Meredith College - Oak Leaves Yearbook (Raleigh, NC)

Page 15 text:

At the beginning of Dr. Vann ' s admini stration there was no endowment and a debt of $35,000 on the property. This debt has been raised and an endow- ment of ,$121,431 has been accumulated. All the while Dr. Vann was gathering around him an unusually strong fac- ulty, and the standard of the college has been steadily raised. In the vital welfare of the people Dr. Vann has always maintained a deep and enthusiastic interest. He has had a prominent part in the work of the Anti-Saloon League. When the Webb-Kenyon bill was introduced he went to Washington and made a telling speech in its behalf. In 1914, when the consti- tutional amendment to require the reading of the Bible in the public schools was before the Legislature, Dr. Vann strongly opposed it — allying himself al- ways on the side of religious liberty. At the Baptist State Convention in 1914 a board of education was estab- lished, and again an executive head was needed. The choice fell on Dr. Vann as the man best fitted for the work. He pleaded unfitness, but finally yielded and accepted the new responsibilities with characteristic consecration and faith- fulness. It is impossible to estimate the worth of a man like Dr. Vann, for his great- est and most enduring work cannot be told in facts and figures. It is found in those lives he has strengthened and sent on with a new and clearer vision of life and with a new courage. The following tribute to our Alma Mater hymn is found in the resolutions adopted by the trustees when Dr. Vann ' s resignation was accepted: The beautiful college hymn, the words and music of which he composed, will be a tender tie binding the name of Richard Tilman Vann to Meredith Col- lege through all the coming years. We trust that his voice on many occasions, in the future as in the past, may add melody to this heart-thrilling song.

Page 14 text:

IXtdjarb Oilman ItXann In the fall of 1899 the doors of Meredith College were for t he first time opened to students. At the close of this first year, the president having re- signed, it was necessary to elect a new president. In this crucial time in the life of the college the trustees, with singular unanimity, turned to Dr. Richard Tilman Vann, at that time pastor of Scotland Neck Baptist Church. Dr. Vann was born November 24, 1851. He was educated at Wake Forest College and the Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Ky. During his years at the Seminary he assisted Rev. Thomas Dixon in evangelistic meetings in Cleveland County. This association and experience proved most valuable training for his future work. All who have ever heard Dr. Vann know he is a charming preacher and engaging platform speaker. He has the power of adapt- ing himself to any kind of congregation and is equally at home in a fashionable city pulpit or under a brush arbor at a district a ssociation. During his Wake Forest pastorate he was also secretary of the Education Board, which kept him in touch with the colleges as well as the churches. His work as a pastor was singularly successful. No pastor was ever better loved. The devotion of the people to him was rare, attesting always his wise and loving guidance. So it was with an aching heart that Dr. Vann considered the call to Meredith. He protested that he was not a school man, yet his long and varied experience proved a splendid preparation for the new work. For fifteen years Dr. Vann guided the destinies of the college with marked ability. When he entered upon the presidency the college property consisted of a half square upon which stood two buildings. The college now owns almost the entire block and eight buildings.

Page 16 text:

spr • . -■ ®fe W Jfacultp g cf)ool of Utiieral Slrtss CHARLES EDWARD BREWER, A.M., Ph.D. Wake Forest College, A.M.; Graduate Student Johns Hopkins University; Cornell University, Ph.D. President ROSA CATHERINE PASCHAL, A.B. Meredith College, A.B.; Student University of Chicago Lotly Principal J. GREGORY BOOMHOUR, A.B., A.M. Colgate University; University of Chicago Dean — Professor of Natural Scit net SUSAN ELIZABETH YOUNG, A.M. Brownsville Female College. A.M.; Student at Leipzig and Berlin Professor of Modem Languages ELIZABETH DELIA DIXON-CARROLL, M.D. Woman ' s Medical College of the New York Infirmary Professor of Physiology —Colli Physician ELIZABETH AVERY COLTON, B.S., A.M. Student Mount Holyoke College; Columbia University, A.M. Professor of English MARY SHANNON SMITH, A.B., A.M. Student Radcliffe College; Leland Stanford Junior University, A.B.; Columbia University, A.M. Professor of History ami Education