(left to
right) Dr. Robert Brawley, Dr. Jim Pressly,
Dr. John Carson, Dr. Emmett Davis, Dr. Joe Stukes
Erskine
Inducts Four into Academic Hall of Fame; Caldwell
Receives Chairman's Award
Erskine College inducted four new members into its
Academic Hall of Fame Friday, and presented college
benefactor C.C. Caldwell with the Board of Counselors
Chairman's Award (picture).
Erskine Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr.
Donald Weatherman said, "Erskine is the only
school I have ever been associated with or know of
that has an academic hall of fame. It is important
that we have this, because Erskine has produced so
many fine students who go on to do so many wonderful
things."
Inducted into the Hall of Fame were McCormick
Theological Seminary Professor of New Testament Dr.
Robert Lawson Brawley (picture),
former Erskine Vice President for Academic Affairs
Dr. Joseph Taylor Stukes (picture), former
college professor Nora Marshall Davis (1883-1969),
and former Confederate surgeon and South Carolina
lawmaker Dr. John Wardlaw Hearst (1813-73).
Hearst earned his medical degree at Miami
University in Oxford, Ohio, before conducting an
extensive medical practice. He was also a planter on
a large scale, notable for his progressive methods.
He would have become even more wealthy except for
one of the most famous real estate deals in the
history of South Carolina. In 1852, he sold a tract
of his land to his neighbor, William B. Dorn, who had
discovered a rich deposit of gold upon it. Dorn had
earlier contracted with Hearst to buy the land, but
he had not made any payment for it when he made the
discovery.
Dr. Hearst honored his preliminary approval and
asked only the price which had been set. By
tradition, he was said to have told Dorn that he
hoped that Dorn made “a million dollars”
from the mine.
With this transaction, Dr. Hearst's reputation for
integrity became legendary. “Billy” Dorn
was poorly educated, but he was elected to the state
legislature from Edgefield District. Dr. Hearst was a
representative from Abbeville District. Often, when
Dorn's name was called in roll call votes in
Columbia, he would say that he wished to wait until
“my friend, Dr. Hearst, voted” and he would
vote accordingly.
Despite his age, Dr. Hearst served in 1861-62 as a
surgeon in the Confederate cause.
At his death, he bequeathed his estate to his
widow and to Erskine College. Erskine received
two-thirds of his estate, which was the largest
endowment in the history of the college to that date.
His ties to Erskine were numerous. His cousin, Dr.
E.E. Pressly, was the first president of the college,
and his brother-in-law, Dr. James Patterson Pressly,
was the longest serving member of the faculty during
Erskine's first century.
Chairman's Award recipient Caldwell also has
family ties to Erskine's first president, and has
been involved in several famous real estate
transactions as well.
Caldwell's wife, the late Harriett Pressly Smith
Caldwell, was a direct descendant of Erskine's first
president, and was a fourth generation Erskine
student when she met C.C. in Due West in 1951.
He was attending Erskine Seminary and she played
the organ during chapel services at Erskine's
McQuiston Divinity Hall. The two were married in
1955. Caldwell served as a pastor in the Presbyterian
Church and as a public school teacher, and Harriet
also taught in the public schools and played the
piano and organ at church for more than 50 years.
The Caldwells jointly inherited a farm outside of
Charlotte that was later developed into a major
shopping center. They also traded a tractor for 52
acres on Glassy Mountain that would later be the site
of the Cliffs at Glassy golf and real estate
development.
The Caldwells shared their good fortune with
Erskine, setting up trust funds worth more than $1
million. An endowed professorship in music was
established in Harriet's memory after her death in
1995.
Other hall of fame inductees included Stukes, who
earned a bachelor of science degree at Davidson
College. He undertook graduate work in history,
earning a master's degree from Emory University and a
Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina.
In 1966 Stukes and his family moved to Due West
where he served Erskine College until 1974 as
Professor of History and until 1971 as Vice President
for Academic Affairs. In 1974 he became Professor and
Chairman of the Department of History at Francis
Marion College, remaining there until his retirement
in 1996.
As academic dean at Erskine, he directed a major
curriculum revision combining the strengths of a
traditional liberal arts education with contemporary
academic structures. The core curriculum he
introduced, with its Four-One-Four academic calendar,
still serves the institution well after three
decades.
His teaching excellence and focus on students'
needs inspired a fund drive by former students. The
Joseph Stukes Fund has enriched the history
department at Erskine and also funds the Stukes
Lecture Series, bringing scholars from major
universities to Erskine.
Stukes, in a moving speech at the induction
ceremony, fought back tears as he described his
family's ties to Erskine and the Due West community (Stukes family picture).
"The breath of Erskine is in our nostrils, and
Erskine is in our veins," he said. "How
wonderful it is to be back in this place."
Brawley, a member of the Erskine College Class of
1962, continued his education at Erskine Theological
Seminary, receiving the Bachelor of Divinity degree
in 1965, and served as a missionary in Mexico from
1965-68, working as an instructor at Seminario
Teologico Presbiteriano Asociado Reformado.
He was called to Eden Terrace Associate Reformed
Presbyterian Church, Rock Hill, South Carolina, and
served as minister there from 1968 to 1974. In 1975,
he received the Master of Sacred Theology degree from
Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary.
He served as a teaching fellow at Princeton
Theological Seminary from 1975-77, where he was
awarded the Ph.D. in 1978. He defended successfully a
dissertation entitled “The Pharisees in
Luke-Acts: Luke's Irenic Purpose and His Address to
Jews,” a prelude to his lifelong scholarly
interest in the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the
Apostles.
Following his study at Princeton he served as
adjunct assistant professor of religion at Beaver
College in Glenside, Pa., in 1978, and as Assistant
Minister at First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia
during 1978-79. In 1979, he accepted an appointment
to the faculty of Memphis Theological Seminary, where
he taught with distinction until 1992, when he joined
the faculty of McCormick Theological Seminary in
Chicago. In 1996 he was named Albert G. McGaw
Professor of New Testament at McCormick.
Davis graduated from Erskine College in 1907 and
went on to earn the Master of Arts degree from the
University of South Carolina in 1923. She also did
graduate work at the University of Chicago and
Columbia University.
She taught English and short story writing at
Erskine College, LaGrange College, Lander College,
and Winthrop College. In connection with Erskine's
centennial observance in 1939, she was awarded an
honorary doctor of letters degree in recognition of
her scholarly works and contribution to the teaching
profession.
From 1936-45, she engaged in significant work for
the Historical Markers Service of South Carolina,
serving as director and contributing many pamphlets
and historical monographs based on her considerable
research into South Carolina history. At that time,
roadside markers did not often commemorate events of
historical significance in South Carolina. Not only
did she engage in careful historical investigation,
but she also composed many of the inscriptions used
on the markers erected during her years with the
Historical Markers Service.
