Anita Harrower's Thoughts and Memories of PBTS (daughter of Woodrow Brown)

The following article is that of the memories of Anita Harrower. Anita is the daughter of Dr. Woodrow Brown who recently went home to glory. To read more about him click on these links at the bottom of this article. I enjoyed her memories of the school in the late 1940s and into the 1950s. Her life as being the daughter of one of the professors at PBTS is an interesting perspective to read. Enjoy the words to follow.

My Thoughts and Memories of PBTS

By Anita Harrower

My father Woodrow I. Brown, graduated from Practical in 1948. Maybe because he had been a teacher before he came to Practical he was asked to stay on as a teacher. We moved into a converted barn on campus in 1949, I think. I was eight years old. We had no indoor bathroom so we had to walk across the road to the basement of the administration building and use the bathroom there. It was kind of scary to me because being a basement it was dark. I tried not to have to use it after dark! My father right away started digging in the back yard. He told my brother Ralph and me that he was digging a swimming pool! We were so excited and talked about the day that we would be able to go swimming in the back yard! To our dismay it turned out to be a hole for the septic tank! There were three children and only two bedrooms upstairs plus the new bathroom. When another child was on the way Dad built on a bedroom and garage on the back to give us more room.

We lived right next door to King Hall and Dad was the basketball coach so we stored the basketballs at our house. I could go over anytime and shoot baskets, that was way cool!

Our neighbor on the other side was Mr. and Mrs. Lowe and their three children. Loyd, Paul and Lucy. Loyd was attending school at that time I think. Mom and Mrs. Lowe became fast friends. Whenever I came home from school and Mom was not at home I knew she was next door. When Mom got her drivers license she and Mrs. Lowe would go shopping every week. Dad said that when Mom got her license he lost his car and his wife! After Loyd married Doris and moved to Washington State Paul went to live with them and finished high school there. He then joined the army and was gone for three years so by the time he came home I was a teenager. He asked his mother who that girl next door was and he was surprised to find out it was little Sissy! (That was my nick name for years)

I loved going to the basketball games and cheering for our guys. Dad went out very often to preach in various churches. If it wasn't a school night I could go with him and I loved to go with him. He was always my favorite preacher in the whole world. I consider myself so fortunate to have been raised on the beautiful campus of PBTS. I remember the wonderful singing & preaching. I was able to attend every graduation and retreat for the years I was there. I loved all the activities of graduation and especially the music. I took piano lessons from Mr. Ackerly, the lessons cost 50 cents! I learned so much from Mr. Ackerly. Every once in awhile he would play a classical piece for me. I would listen and watch in awe and wish I could play like that. That would make me practice harder. I play the organ at my church today and I have Mr. Ackerly to thank.

There were always pranks that the students played on my Dad. One time in class a note was being passed around and as it passed the person reading would look up at the ceiling. Dad saw what was happening and he intercepted the note, it read, "Look at the footprints on the ceiling!" Dad had a little Crosley car at one time and several of the guys picked it up and carried it up onto the front porch of the main building! Of course, Dr. Davis called Dad and asked him how his car had gotten there. The guys had a good laugh about that (after they carried it back down). Mrs. Davis was always looking for things for us children to do. She told us that she would give us a penny for every dead bird that we found! She also gave us a penny for every nail we picked up off the road. Mrs. Davis had a niece named Carolee and she was about my age. Whenever Carolee came to visit I was asked to come and play with her. I felt very privileged to eat lunch at the President's house! We would watch Roy Rogers on TV and eat from TV trays!

One time my sister Mary and I were home alone (Mom and Dad were at a prayer meeting) It must have been close to Halloween because two of the students came to our house and knocked on the door. They had scary masks on and when Mary answered the door we both started screaming and shaking. The students were very embarrassed and took the masks off to show us who they were. We never wanted to be alone after that!

We also got to go to all the parties at school including the Halloween party. One year they had an elaborate dark room that went on and on. You had to crawl through part of it and put your hands in bowls of spaghetti (brains) and grapes with the skins off (eyeballs).

Paul and I were married in October of 1956 and we moved to Calif. We had three children and then Paul became ill with lung cancer. He died in Sept. 1963. Even after we married I could not call my mother-in-law anything but Mrs. Lowe because that is what she always had been to me!

The school is so different now. Our house is gone, Lowe's house is gone, King Hall, the main building, the jail, the inner circle, the house that the Ackerly's lived in, the house where the Davis' lived, etc. I'm sure the presence of the Lord is still very much there and I have my memories of a wonderful childhood.

Some links about her father Dr. Woodrow Brown:

A photo of Dr. and Mrs. Woodrow Brown in 2004.
A memory of Dr. Woodrow Brown from Don Hall (class of 1950).
The Obituary of Dr. Brown.

Memories of PBTS from the 1930s- Part 3: Mrs. Ruth Kummerer (Class 1934)

Memories of PBTS from the 1930s

PART 3

Mrs. Ruth Huson Kummerer (class of 1934)

The final part of the three part series: Memories of PBTS from the 1930s. Today, I am posting about Mrs. Ruth Huson Kummerer who graduated in from PBTS in 1934.

I have been contacting individuals that graduated in the earlier years of PBTS and one of those individuals was Mrs. Ruth Kummerer from the class of 1934. I was thrilled when I found a letter in my box one morning. I devoured every word on the five pages of information and memories. By the end of the letter I had a wonderful glimpse into the life of Ruth from childhood up to present day.

In her letter she told me of the hard times that occurred during her early life. She was the first born in her family. A brother was born after her, but he only lived eighteen months. “Then my mother died when I was five and I went to live with my paternal grandparents” she wrote. Her father was a farmer and her so were her grandparents. Her father sold the farm that they had lived on and moved to Liberty, NY where he found work, and “he and I went to live in a small apartment.”

The only bright spot was that my father was a Christian and had always taken me to church if he was where he could. Liberty Baptist Church was the joy of my life. I publicly accepted Christ at 12, but I cannot remember a time in my early days that I did not have a strong love for the Lord. The church had various contacts with Practical and pastor encouraged me to attend – and at that time I had not heard of any other Bible School.

Yet, there was a problem. Ruth was only 16 years of age. The entering age at the time was 18 years old. Ruth had to get special permission to go to PBTS at that earlier age. She left “with $98.00 (money saved from gifts and a little from working). God took good care of me. At the end of three years I only owed $20.00.” At that time the room and board was only seven dollars a week, what one meal costs now at Davis College. Oh, how time changes.

She took the train from Liberty, NY, in the Catskills region of New York, to Binghamton during the summer of 1931. She was able to see the campus for the first time and was able to see the Summer Conference on the Sunset Knoll of 1931, which took place from July 23 through August 2^nd. She remembers the grounds and how wonderful the campus was when she first entered it. The summer conference was a week long of good solid Biblical teaching. Then there was Dr. John A. Davis.

She remembers Dr. John A. Davis very well. Ruth wrote that “he was a real giant in the faith. He had such a strong desire to help students (especially those who had little money and background). He had a great ability to draw out the best in people.” He would give a student body pep talk once a week, mostly on Fridays. He would teach them on evangelism. Ruth remembers that he had great illustrations. He might have a student stand and read Scripture and then continue on with his illustration while the student was still standing. It was a way to drive home the point. When Dr. Davis was done with that point the student could sit down. She told me her mind did not wander when listening to Dr. Davis since he had such an energy and presence. He would be preaching away and hammering away at points in his sermon that no one fell asleep. He was great to listen to even with his weak voice from losing it years before. Yet, he was a man interested in potential.

Dr. Davis was always on the lookout for potential. Most of the students had little money and came from families with little money. Everyone had duties at the school. There was no tuition at that time, but only room and board so the work they did offset the other bills. Ruth’s job was in the kitchen. The school would help find you other jobs on the campus to help you pay your bill. It would be in the kitchen that she would meet her future husband, but I will tell you about a little later.

Ruth’s room was on the third floor of the Old Main Building. Room 216 to be precise and her roommate was Jeanette Herman Selleck. Ruth and Jeanette remained close friends for all their years. “She went to be with the Lord a few years ago. Her oldest daughter is named Ruth and mine is Jeanette.” Ruth mentioned that she had another roommate during her time that was on Student’s League of Many of Nations. She was hardly ever around because of League, but when she was there they had a great time together. She would die at a early age even before graduation Ruth recalled.

Ruth did not remember the death of Charles Davis on Sunday, November 22, 1931. She recalls Charles being at the basketball games. He was good coach for the men’s team. The girl’s basketball team that Ruth was on was coached by Dorothy Gardner. Ruth wrote of her basketball memories:

I had never even seen a basketball game before PBTS, but I was anxious to be included in everything I could. The girls team only had a few games –mostly with church teams. Our outfits consisted of borrowed men’s white shirts and bloomers. We even won sometimes.

Ruth remembers a bus trip into Central New York to play one of the church teams and the fun that they had. During the Depression it was a privilege to be able to travel. It was her favorite basketball memory. Yet, tensions were beginning to happen during the end of her freshman year that the students were unaware of.

Between her freshman and junior year at PBTS the school would split creating Baptist Bible Seminary. Ruth wrote of this event:

The summer of 1932 I spent as a waitress at a fisherman’s lodge near my home. I had very little contact with students or the school. I did not hear of the difficulty until I returned. I had no decision to make. I was already there ready to start. Looking back on the situation now I can even see God’s hand in the division. I have always felt that Dr. Davis conducted himself well and was not guilty of infractions.

However, without the split there would never have been Baptist Bible Seminary –and it has been a great blessing to many people.

She thinks that the whole event had blown up during the summer after the students had gone home for break. Charges were thrown around and there was much conversation throughout the student body when the school year resumed.

It was after the split of the school and lack of teachers that Dr. Lowe came on staff fulltime. He had been making trips from his church to teach for a few days then return for the weekend. After the split he moved up and lived on campus to teach fulltime. He was Ruth’s favorite and from what I can tell many other Alumni called him their favorite. Ruth wrote that “he had such a great way of using illustrations that I still remember.”

Between all the learning the students of PBTS in the 1930s....were students. From what I have learned from Alumni in the 1930s is that they were kids just like the students that go to Davis. They were in their teens and twenties at one time in their life too. Ruth also remembers the cat prank that Pastor Wheeler told me of. The stray cats were rounded up and released in the guys’ dorm. She said it happened just before Halloween one year. It was either in 1932 or 1933. As part of the same prank or at another time they put roller-skates on a cat and sent it up and down the hallway in the girls’ dorm. Ruth did not see it happen, but she remember the stories being told about it.

“One afternoon while I was making molasses cookies for the evening meal I met a handsome freshman in the kitchen doing his required work.” It was Claude Kummerer. They had been assigned extra work for that day and they got talking as she worked on cookies for the meal and Claude was cleaning the floor in the kitchen.

In January of 1934 began the decline of Dr. John A. Davis. “It was evident that he was under a lot of stress before his stroke, but of course it was a great shock to everyone. He did not go to a hospital. Male students volunteered to watch over and care for him at home.” The students knew he was declining and they were as prepared as they could be for the death of this wonderful man of God. When he died the bottom fell out. Ruth and most of the student body were in their rooms at 7:45 PM when Dr. Davis died. From 7 to 9 PM was the study hour for the students before bedtime at 10 PM.

Ruth remembers students standing at the casket of Dr. Davis 24 hours a day keeping watch until the funeral of Dr. Davis. Ruth was working overtime in the kitchen preparing more food the guests attending the funeral. She remembers being in King Hall and on the Knoll almost falling asleep because of the fatigue from working in the kitchen. She wrote that “the funeral and the burial on the knoll were a great testimony to a great man.”

After the funeral Dr. Wagner, who was the class teacher, wanted to change the Theologue. “He immediately said that what was written was not satisfactory for this year and in less than a month he and the class produced the hard covered book” for the class of 1934. Dr. Wagner and the class rallied together to take out some parts of the 1934 Theologue and put together a wonderful book about the life of Dr. John A. Davis.

Ruth graduated in May 1934 and found work in Binghamton doing housework, and on January 19, 1935 Claude Kummerer and her were married. He continued his school work and became student pastor of Wilseyville Community Church. After his graduation Claude became full time pastor of East Lawrence, PA Church. This was the beginning of Christian services for 50 years in New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

After retirement we moved to a retirement home in Southampton, PA. In a short time he was asked to be chaplain of this organization of about 500 people. After four year had a severe stroke and lived one week in the hospital (August 28, 1984) and God took him home.

Ruth is still very active being 91. She does a women’s Bible study through her church twice a month. She was wonderful to talk to and I learned much about the school’s history.

This concludes the 3 part series of PBTS in the 1930s. I am working on a new series that will come up in December and January. I will tell you more when I begin the interviews. If I receive more information from the wonderful Alumni in the 1930s I will post it here. So stay tuned.

Memories of PBTS from the 1930s- Part 2: Pastor Carl Wheeler (class of 1934)

Memories of PBTS from the 1930s

PART 2

Pastor Carl Wheeler (class of 1934)

Part two in a three part series: Memories of PBTS from the 1930s. Today I am posting about Pastor Carl Wheeler who graduated in from PBTS in 1934.

I first heard about Pastor Wheeler from reading a Touchstone interview his nephew Don Hall did with him and his wife Florence, who went to be with Lord October 2005. I was excited reading about John A. Davis from someone who knew him. I had been emailing back and forth with Don Hall asking what he knew about John A. Davis from his research and he mentioned that he would give me his Uncle Carl’s address. Naturally I thought he would be emailing me his postal address, but no it was his email address! Wow! I was excited. An Alumnus from 1934 had an email address. I was thrilled. We began a great correspondence over email during the later part of the summer of 2006. By the beginning of the school year we had exchanged many emails and I had set up an interview with him over the phone for September. He related many stories over email before our phone interview. One was about him and Billy Sunday:

A PBTS student and I had privilege of a Youth Ministry in what may have been the last campaign of Billy Sunday. A converted well known baseball player, got saved and became an Evangelist which dominated and influenced in the early part of last century. In our ministry in the campaign in the Bronx, N.Y. 1934 we transported "Billy and Ma." Sunday as they were called, from his hotel to the Church. A great honor and here is some thing from my "collection' which is a glowing tribute to the Savior, Billy loved. I have and autographed picture which I treasure and his signature in my well worn Scofield Bible.

In another email over the summer I had asked about the school split of 1932. He recalled this:

The School split during my summer vacation from being a freshman. So much going on in every way and a big problem what to do the next fall. A crucial decision I had to make while sitting alone in a borrowed car and I can't remember the name of that Main Street or avenue. So thankful my steps turned toward Practical and a new Semester amidst questionable circumstances with many of my former teachers not there... My mind says "Floral Ave." Right?

So on Floral Ave Pastor Wheeler prayed and continued to go to PBTS. One other email I received gave me a chuckle. Pastor Wheeler wrote:

Am such a novice. At School learned much about Israelites, Canaanites, Jebusites but know little about Megabytes...Am pre school age in that realm.

Yet, he is the first person I know that is 94 years old that knows how to email and instant message people. I do not know of anyone else. Some of his emails sound like they are from someone that is my age in the fashion they are written. Pastor Wheeler and I became great friends over the internet by the beginning of the school year.

It would be the first Alumni phone interview I would do. It was on Thursday, September 7, 2006

Great energy I heard over the line. Pastor Wheeler told me he was born January 20, 1912 and I could not believe it. I would have thought he was only in his 60s by the energy in his voice. He was born in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania and grew up there before coming to New York to PBTS. His brother Clyde had come to PBTS in the 1920s and had graduated in 1926. Pastor Wheeler also mentioned that one of his oldest brothers was named Earl, and he was killed in WWI. The name Earl was passed on to his nephew Earl Wheeler who is on the Board here at Davis College. It was through the death of his brother that he was able to come to PBTS. God works in interesting ways and usually the ways we will not or do not want Him working in.

Pastor Wheeler remembers going to school for the Summer Conferences. His brother Clyde did much with the Student’s League of Many Nations, while he attended PBTS. He would go around and put up posters to get areas ready for the League’s arrival months ahead of time. Yet, it would be the calling of the Lord to serve Him that drew Pastor Wheeler to attend the alma mater of his brother.

He also mentioned how the League came to Susquehanna, Pennsylvania on several occasions. It was a fasted paced program with flags and patriotism for the countries they represented. It was a three fold service according to Pastor Wheeler that had songs and testimonies of what God had done in their lives. It never dragged, because Dr. John A. Davis was a fast moving kind of person. There would be an appeal for others to accept Christ during the time and also an appeal for others to join in the work of the ministry of Christ. After 80 years these events still are very vivid.

The energy of Dr. John A. Davis also continues to be clear in his mind. He wrote in one of his emails that Dr. Davis had “no grass growing under his feet.” He was very energetic to say the least. Even though he had lost his voice in 1912 and only gained some of it back the energy he had made up for it. He had a Billy Sunday kind of mentality. He could put his foot and kick it up over the chairs when preaching and put emphasis on certain words by inflecting them upwards. Even with the energy he had only some voice. He had a squeaky voice when Pastor Wheeler knew him. From what I know from my own research Dr. John A. Davis lost his voice in 1912 and was only able to regain some of it with some therapy. He had a powerful voice in his days, but with the lack of amplification in the late 1800s Dr. Davis lost his voice preaching to crowds of thousands of people. Pastor Wheeler was thankful for having a great person like Dr. Davis around when he was at PBTS.

During his time at PBTS Ira Weyhe was Pastor Wheeler’s best friend and roommate. Ira was the president of the class of 1934 and also the chief writer for the Theologue of 1934. Another good friend was George H. Kyrk. Pastor Wheeler and two other friends had a trio that would travel to different churches and minister to the congregation. They all lived in the Inner Circle, the converted Merry-Go-Round. The Inner Circle was right behind the Old Main Building and he remembers looking up and knowing exactly where his sweetheart, Florence, was. Sometimes he would write a note to Florence and have the night watchman slip it underneath her door.

He and Florence met while they were doing their different duties on campus. She would work in the dinning hall and he would take her dishes out. Florence would not have been able to stay if it were not for the care that the Davis’ had for the students. They would put some of their own money on the student’s bill or find them other jobs to do around campus to pay for their time at PBTS. It was like one big family at PBTS during the 1930s.

Yet, even with the family unit there were hard days for the school. Being the Depression the food was limited. Sometimes a farm in New York or Pennsylvania would have some extra potatoes and have the students come down and dig them up and take them back to PBTS. Looking back they did not think of themselves as being poor, but being college students even in the 1930s funny things were bound to happen.

He remembers a prank that Florence and some of the girls did on one occasion. They rounded up some cats and released them in the guys’ dorm and caused some excitement. They most likely got in more trouble for getting to close to guys’ dorm than for releasing the cats. Yet, other trials arouse while Pastor Wheeler was there, one being the splitting of the school.

In the summer of 1932 the school split and some professors and students went and formed Baptist Bible Seminary at the First Baptist of Johnson City. As was mentioned earlier in this article Pastor Wheeler remembers praying for God’s guidance on Floral Ave. After much prayer he decided to stay at PBTS. His best friend Ira was still there and Baptist Bible had already started a few weeks earlier. Pastor Wheeler was very thankful he stayed at PBTS, because it would be in 1932 that he and Florence would meet for the first time. To help out Dr. Davis people like Dr. Lowe, a graduate of PBTS came to teach where he would be the rest of his life teaching the Word of God. He believes that the stress both from the death of Charles Davis in 1931 and the school split in 1932 was kept from the student body, but Dr. and Mrs. Davis had to be under immense stress because of both events.

Pastor Wheeler remembers Doctor Wagner very well. Not only him being the class teacher, but he preached the Gospel and loved the Lord. He lived and preached to the students to live as if Jesus were coming back that day. He was also a matchmaker trying to get Pastor Wheeler and Florence together. Many of the professors left churches to take up the burden of PBTS. It was a labor of love; their love for the Lord and their love for the school and its mission.

Another person that he had great respect for was John R. Clements the first president of PBTS. He remembers him writing music and poems all over campus. He would play on his Bilhorn organ also. On one occasion he remembers him writing a poem outside the Inner Circle and he had Mr. Clements write it down for him later on. It was called “On the Jesus Way.” Pastor Wheeler still remembers most of it and treasures its words. It talks about the storms that happened during life and being protected by Jesus Christ. A great man of God who loved his Lord served Him through music and poetry.

In January of 1934, John A. Davis had a series of strokes. The school continued to operate as normally as possible. The classes plugged away. They would have days of prayer and fasting for Dr. Davis’ health. Florence was in a trio that sang at Dr. Davis’ bedside at the cottage. When John A. Davis passed away he remembers the bell on the top of the Main Building ringing 62 times. Yet, even though he was in glory the memory of Dr. John A. Davis would live on.

Pastor Wheeler remembers the Practical Helps that Dr. Davis would give to help people going into the ministry. How to conduct oneself when preaching or visiting a house and the appearance you bring. They were great tips that he has passed down to his children and grandchildren. Dr. Davis gave good practical help for ministers of the Word. He would preach his sermons and be “full of life” and be jumping around. “He was an innovator” for his time doing things that most would not dare to do. He would put things together in a clever way and originate new and different ways to present the gospel (read Education that Educates). A great man of God was Dr. Davis the founder of PBTS

My interview with Pastor Wheeler concluded after one hour and ten minutes on the phone. It was a great phone interview and it was well worth my time to learn more about the rich history of the school. We continued to communicate via email and finally met last month in October here at Davis College. View the picture here. Pastor Wheeler I believe is a living example of era of Dr. John A. Davis, because he has a great bundle of energy and I believe he could jump over a chair.

Coming up next week on Davis College History...Part 3 of 3 Mrs. Ruth Kummerer (Class of 1934)

Memories of PBTS from the 1930s- Part 1: Dr. Allan Knight (Class 1932)

Memories of PBTS from the 1930s

PART 1

Dr. Allan R. Knight (class of 1932)

I have had two wonderful conversations with a couple of the oldest Alumni of Practical Bible Training School. I have one interview coming up this next week with Mrs. Ruth Kummerer (also from the class 1934) and I will post about her time at PBTS afterwards.

Dr. Allan Knight wrote of many great memories. Dr. Knight was born on July 28, 1912. He wrote that he went from New Jersey to PBTS under the recommendation of his pastor the Reverend Ralph W. Carr. He was the brother of Etta Carr, who was the wife of Dr. John A. Davis. He mentioned that Dr. John A. Davis voice, “when I knew him as president, was rather high-pitched and sounded as though it was ‘worn-out’.” Dr. John A. Davis was “a truly dedicated man of God.”

He remembered that one of his roommates was a man by the name of Peter Eiseman. Peter was a converted Jew from Cleveland, Ohio who had been disowned by his parents. Dr. Knight “felt sorry for him, but also proud that he had recognized his Messiah.”

He related a story about one of the “pranks” he and one of his roommates tried...yet failed.

One evening in the late spring my roommate (at that time) and I decided to go out, with our sleeping bags, to the nearby knoll to sleep overnight. When we were almost there, Gordon Davis (who was living in the home overlooking the river) apparently spotted us and opened his front door to say, “And where do you gentlemen think you are going this evening?” Needlessness to say, we returned to our rooms—to stifle the night through.

Through the interview and the letters I learned some great details from Dr. Allan R. Knight.

Coming up Part 2...Pastor Carl Wheeler’s memories.