September 18, 1987

Everyone who knew Raymond Kelcy appreciated and loved him. Readily apparent in him were love for his God and Savior, and reverence for the word of God, and an ability to communicate that word. Students knew he loved them, and they appreciated his optimistic spirit, and his unfailing sense of humor.

It is no fault of OCC’s freshmen students of 1987 that they will not get to be in his classes, not profit by his expertise in teaching, not delight in his personal magnetism. For them and those students coming later, Raymond Kelcy will only be a treasured memory that will soon fade. His name, like the names of all of us, will in time be "forgotten" (Ecclesiastes 9:5). Such is unavoidable. Hugo McCord is humbled and appreciative today to be remembered along with Brother Kelcy, but he too will soon be forgotten.

However, OCC lives on, and we pray that her best days may be ahead! May history not repeat!

The first institution of higher learning in America is 151 years older than the Constitution, which yesterday was 200 years old. Harvard University, now 351 years old, was founded in Cambridge in 1636 "under church sponsorship" (ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA), and is named for a preacher, John Harvard. He was the University’s first benefactor and started its endowment. Originally its Board of Overseers was "ministers of neighboring towns" along with the upper house of the legislature. The Bible was a respected book.

The University was "gradually liberated, first from the clerical, and later from political control." Since 1865 its Board of Overseers is elected from Harvard alumni, and Bible religion is non-existent. If John Harvard were alive today, he would ask that his name be removed from that institution. Does history have to repeat?

Kentucky University was founded at Lexington in 1865. Section 8 of its charter stated: "At least two thirds of the Board of Curators shall always be members of the Christian Church in Kentucky." The erudite J. W. McGarvey was a professor in its College of the Bible. (Earl West, SEARCH FOR THE ANCIENT ORDER, II, 114). Now all that has changed. Does history have to repeat?

Nashville Bible School was founded by David Lipscomb in 1891. He knew history’s lessons, and urged that no school have an endowment and that a school should die upon the death of the founder (Earl West, SEARCH, II, 116). "Endowment funds," he wrote, are universally "perverted to pull down what they are intended to build up." But it does not have to be that way! History does not have to repeat.

We rejoice that OCC, because of good friends who believe in Christian education, now has the beginning of a meaningful endowment, and we would not want it otherwise. However, prayers are being offered that future trustees of the College will prove worthy of the trust put in their hands.

The danger of what future trustees might believe and do was in the mind of the first Executive Committee, and did all that is humanly possible to prevent an apostasy from the faith. In their Articles of Incorporation in 1947 they were very specific. Article six. Section I, states:

Every trustee from 1947 to 1987 has been a firm believer in Article six, Section I, of the Articles of incorporation, as have been all three presidents, L. R. Wilson, James O. Baird, and Terry Johnson. Furthermore, a devoted and loving brotherhood today has unlimited confidence in James Baird, Terry Johnson, Stafford North, Bailey McBride, Howard Norton, and the dedicated faculty, a faculty that is chosen with prayer. That brotherhood, with faith in the trustees and in the administration, is willing, even eager, to entrust their children to OCC teachers who will, in the Allison Biblical Studies Center and in other buildings on this campus, instruct them in the right way to live before God and man. Each of the faculty members could in other institutions be receiving more remuneration, but OCC’s faculty is dedicated to making the world better by helping young people. Pray for them, thank them, and encourage them.

Revised Feb. 17, 1999