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FROM THE EDITOR

Lebanon Valley College Magazine

VOLUME 1. NUMBER 1
SPRING, 1984

Table of Contents

3

A MAN OF MANY HATS

by Joy Owens

4

KATHY TIERNEY

by Scott Dimon

5

COUPLES

by Mary Lou Kelsey

8

ALUMNI CHORALE

9

ALUMNI SCHOLARS

10

FOUNDERS' DAY AWARD

11

NEW REGISTRAR

12

DON BYRNE

by Kathleen Thach

PUBLISHER— Howard L. Applegate
EDITOR— Dawn C. Humphrey
ALUMNI EDITOR— Robert L. Unger
PARENTS EDITOR— Joseph P. Wengyn
SPORTS EDITOR— Scott B. Dimon
PRODUCTION EDITOR— Mary B. Williams
CREATIVE DIRECTOR— Michael R. Casey

Please address all inquiries to: Dawn C. Humphrey,
Editor, The Valley, Lebanon Valley College Annville, PA
17003. Telephone: 717-867-4411, ext. 225.

The Valley is published quarterly by

Lebanon Valley College, Second-class postage pending

at Annville, PA.

© copyright 1984 Lebanon Valley College

Premiere Issue of The Valley

In the last issue of the L VC Journal we asked readers for
suggestions on how to improve the publication. After con-
sulting readers' thoughtful responses and after much delib-
eration among the editorial staff, we are pleased to present
The Valley, a quarterly magazine for Lebanon Valley
College's alumni, students, parents, faculty, staff, trustees
and friends.

The idea of a magazine is not new at Lebanon Valley
College. In fact, the Alumni Review functioned in much the
same way for twenty-four years prior to 1975. From 1975
to 1983, College news was distributed through the LVC
Journal, a quarterly newsletter. Through careful selection
of paper, design and printing, we are able to bring you this
new publication at approximately the same cost as the
Journal.

In searching for a name for the new magazine, we chose
The Valley, which will, we imagine, mean something
different to each reader. From time to time, The Valley will
feature glimpses into the Valley of the past. But we will also
show you what is going on at LVC now and what Valley
people both on and off campus think about a variety of
issues. We hope to introduce you to some new faces and
re-acquaint you with some old friends.

Let us know what you think of our new venture. After
all, The Valley is, most of all, your magazine.

Dawn C. Humphrey

LETTERS

Dear Editor:

What a surprise to see the Hall family photograph in
the Winter 1983 LVC Journal] If there are any unused
or no-longer-of-use copies (glossy prints) of us, we
would like to have one. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Gloria K. Hall
(Mrs. Glenn Hall)

Dear Editor:

Your feature of Dr. Struble was outstanding. You
have captured the soul of the great teacher I remember.
As I was rereading your article . . . the picture of him
reminded me of this little quatrain I wrote one day in
English class. It is one of a number I wrote in the
margins of texts or among my sometimes disconnected
notes. I thought you'd like to see it.

Excerpt from "Scraps From a Student Notebook"

Armed he stood with open book

From which he read poetic lore

When suddenly, with raised arm,

He leaped and cried, "Excelsior!"

Best wishes.

Sincerely yours,

Bruce Souders '44

The Valley 2-

Editor's Note: The following article is
reprinted from the Thursday, February
9, 1984 edition of The Daily News,
Lebanon.

ANNVILLE — When his retirement as
Lebanon Valley College registrar be-
comes official next Wednesday, Ralph
Shay will be retiring to something, as
well as from something. And it will just
about be as he has planned it for quite
some time.

Shay, a Lebanon County native and
graduate of LVC, began teaching there
in the history department thirty-five
years ago, in 1948. There was a par-
ticularly hectic time almost twenty years
later when, in 1967, he was named regis-
trar while still teaching and serving as
chairman of the history/political science
department and serving as assistant
dean.

One by one, he "removed a couple of
my hats," as Shay puts it. But he still
wears two — until next Wednesday, he
still is both registrar and assistant dean
of the college.

He and his wife Ellen own an 1896
house near Jonestown, surrounded by
two acres of land. That very definitely
will be one of the things retired to, Shay
says with a smile.

"I'd like to be more of a gardener
than I am now . . . and I have books
on my shelves that I was given, or that
I bought, over the years and — you know
how it is — just never really read. So I
have some reading time staked out."

Then, there's the Moravian Church of
Lebanon, of which he is a trustee and
past elder. There's the Lebanon County
Historical Society, in which Shay is "an
active member now and expecting to do
a lot more from here on." He plays
saxophone; his wife is a pianist. There
will be more time to enjoy the instru-
ments. And, Shay adds, "I'm also figur-
ing on what you could call some
scheduled, planned loafing."

His wife is recovering from cancer.
Her illness curtailed the couple's
traveling last year, but Shay says she is
feeling well enough now so that there
will be some trips in the future.

They'll be touring through New Eng-

land at times, for instance, but these will
be modest trips for the Shays by contrast
with the travels they logged in past
years.

In 1963, Shay earned a summer Ful-
bright Grant that took him to the Far
East. Four years later, he and Ellen
repeated the trip on a more ambitious
scale, taking in Cambodia, the Philip-
pines, Bali and Singapore.

One result of both his travels to the
Far East and his intense interest in the
area is his membership in the American
Association of Chinese Studies. In the
early '70s, he was president of that
organization, the first non-Oriental to
hold the post.

How does he see China right now?

"I think trade between the United
States and China definitely will be a
benefit to both," Shay says. "As for
power, though, China won't be a truly
great power for some time. They're
'trying to become halfway modern,' but
when Japan went that direction many
years ago, China did not. The dif-
ference is very, very evident today."

"Also, they had long civil wars,"
he went on. "The country is worn
out, in many ways. They have not
accepted the ways of Western
nations; in fact, they went to the
reverse in finance, in economy.
Now, they're far behind Japan, and not
likely, I think, to catch up anytime
soon."

Shay expects to "watch the
news, as well as read about it, a
lot more regularly after next
week." Meanwhile, . . .
plans to get into his garden
as soon as the weather per-

mits . . . and there's the church, the
music, the travel, the books. He's al-
most beginning to wonder, just a little,
if there'll be time for it all.

A Man of
Many Hats
Can Hang A
Few Up and
Still Have
Lots
To Do

by Joy Owens, Staff Writer

The Valley 3

Tierney
Brings

Excitement to
Women's
Athletics

by Scott Dimon

There is a new excitement about
women's athletics at Lebanon Valley
College, and much of that excitement
can be traced to Kathy Tierney's arrival
on campus.

In August, 1983, Tierney accepted the
position of women's athletic representa-
tive at LVC. In addition, she was named
head field hockey and women's lacrosse
coach. Her administrative duties include
scheduling all women's athletic events,
on-campus recruiting of all prospective
women athletes, and recruiting for the
field hockey and lacrosse teams. She
also serves as hostess for all college
guests at Wagner House.

Tierney, a native of Long Island, is
a 1979 graduate of the State University
of New York at Brockport, where she
was a field hockey and softball stand-
out. Among her many honors is the
Henry Cooper Award, given annually to
an athlete who exhibits athletic and
academic success combined with out-
standing leadership qualities.

She continued her athletic pursuits at
Brown University, where she was an
assistant field hockey and women's
basketball coach, a position she held
until coming to Lebanon Valley. Tierney
says of the move, "A move from Brown
was inevitable, the opportunity to be a
head coach was very enticing, and LVC
offered what I was looking for." She
continues, "I didn't want to go just
anywhere; academics had to be first
priority." Tierney is confident that LVC
can attract good women athletes because
of its location and its academic reputa-
tion.

As women's athletic representative,
Tierney says she would like to change
the attitude toward women's participa-
tion in athletics and increase the number
of women participating in the program.
"There are a number of women walking
around campus who could contribute to
sports teams, but they don't come out."

She says, "By increasing the numbers,
we could develop a junior varsity pro-
gram, which would serve a two-fold
purpose. First, the varsity would be a
selection process and second, the less
experienced athletes could gain valuable
playing time which would in turn
strengthen the varsity program."

Although her typical work day in-
cludes a large measure of administrative
duties, Tierney is most visible as a
coach. Her considerable coaching
success may lie in her ability to motivate
as well as to teach. One member of the
1983 squad says, "She makes you want
to give the extra bit of effort. I'm
looking forward to playing for her over
the next couple of years." Tierney is
confident and enthusiastic when describ-
ing the feeling among the squad, which
this year achieved a 4-6-4 season,
highlighted by a stunning 0-0 perfor-
mance against national powerhouse

Franklin & Marshall.

She says of her team, "The athletes
have the ability, but more than that,
they have desire, cohesiveness, and the
willingness to help one another."

"But," she is quick to add, "the
women must be prepared to take the risk
of getting better; they must develop
training patterns that enable them to
improve." Tierney sees a coach's role as
a two-part responsibility to "allow the
individual to develop positive qualities
through athletics and to become aware
of bad leadership and put an end to it."

Tierney's arrival at LVC appears to
be at the right time, but one senior
member of the field hockey team thinks
it may have been just a little late. She
said, "I'm glad I had the opportunity
to play for her; I just wish I could be
around for a few more years."

Scott Dimon is sports information
director at Lebanon Valley College.

The Valley 4

The campus of Lebanon Valley College
has been home to generations of stu-
dents. Alumni parents and grandparents
have watched their offspring walk down
the same halls, sit in the same class-
rooms and even be guided through their
college experiences by some of the same
professors.

The shared experience includes
husbands and wives who met at Leb-
anon Valley College and now find their
children continuing the family college
tradition.

This family experience does not stop
at alumni or students. Included in the
family tradition are married couples
who currently are sharing the experience

of teaching at Lebanon Valley

For Stephen Williams and Susan
Verhoek, the idea of teaching together
is what drew them to Lebanon Valley
College. Both are botanists. Dr.
Williams' field of expertise is plant
physiology, the study of how plants
function and grow. Dr. Verhoek's
concentration is taxonomy, the classifi-
cation of plants and their relationship
to each other.

In 1973, while at Cornell University,
the couple began searching for a team-
teaching position. Williams was doing
post-doctoral work at Cornell after
receiving his Ph.D. at Washington
University, and his wife was finishing

Couples

by Mary Lou Kelsey

her Ph.D. "Up there they were talking
about ways couples could find jobs
together because, at that time, especially
in the sciences, the job situation was
really closed down," Verhoek explained.
"It was very hard to assume that we
could both find jobs in the same area.
One of the alternatives was to go some-
place and share a teaching position,"
she says. "We wrote some letters
proposing that as an idea."

"LVC had a position open at the time
and they took us up on it. We actually
share the teaching duties of one posi-
tion, although we each have individual

The Valley 5

appointments," says Verhoek.

"Since we are in different areas [of
botany] we complement each other,"
Williams said. He also stressed the
number of students they have been able
to reach with this approach.

Reaching students is important to the
team, and both agree that Lebanon
Valley College provides a fine atmos-
phere for their work. "One of the big
differences is that at a school like
Cornell there is a graduate school with
a whole population of older, specialized
people who work in only one area. In
somes cases the undergraduates get lost.
At a school like LVC the seniors are
treated a lot like graduate students in
terms of special attention and encour-
agement," Verhoek explained.

According to Williams, there is less
pressure on faculty here to do research.
"Many of us do research here," he said,
"but it is not the main emphasis. We are
primarily teachers, which benefits the
students. But this can allow a faculty
member to get behind in his field. You
have to be more of a self-starter."

Publishing is important to the couple.
"If you are a teacher you have a duty
to let what you know or have learned be

known by more people, and one way to
do that is to publish," said Williams.

Dr. Verhoek is co-author of a second
edition of the book, How to Know the
Spring Flowers, a guide to spring
flowering plants east of the Rocky
Mountains. She explained, "I had used
the first edition of the book and dis-
covered that it contained things I thought
were not appropriate and could be
improved upon. I wrote to the company
and asked, 'Couldn't you get someone
to do this?' They wrote back and said,
'Why don't you do it?' "

She has also written several articles
based on her research, which has in-
cluded identifying two plants never
before described. One of the plants
collected by Dr. Verhoek and colleagues
is from the top of a road cut in the
mountainous province of Michoacan in
southern Mexico.

At the time it was collected the plant
was not flowering, so, under collection
and importation permission from the
Mexican and United States govern-
ments, the rootstock was taken first to
Cornell University and then to Lebanon
Valley College. When the plant grew
large enough and flowered in the LVC
greenhouse, Verhoek recognized it as a
new species.

The Mexican name for plants of this
type is "amole." Verhoek named the
new species Manfreda longibracteata, a
Latin name, in accordance with botani-

The Valley 6

cal practice.

The second of the plants had been
collected in Texas by a retired Army
officer, Major Arnold Siler, who did not
recognize it as being new until Verhoek
studied it and its relatives for her doc-
toral dissertation at Cornell. The species
was named M. sileri in recognition of its
collector.

During the 1982-83-academic year,
Verhoek and Williams spent a sabbatical
leave in Ithaca, New York. Verhoek was
at Cornell's L.H. Bailey Hortorium,
while her husband was at the Boyce
Thompson Institute, Ithaca.

Verhoek explained that there is cur-
rently ". . .an international project to
document all families and genera of
plants on earth. It is a long-range project
that will ultimately result in a multi-
volume work," she said. She spent her
sabbatical preparing a chapter for that
work. The chapter is on the Agavaceae
family. "Most people would probably
know it as the yucca family," she said.
It was on a part of this family that she
did her doctoral thesis, she said, and
both of the plants she has identified
belong to this family also.

Her husband spent his sabbatical
researching seed aging in soybeans. The
purpose of the research was to try to
determine the effects of aging on the
seeds' ability to germinate, a topic of
great importance to seed companies and
farmers.

Dr. Williams also has done extensive
research on nerve-like processes in
plants, particularly in carnivorous plants
such as the Venus flytrap. An article he
co-authored on the Venus flytrap's
closure mechanism was published in the
December 3, 1982 issue of Science
magazine. The article, featured on the
cover of the issue, examines the chemical
actions involved in the plant's leaf
closure process.

Are there pressures involved in sharing
the job at work and sharing the respon-
sibility of raising a sixteen-month child?
No more so than those encountered by
any other two-career family. "One of
the reasons we got married is that we
enjoy similar interests," explained
Verhoek. "We do a lot of botanical
things together," she said, "such as
taking walks in the woods and driving
in the country. Some of our trips involve
collecting material for our classes. Last

fall we drove around Lancaster County
looking for tobacco fields where we
might find material for Steve's plant
physiology course, and in the spring we
will need to find sites where my class can
see flowers blooming. It's something we
enjoy doing together."

"Often at a small school," she said,
"there is only one botanist, which can
be professionally lonely. But since there
are two of us here, we can keep each
other up to date." She explained that
they even subscribe to different profes-
sional journals so they can share things
they know would interest each other.

When Dr. Diane Iglesias and her
husband, Dr. John Heffner, leave home
for a day at work they head for the same
campus, but not the same department.
Dr. Iglesias is chairman of the foreign
language department, while Dr. Heffner
is an associate professor of philosophy.

Iglesias received her Ph.D. from the
City University of New York. The Long
Island native came to Lebanon Valley
College eight years ago from Wilson
College in Chambersburg. "Wilson was
a women's college, and I very much
wanted to teach in a coeducational
college. I also liked what was going on
in the department at LVC. There were
more options as far as types of courses
to be taught. In other institutions you
have to wait a long time to teach upper
division courses. Professor Cooper, the
chairman who hired me, said there was
a real possibility of reaching the ad-
vanced courses immediately."

According to Iglesias, foreign lan-
guage is again in the forefront of
education. "It went down in the age
of permissiveness. When students in
English classes read popular novels and
comic books instead of learning gram-
mar," she said, "foreign language was
perceived as something challenging at a
time when it was wrong to force students
to do something challenging. Things
have changed. As a Gountry, we cannot
afford the luxury of not speaking other
people's languages from both the busi-
ness point of view and the cultural point
of view."

Iglesias is also encouraged by the way
foreign languages are being taught at
Lebanon Valley College. "We have a
unique program here. We don't have the
traditional translation approach or the
purely literary approach. In each

language we teach culture and literature.
This allows us to use literature as
another vehicle for expressing and
teaching the culture and as an excuse
to converse as the native would. We
consider topics that would be interesting
to the native."

"When I was in New York," she said,
"I was teaching in a large university
system. I knew I needed to move to a
smaller school when at one point the
students were required to put Social
Security numbers on their exams, and
no names.

"Students here know we have an
open-door office policy. They can come
in and discuss anything. The intimate
relationship in the classroom encourages
them to come and discuss the course or
get to know the professor personally. It
is not at all unusual at Lebanon Valley
for students to be invited to dinner at
a faculty home. And they probably get
much better advice regarding their
career goals because their professors
know them as individuals. Sometimes
students just need a sounding board and
the faculty here serves that purpose."

The adjustment to a small school was
not difficult for her. "I was brought up
in a small town on Long Island. Man-
hattan was always there. As far as I am
concerned, it is all in attitude, and New
York is still just a short drive away."

Her husband had to make a different
sort of adjustment. When Heffner
accepted a teaching position at LVC, he
was coming home. Heffner received his
undergraduate degree from Lebanon
Valley College in 1968 and had no plans
to return to his alma mater. He was
working on his Ph.D. at Boston Uni-
versity when the opportunity arose.
"My advisor had a sabbatical when I
was starting my dissertation, and I knew
that if I didn't have someone to see
regularly I probably wouldn't get a lot
done. I started looking for a job to take
while he was on sabbatical. I wrote to
Dean Ehrhart and Warren Thompson,
chairman of the department here, asking
if they knew of anything in the area, and
they responded with a job offer."

Heffner was a physics major at
Lebanon Valley College. "I had been
interested in both philosophy and
physics all along," he explained. LVC
did not officially have double majors
at the time, but I had the equivalent

The Valley 7

of a philosophy major by the time I
graduated."

"I started graduate work in physics
at Boston University and found I didn't
like the program. I had gone there with
the intention of doing the philosophy
of science program in the physics
department. My advisor had a joint
appointment in the two departments, so
it was easy for me to go into the
philosophy of science program in the
philosophy department instead."

Although physics and philosophy
may appear dissimilar, Heffner said, "It
is not unusual to have people in physics
interested in philosophy. There is a lot
of overlapping material. Science and
philosophy do intercept — in areas such
as ethics, and the concept of the
universe. There hasn't always been such
a separation between the two disci-
plines. In fact, many great philosophers
were scientists too."

If you are a teacher you have a duty
to let what you know or have learned be
known by more people, and one way to
do that is to publish.

When I was in New York I was
teaching in a large university system. I
knew I needed to move to a smaller
school when at one point the students
were required to put Social Security
numbers on their exams and no names.

Science and philosophy do intercept —
in areas such as ethics, and the concept
of the universe.

Heffner is quick to defend the
importance of philosophy in a college
curriculum. "Students get too little
instruction in clear thinking," he said.
"And one thing we try to emphasize in
philosophy is critical thinking — learning
how to reason to a conclusion, learning
to know when you have enough evidence
to support a conclusion. That is the sort
of thing that any student going into a
business position will have to learn."

"It doesn't take a lot of effort in a
philosophy course to make applications
to everyday life. You read a dialogue of
Plato, and the people in the dialogue are
your neighbors."

The couple sees an increasing appre-
ciation of the value of a liberal arts

education. "Some students coming out
with very technical degrees find that
their particular area has a sudden glut
and that they are not prepared for other
things. Many businessmen are telling
students they should have as wide a
background as possible. Not that they
shouldn't prepare for one field or
specialization, but it isn't good to
prepare yourself too precisely," said
Iglesias.

Her husband added, "You have to
make a distinction between job prepara-
tion and career preparation. Too many
people mistake one for the other. They
may come out of college prepared to do
a job, but very badly equipped to have
a career. I try to communicate that
difference to students. I hope that we
are training leaders, not just people who
will find a job."

The couple agrees that the Valley's
double major program allows students
to combine a more vocational program
of study with a major in one of the lib-
eral arts to become a more well-rounded
graduate.

"I don't think our mission here,
strictly speaking, is to serve only the
business community," Heffner said.
"I think that the business community
should be aware that people have con-
cerns other than a job. Liberal educa-
tion is also good for the country and the
civilization at large."

Working in the same environment
and in similar careers does not put a
strain on the couple. "We don't talk
about school all the time," Heffner said.
"Obviously we talk about it to get it off
our chests," "But," adds his wife, "we
probably talk about it less than if we
worked in separate places. We both
know what the issues are, so we don't
have to rehash them."

Heffner summed it up, saying, "We
go through the ups and downs together."

Mary Lou Kelsey is a freelance writer
based in Lebanon.

Alumni
Chorale
to Present
Handel's
Messiah

This spring, in commemoration of the
300th anniversary of the birth in 1685
of George Frederic Handel, the Alumni
Chorale will present Handel's complete
Messiah in three concerts the weekend
of May 18, 19 and 20, 1984. Next year
the group will perform Johann Sebas-
tian Bach's Mass in B Minor. Bach also
was born in 1685.

Founded in 1978 at the request of
alumni, the Chorale provides graduates
with an opportunity to maintain their
ties with the college while serving the
community through concerts in area
churches.

Professor of Organ Pierce A. Getz '51,
director of the chorale, says groups of
this type are very uncommon. "Lafay-
ette is the only school I am aware of that
has a similar group," he said. Many
observers credit Getz himself with the
existence of the group. As students,
many of the Chorale members were
members of the Concert Choir, which
Getz has conducted since 1961. Un-
doubtedly, his skill as a conductor and
the talent of his performers have been
the essential factors in the success of
both groups.

For the Handel concerts the forty-five
member chorale will be joined by nine-
teen of the finest instrumentalists in the
region and by four guest soloists from
New York City.

The Friday, May 18 concert, co-spon-
sored by the LVC Women's Auxiliary
and the Alumni Chorale, will be held in
Lutz Hall at 7:00 p.m. The groups are
asking a $7.50 donation from adults and
$5.00 from students and senior citizens
age sixty-five and older.

On Saturday, May 19, the Chorale
will perform the Messiah in Mahanoy
City's Victoria Theater at 7:30.

Sunday's concert will be held at
8:00 p.m. in St. Patrick Cathedral,
Harrisburg.

The Valley 8

ALUMNI
SCHOLARSHIPS

Thirty-one years ago the Lebanon
Valley College Alumni Association
endowed a permanent trust fund to
provide worthy students a modest schol-
arship. For twenty years two students
annually were chosen to receive $100
each. In time, the amount of each award
doubled, and by 1982 three students,
instead of two, received $200 awards.

This year the Association is increasing
the endowment fund on two fronts. The
LVC EMPORIUM which appeared in
the last two issues of the L VC Journal
offered pretzels, bologna, and needle-
point kits to alumni and friends by mail
order. All proceeds from the sale of
these items, whose average mark-up is
fifteen percent, go to the Alumni Schol-
arship Fund. More significantly, at their
December executive committee meeting,
the College's Senior Alumni voted to
solicit direct contributions for the fund
from all senior alumni. Checks desig-
nated for the Alumni Scholarship Fund
will help the endowment fund grow.

Perhaps a look at this year's three
Alumni Scholars is the best way to
illustrate why this Alumni Association
project is so important.

Dave Carter is a young man with no
doubts about where he is going. He
plans to become a physician. And he is
already well on his way. A biochemistry
major scheduled to graduate this May
with summa cum laude honors, he
works on Sundays during the school
year and full time during the summer as
a laboratory aide at Lebanon's Good
Samaritan Hospital.

His goal after medical school is to
enter general practice or emergency

medicine, neither of which is among the
highest paying of medical specialties.
"Oh, I'm not going into it for the
money," he says, "I'll be happy if I
make enough to pay back my loans. The
nice thing about medicine is that it lets
me combine science with service."

Dave has gotten a head start on a
service career as president of Beta Beta
Beta (biology honor society) for 1982-83
and as president of Alpha Phi Omega
(national service fraternity) last
semester. He also finds time to serve as
leader of the Jazz Band's saxophone
section.

He is confident of his preparation for
medical school. "Graduates have told
me that you're well prepared here," he
says. "Also, the college has a good track
record of getting people into medical
school. That's one reason I came here."

Alison Daubert, a senior elementary
education major from Fredericksburg,
Pennsylvania, is less certain about her
career path than is Dave. She is torn, she
says, between teaching and the ministry.
Having student taught fifth grade last
semester at Palmyra Elementary School,
she is looking for teaching jobs in
Lebanon County, but also has applied
to Gettysburg Seminary.

Alison, the fourth of seven children,
is devoted to her family, whom she
manages to see at least once a week.
"My parents have a dream," she says,
"of putting all seven of us through
college, and they've done it with the first
four. We all recognize and appreciate
the sacrifices our parents have made for
us, so we all help each other get through
[college]."

For Alison, getting through has meant
taking some typical college student jobs
including working in the college dining
hall and, in the summer, as a clerk
typist. But it has also meant at least one

unusual summer work experience —
hanging defeathered chickens in a
poultry factory. "It wasn't too
pleasant," Alison says, "but jobs like
that make you appreciate a college
education." Her father, Harlan A.
Daubert '49, is the band director at
Northern Lebanon High School, and
her sister, Suzanne Daubert Fox '77, is
an elementary school teacher in
Lebanon.

Like Dave Carter, Bob Schaeffer

knows precisely what he wants to do
when he graduates from LVC this
spring. But unlike Dave, Bob does not
feel a pull to continue being a student.
Instead, he wants to become a teacher.

Last semester Bob student taught
ninth and tenth grade history at
Annville-Cleona High School. "I've
always wanted to be a teacher, and my
student teaching experience just con-
firmed my decision," he said. "I just
know that teaching is what I am sup-
posed to do." Bob says he would like
to teach in the area and has sent letters
of application to schools in Lebanon
and Lancaster Counties.

Like the other two recipients, Bob, a
native of St. Clair, Pennsylvania, has
made his way through college by work-
ing. His job was off campus, at the Weis
Market in Lebanon, where he worked
twenty to twenty-five hours a week.

"I didn't have much time to get
involved in activities on campus," said
Bob. Asked if he found study time
scarce, he said, "Oh, no, I'm a morning
person, so I used to study early in the
morning. It's very quiet in the dorms
then."

This year, he is living in Palmyra with
a family from the First Evangelical
Congregational Church, where he is the
youth director. And, he says, morning
is still his favorite time to study.

The Valley 9

Hershey Executive Receives Founders' Day Award

Harold S. Mohler, chairman of the
executive committee and former presi-
dent and chief executive officer of
Hershey Foods Corporation, received
Lebanon Valley College's fifth annual
Founders' Day Award on February 28
in Miller Chapel.

In accepting the award, Mohler men-
tioned that he had been a friend of the
late Frederic K. Miller, after whom the
building is named.

Mohler, a Hershey resident and native
of Ephrata, was chosen for the award
in recognition of his role in transforming
the locally based firm into a multina-
tional food products manufacturer and
for his community service performed in
the spirit of the founders of LVC.

Mohler began his career with Hershey
Foods in 1948, one week after graduating
from Lehigh University with a degree in
industrial engineering. In 1958, he was
named assistant to the president. From
there, he became a director, then vice
president, and finally, in 1965, president
and chief executive officer. During the
ten years he served in that capacity,

Hershey Foods grew into a multinational
corporation, quadrupling its sales and
stockholder equity.

Although involved with business on
an international scale, Mohler has con-
tinued to participate in community
service on the local, regional and state
levels. In addition to serving as chair-
man of the board of the Tri-County
United Way, he is an elder of the Derry
Presbyterian Church and past chairman
of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Com-
merce and Pennsylvanians for Effective
Government.

Mohler, who officially retired from
his post at Hershey Foods on March 1 ,
was recently named co-chairman of
"Partners in Progress," a cooperative
effort of five Harrisburg area Chambers
of Commerce designed to attract new
jobs, business and industry to the area.

Guest speaker Gilbert Nurick, Es-
quire, Of Counsel, McNees, Wallace and
Nurick, Harrisburg, addressed the topic,
"Let's Salute the Real Founders."
Nurick emphasized the signal contribu-
tion of Chief Justice John Marshall,

who although not one of the first
generation of founders, served with
distinction in the second generation of
national leaders, especially in his
concept of the supremacy of the federal
government.

In one of his first official appearances,
new President Dr. Arthur L. Peterson
presided over the program and the
luncheon which immediately followed.
At the luncheon, Mohler was toasted
and roasted by coworkers and family
members, and by Dr. Bertha Blair, an
honorary member of the LVC Board of
Trustees, who remembered Mohler as a
child in Ephrata. Also introduced were
Vernon Bishop, president of Lebanon
Chemical Company and winner of the
1981 Founders' Day Award, and Mrs.
Frederic K. Miller, widow of Lebanon
Valley College's twelfth president.

Left, President Arthur Peterson presents 1984
Founder's Day Award to Harold Mohler.
Right top, Dr. Bertha Blair, Honorary
Trustee, LVC.

Right bottom, William Dearden, Chairman
of the Board, Hershey Foods Corporation.

The Valley 10

Bruce Correll, recently chosen to replace
retiring registrar Ralph Shay, is already
in full swing computerizing the registrar's
office in preparation for September
registration.

Correll said, "We are going to modify
the current registration system to take
advantage of the College's computer
facilities. The streamlined system will
reduce frustration and cut down the red
tape for student, faculty and staff."

Also, said Correll, his office will be
handling registration for continuing
education students to offer those stu-
dents better services.

The way the office has operated, said
Correll, "was a very efficient and well
organized operation. But it relied strictly
on manpower and hours and hours of
reviewing the same cards." Computeri-
zation will allow quicker access to
information and will make analysis
of data much simpler. "Once we're
computerized, we will be able to use the
data base to make accurate enrollment
projections and scheduling suggestions.
It will allow us to more easily project the
number of sections and size of classes
to aid departments in determining

scheduling and the staffing of the
schedule," he said.

The computerization of the registrar's
records will also provide what is currently
a missing link in the College's computer-
ized records. The admissions office
keeps computerized files on prospective
students, and the alumni and develop-
ment offices store information about
graduates on computer. Until now, only
the business office has used computer-
ized student records. Now, said Correll,
a student's file will be transferred from
admissions to the registrar's office when
he enrolls and from the registrar's office
to the alumni office when he graduates.
Because the transfer can be accom-
plished without re-entering the data, he
said, the chances for error are greatly
reduced. Certain information, such as
grades, will not be transferred to the
alumni office. That information will
remain in the registrar's office as part
of the College's permanent records.

Perhaps the most significant result of
the computerization, however, will be
the changes it will bring about in the

New
Registrar

Expects To

Streamline
Registration

registration process.

"This fall," said Correll, "we will
basically be doing a double registra-
tion— doing it the old way and the new
way simultaneously — to make sure the
new system works. By registration for
second semester, we will be completely
switched over. All transcript informa-
tion, grades and master course lists will
be on the computer."

"After next September, we will still
have an arena situation like we have
now, but not all students will have to go
through." In fact, he predicts "eighty-
five percent of the students will have
received their final schedules at pre-
registration. Those students who do go
through registration will find "a more
even pace, so there should be no lines
and no frustration."

Correll, who has coached lacrosse and
taught at Lebanon Valley College since
1972, earned the B.S. and the M.Ed,
degrees from Bowling Green State
University. Prior to his appointment as
registrar, he had been an assistant
professor in the physical education
department as well as head soccer and
lacrosse coach. He also directed the
College's intramural program. He plans
to continue to coach the lacrosse team
despite his new, increasingly hectic
schedule.

The Valley 1 1

Don Byrne:
Teacher and
Folklorist

by Kathleen Thach

What is a Roman Catholic doing as chairman of the religion
department at a United Methodist college?

For one thing, Dr. Donald E. Byrne, Jr. is enjoying a
reputation among students as one of the best loved and most
highly respected professors on the Lebanon Valley College
campus. In fact, one can hardly mention his name without
evoking a positive response from students. "Super." "Really
friendly." "A neat person." "Interested in students." The
list goes on and on as students describe the professor who
"knows how to make learning interesting."

Karl Gerlott, a junior religion major, knows from personal
experience Byrne's sensitivity to students. "Last year I was
at a low point," he says, "and I wasn't participating in class
discussion like I usually did. Dr. Byrne asked me after class
one day if I had time to talk in his office. He took the
initiative to talk to me and to try to help. That really made
an impression on me."

For another thing, Byrne is enjoying increased
recognition both on and off campus for his
extensive research into the relationship be-
tween folklore and religion.

On campus, in addition to teaching Chris-
tian ethics, religion in America, introduc-
tion to religion, and other courses one
would expect to find in a liberal arts
and sciences college, Byrne also
teaches a course entitled "American
Folk Religion." Byrne believes it to
be one of only three or four such
courses in the country.

Most students in the folklore
class are surprised to learn
"the folk" of folklore
are not restricted to
rural and/or prim-
itive peoples.

i

Folk religion and religious folklore,
Byrne emphasizes, are found in urban
and rural areas, among the highly and
poorly educated, in fundamental, inde-
pendent and mainline churches.

Off campus also, Byrne has come to
be considered an expert in the area of
religious folklore. When Charles
Scribner's Sons recently began to solicit
experts to contribute articles for their
forthcoming Encyclopedia of Religion
in America, they chose Byrne to write
the section on "Folklore and the Study
of American Religion," which is, Byrne
explains, "a theoretical and illustrative
article surveying the field as it stands
today." Byrne has written a number of
articles for such publications as Church
History, Pennsylvania Folklore, Journal
of American Folklore and Journal of
Popular Culture. He also wrote No Foot
of Land: Folklore of American Method-
ist Itinerants (American Theological
Library Association Mongraph Series,
No. 6).

In addition to enjoying Byrne as a
person and a teacher, his students re-
spect him for his on-going love of study.
"I enjoy having specific projects to
work on," Byrne acknowledges. "I
come early to my office (in Miller
Chapel) three mornings each week to
work on the research and writing."

Born in 1942 into a traditional Irish-
Geman family in St. Paul, Minnesota,
Byrne was educated in Roman Catholic
schools and for a time seriously consid-
ered becoming a priest, a goal his family
encouraged. After graduating from St.
Paul Seminary and Marquette Univer-
sity, he entered a doctoral program at
Duke University. There, a long-standing
avocational interest in American folk
music flowered into a vocational interest
and, professionally speaking, headed
him into Methodism.

Having begun doctoral studies in the
broad area of religion in America, Byrne
narrowed down his interest to folk and
popular religion, specifically religious
folk music in early American history.

He began searching for information on
the Singing School Movement, a religi-
ous folk musical expression based on the
"shape note" tradition, which used var-
iously-shaped notes rather than key
signatures to, as Byrne says, "locate
your fa, sol, la's."

"I ran on a dry well for six months,"
Byrne says matter-of-factly as he recalls
his early research. "Then, through
serendipity," he continues in a lighter
tone of voice, "I discovered a wealth of
interesting material on the Methodist
itinerant preachers of the nineteenth
century."

Not unlike the early Puritan settlers
in America, Byrne explains, these
Methodist itinerants and converts some-
times kept written records of God's
dealings with them. From time to time
they consulted their "diaries" to track
their progress and, as necessary, to cor-
rect their ways. A significant number of
such diaries, Byrne learned, found their
way into biographies and autobiographies.

"I was looking through an autobio-
graphy one day," Byrne remembers,
"and it suddenly dawned on me that I
was reading the same conversion story
I had read three volumes ago. Only this
time the story was told in a different
context. Then I recognized the same
pattern in anti-alcohol, or temperance,
stories — spontaneous combustion of
drunkards." (Byrne's tone of voice
doesn't change, nor does his face betray
the humor of his description.) He con-
tinues, "I suddenly realized I was
finding folklore everywhere."

Byrne redirected his research, tracing
these stories as they recurred in legends,
sermons, myths, histories, fables and
jestbooks. As he did, he began to realize
that the Methodist heroes, humor and
remarkable providences in the form of
prophetic dreams, answered prayer,
sudden judgment on sinners, and mir-
aculous escapes from peril had indeed
helped shape the character of American
religion and, therefore, were a lively
source of religious history. He con-
sequently re-focused his doctoral thesis
and titled his dissertation, "The Meth-
odist Itinerant Folklore of the Nine-
teenth Century with Particular Reference
to Autobiographies and Biographies."

Through his extensive knowledge of
religious history, Byrne recognized the

lore he had stumbled upon as a unique
blend of Protestant literalism about the
Bible, the preaching mode of communi-
cation, Methodist idealism and the
American frontier spirit.

Byrne emphasizes both in his classes
and in his published articles the relative
permanence of folklore. There was a
time, he says, when folklore enthusiasts
felt compelled to write everything down
for fear it would never be heard again.
Folklore, however, has endured for
centuries through oral tradition.

For something to be classified as folk-
lore, Byrne goes on to explain, it must
have circulated traditionally in varying
versions (either orally or by customary
example) among members of a group
sharing at least one of such common
factors as language, geographic locale,
religion — or even family. Today, he
explains, family traditions are gaining
credibility as sources of folklore. He
recalls two stories which circulated in his
own family and, he says, had wider
circulation as well. "Oh," he adds
before beginning their narration, "these
are true stories . . . more or less."

The first, he says, comes from the
Irish paternal side of the family and uses
humor in dealing with death. "It seems
my grandfather was in Ireland at a wake
held — as was customary — in the home
of the deceased. The poor fellow appar-
ently had been unfortunate enough to
die in a sitting position and had been
dead for some time before they found
him. So, by the time they got to him,
of course, rigor mortis had already set
in; they had to lay him out on the
cooling board and tie him down with
ropes. Several family members sat up all
night in the "wake watch" and, to pass
the time, you might say, they engaged
in a little card playing and drinking.
Well, it seems at some point someone
cut the ropes three-quarters of the way
through without anyone noticing. Dur-
ing the night the body strained against
the ropes as the gas built up, and along
about three or four in the morning, the
ropes gave way. As they did, the gas
pressured out into a loud "AHHHHH"
and, we're told, there were hasty exits

The Valley 13

leaving three more doors in the house. "

Then, he says, there's the story from
the German maternal side of his family,
a story of two kinds of Germans.

"The Schwabs were very, very STU-
pid And the Ploddeich had huge,
HUGE feet. Well, one day war broke
out between the STUpid Schwabs and
the Ploddeich with the HUGE feet. The
Schwabs shot and killed all the Plod-
deich, but the HUGE feet kept the
Ploddeich from falling over. Now the
Schwabs didn 7 know this (they were so
STUpid), so they concluded the Plod-
deich were immortal, and they lost the
war. "

Byrne remembers the latter story
having been used during parental argu-
ments, apparently to drive home a
point. He adds, "If we can understand
the function such folklore plays in
families, we can then understand how
it functions in larger units of society,
including religion."

For something to be classified as folk-
lore, Byrne explains further, it must also
have anonymity of authorship, time and
place; and it must serve a function in
society. Proverbs, a very popular genre
of folklore, he says, teach moral lessons.
Because of their pithiness and anonym-
ity, they seem to "speak from the accu-
mulated wisdom of generations."

Similarly, Byrne says ghost stories,
babysitter stories and lovers' lane stories
are all told to prevent certain unwise or
immoral behavior in those who hear
them. Folklore, he believes, offers a
parallel ethical system to that of reli-
gion, sometimes, but not always, agree-
ing with it."

Byrne found the Methodist stories of
God's intervention through extraordinary
providences to be especially significant
in the study of folklore as a sub-disci-
pline within religious studies. Their
function was primarily to "witness" for

the purpose of leading to conversion.
But Byrne's research also revealed that
the nineteenth century itinerant preacher
was not delivered supernaturally from
all hardship. Folklore in the form of
humor served to make their lives and
work more tolerable, more human. As
ministers traveled rugged frontier trails
en route to conferences, they often ex-
changed humorous anecdotes of terri-
torial appointments, of their horses, of
travel, of accommodations and posses-
sions, of misquoted scriptures, of
sleepers in the congregation, and of
attempts at collecting marriage and
funeral fees — or their own salaries.

One new bridegroom, according to
such lore, failed to pay the itinerant
minister for performing the wedding
ceremony. Some months later when
encountered by the itinerant, who
brought up the matter in a tactful
manner, the groom cried out, "Sir, if
you will only undo that ceremony, I'll
pay you a double fee right now."

These stories also served frequently as
sermon illustrations. Through humor,
the ordinary yet difficult experiences of
everyday living become endurable, and
ministers were able to establish rapport
with their flocks. "Through religious
humor," Byrne observes, "individuals
seem better able to adjust to the incon-
gruities and absurdities of the human
situation."

"Perhaps," he adds, "it's a matter of
laughing to keep from crying."

Byrne's encounter with the rich oral
tradition of the Protestant faith stimu-
lated his interest in reseaching folklore
found in Catholicism. While the Protes-
tant faith is frequently communicated
through verbal lore, the Catholic faith
finds expression in more lore classified
as "partly or non-verbal." The heroes
of the Methodist tradition have their
counterparts in the statues of the Roman
Catholic Church, for example. "Both
appeal to the imagination but through
different sensory media," he explains.

Byrne's research into Catholic lore led
him to the coal regions of Pennsylvania
where he observed fifteen ethnic-
religious festivals. One such Italian-
Catholic festival has been held in the

Italian community in Berwick every
summer since 1910 in celebration of the
Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed
Virgin Mary. These festivals, Byrne
notes, keep alive a Catholic folk piety
still practiced in the home regions of the
early immigrants. With acculturation,
however, the festivals change as the
community changes. Many festivals
have become, therefore, a combination
of traditional Italian religious folk
festivals and American carnivals, with
the church hierarchy and the festival
organizers often disagreeing on how
much of a role that Church should
continue to play in festivals.

Byrne's students learn from more
than Byrne's research and texts, how-
ever. They are required to conduct
research of their own, research which
often brings them face to face with the
origins of many of the presuppositions
and biases from which they operate,
Byrne notes. "As they recognize these
origins," Byrne adds, "they see they
have the choice of continuing in the
same direction or selecting a different
way to go."

As for Byrne, he views the study of
folk and popular religion as an impor-
tant addition to the study of doctrines,
theology and creeds, because folklore
makes religion more concrete. "We
learn through the study of folklore how
religiosity functions rather than merely
how it should function," he says.

"Folklore," says Byrne, "is more
than a collection of meaningless quaint
practices co-existing with religion.
Rather, it is a valid tool for understand-
ing religion, a reflecting light that makes
the approximation of truth more nearly
possible than does the mere pursuit of
truth in the confines of reason alone."

Kathleen Thach is a publications
assistant at Lebanon Valley College
and a freelance writer.

The Valley 14

Do you own long-term

highly-appreciated stocks

and bonds that you believe
you can't

afford to sell?

If your answer

is yes, Lebanon Valley College

may have an alternative to

benefit you and your college.

By giving appreciated stock to LVC, you can:

• receive a charitable contribution deduction on your income
tax, based on the current fair market value

• avoid completely any capital gain tax on the appreciation

• experience the satisfaction of giving to your alma mater

For more information, please contact:

Dr. Howard L. Applegate
Vice President for College Relations

LEBANON VALLEY COLLEGE

Annville, Pennsylvania 17003 (717) 867-4411, ext. 224

The Valley 15

CALENDAR

Organizations and Special Concerts

April 15 College Chorus and Symphony Orchestra Concert, 8:00 p.m.

29 SA1 All-American Concert, 2:00 p.m.

29 Sinfonia Rovers Memorial Concert, 7:30 p.m.

Student Recitals

April 24 John Overman, organ, 7:00 p.m.; Mary Jane

Beazley, voice, 8:00 p.m.
26 Andrew Grider, tuba; Rosalie Koch, clarinet, 8:30 p.m.

30 Laura Fowler, voice; Mark Wagner, piano, 8:00 p.m.

Senior Recitals

April 17 Margaret Faull, piano,

May

1

00 p.m.
Carol Harlacher, organ, 8:00 p.m.

Musicals

12-14

15

9-11

16-18

12 & 19

July

August

Cole, 8:00 p.m., Dinner Theater
Cole, 3:00 p.m., Dinner Theater

Gypsy, 8
Gypsy, 8
Gypsy, 3

00 p.m.
00 p.m.
:00 p.m.

Dinner Theater
Dinner Theater
Dinner Theater

Golf

April

May
Track

April

17
23
26
27
29-30
2

IS
26
27
28

Gettysburg, 1:00 p.m. A
Widener, 1:00 p.m. A
Wilkes, Scranton, 1:00 p.m. H
Philadelphia Textile, 1:00 p.m. A
MAC Championships A
Western Maryland, 1:00 p.m. H

Juniata, 3:00 p.m. A
Messiah, 3:00 p.m. A
Penn Relays, 9:00 a.m. A
Muhlenberg, 1:00 p.m. A

May 4-5 MAC Championships A

Baseball

April

May

Softball

April

May

16

18

23

24

29

1

16

is

Ursinus, 3:00 p.m. H
Gettysburg, 1:00 p.m. A
Western Maryland, 1:00 p.m. A
Elizabethtown, 3:00 p.m. H
York, 1:00 p.m. H
Albright, 3:30 p.m. H

Western Maryland, 3:30 p.m. A
Moravian, 1:00 p.m. H
York, 3:30 p.m. H

Men's Lacrosse

April 18 Gettysburg, 3:00 p.m. A

25 Widener, 3:30 p.m. H

28 Fairleigh Dickinson, 3:00 p.m. H

Women's Lacrosse

April 16 Western Maryland, 3:30 p.m. A

18 Gettysburg, 3:30 p.m. H

24 Johns Hopkins, 3:30 p.m. A

May 1 Cedar Crest, 4:00 p.m. A

Other Events

April 27-29 14th Annual Spring Arts Festival, all day

May 13 Baccalaureate Services, 9:00 a.m.

13 115th Annual Commencement, 11:00 a.m.

June 8-10 Alumni Weekend

Fourteenth Annual
Lebanon Valley
Spring Arts Festival
April 27-29, 1984

An Exhibition of the Arts

Highlights include:

Outdoor concert on Saturday, April 28
at 1:30 p.m. of Handel's "Royal Fireworks
Music," conducted by David Bilger with the
original instrumentation to mark its 235th
anniversary.

Performances by LVC Jazz Band, Concert
Choir, and Wind Ensemble.

Juried arts, crafts and photography.

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Art Exhibits

March 25— April 22
May 1-22

Bill Horst, pen and ink drawings
Kris Nuschke, etchings

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