Pioneer mathematician, Fanny Boyce

Books, Researcher Publications

Pioneering WomenIn the recently published volume from the History of Mathematics series, Pioneering women in American mathematics: the pre-1940 PhD’s, Judy Green and Jeanne LaDuke tell the story of Fanny Boyce, one of the few pre-1940s female PhDs in mathematics.

Fannie W. Boyce was born March 16, 1897 near Lentner, Missouri (Shelby County). As a child she moved with her parents, George Wesley and Mary Virginia Boyce, and siblings to Colorado. Boyce attended grade school while in Colorado Springs before the family moved to University Park, Iowa where she attended high school and began college. She attended Central Holiness College (later named John Fletcher College and then owned by Vennard College).

After college she began her teaching career, initially in Iowa high schools. Maintaining her connection to the Quakers, Boyce ceased teaching to obtain a second bachelor’s degree from Penn College. When finished she restarted her teaching career by teaching at Olivet University and Marion College, Nazarene and Wesleyan Methodist schools respectively. She taught mathematics and Greek. She continued her studies and obtained a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1928. While teaching at Wheaton College she obtained a doctoral degree from the University of Chicago in 1938

Boyce had begun teaching in 1930 and rose through the ranks to full professor. She retired in 1962. She then returned to Olivet (now Olivet Nazarene University) and taught mathematics for seven years. In 1970 she taught another year at Owosso College in Michigan. She retired to Wheaton, Illinois. She died in February 13, 1986 at a health care center in nearby Lombard.

For Your Gift of God the Spirit

Books, Collection-related Publications, Special Collections

On February 21, 2010 an announcement was made to the congregation of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia that their Senior Minister, Dr. Philip G. Ryken had accepted the presidency of Wheaton College. During Pastor Ryken’s remarks, he read these words: “Father, grant your Holy Spirit in our hearts may rule today, grieved not, quenched not, but unhindered, work in us his sovereign way.” This quote is part of the fifth verse of the hymn ‘For Your Gift Of God The Spirit‘, written by Margaret Clarkson. According to Hymnary.org, an online hymn and worship music database created as a collaboration between the Christian Classics Ethereal Library and the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship,

Margaret ClarksonMargaret Clarkson wrote this text about the work of the Holy Spirit during the summer of 1959 at the Severn River, Ontario, Canada upon request by Stacey Woods, General Secretary of Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship in Canada and the United States. “For Your Gift” is the best teaching text on the Holy Spirit. Inspired by biblical passages about the work of the Spirit in creation, the church, and our personal lives, this text reads like a study of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. It is a splendid example of sung theology, which brings our heart’s confession onto our lips. In liturgical settings it is appropriate for Pentecost and many other services (Psalter Hymnal Handbook).

The papers, library, and assorted materials of E. Margaret Clarkson, teacher, author and hymnwriter, are held in the Wheaton College Archives & Special Collections. The collection contains personal papers, articles, manuscripts, hymns, books reviews, and correspondence, as well as her personal library of over 600 books on theology, poetry, hymnody, and many other subjects. The full lyrics of the hymn are as follows.

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.]

Bloody Sunday — Wheaton responses to Selma

College-related Publications, Wheaton College Archives

In early March 1965 half of Alabama’s population were black and only one percent of them registered to vote. Despite the Civil Rights Act of 1964 being signed eight months earlier by Lyndon Johnson, very little headway was made in dismantling the Jim Crow structures in areas of the South. In Alabama, particularly in Selma, efforts were made to quell the work of those seeking equality and civil rights. One week after the signing of the Civil Rights Act, Selma’s Judge James Hare forbade any gathering of three or more people to further civil rights work. The Dallas County Voters League called upon the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to help them to call attention to the inequalities. The SCLC responded.

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference came to Selma in the early days of 1965 to begin working on voter’s rights. On February 18, 1965 Alabama State troopers clashed with civil rights workers and a trooper killed Jimmie Lee Jackson as he sought to protect his grandfather. Bloody Sunday - SelmaThe first march, which took place on March 7, 1965, was called in response to this shooting and was planned to go to Montgomery to confront Governor George Wallace with the voting inequities and shooting. This initial march, later referred to as “Bloody Sunday,” gathered a crowd of 600 marchers who were brutally attacked. The march began quietly, but once marchers crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge state troopers began to beat marchers. Tear gas was also used and mounted troopers charged into those gathered, leaving many bloodied and injured with seventeen marchers hospitalized.

The news of the brutalization during the march was televised around the country and stirred many to action. Dr. Hudson Armerding was shocked at the police brutality and sent a telegram to Governor George Wallace.

URGE RECONSIDERATION OF USE OF FORCE IN DEALING WITH ORDERLY AND PEACEFUL NEGRO MARCHERS

This telegram was read in chapel held on Monday, March 8th. Robert Orth, in his entry in an online guest book for memories of Dr. Armerding after his passing in early December 2009, said that this action for justice made him proud. Others were also stirred to action. Wheaton College seniors Randy Baker and Bob Vischer left Wheaton that Monday afternoon and arrived in Selma the next morning before the 11 am meetings preparing for a second march. Vischer said he “could think of no better way to express my concern than through action” (Wheaton Record, March 18, 1965, p. 1).

Bloody Sunday -- SelmaThe second march took place on March 9 with Martin Luther King, Jr. calling clergy and citizens from across the country to join him. Due to the violence of Bloody Sunday, efforts were made to try and prevent another outbreak of violence. The SCLC sought a court order that would prohibit the police from interfering. Unfortunately, the injunction was not granted, but, instead, Federal District Court Judge Frank Minis Johnson issued a restraining order that prevented the planned march. Despite the restraining order, 2,500 marchers began to walk toward the Edmund Pettus Bridge and were again met by a large line of troopers. After a short prayer session King encouraged the marchers to turn around. Though there was no violence at the march, that evening Rev. James Reeb and two other ministers in Selma for the march were beaten. Refused treatment in Selma for his injuries, Reeb was taken to Birmingham. Here he died two days later.

While in Selma Baker and Vischer averted a violent clash as they were leaving town. As they walked in downtown Selma the two were confronted by four white men asking “where they were marching.” Baker was grabbed and hit. Extracting themselves they fled to their car. Vischer recalled the sense of fear he had in that moment and, with empathy, described the plight of blacks in Alabama.

A third march from Selma began with federal protection on March 21 and lasted five days, making it to Montgomery over 50 miles away. On August 6, 1965, the federal Voting Rights Act was passed. This brought a culmination to the efforts of King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Selma.

A week after the reporting of Dr. Armerding’s telegram and the Wheaton marchers in Selma, Bob Herron asked questions of himself and his fellow classmates through a Letter to the Editor, asking, “whether we are really working in some way to help those who are being treated so unjustly. In a shrinking world what happens in Alabama not only affects us, but the moral issues at stake demand that we seek justice. We cannot be content to affirm a creed and not realize the profound implications that are necessarily entailed.”

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.


The Face of Hope

Alumni

Raymond JosephIn recent weeks Raymond Joseph, as ambassador to the United States since March 2004, has been the international face of Haiti and the tremendous struggles that his impoverished nation has gone through since the earthquake of mid-January. He, like many of his fellow countrymen, has expressed a resiliency and a strong faith in God during harrowing times.

In Haiti Raymond Alcide Joseph is mostly known as a journalist (with the Haitian newspaper, the Observateur) and radio personality. He was a vocal opponent to the Duvalier dictatorship that brought much suffering to Haiti. To voice opposition he founded Radio Vonvon (Radio Bug) and Rayon Limye (Rays of Light). Radio Vonvon became so influential it was called the “6 O’Clock Mass” as it was broadcast at 6 o’clock in the morning and was the way many started their day.

Though Mr. Joseph sought to bring about change and be an influence for good through these media, one of the ways in which he has brought a more lasting influence has been through his work to translate the Bible into Creole. Joseph attended Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and, afterward, received a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from Wheaton College. Later he also obtained a Master’s degree in Social Anthropology/Linguistics from the University of Chicago.

Joseph, a journalist-turned-diplomat, is the son of a Baptist preacher. In his youth he wondered why the Bible was available in French — the language of Haiti’s elite — but not in the people’s tongue, Creole. In late 1960 Joseph began translating the first New Testament and Psalms in Haitian Creole under the auspices of the American Bible Society in October 1960. Joseph recognized that Luther’s translation of the Bible into the vernacular of his culture (from Latin to German) changed German society.

The Bible pervades Joseph’s life. When asked by the Washington Post about Haiti’s suffering before and after the earthquake, Joseph replied that “Even in disaster, like the Apostle Paul, in whatsoever state I am, I have learned to be content.” He went on to say, “Some of us have to present the face of hope. That is the mission that I have been given, and I want to be faithful to it.”

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.

Deke

Alumni, Wheaton College Archives

Though in hockey “deke” is used to describe a fake or deception, at Wheaton a deke is all about telling the truth — of Wheaton’s history and campus. These sophomore students have been selected to provide tours of the campus to prospective students. Short for “diakonoi” (Greek for “ones who serve”), the dekes love getting to know prospective students and helping those students get to know Wheaton! A soon-to-be famous Deke-alum (a Archives staffer) is Wheaton’s president-elect, Phil Ryken.

Dekes, 1985-86

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]

Go and make disciples….

Wheaton College Archives

Wyeth Willard served as Assistant to President Edman while at Wheaton (1946-1951) and came to the position right after serving in the military as a chaplain. His personal recollections reveal how much the military influenced him and shaped his view on life and responsibilities.

What could I do for my “Commanding Officer?” First, during those years immediately following WW II, I traveled throughout the country, preaching on Sundays in pulpits such as those of Marble Collegiate Church in New York City [and] Moody Memorial Church in Chicago…I lectured at Princeton University, Brown University, Ohio University at Bowling Green…Second, as Mid-Year Evangelistic Preacher at Wheaton College chapel mornings and evenings of February 10-17, 1946, I emphasized social action and work among the blacks of the area. I urged all students to read Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver by Rackman Holt. Several college classes followed my suggestion and made special studies of these two books.

Perhaps by coincidence, but more likely by the moving of the Spirit of God, shortly thereafter two students from the college visited the black ghetto of Chicago, hired a hall in a needy area, and started a work which grew to such proportions that within a few years every Sunday afternoon several hundred Wheaton College students, at their own expense, traveled back and forth between Wheaton and Chicago. Christian Service Council - Chicago Sunday SchoolIn dedicated gospel teams, they would arrange to meet in suitable halls or buildings, where Sunday Schools could be organized and developed. In order to relieve poor folk of the black ghetto of any financial burdens, by doing without the luxuries which many young people associate with college life, the “lads and lassies” from Wheaton raised their own funds among themselves…These projects which later developed into independent self-supporting churches, not only involved preaching from a pulpit in the conventional manner, but also going up an down the streets of the ghetto, ringing door bells, climbing up back stairs into dark hallways, to bring the message of Christ’s love to the black community…This movement in the ghetto of Chicago, one of the most noteworthy and enduring projects in the history of the college, has received little if any publicity. Five hundred students, more or less, who might have been having weekend drinking parties and sex debauching revelries, were quietly and without fanfare, obeying Christ’s command to bring the gospel to all peoples. For the wee part I was permitted to play in helping to spark this chapter in the college’s history – thank you, Lord!

Just as Jonathan Blanchard spurred students to consider how the gospel influences society, so were students spurred to such considerations nearly 100 years later.