The Story: Chapter 4 - Attending Graceland (1920-1924)
During 1919, Gene’s serious church
life began. He was called to the
priesthood by the pastor of the Stone Church, Brother Walter W. Smith and was
ordained by the Presiding Patriarch, Frederick A. Smith.
After his ordination, Brother Smith told him that his work would be
primarily with the young people, including the Boy Scouts of Independence.
He organized four different troops and became scoutmaster of one troop.
He led the scouts to summer camps and other types of Scout activities
throughout Independence. Since he had no previous experience with the Boy Scouts, he
learned all the rules and earned thirty-six merit badges just as if he were one
of the boys. He would go to
different experts in Independence for different merit badge subjects to pass his
tests. He passed them all except
bird study, so he could not become an Eagle Scout as he had hoped.
He enjoyed this work very much and later incorporated much of the
experience into his work with the youth of the church as General Church Youth
Leader. He also organized a Boy
Scout
troop of college students and faculty during his first year at Graceland.
It was only the second troop of its kind in the United States at that
time.
After returning from World War I, Gene received a
letter from the United States government stating that there was land available
for homesteading in Oregon for anyone who had served in the armed forces.
He found out that by going to Oregon for about nine months, he could get
a hundred and sixty acres of his choice of the best timber land or farm land.
He got maps and started to locate the area in which to settle.
During this time, he met Brother Floyd McDowell and Lonzo
Jones, a Graceland student, at one of the meetings at the Stone Church.
They had brought the Graceland Acacia (the yearbook) that Lonzo was
editor of, and showed it around the group.
They talked to the group about Graceland.
They talked to Gene about coming to Graceland.
While the idea appealed to him, he didn’t have the finances to attend,
and had to support his mother and older sister.
He planned to go to Oregon for a year and then maybe attend Graceland.
In July of 1920, he received a letter from the same
brother Bullard who had confirmed him and helped the family decide on moving to
Independence years earlier. The
letter was a prophecy to Gene stating “You have been praying and trying to
decide what to do about going to take up the land in Oregon or going to
Graceland. But the Lord wants you
to decide to go to Graceland College.” It
went on to say that the financial difficulties with his family would be taken
care of somehow. Since Brother
Bullard had no way of knowing that Gene had plans to go to Oregon, Gene took
this as a sign and without hesitation started to make preparations to attend
Graceland in the Fall.
Gene entered Graceland in September of 1920 in the Religious Education Program
which he attended for a year before enrolling in the academy.
He had only twenty dollars to pay for tuition, books, board and room for
the year. Brother J. A. Gunsolley,
the business manager, told him that the Zion’s Religio Literary Society had
put away some money for tuition for some deserving student that had not been
used and he said, “We’ll just consider that you’re the deserving
student.” This paid for his first
year’s tuition. He started to
room with some people in Lamoni, but the rent was too high so he moved out to a
dormitory on the hill. He worked
four hours a day for the college which helped pay room and board.
This work included digging ditches, installing water lines, helping to
build Zimmermann Hall and Briggs Hall, and being the janitor of Marietta Hall.
He also spent his summers and vacations working at the Kansas City Steel Mill to
make enough money to pay for tuition.
Since he had no high school background, he attended the
Academy. He attended educational
courses sponsored by the General Church, primarily designed to prepare men for
the missionary field. Cyril Wight
was the director of that class and taught a course in religion and a course in
the Bible. Gene considered Cyril an
outstanding teacher and person, and one who helped mold his thoughts and
philosophy regarding religion and the church.
One of the most outstanding teachers was George N.
Briggs, the president of the college, who taught political science.
Gene enjoyed this class very much and became very interested in politics,
especially presidential elections. Gene
designed a map of the political parties of the United States, which President
Briggs used in his classes for over ten years.
Gene also met Gustav Platz that first year who became a lifelong personal
friend and had great influence in Gene’s religious life.
Gene did so well in his English and English Literature with Irene Layton
and Elizabeth Trachsel, respectively, that he became the editor of the English
class weekly paper that put out articles with news about the college.
Another outstanding teacher during Gene’s first year was F. M. McDowell, who
taught psychology. Gene was very
interested in this subject and enjoyed McDowell as a teacher.
Before attending this class, he had only heard the word a few times.
In those days most people, especially the older folks, would sneer at it
and “thought that psychology was for the birds”. Gene became engrossed in the subject during the class.
Although his B.A. degree from the University of Iowa was in history, he
later majored in psychology for his master’s degree.
Gene graduated from the Academy in 1924. During
his academy years he served as president of the student body, president of the
Amalgamated Organization of Young People for Zion (AOYPZ) in Independence,
general supervisor of the Religio Department of the church, director of the
Department of Recreation and Expression, and organizer of several social clubs
at the college. He then continued on with his college courses at Graceland.
During his years at the Academy, Gene did not date anyone steadily, but did date
many different girls. Years later,
he and his wife were at the home of some friends in Independence.
As he looked around the room that included some twelve couples, he
realized he had dated ten of the twelve girls while he was a student at
Graceland. “I don’t think I mentioned it that evening,” he later
recalled.
Copyright © 2003 - Revised:
04 September 2006
