Bethany College - Bethanian Yearbook (Bethany, WV)

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Section One BETHANIAN OF 193 3 Page 9 CLOYD GOODNIGHT President of the College 1919-1932 Born on December 2, 1881 near Micliigjntown, Indiana, Dr. Cloyd Goodniglic represented in his own personality many of the rugged and yet sensitive traits of a native Hoosier. His early years were spent close to his home and his parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Goodnight. Even his college experience was in his native state and not far from his home place. On November 20, 1907 he was married to Miss Anna Hussey of Carmel, Indiana, and to this union were born two children, John and Frances. John was born in Shelbyville, Indiana and Frances in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. Dr. Goodnight graduated from Butler College in 1906 with the baccalaureate degree and in 1907 he graduated with the degree of Master of Arts. Later he studied in the graduate school at the Universit)- of Chicago. His intellectual attainments were recognized by the University of Pittsburgh where he was honored with the degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1921 and by his own alma mater where he was honored by the degree of Doctor of Laws in 1929. Dr. Goodnight was ordained to the Christian Ministry in 1907 and he held several successful pastorates in the churches of the Disciples of Christ. He was named president of Bethany College while serving as the minister of the Central Christian Church in Uniontown, Pa. He came to this task on July 17, 1919. His unexpected death on October 15, 1932 from a heart attack brought to a close a life that had been spent freely in service t o the church and the cause of Christian education.

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Page 8 BETHANIAN OF 193 3 Section One MEMORIAL SERVICE for Cloyd Goodnight President of Bethany College 19194932 In Commencement Hall on December second, Nineteen thirty-two i At nine o ' clock

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Program String Ensemble — C;iv;uin.i „. Raff Invocation iMr. Irvin T. Green Profeisor of New Tcsciment Our Heavenly Father, we come to Thee with bowed heads and aching hearts to invoke Thy richest blessing to rest upon this service of love and devotion. We wish to speak a few words in honor of him who was our co-worker, neighbor, comrade and friend. We cannot magnify the work which he so nobly began and from which he was so untimely taken, but we can take up the task where he laid it down and carry it on to completion. May we then rededicate our hearts and our l;ves to the task which was so dear to his heart. May we feel the touch of his hand on ours, and may we under the spell and influence of his spirit, which shall ever brood over Old Bethany, go on to the completion of the task which he so nobly conceived and for which he so unselfishly gave his life. Choir or Bethany Memorial Church Love Divine All Love Excelling Representing the Board oi Trustees Mr. Alfred E. Wright Member of the Executive Committee I have been requested by the Board of Trustees of Bethany College to represent it in tins memorial service in memory of our late President, Cloyd Goodnight. It will be hard ; for me to speak of him as President Goodnight for I knew and loved him for long years f . as a personal friend. |[ This service brings us face to face with the tragedy which marks the close of every life. There are those who wonder what this institution will do in the absence of the physical life of this great man, who was a tower of strength in the field of education. His work as a teacher, pastor, and later college president, was not of a temporary type. President Goodnight ' s influence will not die, but will go on duplicating and reduplicating itself in many lives. His life course proves that character is built out of circumstances turned to good account. Out of the same material that some men build the homely and commonplace, he built a life of service that stands out as a torch that will be grasped and carried on by hundreds who have sat at his feet in church and college life. President Goodnight gave untiringly and extravagantly of his physical and mental energy to all who were in any way connected with Bethany College and the great brotherhood it represents. He was an authority on the life and works of the founder, and his colleagues, of this great college, and never tired of talking of the heroism of those early pioneers. He, at all times, had the confidence of the Board of Trustees, for he was a builder who knew not the mediocre, but was continually striving to build a church that would train young men and women to take places of importance in the life of our country. President Goodnight loved life and its challenges, and it was this attitude that moulded his career and made his life. A smile was natural to him and he could always hide the burden of his heart. His passing was as he would have had it. Suddenly, without lingering pain, in the very midst of his activities and plans, he was summoned and obeyed. Out of this service in commemoration of our friend brave and cheerful, no matter what clouds of difficulty may envelop us, each one of us here may get from the life and career of Cloyd Goodnight some good, some kindly thought, some bit of courage for the darkening sky, some gleam of faith to brave the ills of life, some glimpse of brighter sky beyond the mists that lie overhead in the pathway of us all. Just as truly as will the bell in the tower keep ringing, will the influence of this noble life ring down through the ages in the life of Bethany College. 10