The Story: Chapter 7 - Graceland Faculty (1931-1959)
In the spring of 1931, the Graceland College Board of Trustees approached Gene
with the opportunity to join the college faculty to teach psychology, history
and philosophy. Gene and Judy, and
their infant son, Ed, moved back to Lamoni.
Judy was also on the faculty, teaching physical education for women which
she did for several years.
When Gene came on the faculty, it was during the Great Depression.
No salary was given to the faculty members, instead they worked on a
family budget, which was turned in to the Presiding Bishopric of the Church and,
if approved, was submitted back to the College to pay their monthly allowance.
Every summer, Gene and Judy would raise a large garden and have enough
canned fruit and vegetables to last throughout the winter.
One summer, when things were really tight as far as getting money from
the College, a number of the faculty got together and decided they would help
each other get the necessary food for their families.
Each person would more or less specialize growing certain vegetables.
One would raise string beans, another would raise potatoes, and so forth.
Then they would all share with each other.
This helped them all get through tough times.
In 1931, Gene was appointed as the Director of Student Activities, and asked to
organize the social activities at Graceland and make them more uniform.
He restructured the clubs, added new procedures for “rushing” or
joining the clubs, and oversaw the clubs and their activities.
He also worked to provide better supervision for the initiation rites in
order to reduce or remove hazing from the process.
He coordinated campus-wide social events, not tied directly to the social
clubs. He was also the chairman of
the Student Activity Committee, made up of faculty members.
When he first came to Graceland, Gene was assigned to the Administrative
Committee, which also included President Briggs, the Dean of the College (A. R.
Gilbert), and the Business Manager (N. Ray Carmichael).
This group developed improvements for the overall functioning of the
college, which were then presented to the faculty for opinion, before being
decided upon by the president. This
allowed Gene insight into all of the different aspects of the college.
Gene began teaching at Graceland College from 1931 and continued until he
retired as Professor Emeritus in 1959. During his tenure, he taught psychology,
history and philosophy. His emphasis, however, was on
psychology. Besides
his dedication to the Church, Gene’s chief concern was to teach and help young
people at Graceland. To him, this was
almost a religion within itself. Some of
the students that he became especially close with noticed that, even though he
still had concern for them after they left college, he devoted his efforts
towards the “new crop.” An
example of this was that during the Alumni games at Homecoming each year, he
placed his support emphasis on the current athletes, rather than those old,
favorite ones.
Many
people through the years have been drawn to Gene, as he was drawn to them.
His association with students over the years as their teacher, counselor
and friend earned him the affectionate titles of “Double E”, “Doc” and
even a few called him “Pop”.
Gene was always very supportive of Graceland's athletic programs.
Especially football and track. He went to all the games he could, even
traveling with the teams to out-of-town games at times. Gene was a fan, as
well as a counselor to the athletes. His dedication was so strong and
well-known, that in 1968, the college dedicated it’s new physical education
center to him. (The Eugene E. Closson Physical Education Center).
Every
summer Gene was gone from home, either going to do more graduate work to help in
his teaching and counseling or going around the country encouraging students to
come to Graceland, or both. He went to many camps, reunions, and retreats,
always spreading the word about Graceland and the Church.
Gene
was ordained High Priest in the Church in 1931.
He was on the Lamoni Stake High Council for over 15 years. Gene
ministered to many people over the years and was very active in the business of
the church.
Gene
was a person who was totally involved. Where
ever he would go, or whatever he did, he would throw himself into it 100 per
cent. He was what you would call a
“participator.” Jim, Gene’s
son, recalled that when he was a child, his dad was always very busy.
“I
remember a typical day being somewhat like this: Dad would get up in the morning
before any of the rest of us and build a fire of wood and coal in our furnace;
go do the chores, which consisted partially of milking the cows, feeding the
horses, chickens and hogs; he would then come back home, clean up and change
clothes and often fix sweet bread for our breakfast.
Then he would go to the College, teach his classes, serve on committees,
counsel with students and spend time with the athletic teams.
After a late supper and the evening chores, he would either have a group
of students over to the house, go back to the College or out of town for the
games, or go to the Coliseum where he was the manager.
Late at night, after we were all in bed, he would study and prepare for
his classes. I remember many nights
he was called out late to administer to someone or give counsel to a student
with a serious problem.”
Copyright © 2003 - Revised:
04 September 2006
