Dr. Milton Loyer, Conference Archivist
January – 100 years ago
The January 1921 issue of The Evangel, magazine of the Women’s Missionary Association of the United Brethren Church, featured the pictures and stories of Mr. and Mrs. William N. Martin as they began a six-year ministry at Albert Academy in Freetown, Sierra Leone. The Martins met while students at Lebanon Valley College and publicly dedicated themselves to mission work at a YPCE summer conference at Eagles Mere.
Born in Rouzerville, Franklin County, William was a 1918 graduate of LVC and served two years as principal of the college’s academy division while pursuing the MA degree. Daughter of United Brethren preacher Josiah F. Snyder of Boiling Springs, Grace E. Snyder Martin was a 1919 graduate of LVC and prepared for her mission work by teaching for one year in the hills of West Virginia. When they returned to the United States in 1926, William became a high school teacher and was given LVC’s 1985 alumni of the year award.
February – 50 years ago
Page 1 of THE LINK for February 1971 featured a picture of four persons from St. Paul’s UMC in State College preparing for the Christian ministry. At the denominational union in 1968, that congregation had established a goal of producing five persons for the ministry within the next ten years. Those four were some of the fruits of that effort.
• John Shaffer, son of Mrs. and Mrs. Lester Shaffer, a sophomore at West Virginia Wesleyan. John graduated with a major in philosophy and minor in theater, served Episcopal congregations in West Virginia and New York, and worked in the arts and theater at various institutions in New York state.
• Charles Fitzgerald, son of Mr. and Mrs. C. Howard Fitzgerald, a junior at Penn State. Charles retired in 2005 after 34 years of service in the Central Pennsylvania and Susquehanna Conferences.
• Kenneth E. Young, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph E. Young Sr., a sophomore at North Carolina Wesleyan. Kenneth apparently eventually chose another career path.
• Ralph E. Young Jr., brother of Kenneth Young, a second year student at the United Methodist Theological School in Ohio. Ralph transferred to the Florida Conference in 1981 and is now a retired member of that body.
