Yale Divinity School

Notes from 2008

Eugene Brown ’48 B.D. spent 20 years in Parish Ministry in Oklahoma and Indiana, 20 years as Director of Clergy Development for the Disciples of Christ (USA/Canada) and ten years in Interim Ministries in IN/FL. Eugene is currently an Elder at Downey Avenue Christian Church, Indianapolis and is sometimes a volunteer – joining Evelyn, a 20 year Volunteer – at the Indiana State Museum. He considers it a pleasure to serve as YDS ’48 Class Agent.

One of J.T. Horricks’s ’48 S.T.M. retirement highlights was to preach at the Cathedral of Bangalor, India before going on to Fort St. George, Madras. In the chapel, the register was open to the wedding of Elihu Yale, Governor of the East India Company 1687, which sent raw cotton to England for manufacture only at Horricks’s forbears, Horrocks Cotton Mills, Manchester. At retirement, Yale returned to England and eventually made benefactions to a college named “Yale” in his honor, New Haven, 1718.

Robert McCan ’48 B.D. lost his first vote for President in the 1948 election.  Thomas Dewey, the confident Republican, was running against President Harry Truman, who was crossing the country by train and, as he said, "giving Dewey hell."  Henry Wallace, former Vice President, led a vibrant third party. Robert attended his rally in New Haven prior to graduation in May. He was a powerful speaker, seeking accommodation not confrontation with the Soviet Union and calling for radical social reform at home. Communist literature was everywhere, although Wallace was not a Communist. Norman Thomas was the fourth candidate, well known in the Yale Divinity community; a social visionary who believed that social justice from scripture can be translated into public policy. Robert returned to Missouri after graduation and by election time was minister of The First Baptist Church, Marshall, MO.  He decided to vote absentee ballot from his parents’ home in Owensville, a town of 1,500. When the votes were tallied and printed in "The Gasconade County Republican, the newspaper still published weekly, there was not a single vote recorded for Norman Thomas. Robert speculated that the election folks did not want to embarrass him, as all would know he was the one who cast that vote! Robert is semi-retired and living in Falls Church, VA with wife, Peggy.  They are both active in yet another political campaign for social justice and look forward to a better result when they cast their ballots on November 4.

Mary Margaret and Paul Pruitt ’48 B.D. are very active in this political year. They have many issues they urge their politicians to deal with, the major one being healthcare. They are convinced that the present system is broken and that we need to institute a system that takes its cues form the major industrial nations of the world. About their plan, which they call “Single Payer,” they state “everyone is no one out.” There would be a public single plan with Private delivery that includes children and adults. It would be both universal and affordable. Over Paul and Mary Margaret’s more than ten years working toward such a plan in Washington State, they are having some progress in their legislature. They hope that someday soon, if not in this political year, they will be successful.

Pearl and Robert Seymour ’48 B.D. remain residents of The Carol Woods Retirement Community in Chapel Hill, NC. This is their eighth year there. They feel fortunate to be able to remain in Chapel Hill where they have now lived for over a half-century! Bob is still very active in many things, including writing a column for The Chapel Hill Herald and recently being appointed to the board of UNC Healthcare as a community representative. Pearl is suffering from arthritis, and both struggle to remember names, but life is good. They especially enjoy their proximity to their son and his family with the four grandchildren in nearby Raleigh. Their son is an anesthesiologist and likes to tell people that he is upholding the family tradition of putting people to sleep.

Evelyn and ‘Ned’ Steele ’48 B.D. retired in 1989 and lived 16 wonderful years on St. Simons Island off the Georgia coast. In 2005 their daughter, who has Downs Syndrome, came to Wesley Glen, a community for some 50 mentally handicapped adults in Macon, GA. Ned and Evelyn followed after several months to be nearer to her and their two married daughters in Atlanta, GA. They live independently in an active retired community close to every convenience. This year Ned celebrates having been a United Methodist minister for 61 years. Ned was pastor of eight churches and served as District Superintendent twice. He counts as one of the highest points in his career aiding in the integration of schools, libraries and other public facilities in Georgia, as well as assisting with the merger of the black and white annual conferences of the church in 1972. Ned has always been proud of the ideals and challenges his YDS education stirred up within him and his classmates! Ned thanks God for his years at YDS, and comments, “What a great faculty (They ‘marked’ us.)!”

Carl Viehe ’48 M.Div is in a Senior Living Residence in Southwest lower Michigan. He turned 91 this year and is still in good health, although his hearing has deteriorated. Viehe is thankful for each day. He enjoys writing, and has written poetry and children’s stories and has contributed to three anthologies with a fourth coming out in the Fall. Viehe has written for devotional magazines such as Upper Room, These Days and currently for Secret Place.

Robert Willoughby ’48 M.Div. spent 20 years in pastoral ministry and an equal amount of time teaching community college in inner city Detroit, MI. In 1963, Bob worked with Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights movement in Mississippi. In 1965 he served as a delegate at the Helsinki Peace Conference and was inspired to become active with anti-Vietnam war involvement in the States. Bob then pastored in Cornwall, England through a pulpit exchange during 1966 and retired in 1985. After retirement, he found writing to be his delight and calling and has since written four books. The most recent is The Great Disconnect; Why the Christian Church is Dying (Firstbooks.com, 2007). At the age of 85, Willoughby is grateful for his health, the great love of five children and the inspiration of his beloved wife, Elizabeth, who, even beyond death, he can hear encouraging him: “Right on Bobby, tell it like it is, and I’m with you all the way.”

Notes from 2007

Gordon Corbett ’48 B.D. and his wife Winifred live in a retirement faculty in Monterey, CA. where the weather is nice enough that the two can enjoy getting out for walks most every day.  The community is a mix of people from all over the country and a wide variety of backgrounds (Gordon the only minister) which leads to some interesting talk.  Due to macular degeneration, both Win and Gordon are now classified as legally blind, but have a large reading machine that enables them to read their mail and the newspaper.

Doug Dorchester ’48 B.D. and his wife Janice live in Bourne, MA.  Janice struggles with atrial fibrillation, which constantly calls for new approaches and medicines, but she is hoping to complete her Supplement to the Dorchester Genealogy in 2007.  This team effort finds Doug acting as editor, while Janice researches and writes.  Both continue limited activity in the church and community, reporting that their family has been a great source of help for which they remain thankful.

Carl Viehe ’48 M.Div. is enjoying life in a Senior Center in Bridgman in southwest lower Michigan.  He has just passed his 90th birthday, for which his family gave him a royal celebration.  Viehe has a son, a daughter and three grandchildren.  He reports he is still going strong.

Robert E. Willoughby ’48 M.Div. continues to lead a full and rewarding life in Lakeland, FL where he supply preaches and participates in a progressive study seminar, where members share and discuss books, personal growth, and social issues confronting the nation and world.  He recently completed a manuscript on a survey of the Civil Rights Revolution of the ’60s, including his own involvement.  His five children remain active in social concerns in their various communities.  This spring, he attended his granddaughter Elizabeth’s graduation from the University of Michigan Medical School, where she earned an M.D.

Jean Scheufler Johnson ’48 B.D. is looking forward to a trip to Burma in December with her son, Tim.  Jean lives in a retirement center near Tampa Bay, FL, where she has found support from her “extended family” with the recent death of her husband, Jay Johnson ’47 B.D.