Bethany’s globe; located variously at the chapel and the library. [Photo: John Pilge.]
I went to Bethany College in the late ’90s, and did some graduate work there briefly in the mid ’00s, at which time it became Bethany University. It shut down two years ago, after decades of financial instability and non-management. Regardless, this weekend some alumni are throwing a celebration of its founding at Glad Tidings Church in San Francisco—the church which founded Glad Tidings Bible Institute in 1919, which became Bethany Bible College when it moved to Santa Cruz in the ’50s.
The posters all say “100 years of fire” on them. That’s actually referring to Glad Tidings’ 100th year, ’cause it was founded in 1913. But because they stuck that on everything, it sounds like Bethany is a century old, and that the organizers suck at math. Bethany is only a year younger than Billy Graham. Hey, I didn’t organize the event. I’m just telling you what they put on the posters.
A hundred years of fire, give or take six years.
I’m not going. Nothing against it. It’s a nice idea, and its founding church is probably the best place to throw it. I hope everyone has fun.
But what the organizers did was invite all the faculty members who were there when they were students—all the folks they felt nostalgic about. (And why shouldn’t they? They’re definitely gonna be there.) So this includes the following people, none of whom were on campus when I was there between 1995-98 and 2004-05 (and lived near campus, worked there a year, and attended church on campus, from 2006-10).
- Dick Foth.
- Gary & Eunice Bruegman.
- John & Neva Blakeley.
- Lewis & Lenore Wilson.
- Patti Adams.
- William Vickery.
- Art & Margaret Dawson.
Two on the featured guests’ list who were there are Truett Bobo and Lewis Shelton. I haven’t met Shelton other than in passing. I had five of Truett’s classes though, and for one semester he was my dorm’s honorary “dorm dad.” (I also may be one of the very few people to actually check his doctoral thesis out of the library, but it answered a ton of my questions about the “intermediate state"—where we go after we die but before we’re resurrected. He really does need to make a book of it.)
But otherwise: These are names which were brought up a lot, but I don’t know them. You go to reunions to see people you know. Which might happen. Or might not. Memorable as I am, the last time I reunited with certain professors when I went back to Bethany in 2004, a lot of their responses were, "Oh… didn’t you used to go here before?” They have a lot of faces to remember, so it’s totally understandable if mine drops out of the database.
At my 10th reunion, I knew about as many people who lived and worked at the campus, as fellow alumni of the class of 1998. I think 20th reunions tend to get all the attention anyway.
Thus far on the Facebook alumni page, most of the excitement has been among older alumni who remember, know, and love the featured guests. And have the cash to fly to San Francisco and stay there, and pay the $40 for the events. Vacaville is, with traffic, two hours away, so it’s a relatively easy trip for me.
Still: Gonna pass. Ask me again in five years. That’ll be my 20th—and Bethany’s 99th. For that matter, I don’t mind putting it off a year till Bethany’s actual 100th, if someone’s gonna bother to throw a celebration for that. Why not?