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Mortimer to the rescue…

College-related Publications, Wheaton College Archives

Mortimer B. LaneThe visitor to the second floor of Buswell Memorial Library will spy a sign near the drinking fountain designating an alcove in a short hallway as “Mortimer B. Lane.” Cornered in the quiet byway are the offices of retired professors Gerald Hawthorne and Beatrice Batson. However, before Lane was a place he was a person, hired in 1937 to teach political science and economics. An admirable instructor, he enjoyed relationships beyond the classroom. Dr. Joseph MacKnight (’43) fondly remembers in an oral interview when Lane and his wife, Mary, opened their spacious dining room every Sunday evening, serving cold meats and refreshments to Wheaton College students strolling home from church. MacKnight’s classmate, Billy Graham, also recalls:

As for my homesickness, the Lane family soon came to my rescue. Dr. Mortimer B. Lane taught courses in government and economics at the college. Before that, when he was in government service, he and his wife and their seven children lived in Switzerland. Quite well-off, they entertained students in their large, comfortable Victorian home near the campus. They welcomed me as one of their own. Early on Sunday mornings, as Plymouth Brethren, they hosted a small local assembly in their house. I began to attend that quiet communion service with students from other churches.

As a Brethren adherent accustomed to restrained worship, Lane sent a friendly letter in 1939 to then-president Dr. J. Oliver Buswell, requesting that certain matters be observed during chapel services. Specifically, he objected to 1) prize giving; 2) concerts, unless dedicated to sacred music; 3) frivolous announcements; and 4) clapping. As well, he disliked the presence of “aesthetic decorations” such as candles, widely used by literary societies, since these trappings are used by the Roman Catholic Church to “appeal to the senses instead of to the mind and heart.” Buswell offers a sensible response:

My own background leads me to enjoy the worship atmosphere of a Gospel tabernacle type of meeting in which enthusiastic music, occasional handclapping, and a good many other informal things have a part in worship. I also enjoy the dignified Protestant service of the old orthodox churches in which a considerable amount of art is employed. I think the aesthetic appeal of music and art cannot correctly be set in antithesis to an appeal to the soul, but may correctly be characterized as an appeal to the soul through the musical and artistic sense the Lord has given us.

Celebrating a fruitful 14-year season of mentoring and hospitality, Mortimer B. Lane resigned in 1951 and relocated with his family to Long Beach, Mississippi. Here they opened “Southern States Bible and Christian Supplies,” selling and distributing scripture, Sunday School material, hymnbooks and recordings. Responding to Lane’s departure, Dr. Edman, fourth president of Wheaton College, expressed “deep regret” but also “…sincere appreciation for all that you and your lovely family have meant to us…You have been a pillar of strength to me personally and to all the College, a source of joy and encouragement to many young hearts, especially to those who have come from distant parts of the world.” As a parting gift, Edman and the faculty presented him with a letter case to use for his business. “I don’t need it to remember my associates at Wheaton,” Lane gratefully replies, “but this will make me remember all the more.”

Lane’s Plymouth Brethren assembly, for which he served as an elder, evolved into what is now called Bethany Chapel, situated on the corner of President St. and College Ave. in Wheaton, Illinois. His son, James, later served on the Wheaton College board of trustees.

Samuel Richey Kamm

Collection-related Publications, Special Collections, Wheaton College Archives

Each year the campus hosts the Kamm Lecture, a lecture series that dates back nearly three decades and is named after Dr. S. Richey Kamm, a Wheaton College Professor of History, Political Science, and Social Science. For over thirty years, Kamm had a remarkable impact on the lives of many undergraduates. As a teacher of political theory and constitutional history, he stimulated interest in public affairs and encouraged the study and practice of the law. To honor the legacy of this outstanding professor, friends and former students created the Kamm Memorial Fund to support lectures and law-related symposia on campus. Each year the endowed lecture is given on a subject related to jurisprudence by a prominent scholar or practitioner in the legal field. The first annual Kamm Memorial Symposium was held on May 1-2, 1975.

S. Richey KammSamuel Richey Kamm was born in Whitewater, Wisconsin, on July 12, 1903, and grew up in Montfort. He graduated cum laude from Greenville College in 1925 with a major in History and minors in Biology and Greek. Upon graduating, he embarked on his teaching career which would last until he died in 1973. The institutions at which he taught before going to Wheaton were Wessington Springs Junior College (South Dakota), Seattle Pacific College (Washington), Monmouth Junior College (New Jersey), and Haddon Heights High School (New Jersey). While teaching, Dr. Kamm earned an M.A. in History from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. in American History from the University of Pennsylvania, receiving that honor in 1939. His dissertation entitled, “The Civil War Career of Thomas A. Scott, Vice-President of the Pennsylvania Railroad,” is one illustration of his lifelong interest in railroads.

In 1940, Dr. Kamm began teaching at Wheaton College. By 1943, he had advanced from Assistant Professor to full Professor. His major interest was teaching, especially in Constitutional and Diplomatic American history, but he also found time for numerous other involvements both on and off campus. He was an active member of the Commission on Social Action of the National Association of Evangelicals, and he served as Public School Board President. On campus he served on many committees, among them Educational Policies and Curriculum, and Centennial Historical Projects.

S. Richey KammDuring the 1959-1960 year, Dr. Kamm had the opportunity to be a Fulbright lecturer in Dacca, East Pakistan (Bangladesh). He had the distinguished honor of inaugurating a course in American History at Whitworth College, Seattle Pacific College, and Greenville College. His recognition beyond Wheaton was evidenced by honorary degrees from Greenvile, Seattle Pacific and Whitworth Colleges. He retired from the Wheaton College faculty in May 1973. He was in route to Westmont College (California) to take up duties as a guest professor when he died of a heart attack on August 29, 1973.

Many things can be said of Dr. Kamm. He was an outstanding speaker, a brilliant scholar, and dedicated to all he undertook. Moreover, Dr. Kamm was a favorite classroom teacher and a well-loved man. He inspired many students to combine Christianity with their vocation, and many went into the government service with that in mind. Perhaps the highest tribute can be made by repeating what one of Dr. Kamm’s friends said when he died…

He was one of God’s gentlemen, a rare Christian who fused graciousness and scholarship in a beautiful way.

The Samuel Richey Kamm Papers detail the life and thirty-four year career of a Wheaton College Professor of History, Political Science, and Social Science. The collection also shows his work as a member of the local public school board, which he served as president. The papers are categorized according to biographical, professional and civic involvement. The professional material covers various workshops, committees, seminars and departmental/institutional matters, in addition to material relating to the City of Wheaton and the history of Illinois. Hundreds of file cards, featuring a vast array of research topics such as history, political science, culture, bibliographies, foreign affairs and education, are contained in five boxes and one small metal cabinet. They are available to researchers in the Wheaton College (IL) Archives & Special Collections.

The Serialized Adventures of Roy J. Snell

Alumni, Books, College-related Publications, Wheaton College Archives

Certain writers are famous for one book, such as Harper Lee and To Kill a Mockingbird or Margaret Mitchell and Gone with the Wind. Others generate saleable wordage as easily as sneezing. For instance, Erle Stanley Gardner, creator of unbeatable lawyer Perry Mason, positioned multiple typewriters around his office and simply switched from one manuscript to another. His colleague, English crime novelist John Creasey, wrote 562 novels; and Barbara Cartland published an astonishing 723 Regency romances, aside from several non-fiction titles.

In the world of juvenile fiction, Roy J. Snell wrote somewhat less but lived as large, trekking as hazardously as Ernest Hemingway or Jack London. “Did you ever eat walrus meat?” asked advertisements for Snell’s books. “Did you ever drive a dog team, travel in a boat made of skins, or sleep in a bag?” Gosh, no! replied generations of wide-eyed boys and girls starved for vicarious thrills. But Snell did all this and more, tackling perilous frontiers – deserts, seas and tropics – with gusto and humor. Born in 1880 at Laddonia, Missouri, he moved with his family to northern Illinois where he worked his way through Wheaton Academy and Wheaton College. Graduating in 1906, he enrolled for one year at Harvard Divinity School, then matriculated to Chicago Theological seminary, leaving with his degree in 1916. He received his MA from the University of Chicago in 1917. Moving south he served first as pastor of a small church in rural Illinois, then as principal of the Black Mountain Academy in Evarts, Kentucky, living among the feuding families of the hills. As a missionary he relocated to the Behring Straits, Alaska, where heSnell book cover rode herd, directing 350 Eskimos and 1500 Wales reindeer. At one point he sailed the Arctic Ocean in a boat made of skins. Desiring to write the Great American Novel, Snell settled for adventure and mystery tales, drawing from his vast storehouse of experience. His work began rolling from the presses at breakneck speed as he often composed 2000 words per hour without an outline. He sold his first manuscript, Little White Fox and His Arctic Friends, in 1916. Many of his novels were first serialized in Boy’s Life, American Boy and The Youth’s Companion. During WW I he spent six months in France with the YMCA, serving as a mechanic. Here he met missionary Lucille Ziegler, whom he married in 1920. During their honeymoon he wrote a book. After the war Snell returned to Wheaton, residing with his family at 705 N. Wheaton Ave. For 20 years during the holidays he worked incognito at Marshall Field’s and Carson’s in Chicago, hand-selling his own titles over-the-counter to unsuspecting customers. Further bolstering book and magazine sales, he lectured annually in Detroit schools about Eskimo ways, struggling into a deerskin parka while demonstrating how to throw harpoons, or how to catch a tame monkey gone wild. “A pan of glue is substituted for water,” he explained. “Mr. Monk washes his face with glue. His eyes are stuck fast together and he is easily caught.”

By the end of his life Snell had published 82 novels, with over two million sold. “I also wrote something like a thousand Sunday School stories for the David C. Cook Pub. Co. of Elgin,” he matter-of-factly informs the Wheaton College Alumni Association in a 1959 update. Later that year he suffered chest pains and was taken to DuPage Memorial Hospital in Elmhurst. Four days later his earthly odyssey ended. “I’ve had my day,” Snell once told a reporter, “and got out of it exactly what I wanted.” He was survived by his wife and three sons.

Frank Dyrness

Alumni, Books, College-related Publications, Wheaton College Archives

On March 22, 2010, Dr. Nicholas Perrin, Associate Professor of New Testament, gave his inaugural lecture as holder of the Franklin S. Dyrness Chair of Biblical Studies entitled “The Bible from Westminster to Muenster: The Interface between Theological Confession and Free Historical Inquiry.” Dr. Perrin holds degrees from The Johns Hopkins University (B.A. 1986), Covenant Theological Seminary (M.Div. 1994), and Marquette University (Ph.D. 2001). His dissertation was “Thomas and Tatian: The Relationship between the Gospel of Thomas and the Diatessaron.”

Quarryville Presbyterian Retirement HomeThe history of the Franklin Dyrness Chair dates back nearly a quarter-century to 1987 when the Class of ’27 alumnus and founder of the Quarryville Presbyterian Retirement Community contributed funds toward an endowed chair of biblical studies. C. Hassell Bullock was named the first distinguished chair until his retirement in 2009 after thirty-six years as Professor of Old Testament.

Franklin Seth Dyrness was born May 16, 1905 in Chicago, Illinois to Norwegian-born parents who immigrated to the United States. He attended Wheaton College was president of the Beltionian Literary Society, junior class president and played football; he graduated in 1927. He briefly taught science at the Wheaton Academy and was married to fellow classmate, Dorothy Rasmussen in 1931. They would eventually raise five children. Dyrness also graduated from Westminster Theological Seminary in 1931 and pastored the Chestnut Level Presbyterian Church in Quarryville, PA through 1936. He was then installed as the first pastor of an independent Presbyterian Church in later to become Faith Orthodox Presbyterian‎ Church, and then as Faith Reformed Presbyterian Church. He served as pastor for twenty-six years until 1963. Under this pastorate the church helped organize the Quarryville Bible Conference Association for the purpose of organizing summer camps and conferences for all ages. Dyrness served as its president for five years, and executive director for thirty-seven years. In 1948, he and a group of associates founded the Quarryville Presbyterian Home. Franklin held the position of president from 1948 until he retired in December 1985 at eighty-one years old. His honors include election to the Wheaton College Honor Society and the conferring of the degree Doctor of Divinity by Wheaton in its centennial year of 1960. On the 60th anniversary of his graduation from Wheaton, the Home and the College contributed funds to establish the Franklin S. Dyrness Chair of Biblical Studies at Wheaton College.

Surrounded by his family members, Franklin S. Dyrness ’27, D.D. ’60 died June 16, 1990, at the Presbyterian Home he founded in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. In a letter to the Wheaton College Alumni Association, his son F. Seth, Jr. wrote…

We gathered around his bed and sang some of his favorite hymns for him. As we sang the final verse of ‘Rock of Ages,’ he closed his eyes and went to he with the Lord, It was beautiful and deeply comforting for us as a family. The funeral was a very uplifting time of celebrating God’s abundant faithfulness. Dr. Armerding preached an excellent message challenging us to faithfulness to Christ with eternity’s values in view. We are deeply grateful to God for giving us a father who taught us to put God first in our lives. Together with Mother and Dad, we thank God for the profound impact Wheaton has had on us in nurturing our souls and challenging us to follow Christ.

The Franklin S. Dyrness Papers reside in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) Historical Center Archives, St. Louis, Missouri.

Raymond P. Fischer and the American Institution

Alumni, Books, College-related Publications, Researcher Publications, Wheaton College Archives

Raymond P. Fischer possessed a mind both meticulous and imaginative. Born the youngest of twelve in the same house in which his grandfather, Jonathan Blanchard, died, he attended Wheaton College (1918-20) and Pomona College (1922) in California, before matriculating to Harvard law school, graduating in 1924. Undoubtedly he was quite proud of his degree, which equipped him for a fifteen-year practice with Campbell, Clithero and Fischer, located on La Salle St. in Chicago. Ending his legal career in 1941 he then served variously as executive vice-president of the Cuneo Press, president of Combined Paper Mills, director of the National Tea Company, and sat on the Chicago advisory board for the Salvation Army. Retiring from the paper and printing business, he established Associated Consultants of Wheaton, Illinois. Away from board rooms he was a licensed lay leader in the Episcopal Church, and belonged to the Chicago Golf and Union League clubs. But aside from responsible positions and high honors, Fischer was likely rather pleased with a quieter achievement, not in law or business, but now the world of letters.

While still in prep school Fischer mailed a submission to Harriet Monroe (1860-1936), the formidable founder and editor of Poetry magazine. Shortly thereafter, ever scouting for fresh talent, she generously invited him to visit her at the old offices on Erie Street, Chicago, there to discuss improvements. Monroe, pivotal in publicizing the revolutionary work of Carl Sandburg, Marianne Moore, Wallace Stevens and Ezra Pound, also first printed “The Love Song of J. Alfred Pufrock” by T.S. Eliot, who later called Poetry “an American Institution.” Fischer’s corrections were deemed acceptable and his first publication, “A Year,” appeared in May, 1922. Though he saw his name in print, he did miss a few perks. “A regret regarding Poetry,” he recalls, “is that I was unable to attend a white tie dinner which the magazine gave for William Butler Yeats to which I was invited but did not go, because the dress suit of an older brother was several sizes too large for me.” His disappointment probably lightened when Poetry again accepted his work in 1924, then 1929, and again, fifty-five years later, in 1984.

His verse collection, An Aged Man Remembers April (1985), is dedicated to Monroe, “who showed me that both inspiration and revision are essential.” Dr. Jill P. Baumgaertner, now Professor of English and Dean of Humanities and Theological Studies at Wheaton College, lauds its “…melodic echoes of Frost, Wordsworth, Keats, scripture…It is a stunning combination of sound and form, metaphor and story that lingers long after you’ve closed the book. This is poetry rooted in a real tradition of living and writing. This is poetry that will last.” In 1987 Fischer assembled four decades of research and published Four Hazardous Journeys of Jonathan Blanchard, chronicling his grandfather’s antislavery travels and fundraising adventures during the Montana Territory gold rush. Theologian Carl F.H. Henry, writing the foreword, commends “…its graphic picture window on frontier life a century as a reminder of the dedication of abolitionists in a time of social crisis.” Fischer and his wife, Marita, had one daughter. The aged poet-lawyer-businessman was the last surviving grandson of Blanchard when he lay down his pen forever at age 89 in 1990.

Zane C. Hodges

Alumni, Books, Wheaton College Archives

Zane HodgesWheaton College has provided intellectual incubation for many prominent theologians, professors and pastors. Surely one of the most brilliant was Zane Clark Hodges. Born in Washington, DC, but raised primarily in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, Hodges attended a Plymouth Brethren assembly with his parents and younger brother because there were no Baptist churches in town. Blessed with a sturdy intellect, he completed fifth and sixth grades in one year. During his high school junior year he became editor-in-chief of the student newspaper while participating in the Debating and Latin clubs. Reading widely, he also enjoyed comic books, which he collected, and played baseball. Hodges accepted Christ’s gift of eternal life at a meeting on the Greenwood Hills Bible Conference grounds in 1946. “Since that time,” he writes in his 1949 Wheaton College application, “I not only embrace the Lord Jesus as my Saviour, but also as the Son of God and the one who keeps me and is coming back, perhaps soon.” During this period he desired to enter the mission field as his life’s work. At college Hodges studied Greek, French and German, and further honed his analytical and oratorial skills with the Beltionian Literary society. The administration noted his poised, modest aspect, along with his industry and efficiency. As a result of his academic prowess he was inducted into the Honor Society. He was graduated in 1954, receiving his BA in Greek. Dr. Clarence Hale, Chairman of the Department of Foreign Languages, prophetically observes on Hodges’s placement form: “[He] is a young man of thoroughly reliable character and very high scholarship. He presents a neat appearance and meets people easily. He gives the promise of becoming a well-trained Bible teacher.” From Wheaton Hodges matriculated to Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS) where he acquired his Th.M. before joining its faculty as professor of New Testament Literature and Exegesis, remaining for 27 years until departing to pursue speaking and writing. Hodges produced commentaries on Hebrews, 1-3 John and James, in addition to writing articles for Bibliotheca Sacra, the scholarly journal for DTS. With Arthur Farstad he co-edited The Greek New Testament According to the Majority Text.

Hodges’s position on “free grace” generated considerable agitation after Dr. John F. MacArthur, pastor of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, CA, published The Gospel According to Jesus (1988). MacArthur advocates the traditional Reformed view that biblical salvation inevitably produces works as the result of submitting to Christ’s lordship. The ongoing practice of goods works indicates the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Christian. Conversely, the absence of good works demonstrates a false profession. Two years later Hodges countered MacArthur’s thesis with Absolutely Free!, declaring that Christ’s gift of eternal life is contingent upon nothing beyond believing. According to Hodges, “lordship salvation” unnecessarily distorts the otherwise simple faith message by subtly introducing the contribution of human effort into Christ’s finished atonement. In brief, good works are the evidence, not the result, of salvation.

As a founding member of Grace Evangelical Society (GES), Hodges continued promoting the doctrine of free grace through newsletters, conferences and the Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society, for which he occasionally wrote. The organization is currently headed by Dr. Bob Wilkin, whose Master’s and Doctoral dissertations were overseen by Hodges at DTS. Aside from seminary teaching, he preached widely in churches and for nearly 50 years pastored Victor Street Bible Chapel in Dallas. In addition to exegesis, theology and textual criticism, he continued his expansive reading with particular fondness for mysteries, biography, ancient history and science fiction. Hodges had written a few chapters for commentaries on Romans and the Gospel of John before he died at 76 on November 23, 2008. He never married. His funeral was preached by his friend and pastor, Dr. Tony Evans of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship.

Some biographical material is provided by Dr. Bob Wilkin of the Grace Evangelical Society and Dr. John Hannah’s Uncommon Union: Dallas Theological Seminary and American Evangelicalism (2009).

Miss Lovell’s Life Purpose

Alumni, Wheaton College Archives

One autumn evening in 1977 a boy was invited to an AWANA meeting at a Baptist church. After games, cookies and punch, it was explained to him that accepting the gift of grace offered by Jesus is as effortless as receiving a glass of cold milk from a smiling grandpa. The next day, exulting in a joy he had not known before and has seldom felt since, he bounded up and down the aisles of his fourth grade classroom, telling his chums about Jesus. Unlike most days, his teacher, Miss Lovell, a commanding woman with red hair and horn-rimmed glasses, did not scold him for talking too loud and too much, but from her desk remained unobtrusively observant. Odder yet, when the 3:00 pm bell rang, she leaned close and whispered, “I’d like to tell them about Jesus, too. But I can’t.” Why not? the little evangelist wondered, blissfully ignorant of administrative legality as he grabbed his Batman lunchbox and rushed for the exit. You just open your mouth and TALK. In the years following, long after his own faith had miserably disintegrated during high school and college, the boy learned that she did not hesitate about speaking of Jesus. In fact, as an earnest, smart, freckle-faced young lady, she had in 1941 enrolled at Wheaton College to learn more about Him. On her application she wrote:

Jesus Christ is my Savior and Lord. He has saved me (Acts 16:31) and cleansed me of all my sins. He lives to make intercession for me and give me strength to do the things He has for me to do (Phil 4:13). My life purpose is all in Him (Heb. 13:8).

Kathryn LovellRooming at Wayside Inn on the edge of campus, she studied Christian Education and participated in Foreign Missions Fellowship, which sought to inculcate a “…passion that the student world might be stirred with the challenge of foreign missions.” Her life purpose secure, she pursued additional studies and acquired her certification before entering the mission field in 1950, serving with Baptist Mid-Missions in Brazil. But failing health brought her home after only two years. Undaunted, Miss Lovell recovered and moved to Japan, teaching at a school for military children before circumstances again returned her to the States, and soon she gained employment at a public grade school in Rochelle, Illinois. Researching further, the boy learned that she was a constant member of First Baptist Church, where she taught 6th grade girls and sat on the missions committee and continuously wrote letters to missionaries, sometimes visiting them on faraway shores at great personal expense. He learned that she relished hosting furloughing missionaries in her home and that she willed her humble property to the church. Her prayer card for Brazil states: “There is a responsibility for those who remain in the homeland, and that is the ministry of prayer in behalf of those whom He calls and sends forth with the precious seed of life.” As she had requested, the Lord indeed granted Miss Kathryn Lovell strength for what He needed her to do. When the boy’s faith finally warmed again and he heard of her death in 2001, he regretted that he’d never had a chance to thank her for being the first adult to seriously affirm his decision on that splendid autumn night, and for standing as an impassable testimony when the winds of doubt and worldliness flattened lesser soldiers. No longer a boy, he is pleased, too, that the sunlit affirmation she now receives far outshines any threadbare praise he or any other grateful heart could ever offer.

[Biographical information is provided by Mrs. Wanda Ussery of Rochelle, Illinois, and Baptist Mid-Missions, located in Cleveland, Ohio.]

Marching to the Drumbeat of Abolitionism

Books, Collection-related Publications, College-related Publications, Researcher Publications, Special Collections, Wheaton College Archives

On the occasion of the 150th Anniversary of Wheaton College, Marching to the Drum Beat of Abolitionism: Wheaton College and the Coming of the Civil War by Dr. David E. Maas (Wheaton College Press, 2010) is being published as part of the college’s year long sesquicentennial celebration.

Here’s a more complete description of Dr. Maas’ book:

“Historians have long known that evangelical Christians played an important role in the anti-slavery movement. No study of the anti-slavery movement in the nation is complete without a thorough understanding of Wheaton College’s role in shaping abolitionist sentiment in Illinois and the Midwest. The prophetic voices of Jonathan Blanchard and other early teachers carried the movement like a torch across the prairie, lighting a beacon of freedom on a lonely hilltop in DuPage County. Now our own Dr. Maas of the History Department tells in vivid detail the story of the 300 Wheaton College men who carried the struggle for African American freedom into the Civil War and beyond, long after many Americans had forgotten the conflict’s true meaning.”

Dr. Maas has always had a professional interest in the story of the “losers” and neglected average people in American history. Trying to uncover their stories has led him most often into primary documents in local history. After graduating from Wheaton College (B.A. History, 1962) he pursued graduate studies at California State University at Los Angeles (M.A. History, 1964) and received his doctorate from the University of Wisconsin, Madison (Ph.D. History, 1972). His personal interests mainly revolve around his family: wife (Bobbie) of 48 years, 4 children (David, Pam, Beth, and Daniel) and 13 grandchildren. Dr. Maas ran a professional photography business from 1972 until 2004; in his spare time he enjoys fishing and reading.


Mr. Chairman

Alumni, College-related Publications, Wheaton College Archives

It is rightly declared that behind every great man stands a great woman. Considering the academic community, it is also a fact that behind every man and woman, great or not – whether president, provost, professor, registrar, student, janitor or cook – stands the chairman of the board of trustees, quietly holding all operations with a determined hand. Often his name is not recognized by the larger campus.

Herman A. Fischer, Jr.At Wheaton College this position was held for a remarkable 43 years by Herman A. Fischer, Jr. Herman was one of twelve children born to Herman A. Fischer, Sr., who instructed math at the college for 50 years, and Julia Blanchard Fischer, daughter of Jonathan Blanchard, first president of Wheaton College. Fisher, Jr., after graduating from Wheaton, taught mathematics for two years at Wabash High School in Indiana before enrolling at Harvard Law School, receiving his Doctor of Jurisprudence in 1908. Returning to Chicago with his license, he practiced for 65 years with the firm Campbell, Clithero, Fischer and Guy. Dr. Charles Blanchard, second president of Wheaton College, shortly before his death in 1926, proposed that his nephew, Herman, be appointed as a trustee. A year later he was elected chairman, heading the board until his retirement in 1970 when it awarded him a plaque stating that he had “…demonstrated uncompromising fairness and integrity, shared unusually wise counsel, manifested consideration for varying viewpoints and showed exemplary faithfulness to Jesus Christ and the cause of higher education.” Robert E. Nicholas, fellow trustee, added that the venerable chairman was “…a man of action, who wastes no time in getting down to business…[he] is one of the most capable men I have ever known.” Herman exhibited durable leadership elsewhere, as well. From 1932 to 1953 he served as president of Gary-Wheaton Bank, continuing as chairman of its board until 1966. He led as officer and director of the Cuneo Press from 1919 to 1973. He was a member of the board of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and also the Billy Graham Crusades. For relaxation, he enjoyed membership at the prestigious Union League Club and the Chicago Golf Club. Fischer Hall dormitory, on the campus of Wheaton College, is named in honor of both senior and junior. A lifelong bachelor, Herman died in 1974 at Delnor Hospital, St. Charles, at age 91. Billy Graham sent condolences:

There was a glorious reunion in Heaven when Herman Fischer swept through its glorious gates. His powerful leadership was possibly the greatest single factor that kept Wheaton College spiritually balanced, financially sound with academic excellence during the last half century. All of us who have benefited from Wheaton’s influence owe him an enormous debt. Please convey to his personal family and to the Wheaton family my appreciation and thankfulness for the life of Herman Fischer.

The funeral, conducted at College Church where Herman Fischer, Jr. served as chairman of the board of trustees, adult Bible class teacher and Sunday School superintendent, was officiated by Chaplain Evan Welsh, Dr. Hudson Armerding and Pastor Nathan Goff.

All in the Family

Alumni, College-related Publications, Wheaton College Archives

Wheaton College is proud to have one of its own participating in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia. Speedskater Nancy Swider-Peltz, Jr., the daughter of Jeff Peltz ’81 (college postmaster, football coach), sister of Jeffrey Peltz (Class of 2013), granddaughter of Donna Peltz (financial aid), and niece of Mike Swider ’77 (Head football coach) will be participating in the Women’s 3000m and Team Pursuit [WATCH quarterfinal win against Canada and semifinal loss against Germany]. The Peltz family is no stranger to the ice as Nancy follows in the footsteps of her mother and coach, four-time Olympian and 1981 Wheaton alumna Nancy Swider-Peltz, Sr. who was a member of the U.S. Olympic Speedskating Team in 1976 (Innsbruck, Austria), 1980 (Lake Placid, New York–USA), 1984 (Sarajevo, former Yugoslavia), and 1988 (Calgary, Alberta–Canada).

*Born and raised in Park Ridge, IL, Nancy Swider was introduced to speedskating at age six and by twelve was racing competitively across the state. During her time at Maine South High School she won national championships in both short and long track pack-style racing. After spending the fall quarter of 1974 at Wheaton College, Nancy pursued her Olympic aspirations by taking time off from school to train and compete in Europe. The experience paid off in an Olympic team berth the following winter and a seventh place finish in the 3000-meter race at the 1976 Innsbruck Games. The difference between Olympic gold and Nancy’s seventh place finish was two-and-a-half seconds. Shortly after the Olympics, Nancy cemented her place among the sport’s elite by breaking her first world record in the 3000 meters by four seconds. Nancy continued her involvement in skating for the next three years by attending Wheaton College during the fall, spring and summer quarters, and traveling to Europe to race in the winters. She secured her second world record in the 10,000m during 1980 and made her second Olympic team to Lake Placid as an alternate. Nancy retired from skating and returned to college to finish her education. She soon emerged from retirement and returned to full-scale training to secure a spot on the U.S. team at the 1983 World Championships.

An incident during that come-back year gives insight into her character and determination. On the morning that she was to fly to Europe for six weeks of training, Nancy squeezed in a final work-out on roller blades in a large parking lot near O’Hare Airport. As she glided around a makeshift track, marked off by tennis shoes, she was distracted and caught a roller blade on one of her markers, taking a nasty fall onto bare asphalt. Her injuries were diagnosed as a fractured chin and jaw and several broken teeth, but after receiving a few stitches, she still caught her flight, three hours after the accident. With the condition of her jaw, Nancy was forced to mash her food the entire six weeks, waiting until after her trip to have her teeth fixed.

Nancy Swider-PeltzSwider’s perseverance was rewarded with an Olympic-sized prize as she competed in two races in the 1984 Sarajevo Games, finishing eighteenth in the 1500 meters and tenth in the 3000 meters, and again, Nancy retired from skating after the Olympics. In 1985 she married Jeff Peltz ’81, who had become an active member of her support team. While Jeff was running the Wheaton College Post Office and coaching football, Nancy began to work with the U.S. Speedskating Association. By using her experience to coach young skaters, two of her own pupils would become her 1988 Olympic teammates. When Jeff and Nancy’s nine-plus pound daughter, Nancy Jr., arrived by cesarean section in January 1987, a spot on the Olympic team and coming out of retirement (again) seemed out of the question. The Olympic team selection was only eleven months away, nevertheless, Nancy (Sr.) began to bicycle and swim, placing third in the Crystal Lake Triathlon later that August. By October she had lined up financial sponsors and, with her recently retired father as coach, was off to Calgary with the baby to get in some ice time on the world’s only 400-meter indoor skating oval.

Upon her qualification for the 1988 Winter Games in Calgary, Nancy Swider-Peltz became the first American in history to qualify for four Olympic Winter Games. In between world-class competitions and breast feeding Nancy Jr., mother and daughter were one of the frequent human interest stories of the 1988 Calgary Winter Games featured on ABC’s Olympic coverage, “Good Morning America” program and in Time magazine, USA Today and numerous other publications.

In 1992 Nancy, Sr. was inducted into the Wheaton College Athletic Hall of Honor where in addition to her Olympic accomplishments; she was recognized for earning All-American honors in five swimming events during her senior year (the only complete year she spent on campus). Nancy Swider-Peltz is also a member of the National Speedskating Hall of Fame.

[*excerpted from Wheaton Alumni magazine, May 1988]

Twenty-two years later, Nancy Swider-Peltz, Jr. has returned to Canada as a first-time Olympian herself, as part of the United States Speedskating Team. On Valentine’s Day she placed 9th in the Women’s 3000m in her Olympic debut. Exceeding her own expectations, she was the top American in the event. In her own words “It’s a great accomplishment…All that hard work paid off. It was the best race of my life.” [Watch]