Cedarville University - Miracle / Cedrus Yearbook (Cedarville, OH)

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JS Third president, Walter Smith Kilpatrick, 1940-1942. The Reverend Walter Smith Kilpatrick was chosen by the board of trustees to succeed Dr. McChesney as president of Cedarville College. He was twenty-six years old at the time of his appointment, the youngest college president in the United States. A magna aim laude grad- uate of Cedarville College (1934), Mr. Kilpatrick re- ceived his Th.B. from Western Theological Seminary and was awarded the Marvin Memorial Fellowship for the highest standing in his class. He received his M.A. degree from the University of Pittsburgh and completed his residence requirements there for the Ph.D. degree. He snidied in Europe for three semesters before being called to assume his new duties at Cedarville. Under Mr. Kilpatrick's administration, the college purchased its first residence hall. Harriman Hall, located on the corner of Main and Chillicothc Streets, was named in memory of Dr. W. P. Harriman, a Cedarville alumnus and member of the board of trustees at the time of his death in March, 1959. In addition to being a home for college girls, the dorm was used as a social center. Ira D. Vayhinger was appointed president of Cedar- ville College by the board of trustees in October, 1942. Born in Delaware, Ohio, Mr. Vayhinger attended school at Osgood and was graduated from Moores Hill College. He was connected with the financial department of the Presbyterian Church and was business manager of the college at the time of his appointment to the presidency. Harriman residence, purchased in 1940 28 Fourth president, Ira D. Vayhinger, 1942-195

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Dr. McChesney’s administration was marked by growth and expansion. During these years the student body increased in size from fifty in 1915 to 102 in 1923. A science building containing lab- oratories and classrooms was erected and the music department expanded. In 1928, the General Synod, by unanimous vote, gave all control, ownership, title, and vested rights of Cedarvlllc College to the board of trustees and their successors forever. 27 The Ccdarvillc College Music-Makers. 1918.

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The annual Cedar Day celebration, 1923. The first observance of Cedar Day was so successful rhat the celebration of Cedar Day be- came an established custom which continued until the year 1957. The faculty regarded Cedar Day as the day of all year when the community and the college joined in wholesome fun and pleasure. The people of the community' regarded Cedar Day much as they regarded the fourth of July. It was a general holiday when businesses were closed, farm work was abandoned, baskets were filled and the whole family came to spend the day on the college campus. A person who served the college un- der every adminstration including the present and through every changing cir- cumstance until February, 1954, was Dr. Frank A. Jurkat. Dr. Jurkat’s six-and-a- half foot frame on the pathway crossing the campus was a familiar sight to hundreds of students who grew to love and respect him during his fifty-eight .years with the college. The way his students felt about him is well expressed in the 1951 Cedrus which was dedicated to him. We dedicate this, the 1951 Cedrus, to him because, although a man of prodigious learning, he wears thar learning lightly; because, like Yorick, he is a man of infinite jest; because an hour of one of his classes is a delight to those who share it, when not only mind and spirit are fed with wit and wisdom, but the flesh, too, is sustained by the cookies and candy that he carries up the path in his market basket along with books — arid, above all, because he is loved and greatly admired, and re- membered by his students long after their other teachers have been forgotten. In April of 1954, Dr. Jurkat was called to be with the Lord whom he served, but his influence is still felt on the campus, not only by those who knew him personally, but even by those who knew him only through the memories of others. 29 Dr. Jurkat, friend to all.