Union University - Lest We Forget Yearbook (Jackson, TN)

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DR. WARREN F. JONES Pyeside)it Union University President ' s Message Dear Friends: The staffs of Lest We Forget have accorded me the privilege year upon year of writing communications in our vear books. I have considered these cour- tesies to be an honor for which I am grateful. Appropriate themes have been selected through the years depicting the ingenuity and creative concepts of the respective staffs. No less appropriate is the theme Nature which has been selected by your efficient staff of the 1962 edition. The properly oriented student in the Christian college will acquire a pro- gressive appreciation of nature and na- tural resources as a creation of God for the utilization and convenience of man- kind; for God admonished man and woman at the completion of his creative act, ... replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fo l of the air; and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. N ture therefore is neither self-evolved nor powerful within 6 —

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DEDICATION The person to whom this edition of Lest We Forget is dedicated possesses many of the qualities which Emerson, in his writings, deems so important. She is a woman of noble character and high ideals. She sets for herself high goals re- lating to her life and to her work, and reaches these goals regardless of obsta- cles. She aspires to truth, goodness, and beauty of spirit. This woman of so many attributes is an alumnae of Union University and reflects the qualities that all Union graduates should possess. In her ties with Union she has never failed to serve the school and its students in every way possible. She is now serving in a duel role of Registrar and Dean of Women. Both of these jobs are full-time occu- pations and require much time, thought, and energy. This lady is one of the first represen- tatives of Union who greets the new student upon his arrival at Union. She serves him as counselor and friend throughout his days here, and is one of the last persons to say good-by when he graduates. She has given inspiration and guidance to many who have graduated from Union, those who are here, and will continue to inspire and guide all students with whom she has contact. She never fails to do that which she believes to be best for the student be- cause she has an intense interest in the student as an individual and understands his school problems. For all these reasons, We, the 1961- 62 staff of Lest We Forget, wish to pay tribute to one whom we feel that Emerson would hold in high regard as we do, our friend and counselor, Mrs. Gladys Ivy Stone. — 5 —

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itself. Neither does it signify the Pan- theistic view that it is God, because God existed before natural things came into being. What then should be our attitude and our purposes in regard to this physi- cal phase of God ' s creation? One concept would be that of the practical man who measures the natural resources of his world and who strives by his ingenuity to convert those re- sources into everyday usefulness for society. Being practical, he attempts to conserve these sacred possessions reali- zing that to waste them is in violation of a basic principle. The artist sees nature from an en- tirely different viewpoint. Being an artist, he possesses a temperament and a feel- ing for beauty which stirs and stimulates him to preserve it through the channel of art. So, with his brush he attempts to duplicate the impressions that he re- ceives from lowering clouds, a golden sunset, a dashing stream, or a bird on the wing. In so doing, he too conserves for posterity some aspects of nature that stir the imagination and capture the as- pirations of succeeding generations. Like the artist, the literary man pic- tures by means of beautiful language, his impressions. Tennyson ' s, The Brook; Emily Dickinson ' s, ' Tell Yon How the Sun Rose; Joyce Kilmer ' s, Trees: Whitman ' s, 0 t of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking; and the writings of Milton, Shakespeare and Chaucer are fitting ex- amples of the implementation by which the poet interprets nature and conserves it for those who follow. In like manner as a writer of prose, his pen portrays through description or narration, the profound secrets and complexities of natural things. The literary man thus becomes also a conservationist, passing on to posterity the intriguing facts that keep alive a concept of, and an apprecia- tion for that which man could never have made for himself, but which is in- finitely beneficial to him. Finally, the theologian sees nature in the natural man as Paul the Apostle makes reference. He sees man in his na- tural state a source of great potential, but bound by the bonds of his natural- ness. So, the minister seeks to conserve this potential by leading man to a higher level through a personal faith in Christ, and thus preserve for his generation and those to come, the greatest of all natural assets. Lest we forget the influences of our college that have broadened our under- standing of, and enriched our apprecia- tion for the natural world and natural man, and lest we forget those influences felt through contacts with teachers and fellow students which elevate our think- ing and which have drawn us closer to God, the maker of all natural benefits, let us read often of those relationships — Lest We Forget. Best wishes. Sincerely, Warren F. President Jones — 7 —