Bethany College - Bethanian Yearbook (Bethany, WV)

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President Goodnight felt the personality of the college and he was able to make others feel it as deeply. Knowledge and reflection upon, sacrifice for, and union with, a college develops such an appreciation. This feeling of and for Bethany as a person- ality was for all of us beautifully incarnated in President Goodnight himself. And from liim we caught the enthusiasm for such an appreciation in our own lives. President Goodnight never failed to emphasize high standards and sound scholar- •sliip. He sought the best in the way of faculty personnel, teaching procedures, and material equipment for the academic program of the college. The Library and labor- atories were constant concerns. In all these areas he pressed forward with all possible dispatch from the first day of his administration until the last. Only by the consistent and the unfaltering devotion of President Goodnight to this ideal did Bethany College move step by step into the front ranks of American Colleges. When he came to Bethany the college had not won its place in any accrediting association. Endowment, faculty and academic procedures could not satisfy the standards. He set himself to the task of clearing the ground — then building slowly until Bethany was approved by both the Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools of the Southern States and the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. In 192 8 Bethany was put on the approved list of the Association of American Universities which is the highest academic recognition that any college can receive. But he continued to press on. Bethany participated in the progressive studies conducted by the American Association of American Colleges. At the same time under his leadership our own curriculum and academic organization was completely rebuilt and many competent authorities in higher education have already acclaimed it for its progressive note and emphasis on scholarship. Without any attempt at comparison and with all honor and credit to the con- tribution and labors of each president of this historic institution I am confident that the administration of President Goodnight will be looked upon in the years to come as a time when Bethany College made its greatest strides in the direction of academic standing and sound scholarship. Above all the buildings that he built or reconstructed, above the great Increase in endowment and resources which he gathered; above the increase in educational equipment; above any and all of these. President Goodnight ' s service to this college will stand out in the future pre-eminently because of his emphasis UfHjn high standards and scholarship. As we well know. President Goodnight ' s own personal accomplishments on this campus represent an eloquent testimony to his Interest in academic things. I have on my desk now the manuscript for his very careful and discriminating study of Dr. Robert Richardson. It should make a book that will take its place beside the other great biographies of the Restoration Movement. The outlines for his courses in philosophy are there, too — carefully prepared, each page a tribute not alone to his personal in- tellectual acumen and facility, but to the stimulating power of his teaching technique. His personal library of nearly 4000 volumes at Pendleton Heights, soon to come into the possession of this Institution which honors him this day, represents an amazing selection of fine books — books of permanent worth — in philosophy, theology, sociology, education, and general literature. In faculty meetings his sound common sense, his ability to see the useful and true in divergent views, and his capacity to reconcile these views in some helpful synthesis was a rare power, which, coupled with his winning j ersonallty, was most effectively employed through these trying years of growth and change that have made up his ndminlstration. In a controversy or in discipline problems involving sham or wrong he was a hard hitter, a resolute, clean and effective fighter with ample courage. In the many experiences that we shared together, there was always a friendly camaraderie. When I came to the faculty of the college my work was set up in a very indefinite way — and I started, but from that day on I never had a word of instruction or criticism. I had confidence in him and he had confidence in me. It has been the same with every faculty member. Freedom, democracy, and loyalty — these were characteristic of his relationships with his colleagues. And it was more than a relationship — for we never saw him without feeling a sudden glow of pleasure, a desire to discuss some of the eternal problems that torment mankind, and a certainty of learning something interesting as to a new book, a current controversy, or an educational puzzle. My feelings do not permit me to omit a word about his home. He was a most genial host, and he entertained in his home nearly every guest of the college during all of these years — regardless of race, color or creed. He was of the old school to whom conversation was an art, not merely pleasing, but of high and serious character. No guest ever left Pendleton Heights without being greatly impressed and greatly delighted 12

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Representing the College Faculty Mr. Forrest H. Kirkpatrick Executive Secretary to President The presidency of Bethany College has been filled by a notable procession of great and good men. Dr. Cloyd Goodnight whom we honor in affection and esteem this day, will take his place in the procession adding by his own presence a distinction not at all surpassed by any who have gone before. The tributes that have poured out from leaders in the state, in the professions, and in the church as well as in education are indicative of a rich and deep appreciation that will burn with increasing brilliancy as the years move along. For the faculty of this college I would in a too feeble way add a tribute that will reflect genuineness and our sincerity if not eloquence and beauty of form. The best things in this man are those things which are felt but which cannot be adequately described in words. The conventional formulas seem lifeless and incapable of depicting the sentiments, the actions, and the feelings that he inspired in all of us — f.iculty and students alike. This man ' s tastes, his tact, his innate delicacy and his reactions to the b, st of human ideas and emotions are something difficult to epitomize as a whole. Only those of us who worked with him and lived with him can grasp the complete idea of what he was. Others may learn of what he did. The president of a small college is a person of manifold duties. His obligations are varied. He sustains relations to the general public, to the educational and religious agencies and affiliations, to his board of trustees, to his faculty, to his alumni, to his patrons, and perhaps most vital of all, to his students. The usual college president of the early nineteenth century had a well-beaten path leading from his study to his classroom. He belonged to the college alone. The public had no claims on him. Not so todaj-. The college president is a servant of the public as well as a public servant of the college. No educational institution in our day can long sustain itself unless its claim and its ideals are unceasingly pressed upon the public. The college serves its students first, of course, but it is restricted to the point of approxi- mate inefficiency if its service ends there. The college has not done half its work unless it carries its ideals away out beyond college halls — unless it lends itself to the solutions of the great problems that perennially face the church, the state, and all humanity. The president must project the influence of his institution as far as may be out into the practical affairs of men. Then, too, the college, to grow and to serve humanit) ' with a constantly increasing effectiveness, must have money, and money never comes without asking. And in the asking the college president must maintain a bearing in harmony with the exalted work of one charged with a right example to )outhhood. It is a very important task and a trying one. There is no surcease from toil. Week-ends and Sundays are crowded; convention platforms and public occasions present a constant call. These are an indisp ensable prelimmar) ' to generous giving and enthusiastic support. President Goodnight carried these public responsibilities with distinction to the college and its cause. He was a power on the platform — not because of mere oratory but because he had a vibrant message that he presented in a strident manner and with scholarly vigor. But all of this was at a terrific cost to his own life. I have traveled hundreds of miles with him by auto and by train — through conventions, conferences, and committee meetings. The strain is terrific, and it results in a gradual wearing away that finally cuts men down in the prime of life. Never a complaint — abundance of optimism and hope — these were always with him. President Goodnight was gifted with a large sense of intellectual and administra- tive altruism. He had imagination. He saw the past of Bethany, and he felt its spiritual traditions. He foresaw Bethany ' s future, and was moved by its visions and pre-visions. He had a personal interest in his faculty and in the students who came this way. Dr. Johnson said of a sympathetic friend, He puts his mind to yours. The remark could be so well applied to President Goodnight and to the causes, too, to which he was pledged. In him was a certain selflessness which does not belong to small natures, and also is lacking in some great ones. His was a magnanimous life, warmed by those homely traits and virtues that made him both lovable and admirable. Bethany College was never just brick and mortar to President Goodnight for he saw Bethany as a great, constructive, formative personality. He himself represented what might be called the corporate consciousness of the college. He saw the college as an institution so vital, so related to officer and student and the community that it ceased to be Institutional merely but became a real personality. tl

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v ith his host. Some reflections of these associations are too meaningful to be expressed even here. His family life — so full of warmth and devotion — this we must leave in memorial chapel of the hearts of those who loved him most. We would tread softly e en as we pass by. Though he was president of Bethany yet because he was Cloyd Goodnight he was jnuch more than president. He was an interpreter of a whole people to themselves, their shepherd and their guide. Through speech, sermon, oration, and religious journal- ism was this service rendered. A service rich in content, diverse and apt in subject, persuasive and quickening, has it proved to be. His mind was rich and his heart was warm. From these came the philosophy that he applied to the concerns of human welfare. There is no need for me to go further or to dig deeper to find origins for this memorial. My own life here with him for ten years of intimate relationship with every experience drawmg me closer in affection and esteem bears testimony to my own personal feelings. I was the young Timothy of his ministry here and perhaps no single relationship in my whole life has found into my thinking and into my living a richer blessing of fine things. In President Goodnight one understood and felt the fineness of intellectual discrim- ination jomed with swiftness of mtcllcctual movement, delicacy of organization and temperament united with forcefulness of effort, fairness and keen sense of justice welded with a capacity for intense moral Indignation, the principles of the democrat lying close to the taste of the patrician, virility and tenderness made one with per- suasiveness and patience, geniality linked with self-respect, open-mlndedness vitalized with loyalty to high principles, contempt for cheapness and despising of vulgarity inter- woven with deepest human sympathies and, above all, a genuine love, both of heart and will, for the Kingdom of God. President Goodnight died in the prime of life and In the midst of great tasks, but his years were full of achievement and honor, and his colleagues on this faculty have an indelibly happy memory of associations and labors together for the goods of the good life. He was a personality of rare charm and a friend of rare distinction — a Christian gentleman and a scholar. To Bethany College and to each of us personally he gave of his best; ripest wisdom, devoted service, and Christian character. Fading away like the stars of the morning Losing their light in the glorious sun — Thus would we pass from earth and Its tolling Only remembered for what we have done. Shall we be missed though by others succeeded, Reaping the fields we in springtime have sown? No! For the sowers may pass from their labors. Only remembered for what they have done. Only the truth that In life we have spoken. Only the seed that on earth we have sown; These shall pass onward when we are forgotten, Fruits of the harvest and what we have done. Solo- — The Heavenly Song Gray Frank Greskovlch Rl PRl SrNTING THT CoLLI£GI£ AlUMNI Mr. Donald M. Salmon Past President of Alumni Association Bethany College has always emphasized the training of men for the Christian ministry. That objective was uppermost in the mind of Alexander Campbell when he founded this institution. He, himself was a master thinker and preacher. With such leadership at the beginning It does not seem unusual that each president has been a man of deep religious insight and conviction. President Goodnight carried forward this sacred trust. He understood thoroughly the place that Bethany has had In the development of the Disciples of Christ. He was convinced that the college would only fulfill its mission today In so far as it developed leadership for the churches of our brotherhood. Many of us have heard him express this .sentiment in conversation and in public addresses. 13