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5.5.08
Longtime history professor to address Class of 2008
Dr. James Wylie Gettys Jr., McDonald-Boswell Professor Emeritus of History and former vice president and dean at Erskine College, will be the guest speaker at the Erskine College commencement slated for 1:30 p.m. Saturday, May 17, Under the Towers of the Erskine Building.
The day begins with a baccalaureate service at 10 a.m. in the Due West ARP Church.
The speaker will be the Rev. Eddie Spencer, pastor of the First ARP Church, Gastonia, N.C.
Honorary degrees will be presented at college commencement to missionary Jo Ann Griffith and orthopedic surgeon Dr. Richard Garison Taylor Jr.
Seminary commencement is set for 4 p.m. Sunday, May 18, also in the Due West ARP Church. Speaker is Maj. Gen. David H. Hicks, who served 43 years in the U.S. Army and entered the Army Chaplaincy in 1974.
The Rev. Charles Baskin Evans III, pastor of Pinecrest Presbyterian Church, Hendersonville, N.C., will receive an honorary degree at the seminary commencement.
Gettys, a native of Rock Hill, graduated from Erskine College in 1962 and went on to earn a Ph.D. at the University of South Carolina in 1974. He taught history at Erskine from 1965-2008, and during that period took on additional responsibilities at various times. He served as dean of admissions from 1983-85; director of institutional research from 1986-88; and vice president and dean of the college from 1988-99. In 1999, he was named McDonald-Boswell Professor of History, retiring in 2008. He was named McDonald-Boswell Professor Emeritus of History in 2008.
Griffith graduated from Erskine College with a degree in elementary education, then earned a master's degree in religious education from Pittsburgh-Xenia Seminary, Pittsburgh, Penn. She fulfilled her dream of serving as a missionary in Africa, teaching at three different schools during her service in Ethiopia from 1959-2005. Active in the Due West ARP Church, she continues her life of service, whether by teaching the senior high Sunday school class, speaking about missions, or returning to the mission field for short-term relief work.
Taylor is a member of the Class of 1969 at Erskine College and graduated from the Medical University of South Carolina in 1972. Active in the Greenville ARP Church, he has served Erskine as a member of the Board of Trustees, Alumni Board and Flying Fleet Board. Among other contributions, he has worked without compensation as team physician and adviser to the athletic training program and has created an endowed scholarship in honor of his parents, an athletic training fund and a partial scholarship for women's tennis. The Taylor Conference and Hospitality Room in the Galloway Center is another monument to his generosity. His wife, Janet Blaine Fellers Taylor, is an Erskine graduate as are all four of their children.
Spencer, a native of Statesville, N.C., is a graduate of both Erskine College and Erskine Theological Seminary. He is the 13th pastor of the First ARP Church in Gastonia, where he began his pastorate in 1999. His first pastorate was the Shepherd Road Church in Lakeland, Fla., a small congregation that increased its membership to 500 under his leadership. He has served on the boards of Bonclarken and Outreach North America. He and wife Roxanne are the parents of three children.
Hicks received his undergraduate degree from United Wesleyan College in Allentown, Penn. He also received a master of divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary and a master of theology degree from Duke University. His military education includes the U.S. Army Chaplain Basic and Advanced Courses, Combined Arms Services Staff School, Instructor Training Course, Command and General Staff College and the Army War College. His awards and decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit with two oak leaf clusters, and a Meritorious Service Medal with six oak leaf clusters. He and wife Janice have three children and six grandchildren.
Evans, a native of Abbeville, is a 1967 graduate of Erskine College. He received the master of divinity degree from Columbia Seminary in 1970 and returned to his hometown to serve as senior pastor at Upper Long Cane Presbyterian Church. He moved to Gastonia, N.C., to serve Crowders Creek ARP Church in 1974. In 1980, he was called to Pinecrest Presbyterian Church in Hendersonville, N.C., where he still serves as senior pastor. His work includes service as an Erskine trustee, board member of the Interfaith Assistance Ministry, Reading Clerk of First Presbytery, chairman of Bonclarken's capital campaign, and a board member of the Interchurch Relations Committee and the Open Arms Crisis Pregnancy Center. He has been a member of First Presbytery's Committee on the Minister and His Work since 2004.
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