McMurry University - Totem Yearbook (Abilene, TX)

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 '•-I I riEV i1 • f! COPYRIGHT 1938 NEIL DANIEL EDITOR JACK TRUSKETT MANAGER

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Win UMOKUl UlftilV THE TOTEM PUBLISHED BY THE STUDENTS OF McMurry College ABILENE. TEXAS 1938 Wm MEMORIAL USKAS '' Mdtwrr Ulkf

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ILLsH ■ ■■■■ ■ FOREWORD nS McMURRY COLLEGE ends her fifteenth year of operation, it seems only fit- ting that we. the student body of McMurry, should stop and pay tribute to those pioneers that made possible the establishment of our Alma Mater. During the spring of 1938. the Methodists all over the world were celebrating the two-hundredth anniversary of the founding of Methodism. It was in 1738 that John Wesley, the father of Methodism, started this great movement, and today it is one of the largest Protestant denominations in the entire world. We as students of McMurry College took a part in the celebration of this movement when we had the privilege of having Dr. J. T. Carlyon on our campus to conduct a two day Al- dersgate celebration. In turn. Dr. Brabham conducted our annual college revival, using as a theme, John Wesley's Heart warming experience. in Aidersgate street in London. We privileged students in McMurry College do honor at this particular time to John Wesley, the Father of Methodism. Out of John Wesley's great experience has grown Methodism, and McMurry College, which is owned and controlled by the Methodists of the Northwest Tex- as Conference. On April 5, past. McMurry College celebrated her seventeenth birthday. It was on this day, 1921, that the board of education of the Northwest Texas Con- ference met in a called meeting in the First Methodist Church in Abilene to ac- cept the note, cash, and other considerations offered by the City of Abilene to the Northwest Texas Conference for the establishment of a Methodist school in Abi- lene. S. M. Shelton, of the Chamber of Commerce of Abilene, reported that the chamber had completed its campaign to raise $100,000 for the college; and W. J. Fulwiler reported that the Methodists of Abilene had raised the quota of $200,000 for the establishment of the institution to be known as McMurry College, named for Bishop McMurry, who was presiding Bishop of the Northwest Texas Confer- ence at that time. The history of McMurry College is the history of three other colleges; Claren- don College which was discontinued as a church supported institution in 1927; Seth Ward College in Plainview, and Stamford College in Stamford, both of which were destroyed by fire. The records of these three schools were transferred to Mc- Murry, thus giving us a backbone for our school. Under the leadership of our beloved founder. Dr. J. W. Hunt, the construction work of our college was started immediately upon his being appointed president of the college and in September of 1923 McMurry College opened its doors as a junior college and two years later became a senior ranking institution. Of the original faculty which started our Alma Mater off to a flying start, four still remain. They are: Julia Luker, Gypsy Ted Sullivan Wylie, Jennie Tate, and Coach R. M. Medley. Following the death of Dr. Hunt, Dr. O. P. Clark was act- ing president of the college for a short period. Dr. C. Q. Smith, now presiding elder of the St. Louis, Mo., district,’ was McMurry's President from 1934 until December, 1935. It was during Dr. Smith's administration that McMurry became debt free for the first time since its founding. In December, 1935, Dr. Thomas W. Brabham was elected president and since that time has worked unceasingly toward Mc- Murry's entrance into the Southern Association of Colleges and Universities by starting the raising of an additional $300,000 endowment. Under Dr. Brabham's administration Medley Stadium became a reality, and much other improvement has been made. So as we celebrate this fifteenth anniversary, shall we stand and in unison shout, long wave maroon and white. 727