Whitman College - Waiilatpu Yearbook (Walla Walla, WA)

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Stephen E. ill. Hvnrnnr vbtkinlt On a cold winter day, the twentieth of December, 1864, there was born in the little Quaker city of Germantown a boy who was to exert a far-reaching influence on the educational history of the Wfest. This was a day of marked significance for the name XVhitman. as it was the birthday of him who to whom belongs a large part of the credit for rescuing the name of the martyr missionary from comparative oblivion and making it a household word in America. Rarely is it that a college owes such a debt of gratitude to a single individual as does NVhitman to Stephen Beasley Linuard Penrose. It seems not too much to say that without his executive genius, endless perseverance and boundless optimism XVhitman College would to-day be but a cherished memory of the noble intentions of its devoted band of missionary founders. H ' Our president came from a long line of'the most distinguished builders of the Keystone State. His father, Clement Biddle Penrose, is a noted lawyer. who for years has been judge of the Orphan's Court, Philadelphia. Of the early life of the youthful Stephen we know little save that tradition sayeth that he had long golden curls and wore-a velvet suit. The greatest molding inliuence of his boyhood, and to a large extent of his whole life, was the example and teachings of the grandmother. who lived with her daughter for many years. She was a woman of singular tact and beautiful Christian char- acter, and she taught the boy at an early age much of that splendid self-control which tempers a naturally aggressive and out- spoken disposition. His early education was obtained from' tutors at home. Later he attended Penn Charter School, Phila- delphia, where he prepared for college. giving particular attention to the classics. ' He entered Wfilliams College in 1881 and was graduated with high honor in 1885, with the degree A. 13. VVhile in college he took a' leading part in student affairs and belonged to the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. He is also a member of the honorary fraternity Phi Beta Kappa. Q l5 4

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STEPHEN B. L. PENROSE, D

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V af , Upon finishing college he returned to his native state and taught for a year in Hill's School, a select boys' preparatory institution, located at Pottsdam, when he was called to the faculty of VVilliams, his alma mater, teaching there one year. But all this time the ministry appealed to him more and more forcibly as a life work. His father hoped that Stephen would follow him in the legal profession, but it is probable that here again his grandmothers influence was shown, for dur- ing his senior year at Williains he decided to enter the ministry. In 1897 he entered Princeton Theological Seminary, changing at the end of the year to Yale Seminary, Where he was graduated in 1890 with the degree B. D. He was one of the six members. of his class to form the famous Yale Missionary. Band, who offered themselves to the Home Missionary Association to go into any section of the country where they could do the most good. Wfashington was decided upon as having the greatest future, and the six were assigned places in the eastern part of the state. He filled the pas- torate at Dayton with great success for four years, resigning in June, 1894. During that summer he went to Honolulu to fill a temporary vacancy in the Central Union, the principal American church in the Hawaiian Islands. Returning to America in September, he met a call from the trustees of lfVhitman College to take the presidency left vacant by James F. Eaton. The situation was bad enough to discourage anyone blessed with less optimism than President Penrose. The little college which he found here seemed about to die and all the work of its self-sacrificing founders to go for naught. The faculty were dividedg there was no moneyg a mere handful of students was left on the rolls, and only the spirit of a few loyal members of the faculty and a resolute band of faithful friends, headed by Harry Reynolds, kept the institution from suspending. lVhat was needed was a man familiar with the country-a man with ia clear financial brain and able to stand adversity. The new president proved himself the Abraham Lincoln who was to save XVhitman. His charming personality at once made friends everywhere and converted a lukewarmness toward the college into cordiality. As one old friend expressed it: Nl-le did more to shake up the dry bones of this town than any other man we have ever had here. But the results of his work speak louder than tributes to his genius and faithfulness. He found XVhitman College with thirty-four students, to-day there are four hundred on its rollsg when he came in 1894 two small wooden buildings on 16