Oklahoma City University - Keshena Yearbook (Oklahoma City, OK)

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or onesty, Sincerity, ourag at And Because His is a Capable Hand by Hi nary We, the junior and senior classes of Oklahoma City University, dedicate the 1936 Silver Anniversary Scarab, to Dr. A. G. Williamson, president and alumnus of Scarabia. ln so doing, we also dedicate this book to honesty, sin- cerity, zeal and courage, qualities which are inherent in this man who is our leader. Coming to O. C. U. in an hour of blackness and de- spair, Dr. A. G. Williamson set steadfastly to the task of rebuilding faith in this institution. First, by means of an enthusiasm which produces re- sults, he made us to believe in him, the man. Then, feel- ing his way skillfully until he was master of the situation, he made us to believe again in our university and its destiny. We saw his sure hand upon the helm and we have grown to trust in him. We have not been dis- appointed. But it is not enough for him to be our protector and our provider. I-le is also our friend and counsellor, ready at a word or a sign to sit with us, advising and suggesting. Though called from the pastorate of a great church to a more difficult task, he is still the minister of Christ, eager to share with each of us the loads which are ours to bear. It does not matter that he has the greatest load of all. Today he is setting out upon a financial campaign which will lift Oklahoma City University from the slough of the depression. The goal is 3I,500,000. Those debts which for years have choked us will be paid. The size of the university will be doubled. An endowment fund will be established. A high goal has been set and this man who is our leader, yet our companion, will reach it. ln September, 1912, A. G. Williamson, freshman, en- rolled in Oklahoma Methodist University at Guthrie, which later was to be moved to Oklahoma City and event- ually become Oklahoma City University. Frosh William- son was preparing himself for the ministry, and before long he was, in addition to his school work, filling the Meth- odist pastorate at Cashion, Oklahoma. Frosh Williamson had little time to dabble in extra- curricular activities, what with staying on the scholastic honor roll and working his way through school on the slim salary of a Methodist preacher, and what he could earn on odd jobs about the campus. Nevertheless, his college-mates knew what kind of timber was there, for in ,1 5 he served as president of the Student Council, and in '16 was president of the senior class. There was a girl attending O. M. U.-the girl- Dencie Stewart by name, and when, in the fall of '16, O. C55 M. U.'s senior president moved to Boston University, she went along as Mrs. A. O. Williamson. At Boston the young student minister acquired an S. T. B. QBachelor of Sacred Theologyj to add to his A. B. During this year of devout study he filled the pastorate of the Hudson, Massachusetts, Methodist Episcopal church. Next year the young preacher was back in Oklahoma. Although this was his first year out of theological school, he was so highly regarded that he was assigned to the M. E. charge at Shawnee, 1111 important pastorate. For three years he filled this pulpit so ably that his next move was to Blackwell, a still more important church. After two years at Blackwell, Reverend Williamson was made superintendent of the Oklahoma City district, one of the youngest men to hold such a position in the history of state Methodism. His alma mater had watched the rapid rise of this young man and in the spring of 1925 he came back to O.C.U. to receive the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity. Another step up the ladder came in 1926 when Wil- liamson moved to Kansas City, Missouri, to take over the powerful lndependence Avenue M. E. church in that city. Here he stayed for two years before moving to Salina, Kansas, a strong center of Methodism in the Iayhawker state. Here is located Kansas Wesleyan College and the Salina pastor cooperated closely with the college officials in their work. It is possible that this association is largely re- sponsible for his insight into the affairs of college admin- istration, since Kansas Wesleyan is confronted with much the same problems wl1icl1 face O. C. U. VVilliamson came to Wesley M. E. church, Oklahoma City, after four years at Salina. There has always been a close relationship between Wesley and Scarabia. Dur- ing the 1932-33 school year, he was elected to the Uni- versity Board of Trustees, as one of the member represen- tatives of the Oklahoma conference, The following year he was elected president of the Board of Trustees and chairman of its executive council. Dr. Walter Scott Athearn, founder of the Boston Uni- versity school of religious education, was elected by the trustees in June, 1934, to replace Dr. Eugene Antrim as president of the University. During the night of Novem- ber 13, 1934, not two months later, Dr. Athearn died sud- denly ii1 St. Louis, Missouri, while engaged in refinancing O. C. U. Dr. Athearn had launched an ambitious program for the development of the school and his sudden decease seemed the death blow to struggling Scarabia. The Board of Trustees looked about for a man to take his place. QContinued on page 117D

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We Iledicate 0ur Searab to - A ,,,, , il Rf ix 'A' 1' President A. G. Williancson

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oar Silver nniversary Scarab 0 Staff Speaks Your Silver Anniversary Scarab awaits your approval or your rejection as a lot of new-fangled folderol. It is not put together in the style of the usual college yearbook. Neither is it written in the old manner. It is semi-feature style throughout. There is little of the formal or stilted about it. Ir is, however, the record of one college year. ln this it is like other annuals. VVe have attempted to lighten its tone throughout. For instance we have eliminated, for the most part, tire- some histories of the many organizations both social and departmental, and have substituted merely the record of the school year just past. You may think we are poking fun at revered tradition, but we are not. We have given credit where credit is due, but we have made no attempt to give to half-dead organizations an appearance of great- ness. We give you an opportunity to get really acquainted with your faculty. We believe that Professor So-and-So is a personality, not just someone who has been attempting with more or less success to cram knowledge into our more or less unwilling heads. VVe have told you as much about your profs as space will permit. Our class sections are distinctly different. lnstead of a picture of john Iones with a simple list of activities, we have given you john Iones as you have known him and as you will remember him long after college days are past. lf Susie Smith is the extra-curricular activity in which he has been most interested, we see no harm in letting you know about it. VVe have given you your fellow students as you have known them. They are not just so many people, they are personalities with good and bad points, likes and dislikes, just like you. Believing that too much of the same thing palls up- on a reader, we have interspersed the more serious sections of your book with feature articles and feature pictures. We want you to enjoy your Scarab. We thought that we would like a yearbook like this, and since we are stu- dents just like you thought you would like it too. ilu We have made frequent use of cartoons throughout the book, because we wanted nothing stilted in it. As to the arrangement of clubs, fraternities, faculty sections, class sections, etc., we have atteiupted to place them in the most logical positions. Organizations which have grown out of the Liberal Arts department of the University, we have placed together. Then, we have placed those organizations which have grown out of the Fine Arts department together in another section of the book near the Fine Arts facultv section and the Fine Arts building picture. 1 The Greek-letter fraternities and sororities have been arranged alphabetically. We did not consider that the oldest group on the campus deserved first position, nor did we think the newest should be so honored, if indeed it should be considered an honor. Nor did we consider it our duty to attempt to settle disputes about which group really had been founded first. There are three fraterni- ties on the O. C. U. campus each of which claims to be the oldest. VVe did not care about that. The athletic section of the book is as nearly com- plete as we could make it. Complete records are given of all sports which had been finished at the time the Scarab had to go to press. We have placed them in the order of their relative positions on the sports calendar of the school year. Football comes first, then basketball, etc. So much for that Part of your yearbook. Now, just a word about it typographically. VVe have used the latest thing in type faces and in general typographic makeup. We wanted it to be pleasing to the eye. liinally, we did not expect to please everyone. We did want to satisfy as many of you as we possibly could. If you like your book, that's fine. We have done our best, and iuany are the hours we spent doing it. If you enjoy reading it half as much as we enjoyed writing it for you, you are a well pleased student body. Anyway, here it is. emuriam llllilnizt 322111 CEvtli11ia1111 1914 - - - 19315 C63 i