Wesleyan College - Veterropt Yearbook (Macon, GA)

Page 17 text:

There were others, too, who gave gifts of a different kind. Mr. Orville A. Park presented to Wesleyan his library of Georgiana, a valuable collection of ma¬ terial on this state. The late Mr. William % ‘Rok’ Rogers was bound, heart and soul, in two institutions, Wesleyan College and Mulberry Street Methodist Church. Like the men who threw themselves into the fight for Wesleyan in the early years, Mr. “Rok” became the symbol, to all who knew him, of devotion to the college. Although he had little money, his purse was always open when the college was in need. It is said that at one time, when he was invited to a formal dinner, he said: ‘Tm sorry, but I have no dress suit. Wesleyan has my dress suit. ’ For many years the Wesleyan trustees contributed to the college from their own pockets. Last year, four trus¬ tees and an alumna united, in a very serious crisis in the college’s affairs, and pledged their personal securities to the amount of $350,000 in order that Wesleyan might con tinue its work unhampered. Those five, Mr. W. D. Ander¬ son, Mrs. W. I). Anderson, Mr. T. J. Stewart, Mr. James A. Porter, and Mr. Robert J. Taylor, will always be re¬ membered along with the other great names who placed their faith in the “Oldest and Best. Mrs. W. D. Anderson During 1937-38, negotiations have been going on with the Wesleyan bondhold¬ ers in order to reach a settlement. It was a trustee, Mr. R. J. Taylor, who gave his time and thought for almost a year to this matter and effected the final settlement with the Bondholders’ Committee. A fellow trustee said to Mr. Taylor of this settlement: “As I look at it, you are responsible for this transaction. Your devotion to Wesleyan’s interests, your constant thought and work in connection with the problem, your persistence in pursuing the matter when all others were ready to give up, the almost infinite patience you ex¬ hibited in the negotiations—all constitute a remarkable exhibition of human talent and accomplishments. I have never seen anything like it.’’ And thus the tiny scarlet thread spun in 1836 from the faith and convictions of a few has slowly entwined itself into the hearts and lives of all who have dedi¬ cated themselves to the furtherance of Wesleyan. It is within them and others like them who must take up this torch of knowledge that we find so deeply inter¬ woven the Scarlet Thread of Sacrifice.” Robert J. Taylor • 13 -