Covenant College - Tartan Yearbook (Lookout Mountain, GA)

Page 9 text:

fi? Iii The impossible schedule soon forced him to fall behind in his mathematics courses, and interests switched to English and literature. Now, more than ever, he raced through literally hundreds of books. Taking his A.B. degree in 1914 Che was a member of nPhi Beta Kappaj, Stam taught for three and a half years in the seventh grade of a Christian school. In spite of the fact that he enjoyed scarcely a minute of those trying first years, it was there that he found what was later to become a third major interest-young people. Then came the war, marriage Cto Margaret Gardegnier, the girl at the other end of townl, and children. Work in a New' York employment ofiice provided additional income. This was a period of drifting for Stam. Looking back, he sees little direc- tion or purpose in his life at that time. If one were to look at it from a human point of view, it was his reading interest that pulled him through. Stam firmly be- lieves, of course, that God had his following years planned to the finest detail. The Life of Henry Clay Trumbull, the founder and first edi- tor of The Sunday School Times, was the book that completely changed Peter Stam's life. It gave himi a goal, a sense of direc- tion. When Trumbull's son, the new editor of the Times, spoke in Carnegie Hall at a missionary meeting, Stam took off work, listened to the message, and found his way to the front of the auditorium. Pm going to work for you some day, he told the surprised speaker. He can't explain now why he said it. Some day I'll be your assistant. Trumbull was in a hurry. Write me a letter about it, he said. So Stam wrote a letter. No reply came for three long weeks. Finally an answer arrived. It thanked him for his interest, and said that the Times would keep his name on file. Stam was disappointed, but kept up hope. Not long after, another envelope arrived. The Times was re- viving a bookpublishing department, and the division needed a manager. Would he be willing? Stam could hardly start work fast enough. At this time, and through his work, Stam met many distin- guished people. One of his personal acquaintances was William Jennings Bryan. The department did well for nine years, but then the depression set in, and the venture was forced to cease operations. Stam entered advertising for a half-dozen years. In 1934, however, Dr. I. Oliver Buswell Jr., then president of Wheaton College, invited him to come to Wheaton to head up the campus book store. Anxious to get back in that type of work, even if only in a small degree, Stam accepted. But he wasn't with the bookstore long. Only several months later, with the store doing a good business, he displayed still another talent, and helped revive the ailing Wheaton College Conservatory of Music. This he headed until 1948. During this longer period of time, he was always busy writing book re- views and other material for his old employer, the Times. He had begun his work with education, however, and that is where he has been ever since. In 1948 he was called to be dean and registrar at Faith Theological Seminary, now in Philadel- phia. He was on the faculty there until 1956. Then he and Mrs. Stam moved to St. Louis where he assumed his present post as dean of students at Covenant. She was Dean of Women during the schooI's early years. Stam today lists his chief interests as books and young people. VVhile he is extremely active in other fields, these still are the principal objects of his attention. His library, compared to most personal collections, is gigantic. At one time it numbered over 5000 volumes. It covers many fields, especially biographies, missions, psychology, apologetics and Bible study. His counsel and advice for students is still appreciated by many. All over the world are those who have sat in his offices- he has had several--and found solutions to their problems. Mrs. Stam's experience in similar situations aiords her a deep wis- dom which has brought parallel appreciation and love. Dr. Stam Che received the honorary LL.D. degree from Wheaton Collegej always has been and still is a layman. But his influence has extended far beyond that of many ordained ministers. Too many interests? Only one who has attempted so many different things in so many diEerent fields could prompt the warm title adopted by so many-after school days are over. To them Cand to us, when we graduatej, in spite of his many responsible positions, he will always be just Uncle Peter. The Stains' affection for us, for each other, and for their Lord hrings into sharp perspective the hasis of their useful lives. This '62 TARTAN is dedicated with thanlzful appreciation.

Page 8 text:

DEDICATION You've got to learn to relax. You'l1 wreck yourself. You'll wear yourself out before you've begun to live. That's what the director of physical education at Columbia University told young Peter Stam, jr. over thirty-five years ago. And well for him, he listened. Stam.-by nature-was the type then, and has been ever since, to try to do too much. Too much? Well, too much, at least, for anyone trying to lead an ordinary life. But whether he wanted it that way or not, his life has never been exactly ordinary. When the PE director offered his terse advice, Stam was approaching the breaking point. To pursue his studies at Colurn- bia, where he was doing extraordinarily well in math, he found it necessary to spend four hours of each day commuting to sprawled-out New York City. Besides, he was organist and choirmaster in his church, and to complicate the snarled schedule, he had a girl friend at the other end of town. It was too much, and soon he began to realize it. So he wel- comed the counsel of his friend. Ten-rninute cat-naps while riding the subways and streetcars, the ability to rest on a hard table or even on the Hoor, and relaxation through quick mental exercises saved the day for Peter Stam. Peter was born the oldest of nine children. I-Iis father was firmly set in strict Reformed traditions, and the whole family was trained rigorously in the things of the Lord. Family wor- ship was a foremost feature of daily life: the Sabbath was scrupulously kept. For them, it wasn't just a cold form. It was a living force that always kept the family together and gave them joy in all their activities. Stam does not now regard his childhood as an unfortunate time of being fenced in. Rather, he points to several results that must be seen by anyone as being most worthwhile. One of the most marked of these was the missionary empha- sis. Foreign missionary interest and the Stam family's way of life went hand in hand. Peter's brother John was to become known to the entire world as a modern Christian martyr, when the communists in China killed both him and his wife Betty in 1934. Now the tradition of foreign service is being carried on by another generation of Stams. Another interest that stemmed from early years, and one that has stayed with him ever since, is a great love for books. He was influenced in this regard partly by strict discipline at home, and partly by a highschool teacher, who while failing in disci- pline, succeeded nevertheless in gving Stam an insatiable desire to read. In high school he was literary editor of the school paper one year, editor-in-chief the next. At the same time, he was high school reporter for the Paterson CN.-IJ Evewing N ews. Peter's father had not received a college education, but he was determined that his son should have t.hat opportunity. So off to Columbia he went. There he was to complete four years' work in three fremernber the subways, the choir, and the girl at the other end of townj.

Page 10 text:

To gain a perspective . . Some things are pretty hard to say. They are too expansive in general: or they are so complicated in particular: or perhaps their essence is remote to the degree that anything said in description would seem beside the point. That is the problem in a presentation of life at Covenant College. To encompass with simple words and mere pictures such an intricate, pulf sating organism is to bind Samson with silk thread or to carry water in a wicker basket. The choir is not, for instance, a group of twenty-eight people posed on the risers for a pho- to: that isn't what those twenty-eight fellows and girls will remember. It is rather the mishaps and antics, the stresses and spiritual rewards of the year's activity that will remain longer in their minds. But neither is the basketball team an exciting description of a tournament victory, for such a:n account can scarcely register the tense determination that sends the ball from the corner of the floor through the strings. Here only a pic- ture will do. But how can you express the anxiety