Lenoir Rhyne College - Hacawa Yearbook (Hickory, NC)

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THE PRESIDENT Six

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Few pastors do more personal missionary work than did Pastor Crouse. He organ- I ized no fewer than five congregations — St. James ' , St. Thomas ' , and St. Andrew ' s, in i South Carolina; St. Michael ' s, in Alabama; and Bethel, in Virginia. Besides this, he reorganized several, and did the preliminary work for the organization of a number of others. During his life he organized two parochial schools — one in Virginia, and one j in North Carolina. But that which stands out pre-eminent in his life, perhaps, is the part he played in the i founding of Lenoir College. When he came to Hickory, in 1889, Col. J. G. Hall, the ' administrator of Col. W. W. Lenoir, was offering this magnificent site to any church which would establish a first-class college upon it. Pastor Crouse was deeply impressed with the wonderful opportunity here offered to the Lutheran Church to build up an insti- tution in the heart of a Lutheran constituency. He succeeded in interesting three of his brother pastors — Revs. J. C. Moser, R. A. Yoder, and W. P. Cline. These four men, firmly believing that this door was opened unto them by the Lord, and strong to follow where he led, boldly gave their personal notes for twenty-five hundred dollars each, and thus secured for the Evangelical Lutheran Church this magnificent property. This was an act of Christian heroism, and places these men among those whom the church, for all time, should delight to honor. In the laying of the cornerstone of the I present administration building of the College, Pastor Crouse took the leading part in the service. Besides being the Synod ' s theological teacher , to which he was called in 1 892, Pastor Crouse held the chair of German and Assistant in English in the newly l launched institution. It is as a teacher of theology in Lenoir College that he will be remem- i bered longest as a professor, perhaps. To the time of his death he loved to speak of those who studied theology under him, and always called them his boys; and they, in turn, remember and speak of him, affectionately, as Father Crouse. Pastor Crouse will be remembered widely and long as an editor and publisher. At Summit, S. C, he founded and published The Summit Courier, a paper which had a wide circulation and influence. At Hickory, he founded The Educator, which, in its latest evolution has become The Lenoir ' an. He also was the founder and first publisher ! of Our Church Record, and was for a long time German Exchange Editor of Our ' Church Paper. He published also A Christian Catechism for Children, besides several sermons and pamphlets which have had a wide circulation. Pastor Crouse was twice married. His first wife was Miss Tirza Adeline Darr, who died less than two years after their marriage. His second wife was Miss Mary Livinia Bilbro, of Greensboro, N. C, with whom he lived happily until death called her home — February 16, 1910. His first marriage was blessed with one child — Thomas Henry, who lived but a few days. His second marriage fruited two sons — Luther Augustus and Carl Froelich ; and one daughter — Luda Amelia. Luther Augustus was called home, at Summit, S. C. As professor, pastor, editor, author, brother, and father, he will be affectionately remembered, and as such he, though dead, yet speaketh. Five

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THE DEAN Seven