During
my twenty-seven years at Sue Bennett College in Kentucky, many
events stand out in my memory. Two of these follow:Dorothy Marie Watson was the sponsor of the education club and I sponsored the Christian clubs. Members of these clubs decided jointly to sponsor a tutoring program for elementary children living in a low income housing project, using the community room of the project as a meeting place. A couple of our students obtained some large boxes from a funeral home and made dividers around the tables to provide privacy and to discourage interchange between the tables. A few years later one of the young girls who had been tutored enrolled in Sue Bennett as an entering freshman.
Another memorable experience at Sue Bennett College occurred in the spring of the early 1970's. Asbury College had experienced a “spontaneous revival” and a few Asbury students came down to Sue Bennett one evening to tell us of their experiences there. After the supper hour they met in the auditorium with some of our students and a couple of faculty members. A time of quiet prayer, led by students, lasted until around 2:00 a.m. Some of our students would go to the dorms, wake up fellow students and bring them to the meeting for prayer.
A week later at the 10:00 weekly chapel service this spirit continued, spearheaded by our own students. The service lasted into the next class period and on into the lunch hour. (President Hays ordered class and lunch bells turned off until the service came to an end.) We saw our students mature in faith right before our eyes, and the rest of the school year was different as students became concerned for one another. It was a quiet reaching out for a relationship deeper than they had known before. It was beautiful! All of this was untouched by faculty; we simply watched. They were doing fine without us!