Category Archives: College-related Publications

Miss Illinois

February 3, 2012Alumni, College-related Publicationsadmin

Over thirty years ago the following article was featured in the Wheaton College Alumni Magazine in May 1981 and is transcribed below.

Blythe Sawyer — Miss Illinois 1981
by Ed Meyer ’71

Little did Blythe Sawyer know, when she graduated from Wheaton’s Conservatory of Music a year ago, of all the excitement which lay ahead. She was an attractive and talented vocalist, intending to pursue a master’s degree in voice from Indiana University. Her goal was to sing at the Met in New York City in fifteen years.

Those goals are still there, and there’s a possibility she’ll meet them. But Blythe has postponed them after winning the Miss Illinois contest and a talent scholarship at the Miss America contest.

Blythe’s parents, Myron ’51 and lean Wright Sawyer ’48, joined with a former Miss USA, Karen Morrison (wife of Gordon Comstock ’74) in encouraging her to enter the competition. Morrison operates a modeling school in Wheaton and offered her professional assistance and experience. Blythe’s rooting section also included grandparents, ten aunts and uncles, six cousins, a brother and a sister who are all Wheaton graduates or present Wheaton students.

Blythe says, ”My first motivation was that this could be a platform for my singing. Of course, the potential scholarship money is as a factor, too. Now, I see this as an opportunity to share Christ with people.”

She first won the Miss Chicago pageant, and then went on to win the Miss Illinois pageant. Along the way she earned $2,000 in scholarship money. At the Miss America pageant she won an additional $3,000 in the talent competition.

Prior to the Miss America Contest Blythe participated in a 19-day USO tour to Veterans Hospitals in the western part of the United States. ”That was somc of the best training I could have had in preparing for the final contest. Also, we spent an hour every night with patients. While I could not always share Christ in so many words, it was a good opportunity to share His love,” Most of the last year has been spent modeling, making appearances at trade shows and store openings, and emceeing local pageants. Of these experiences she says, “I’ve tried to, as carefully and Christlike as I can, share Christ with people. It has been an opportunity for me to show the love of Christ with a giving, loving attitude. I want people to go away thinking ‘I felt comfortable with her. She seemed to care about me.’ ”

A disappointing effect of the singing Blythe did for the pageants and all the speaking she has done, is that she has developed some problems with her voice and is unable to sing now. This has been difficult for Blythe to handle but she says, “While I’ve always had my heart set on a performing career in classical music, I’m realizing that there are very few openings even for extremely talented People. Now, I’m sorting through various opportunities and trying to determine what other abilities and interests God has given me. I still desire to serve Him, no matter what I’ll be doing.”

Robert E. Webber

January 9, 2012Books, Collection-related Publications, College-related Publications, Special Collectionsadmin

One of the more controversial professors at Wheaton College was Dr. Robert E. Webber, who influenced a generation of students and a large segment of evangelicalism. Raised in a Baptist church in Pennsylvania, he attended Bob Jones University in the late 1950s before enrolling at Reformed Episcopal Seminary, finishing in 1960 his graduate education at Covenant Theological Seminary. He began teaching theology at Wheaton College in 1968. Youthful, energetic and sympathetic to the concerns of students, he was a popular and highly effective lecturer. As he studied ecclesiastical history, its variable trends and moods, Webber perceived that vital practices had been ignored or recklessly tossed aside during the Reformation.

In 1978 he published Evangelicals on the Canterbury Trail, a collection of autobiographical essays by Webber and former evangelicals who gradually adopted Anglo-catholic or Catholic forms of worship. When released the book generated considerable heat among evangelicals who felt that Webber had betrayed the Protestant faith. Eventually, however, it was recognized that his pioneering research opened doors for fresh approaches to church life, whether liturgical expressions were adopted or not. Closely studying the permutations of Christian worship, Webber wrote or edited several additional books dealing with the history and function of liturgy, including Worship is a Verb, Blended Worship and the seven-volume Complete Library of Christian Worship. During his later career he concentrated on the writings of the Church Fathers, attempting to draw from their treatises insights for contemporary contexts. This interest is reflected in the Introduction to Journey to Jesus: “The model of evangelism proposed in this book is a resurrection of the seeker model…that originated in the third century…It speaks particularly to the current search for an effective style of evangelism in a world dominated by postmodern thought, a church living in a post-Constantinian society, and the challenge to overcome the resurgence of pagan values.” Webber was Director of the Institute for Worship Studies. At the time of his death in 2007, he was the William R. and Geraldyn B. Myers professor of ministry at Northern Seminary in Lombard, Illinois.

A Merry Merrill Tenney Christmas

December 25, 2011Books, College-related Publications, Wheaton College Archivesadmin

This fine bit of Christology from Dr. Merrill Tenney, former Dean of the Wheaton College Graduate School, appeared in the December, 1958, Alumni Magazine.

In the obscurity of a stable in a cave in Bethlehem of Judea there occurred one of the most ordinary events of history: a baby was born. Nothing could be less spectacular; it is as common as mankind. Every one of us who now lives entered this world by that same gateway, so that this baby was no exception. He did not come from an aristocratic family. Mary, his mother, though of good ancestry, was of Galilean peasant stock, and her husband, Joseph, was a village carpenter. Both were well known to all their neighbors as good but ordinary people, probably neither better nor worse than the average. They had neither power, nor wealth, nor influence. No particular notice was taken of the baby’s arrival, and there was no celebration in His honor. The populace of Bethlehem did not know that He existed.

Nevertheless, His birth was a landmark in the history of the world that marked a change in the very method of reckoning time, and that changed the course of empire. While the fact of His birth was not extraordinary, the nature of His birth most certainly was, for both of the Gospels that describe it assert unequivocally that He was born of a virgin. Mary, His mother, officially betrothed to Joseph, but the marriage had not been consummated before He was born. The accounts tell us that His birth was announced by an angelic messenger, and that the Holy Spirit so came upon Mary that her child was called “the Son of God” (Luke 1:35), and the celestial hosts who appeared to the shepherds in the fields of Bethlehem sang of “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men,” when He entered the world.

This mingling of the supernatural and the natural, of deity and humanity is the miracle of Christmas. God has entered into the experience of humanity not as a casual visitor, but as a partaker of our flesh will all its limitations and sorrow. “He was in all points tempted like as we are.” Nevertheless, he was not just a victim of fate, for through the vehicle of the human body He labored, taught, died and rose that He might reveal the nature of God to men, and that He might fulfill God’s purpose in saving them. The miracle of Christmas is that in the coming of Jesus, God made himself our Redeemer, and that in the ordinary process of birth a new and supernatural power entered human life. Because He is both God and man, He is able to destroy death and to give eternal deliverance from fear and failure.

The Third Man Factor

December 22, 2011Alumni, College-related Publications, Wheaton College Archivesadmin

We know the names of the great. But there are those who, as influential as any statesman, author or inventor, step in and out of history. Amazingly, their identity remains totally unknown.

One such figure appears in the Bible, Daniel 3:16-28. King Nebuchadnezzar did not appreciate the fact that his captives, “certain Jews,” Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego, refused to worship the golden image he had provided, so he ordered the boys bound and thrown into a blazing furnace. Looking into the pit, the king saw another figure. “Lo, I see four men loose,” he told his confused counselors, “walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” The king concluded that God had sent an angel to protect the three Jewish boys.

One day in the mountains of Tibet missionaries Bob Ekvall and Ed Carlson (both graduates of Wheaton College) were riding their horses. Fully aware that larger packs of marauders might overtake a smaller groups, both carried rifles and knew how to use them. Though Ekvall never killed a man, he stated that he had shot the horses out from under a few. As Carlson and Ekvall rode up a remote pass, they saw in the distance several men on horseback galloping toward them, obviously plotting an assault. Suddenly the would-be bandits stopped and retreated. Later, Ekvall came across one of the men and asked why they had ridden away so hastily. “You outnumbered us,” he replied. “We weren’t afraid of you. We weren’t afraid of your friend. But who was that shining one with you?” Ekvall was understandably baffled.

Encountering apparitions was new to Ekvall and Carlson, but it is not so to the human experience. John Geiger, author of The Third Man Factor (2009) chronicles several such visitations. A few instances from the book illustrate:

Sir Ernest Shackleton, during his 1916 expedition to the South Pole, ordered his crew to abandon their ice-battered vessel, Endurance, and trek across breaking floes and frozen tundra, desperately searching for the shelter of a whaling station. Traversing mile after agonizing mile over glaciers and unnamed mountains, Shackleton and his starved, exhausted men at last reached their destination. Later, the explorer admitted that he and his companions, each without telling the other, had experienced the acute sense of a comforting, protective presence guiding them. In lectures he spoke of the event, but declined to elaborate. “None of us cares to speak about that,” he told an interviewer. “There are some things which can never be spoken of. Almost to hint about them comes perilously near to sacrilege. This experience was eminently one of those things.”

During his historic 1927 transatlantic flight from New York to Paris, Charles Lindbergh, piloting the Spirit of St. Louis, flew into explosive thunderstorms and blinding fog, drifting with each mile ever closer to sleep. To keep awake, he doused himself with cold rainwater. During the twenty-second hour of his voyage Lindbergh sensed other presences aboard the craft. These “phantoms,” he wrote, were there to assist, “conversing and advising on my flight, discussing problems of my navigation, reassuring me, giving me messages of importance unattainable in ordinary life.” The famed aviator did not discuss this until nearly three decades after the flight. He remembered “transparent forms in human outline,” but stated, “I can’t remember a single word they said.”

On 911 during the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers, at least one documented report told of an unknown rescuer suddenly appearing amid the chaos to lead desperate office workers to safety through thick smoke and falling debris.

Though necessary to survival, Geiger says, the Third Man is not “real” as a physical manifestation. He believes that each human brain carries an “angel switch,” a brain response activated by extreme and unusual circumstances. The Third Man may be explained neurologically, he suggests, but this does not answer “why” he appears. Ultimately, the Third Man is an instrument of hope.

The prophet Daniel, Robert Ekvall, Ernest Shackleton, Charles Lindbergh and many others throughout history would surely agree with Geiger that the Third Man is an instrument of hope, but would wholeheartedly disagree that he is not real. Something unreal cannot lead a dying man to safety, just as a starving man cannot eat unreal food that suddenly appears on his plate. Who or whatever the identity of the Third Man, he religiously keeps his appointments.

A painting depicting Ekvall’s encounter, “Who Was That Shining One?” by DeWitt Whistler Jayne, is displayed in the Special Collections reading room on the third floor of the Billy Graham Center.

Edgar C. Bundy

December 12, 2011Alumni, College-related Publications, Wheaton College Archivesadmin

Edgar C. Bundy was a strident opponent of left-wing politics and one of the supremely colorful personalities inhabiting Wheaton. A retired Air Force former Staff Intelligence Officer, serving in every major theater of operations during World War II, he was also the Chief of Research and Analysis, Headquarters Intelligence, of the Alaskan Air Command after the war. He testified frequently as an expert witness in both open and executive sessions of both houses of Congress and state legislatures. An ordained Southern Baptist minister, Bundy preached at conferences and churches across America. Opposing the incursion of theological compromise and radical leftism, he spoke on hundreds of radio and television talk shows, debating such figures as Bishop James A. Pike and spokesmen of the Communist Party. He was a member of the Mayflower Society, The Order of Founders and Patriots of America, the Sons of the American Revolution, the American Legion, The Military Order of the World Wars, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and was past president of the Miami Beach Symphony Orchestra.

For decades he and his wife, Lela May, resided in the Jesse Wheaton home, built in 1838, given to them by a Wheaton family member as an inheritance. At their home the Bundys entertained doctors, attorneys and politicians. They had no children, but Lela May worked alongside her husband in his endeavors, including raising German shepherds which they often brought into their offices at the right-wing Church League of America. As president of the organization, Major Bundy (as he preferred) maintained a far-reaching mailing list for the distribution of his newsletter and books. His roommate in officers training school was Senator Lloyd Bentsen, and during drill exercises he marched with actor Clark Gable. Bundy’s collection of books, maps and file cards was occasionally used by the FBI for research. World-traveled and widely connected, he enjoyed friendships with powerful conservative voices like Robert Taft, William F. Buckley and Ronald Reagan. Bundy, single-minded, fearless and irascible, was a Cold War warrior who undoubtedly loved his country and did not deviate from his principles. Bundy perceived that certain evangelical leaders and institutions had been co-opted by unfriendly forces through the slow, steady poison of compromise. In books such as How Liberals and Radicals are Manipulating Evangelicals and How the Communists Use Religion he presents his expose of their tactics, chronicling the evangelical drift toward liberalism and Communism. “Great moral damage has been done to the United States as a result of this neoevangelical compromise,” he writes.

“I kissed it more than once….”

November 18, 2011College-related Publications, Wheaton College ArchivesDavid Malone

Today, November 18th, is the anniversary of the birth of Louis Daguerre. Born in 1787, Daguerre desired to capture the life and people around him in permanent form. He began to do this with dioramas, which he invented, in the 1820s. By 1826 he had learned how to do this using an early form of photography. Partnering with Joseph Niepce, Daguerre was able to hone the skills he learned in order to greatly speed up the photographic process. Because of this daguerratype photographs became quite desirable and all the rage. This is exhibited several ways within the holdings of the Archives & Special Collections.

David Maas wrote in Marching to the Drumbeat of Abolitionism how Civil War soldiers treasured the images they received from loved ones. He said, “Photography was a novelty and soldiers loved to carry tintypes or daguerreotypes in their Bibles. Wheatonite Webster Moses wrote, ‘I still have your picture, which is next to my Bible. Should you have any photographs taken please send me one.’ Luther Hiatt’s letters were full of incessant pleas for his fiancee to have her photograph taken and send it to him. ‘Tira I should have got a picture of myself yesterday taken in Murfreesboro, but I did not have time. If ever I do go to a place where I can get one taken I will do it. I am still looking very anxiously for yours, if you don’t hurry and send it I shall forget how you look.’ When the photograph finally came he was overjoyed: ‘I received your photograph….I was very much pleased to receive it and I kissed it more than once just as I should do if I were to be with you. ‘”

The Jonathan Blanchard letters show several instances of a similar desire to possess these fixed images that Daguerre helped bring to the average person. In 1855 Jonathan Blanchard wrote to his daughter, Mary, who was away at school, asking for a daguerreotype of her. Also, Mary Blanchard’s mother, Catherine Avery Bent wrote to her in 1860 that she was having daguerreotypes taken of her parents’ portraits. Very quickly individuals saw the usefulness of recording information, in this case painted portraits, using the photographic medium.

Ruth Cording

September 2, 2011Collection-related Publications, College-related Publications, Special Collections, Wheaton College Archivesadmin

Ruth James Cording (who graduated with a literature degree from Wheaton College in 1933) was born and raised in Auburn, New York, of Welsh and Irish descent. Her father was a Baptist pastor and her grandfather, Evan Thomas James, had emigrated in 1866 from Wales. In fact, Auburn greatly resembled Wales, from its rocky terrain and rolling hills. Ruth knew she had cousins yet living in that distant land of poets and singers and was fully aware of the Welsh contribution to Christian hymnody and revivalism, but her interest burst aflame when she discovered in 1958 her grandfather’s diary, written in 1887 when he returned to Wales to visit his aged mother. Her curiosity piqued, she decided to investigate that “…damp, demanding and obsessively interesting country,” as historian Jan Morris writes. First, however, Ruth read as many books as she could locate. Her research provided the core of her Welsh book collection.

Soon thereafter in 1962 she met a cousin, Neli Davies, visiting the U.S. One year later, Ruth and her husband, Ed, full of purpose, journeyed at last to the brooding, storm-swept land of Wales and happily engaged “…the friendliest people on earth,” as she and Ed determined. They spoke in Capel Ficar, the chapel where her grandfather had attended as a child, and located the graves of her great grandparents, buried in the church cemetery. They also visited cousin Neli at her cottage, stacked from floor to ceiling with Welsh books – many of which she eventually presented to Ruth.

When Ed retired from the Directorship of Wheaton Conservatory in 1970, he and Ruth rented a flat at New Quay on the shores of the Cardigan Bay on the Irish Sea. Settled for a comfortable stay, they traveled to the Preseli Islands, marveling at the “blue stone” transported to Stone Henge. They visited St. David’s Cathedral and saw the “Bleeding Yew Tree” at Nevern and the schoolchildren’s graves at Aberfan, site of the tragic mine disaster. Continuing apace, they saw David Lloyd George’s monument in Cricceth and ascended the summit of Snowdon with its glorious view of the countryside, placing a stone on top, according to Welsh custom, “…though getting down was a bit rough,” Ruth remarked. They attended the International Music and Poetry Festival at Llangollen and searched out the home of William Williams, the songwriter who wrote “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jevovah.” Among other high points they watched the weaving of a Welsh wool tapestry at Altcaven Mill and saw potters spinning clay at their wheels. They followed the Arthurian Grail legend from English Glastonbury to Ozzleworth, from whence seven monks, carrying the sacred olivewood “cup of healing” had fled during the dissolution of the abbeys, traversing the mountains to Strata Florida Abbey and then to the mansion at Nanteos. They even caught a glimpse of the legendary cup when it was displayed at the National Library of Wales.

By motorcar they journeyed the National Library at Aberystwyth and also to the National Centre for Children’s Literature nearby. She and Ed were guided to the village of Laugharne where Dylan Thomas is buried, and climbed up to “the Boathouse” where many of his poems were written. During this visit Ruth called the Welsh writer, Dr. D.J. Williams, lovingly called “The Granddaddy of the Welsh.” He encouraged her to write about Wales for American children. She was also introduced to Waldo Williams, the renowned Welsh poet, and visited the double-naved chapel of R.S. Thomas, the famed British poet who lived in sight of picturesque Bardsey Island. All the while they took slides, capturing innumerable picturesque moments.

In addition to traveling, Ruth published several short stories, articles and books, including The Turquoise Bracelet (1959), Glenn and Bill at Prospect Point (1953) and C.S. Lewis: A Celebration of His Early Life (2000). She was instrumental in assisting Dr. Clyde Kilby with establishing the Marion E. Wade Center. On St. David’s Day, 1991, Ruth Cording donated her Welsh books to Wheaton College, stating, “It is our hope that this collection, which will be added to year after year, may be a source of great satisfaction and usefulness here at Wheaton College even as it has been to me.” Ruth died on May 5, 2008, just shy of her 97th birthday.

The Ruth J. Cording Welsh Language and Literature Collection (SC-43) is available to researchers on the third floor of the Billy Graham Center.

Movie Madness

July 20, 2011Collection-related Publications, College-related Publications, Special Collections, Wheaton College Archivesadmin

William “Willy” Kuntze, former Dean of the Conservatory of Music at Wheaton College, was a man of tremendous musical gifts, enjoying an international reputation for his compositions and solo performances. Graduating in 1891 from Kullak Conservatory in Berlin, studying under Kullak and L.E. Bach, he served as Conductor of the Chicago Teachers’ Union from 1898 to 1906, during which time he also served as Instructor in the Piano Department of Balatka Musical College. From 1906 to 1909 he was in Concert and Lyceum Work. During the early 1920s, Kuntze acted as Director of the School of Music at the University of New York, as well as Instructor of Pipe Organ and Piano at Wheaton College.

Kuntze in 1904 married a former student, Mary O’Neil Morrison, granddaughter of Jesse Wheaton, one of the city’s founders. Mary taught piano, serving with her husband at Wheaton College, and attended the Methodist Church. She died in 1964, collapsing beside the piano while living with Mr. and Mrs. Edgar Bundy at 310 W. Evergreen, the home built by Jesse in 1838.

To supplement a rather meagre income, Kuntze lent his extraordinary talent to various local gigs, not all evangelical. For instance, he served as organist and choirmaster for Temple Beth-El in Chicago. On a more secular note, he played for the cinema in downtown Wheaton, employed part-time as the accompanying organist, providing stirring background music as dramatic black and white images flashed over the screen. Unfortunately for him, film attendance for staff, faculty and students was forbidden by the college, which viewed this activity as injurious to the soul and unworthy of consecrated Christians. Learning of Kuntze’s moonlighting, Dr. Charles Blanchard, after some administrative deliberation, sent this June 1st, 1925, note to the renowned musician:

My Dear Dr. Kuntze:

Professor Green has notified me of your decision respecting the movies. I was hoping that you might decide to stay with the college rather than with them. But he tells me that your decision is to remain with them. Of course, you are the party that has to make the decision. I found no difference of opinion in our Executive Committee. All of them felt that it would not do for the college to be tied up with things like the movies. If you can see your way clear to do that, that is a matter for you to decide.

With best regards, I am sincerely yours, Charles A. Blanchard (dictated by President Blanchard, signed in his absence)

Since Dr. Kuntze is not listed among the faculty after 1925, it is assumed that he presented his decision to President Blanchard. He died in the mid 1930s. The William Kuntze collection (SC-70), comprising his collection of music, opera histories and composer biographies is housed at Wheaton College Special Collections.

On My Mind – Ruth Bamford

July 1, 2011College-related Publications, Wheaton College Archivesadmin

Twenty years ago, the Wheaton Alumni magazine began a series of articles in which Wheaton faculty told about their thinking, their research, or their favorite books and people. Former Dean of Students Ruth Bamford (who worked at Wheaton from 1970-1994) was featured in the December 1991/January 1992 issue.

Often I find myself thinking about how hard students at Wheaton work. It is no wonder they look forward to days off and holidays just like the rest of us. While their lives are often very exciting, they are also tough and tiring as well.

It’s like this: Most students have a part-time job. They spend anywhere from 4 to 30 hours a week at work. A full course load means 12 to 15 hours of lecture and lab in addition to the multiple hours spent preparing for daily written assignments, tests, and papers. Remember “all-nighters?” They are still a popular way for students to squeeze everything they can into the day and night. On top of all this, many students are involved in a weekly outreach or ministry, which takes all or part of an evening.

All this activity not being enough, most students place a high value on relationships and spend a lot of time talking, playing, praying, falling in love, and out, and making up!

Summer does not even bring relief from busy schedules. There are summer jobs to be had, summer youth programs to lead, and plans for life after college to be made.

Will there ever he a time in their lives when there is more opportunity for enriching experiences?

I am often asked how students have changed over the years.

Taking an outward glance, students today are much more affected by our culture than they have been in years past. Popular music and clothes fashions change every six months or so and are much more casual, Students’ dress fluctuates anywhere from conservative to funky or downright weird. Except for freshmen, most students have access to a car. Everyone has a favorite TV show.

Taking a deeper look, the “sins of the fathers” are affecting these young people. Some are torn emotionally as a result of divorce, abuse, and addiction within their families. They are also dealing with tough issues in the classroom and in their relationships including: environmental ethics, equality for women and minorities, hunger for two-thirds of our world, economic recession for most of the world, and popular views of sexuality that are ungodly. (For those of you interested in understanding how our popular culture has affected our youth, I recommend that you read Dancing in the Dark. (Schultze, Anker, Bratt, et.al. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991).

From an educational standpoint, students coming in today certainly know a great deal more of what is going on in the world than we did, and a significant number of them have been overseas. Computer literacy is as important today as knowledge of a foreign language. Students at Wheaton today are both bright and culturally aware.

They are also, however, much more individualistic. Except for required chapel services where we enjoy regular worship together, all-school events draw much smaller numbers than in years past. On the other hand, these students have a heart for God, and often put us to shame with their zeal for evangelism and their excitement for reaching out to those less fortunate than they are. An exception to the general rule: recently the Gospel Choir, 80 strong, led an evening of exciting worship with almost 2000 in attendance.

What do I think of today’s students? Frankly, I’m impressed. They are extremely creative and energetic. Granted, there are varying degrees of personal maturity, but overall their commitment to the Lordship of Christ is very strong.

They can be very critical of the way decisions are made. Many students would like to see the “no dancing” rule changed, but despite this, they show restraint, honesty, and thoughtfulness in how they approach this issue. They have good ideas, and expect to be treated with fairness and integrity.

Being an administrator has its ups and downs–mostly ups, however. We love these students. They are God’s gift to us, and to each other. We learn from them the idealism and hope that still believes that individuals and groups with commitment can make a difference in this world. They keep us on our toes as they question us and look to us for models of the ethics and commitment to the Lordship of Christ that we espouse.

———-

Following graduation from Wheaton, Ruth taught public school music in Detroit, Michigan. After earning her master’s degree in administrative services front Michigan State University, she accepted a position as counselor in charge of student activities at West Suburban Hospital School of Nursing. After ten years at West Sub, Ruth was invited by Dr. Henry Nelson, former vice president of student development, to become Associate Dean of Students at Wheaton College. For the last 19 years, Ruth has coached, supervised, trained, assisted, counseled, and befriended thousands of Wheaton College students.