchildren. The<br />
family suggests memorials to<br />
the Missions Center, <strong>Wayland</strong><br />
<strong>Baptist</strong> <strong>University</strong>, Box 1291,<br />
Plainview, TX. 79072.<br />
2000s<br />
KATHY GIVENS, MA’09:<br />
Died Sept. 14, <strong>2012</strong>, in Crosbyton,<br />
Texas, at age 61. She<br />
taught English at Crosbyton<br />
High School and was a guidance<br />
counselor with the Ralls<br />
and Lorenzo school districts<br />
and recently had headed up<br />
a new division at the Crosby<br />
County Juvenile Probation<br />
Department as the Youth Services<br />
Coordinator. Surviving<br />
are her husband Mickey, two<br />
sons, a daughter, a brother and<br />
two granddaughters. (114 RR<br />
2, Crosbyton, TX 79322)<br />
LISA JACOBS, BSOE’01:<br />
Died Oct. 25, <strong>2012</strong>, in Lubbock<br />
at age 49. She was a Substance<br />
Abuse Counselor at the<br />
Serenity Center in Plainview.<br />
Surviving are a daughter, her<br />
mother, father and stepfather.
Faculty/Staff<br />
Trustees<br />
Donors/Friends<br />
LAURA BRANDENBURG,<br />
assistant professor of English,<br />
recently received her Ph.D.<br />
in Technical Communication<br />
and Rhetoric from Texas Tech<br />
<strong>University</strong>. She earned her<br />
bachelor’s degree in English<br />
and journalism from Angelo<br />
State <strong>University</strong> and her master’s<br />
degree in English, with an<br />
emphasis in linguistics, from<br />
Texas Tech. Her dissertation<br />
research used think-aloud<br />
protocol and reader-response<br />
theory as a framework for<br />
understanding how writers<br />
and readers co-construct the<br />
writer’s ethos – the essence of<br />
the writer’s character as well<br />
as her credibility or expertise.<br />
Her husband, Howell, is an<br />
account manager at Airgas for<br />
the West Texas region. (lbrandenburg@wbu.edu)<br />
DEBBIE PRICE, administrative<br />
assistant in the<br />
School of Education, and her<br />
husband Mike welcomed a<br />
new grandson, Weston Daniel<br />
Price, on Oct. 19 in St. John’s<br />
Ga., weighing 7 pounds, 14<br />
ounces and measuring 20 ¾<br />
inches. He is the son of Micah<br />
and Laura Price and has two<br />
brothers, Jaxon, 7, and Gavin,<br />
5.<br />
1960s<br />
DR. LEE BAGGETT,<br />
BA’64, and his wife Ruthie,<br />
have been doing missionary<br />
work in Mexico for many<br />
years. He is a physician who<br />
operates Hands in Service<br />
Ministries. His Guadalajara-based<br />
Manos Hermanas is<br />
currently distributing 45 tons<br />
of a lentil-based supplement<br />
through feeding projects with<br />
some 250 NGOs. Manos<br />
Hermanas will also distribute<br />
about 2,000 heavy, family-size<br />
blankets in the highlands<br />
of central Mexico to help<br />
needy people to sleep warmer<br />
this Christmas. “We open<br />
a friendship with them and<br />
share God’s love for them,”<br />
said Lee. He and Ruthie, a<br />
Baylor graduate, attended the<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong> <strong>Alumni</strong> and Friends<br />
Dinner at the Texas <strong>Baptist</strong><br />
Convention in Corpus Christi<br />
in October. Their daughter,<br />
Dhana, and her husband Eric<br />
Cox have four children. (3005<br />
Shores Court, Amarillo, TX<br />
79109; lbaggett1@gmail.com).<br />
1970s<br />
SHELTON H. RIGGINS,<br />
BS’77, retired in July as a<br />
Command Sgt. Major with<br />
the U.S. Army after more than<br />
35 years of service. Riggins<br />
served in several posts in the<br />
United States as well as in<br />
Kosovo. He was employed<br />
as a military technician for<br />
26 years. He received many<br />
medals and honors, including<br />
the Meritorious Service<br />
Medal with 3 Bronze Oak<br />
Leaf Clusters. Shelton writes:<br />
“Coach Bill Hardage was an<br />
inspiration in my life. I talked<br />
with him often after I graduated.<br />
My track teammates were<br />
great guys that included Jack<br />
Cheney, Ron Melnichuk, Cliff<br />
Addison, Stanley Chatman,<br />
Herman Evans and Jack Gilmore.<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong> was a good experience<br />
for me. It allowed me to<br />
grow up, get a good education<br />
and make some good friends.”<br />
He lives in Bryan. He and his<br />
wife Tracy have three children.<br />
(rigrig@aol.com)<br />
1980s<br />
SHERMAN ATEN, EX’85,<br />
and four other men had the<br />
opportunity to share Christ<br />
through testimony and song<br />
to thousands of Muslims in<br />
Lahore, Pakistan in March and<br />
April, participating in a Good<br />
Friday service with Christians<br />
there before returning home.<br />
“Women are not yet participating<br />
in these events, so Tammy<br />
was here praying,” Sherman<br />
wrote of his wife, TAMMY<br />
PAYNE ATEN, BM’85. The<br />
Atens, who have been in the<br />
evangelistic music ministry for<br />
more than 20 years, have a son<br />
and a daughter. (atenmin@<br />
juno.com; Aten Ministries,<br />
P.O. Box 5925, Granbury, TX<br />
76049; www.a10s.org)<br />
DR. MICHAEL DAVIS,<br />
BA’87 with Honors, was<br />
inducted into the Pampa<br />
High School Hall of Fame in<br />
September, addressing the student<br />
body in an assembly and<br />
later speaking at a community<br />
luncheon. He is the Nuclear<br />
Training Policy & Compliance<br />
Manager at the Nevada Test<br />
Site, near Las Vegas, where he<br />
currently works for National<br />
Security Technologies, LLC.<br />
Dr. Davis has received the<br />
Distinguished Young <strong>Alumni</strong><br />
Award in 1997, the Distinguished<br />
Benefactor Award at<br />
Homecoming 2011 and last<br />
April became the youngest<br />
recipient of the Keeper of<br />
the Flame, an honor given to<br />
those who have contributed<br />
$100,000 or more to <strong>Wayland</strong>.<br />
footprints 37
Gifts that<br />
Keep on Giving<br />
Want to really make an impact for a<br />
special occasion or to remember a<br />
lost loved one? Consider memorials<br />
and honorariums to <strong>Wayland</strong>!<br />
He has been the driving force<br />
for four endowed scholarships<br />
and has supported many other<br />
projects at <strong>Wayland</strong>. (mikedavis4@cox.net)<br />
DR. KIRBY KENNEDY,<br />
BA’80, plans to start home<br />
dialysis soon as he awaits a<br />
possible kidney transplant<br />
after suffering from kidney<br />
issues most of his life. “I am a<br />
blood type B+ so anyone with<br />
Type O or B (the Rh factor<br />
does not matter) can begin the<br />
process to see if they can be<br />
a donor,” Kirby writes. When<br />
he informed his church – First<br />
<strong>Baptist</strong> of Palatka, Fla. where<br />
he is senior pastor – he received<br />
encouragement from a<br />
sermon “Where is God When<br />
It Hurts” from Habakkuk<br />
3:17-19. CINDY GASAWAY<br />
DUNSMOOR, BA’81, has<br />
set up a Facebook page event<br />
called “Prayer for Kirby.”<br />
Folks can go to that open<br />
event and commit to pray at<br />
noon daily during December,<br />
he says. Kirby and his wife<br />
Debbie have two daughters.<br />
(kirbykennedy@yahoo.com)<br />
LARRY LANDERS, BS’81,<br />
38 footprints<br />
who has been a salesman for<br />
Contractors Wholesale in<br />
Amarillo, has been diagnosed<br />
with Early Onset Alzheimer’s.<br />
His wife, JO ELYN TARV-<br />
ER LANDERS, BS’82, is<br />
the education secretary at First<br />
<strong>Baptist</strong> Church. Their oldest<br />
daughter, Allison, graduated<br />
from WTAMU with a degree<br />
in Special Education on Dec.<br />
14. Their youngest daughter,<br />
Stephanie, attends nursing<br />
school at Amarillo College.<br />
Both girls assist with Larry’s<br />
care. (4122 Tucson, Amarillo,<br />
TX 79109; joelyn@firstamarillo.org.<br />
1990s<br />
RONNIE ARRINGTON,<br />
BBA’96, and her husband<br />
JOEL ARRINGTON, a<br />
current online student, moved<br />
to Borger in July 2011. Joel is<br />
Pastor to Children and Families<br />
at First <strong>Baptist</strong> Church<br />
and Ronnie assists with<br />
ministry as well as substitutes<br />
in the schools. They have four<br />
children – Hannah, Malachi,<br />
Kestra and Tyler. (103<br />
Davenport, Borger, TX 79007;<br />
arringtonmom@yahoo.com;<br />
joel@firstborger.com)<br />
DR. SHANE DAVIDSON,<br />
MBA’96, is new Vice President<br />
for Enrollment Services<br />
at the <strong>University</strong> of Evansville<br />
in Indiana. A former financial<br />
aid director at <strong>Wayland</strong>, he<br />
has been Vice President for<br />
Enrollment and Marketing at<br />
Hardin-Simmons <strong>University</strong><br />
the past 15 years. He is also<br />
was elected in May to the<br />
Abilene school board. He and<br />
his wife, AMY COATNEY<br />
DAVIDSON, MEd’97, who<br />
has been an elementary school<br />
teacher since 2000, have two<br />
sons.<br />
PATTI GILBERT-BON-<br />
NER, BSOE’96, MBA’06<br />
from the Amarillo campus,<br />
is a management analyst for<br />
DCMA Bell Helicopter Textron<br />
in Amarillo. She also has<br />
a Master of Education from<br />
Strayer <strong>University</strong> and a Doctor<br />
of Education degree from<br />
Argosy <strong>University</strong>. She also is<br />
a volunteer for several organizations<br />
and peer reviewer for<br />
several professional journals.<br />
(Patti.Gilbert-Bonner@dcma.<br />
mil)<br />
MANDI GRIFFIN LEWIS,<br />
BS’98, is an accountant for<br />
the Sherman Independent<br />
School District. She and her<br />
husband, Eric, who is studying<br />
to be a radiology technician<br />
after teaching agriculture for<br />
seven years, have a 4-year-old<br />
son, Hadley Max. (1403 S.<br />
Travis, Sherman, TX 75090;<br />
mandilewis1976@gmail.com)<br />
JOSEPH MULLER II,<br />
AAS, BSOE’99 from the<br />
Wichita Falls campus, is the<br />
new business administrator for<br />
the Oriskany Central School<br />
District in Oriskany, N.Y. He<br />
will be directly responsible<br />
for managing the district’s $13<br />
million budget, as well as serving<br />
as the Board of Education<br />
clerk, district purchasing agent<br />
and records management<br />
officer. Muller most recently<br />
served as the director of district<br />
operations and safety for<br />
the Utica City School District.<br />
Prior to that he worked as<br />
a safety coordinator for the<br />
Oneida-Herkimer-Madison<br />
BOCES in New Hartford. A<br />
U.S. Air Force veteran, he and<br />
his wife Lori have three high<br />
school-aged children and live<br />
in Taberg. (4354 Sheehan Rd,<br />
Taberg, NY 13471)<br />
KYLE REESE, BA’93, is<br />
in his sixth year as pastor of<br />
Hendricks Avenue <strong>Baptist</strong> in<br />
Jacksonville, Fla. and is serving<br />
on the search committee for<br />
a new executive coordinator<br />
of the Cooperative <strong>Baptist</strong><br />
Fellowship. He and his wife,<br />
AMY GRISSOM REESE,<br />
EX’94, have three children –<br />
Peyton, 15; Hannah, 13; and
Wyatt, 11. ( 2451 Sedgewick<br />
Place, Jacksonville, FL 32217;<br />
kyle@habchurch.com)<br />
ANDY WEISS, BSOE’91<br />
from the Hawaii campus,<br />
writes that “A good friend,<br />
who also was the production<br />
engineer for the VP8 Image<br />
Analyzer in the 1970s, opened<br />
a Shroud of Turin museum<br />
in Alamogordo, N.M., and<br />
asked me to create a website<br />
in 2009, ShroudNM.com.<br />
When the Shroud is processed<br />
through the VP8, which makes<br />
brightness maps, the image on<br />
the Shroud displayed is 3-dimensional.<br />
This experience of<br />
being the webmaster and my<br />
exposure to the Shroud and its<br />
scientific study was the latest<br />
in my conversion process. This<br />
experience helped cause me to<br />
re-evaluate what many people<br />
believe is my call to become<br />
a deacon in the Catholic<br />
Church. I have started my<br />
second of four years in the<br />
program and if I am chosen<br />
to finish, I will be ordained<br />
in 2015.” A retired Air Force<br />
veteran, Andy says he enjoyed<br />
his Old Testament classes with<br />
Dr. John Brangenberg and<br />
Dave Boatman for many of<br />
his business classes as he completed<br />
his degree in Hawaii.<br />
(melekali@msn.com)<br />
TOM WHITE JR.,<br />
BSOE’98, from the Wichita<br />
Falls campus, is the new director<br />
for the Medical Laboratory<br />
Technician program at Volunteer<br />
State Community College<br />
in Gallatin, Tenn. He was<br />
previously clinical laboratory<br />
manager at McConnell Air<br />
Force Base in Kansas. Prior<br />
to that, he was education program<br />
director at McConnell.<br />
2000s<br />
BRETT COX, EX’05,<br />
and RITA WILEY COX,<br />
MA ’09, are parents of twin<br />
boys, Chaucer (5 pounds, 6<br />
ounces) and Miles (4 pounds,<br />
3 ounces) who were born June<br />
17, <strong>2012</strong>, in Lubbock. Brett is<br />
manager of Harral Auditorium<br />
and Rita teaches at Floydada<br />
High School. Proud grandparents<br />
are DEBBIE WILEY,<br />
MAR’03, the Theological<br />
Research and Writing Lab<br />
Director in the WBU School<br />
of Religion, and her husband<br />
Buddy. (coxb@wbu.edu;<br />
wileyd@wbu.edu)<br />
BRANDON DOUGLAS,<br />
BA’06, recently completed his<br />
Master of Education degree<br />
in Educational Leadership and<br />
Policy Study from the <strong>University</strong><br />
of Texas at Arlington.<br />
He teaches Social Studies at<br />
Houston School in Plainview.<br />
While working on his degree,<br />
Brandon did his internship<br />
hours at Houston School and<br />
has passed all necessary state<br />
exams and holds the principal<br />
certification for the State<br />
of Texas. He hopes to work<br />
as an assistant principal and<br />
eventually a principal in an<br />
Alternative Education setting.<br />
(brandon.douglas@plainview.<br />
k12.tx.us)<br />
LUPE GUTIERREZ,<br />
BSOE’02, MA’11, recently<br />
was promoted to the rank<br />
of major and changed duty<br />
stations from Incirlik Air Base,<br />
Turkey, to Ramstein Air Base,<br />
Germany.<br />
Gutierrez was<br />
commissioned<br />
in June 2002<br />
via the Air<br />
Force Officer<br />
Training<br />
School and became a munitions<br />
maintenance officer. He<br />
has deployed in support of<br />
Iraqi Freedom and Enduring<br />
Freedom and his medals<br />
include the meritorious and<br />
commendation medals as well<br />
as the NATO medal. He and<br />
his wife, Georgia, have two<br />
sons.<br />
APRIL WALKUP, BA’05<br />
from the Albuquerque campus,<br />
recently retired after 30<br />
years as a police officer. She is<br />
now a constable in Huntingdon,<br />
Pa., for the Commonwealth<br />
of Pennsylvania. Her<br />
daughter, Amber Hopkins, is a<br />
model in Las Vegas, Nev. April<br />
is spending her retirement<br />
traveling and volunteering.<br />
(aprilrain59@yahoo.com)<br />
REBEKAH WILKINS-PE-<br />
PITON, BA’01, has been<br />
named executive director of<br />
the St. Lawrence County Arts<br />
Council in Watertown, N.Y.<br />
An artist working in a variety<br />
of mediums as well as an<br />
art educator, she taught high<br />
school visual arts in Colorado<br />
where she developed Pagosa<br />
Springs’ Fine Arts Magnet<br />
Academy and was Public Relations<br />
and Marketing Director<br />
for Square Top Repertory<br />
Theatre. She also spent two<br />
years in the Peace Corps in<br />
Southeast Asia. Her work has<br />
been in galleries throughout<br />
the U.S. Her book Broken<br />
Cycles, a conversation between<br />
her photography and the<br />
poetry of Damon Falke, was<br />
published by Shechem Press<br />
in 2007. She and her husband,<br />
CHARLIE PEPITON,<br />
BA’01, live in Canton, N.Y.<br />
footprints 39
2010s<br />
LANCE HEINEN, BA’12,<br />
accepted a graduate assistant<br />
position at West Virginia Wesleyan<br />
College in Buckhannon,<br />
W. Va. as Outdoor Recreation<br />
Director. A former President’s<br />
Ambassador, Lance writes: “In<br />
short, my job now involves<br />
me being paid to go skydiving,<br />
whitewater rafting, hiking,<br />
skiing, etc. with students...not<br />
a bad gig at all!”<br />
40 footprints<br />
LORNA HASTINGS<br />
LYDICK, a junior at <strong>Wayland</strong><br />
and KENNY LYDICK,<br />
BA’12, are parents of a son,<br />
Keenan Tate, born Dec. 5,<br />
<strong>2012</strong>, in Lubbock weighing<br />
6 pounds, 13 ounces. Lorna,<br />
who was named Freshman<br />
The Price is Right!<br />
Linda Pickens Price sits in front of the<br />
lockers in the newly remodeled Flying<br />
Queens lockerroom. Price, a former Flying<br />
Queen All-American, donated $25,000 to<br />
renovate the players’ facility. The renovation<br />
included new leather couches, a flat screen<br />
TV, a computer station, new lockers and<br />
more.<br />
of the Year in 2011, formerly<br />
worked in Admissions and<br />
Kenny is an intern for <strong>Baptist</strong><br />
Student Ministries. (lydickk@<br />
wbu.edu)<br />
JOSEPH SLEDGE, MA’12,<br />
and his wife Elizabeth welcomed<br />
their first child, Eliana<br />
Ailene, born Sept. 10, <strong>2012</strong>, in<br />
Lubbock, weighing 7 pounds,<br />
15 ounces and measuring 22<br />
¼ inches. Joseph, who teaches<br />
at Terra Vista Middle School<br />
in the Frenship (Lubbock area)<br />
district, also just completed his<br />
masters in history last summer.<br />
His wife is finishing he final<br />
year at Texas Tech Medical<br />
School. (5301 51st St., Apt G3,<br />
Lubbock 79414; jsledge42@<br />
gmail.com)
Students enjoy newly renovated cafeteria<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong> <strong>Baptist</strong> <strong>University</strong> students<br />
are enjoying their new-look cafeteria.<br />
According to Vice President of Enrollment<br />
Management Dr. Claude Lusk,<br />
the university opened the cafeteria<br />
while renovation work continued on the<br />
rest of the university center.<br />
“All along the order of priority was<br />
cafeteria first, (then) first floor, second<br />
floor and basement (Pete’s Place)<br />
following that,” Lusk said.<br />
Renovations, which began over the<br />
summer, forced the complete closure<br />
of the university center and all the offices<br />
and functions associated with the<br />
building were moved to different places<br />
on campus. The bookstore and student<br />
services were moved to McDonald<br />
Hall while food services were moved<br />
to the Laney Center. Lusk pointed out<br />
that Sodexo, <strong>Wayland</strong>’s food services<br />
contractor, spent the first month of the<br />
semester cooking food in a makeshift<br />
kitchen and then transporting it to the<br />
Laney Center where tables were set<br />
up on the gymnasium floor for the<br />
students.<br />
Let Us Hear From You!<br />
Campus attended<br />
Name ____________________<br />
Class ____________________<br />
Degree or EX ____________<br />
Address<br />
Phone _____________<br />
E-mail ___________________________<br />
Spouse ________________<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong> alum?<br />
Spouse’s occupation<br />
Children (birthdates)<br />
Total Grandchildren ______ News for Footprints _____<br />
___________________________________________________<br />
___________________________________________________<br />
Lusk said that everyone associated<br />
with the university understood that<br />
there would be some inconveniences<br />
related to the renovation work. However,<br />
he continued, there comes a point<br />
where a sense of normalcy needs to<br />
return and he and others began to<br />
realize that time was approaching.<br />
“We’ve got to finish this cafeteria,”<br />
he concluded.<br />
With that thought in mind, Lusk<br />
___________________________________________________<br />
___________________________________________________<br />
___________________________________________________<br />
___________________________________________________<br />
Please complete and return to:<br />
said, all efforts were made over a span<br />
of several weeks to get the cafeteria<br />
through the body of inspections that<br />
were required and to get the rest of<br />
the worksite moved to the point that<br />
people could safely move into and out<br />
of the UC. Thanks to the cooperation<br />
and determination of <strong>Wayland</strong> staff,<br />
construction contractors and representatives<br />
from the city, the goal was met,<br />
he said.<br />
<strong>Alumni</strong> Services, 1900 W. 7th, CMB 437<br />
Plainview, TX 79072<br />
E-mail to: andrewsd@wbu.edu or pettyj@wbu.edu<br />
Photographs may appear in magazine, depending on photo quality<br />
and/or available space. Photos are not returned. If sending digital photo<br />
files, please send at least 300 dpi resolution at regular size. Smaller sizes<br />
may not reproduce well.<br />
The editor reserves the right to edit all information submitted.
1900 West Seventh Street, CMB 1291<br />
Plainview, Texas 79072-6998<br />
Address Service Requested<br />
A New Hangout<br />
The <strong>Wayland</strong> <strong>Baptist</strong> <strong>University</strong> President’s Ambassadors hang<br />
out in the newly remodeled Pete’s Place in the basement of the<br />
<strong>University</strong> Center. The new coffee-shop inspired space contains<br />
a short-order grill, performance stage with lights and sound, and<br />
serves Starbucks products.<br />
Non-Profit Org.<br />
U.S. Postage<br />
PAID<br />
Craftsman<br />
Printers, Inc.<br />
Stay in touch<br />
with <strong>Wayland</strong>!<br />
The <strong>Association</strong> of<br />
Former Students of<br />
<strong>Wayland</strong> <strong>Baptist</strong><br />
<strong>University</strong><br />
n Call us at<br />
806-291-3600<br />
n Contact us by<br />
e-mail at<br />
andrewsd@wbu.edu<br />
or pettyj@wbu.edu<br />
for Class Notes,<br />
address changes,<br />
chapter information