Welcome Back Class of 1964
by Sandra Blumanhourst, Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore Campus, Alumni Office
The sun was beaming, the birds were chirping, and the air was filled with anticipation as we eagerly awaited the arrival of thirteen members of the Asbury Theological Seminary Class of 1964 and ten spouses. These Golden Graduates joined us for a special reunion May 23-24, 2014, on the Wilmore Campus. At registration, they were given programs which included their bios next to their yearbook picture. A few members brought class pictures and yearbooks from their days here. It was a time of reminiscing about professors, classes, and assignments.
The Golden Graduates and their spouses were honored with meals with President Timothy C. Tennent, and Vice-Presidents Mr. Jay Mansur and Dr. Marilyn Elliott. The weekend included driving and walking tours of the expanding Wilmore campus, a class photograph, and the Commencement Concert on Friday evening. The crest of the weekend was when the Golden Graduates slipped on the golden robes and marched into commencement with the Class of 2014.
During our walking tour, the Golden’s shared many fond memories with me. While in Dr. Robert E. Coleman’s class, they were required to memorize 100 selected verse of Scripture. They recited it for Dr. Coleman and then had an exam on the verses. Another beloved professor of theirs was Herbert G. Livingston. Professor Livingston would take his students on field trips to Bethel Academy. Bethel Academy was founded about four miles from Wilmore in 1790 by Francis Asbury. Students would take a brick from the old Bethel Academy with them when they left and many of these Golden Graduates still have their brick.
This years Golden Graduates included two women and eleven men who journeyed back to Wilmore. These men and women have served in the Quaker, Wesleyan, Nazarene, Free Methodist, and United Methodist churches and have pastored all across the United States and the world. One served as an Army chaplain for twenty-seven years. Another planted over 150 churches in Africa. One has spent years pastoring on a Navajo Indian Reservation. Together, they worked in missions in Haiti, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Colombia, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Chile, Brazil, Paraguay, Guatemala, El Salvador, India, Nepal, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Macedonia in Eastern Europe, Greece, Ukraine, Russia, Siberia, Kenya, Burundi, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, and Ghana. They have served on faculty at colleges, universities and seminaries. They have published books in Kirundi and English, and served on staffs of publishing companies.
As I listened to the stories of the Class of 1964’s days at the Seminary and in the years since they departed to share the whole Bible with the whole world, I was reminded of the legacy of which these women and men are a part of and the mantle which they pass on to those of us in the class of 2014. John Wesley Hughes, founder of Asbury College, dreamed the College (now University) would be a worthy successor of Bethel Academy. Asbury Theological Seminary was then birthed from Asbury College under the leadership of Henry Clay Morrison. Morrison wrote in The Pentecostal Herald in April of 1923, “The one great subject which looms up in my mind like a mountain peak on a level plain is the urgent need of a great school of theology based upon the Bible….A school that will send out a host of men wholly consecrated, spirit-filled and on fire with zeal to win lost souls.” These women and men have fulfilled the dreams of Hughes and Morrison. Now, they serve as a part of my great cloud of witnesses as I part from Asbury for pastoral ministry. They are great witnesses as they have thrown off everything that hinders and have run with perseverance the race marked out for them, always fixing their eyes on Jesus.
We arrived at Asbury in 1964. Our lives were forever changed. Praise God!
Can we get a list of the names please? Didn’t see it anywhere.