This is a great picture of Dr. Stevens. This is the place that I remember him best. I have vivid memories of Dr. Stevens standing in front of the full wall maps on the 3rd floor of the the Administration Building at A.C.U., lecturing about the Roman Empire or the Middle Ages like he was there in person. I would stop taking notes and get lost in the story he was telling. There was a magnificence about his knowledge and complete understanding of how history fit together.Dr. Stevens is the professor at A.C.U. that caused me to love history. I did not go to college planning on teaching and coaching, so when my degree plan changed and I ended up in history classes, all I could remember was the high school lectures that I struggled to stay awake in. But my appreciation for history changed the first time I sat in Dr. Stevens class.
It was his introduction lecture. I heard it 3 different times since I found any way possible to take the classes he was teaching. He began each class, each semester by an in depth look at how God used history to work his plan. He would show God's hand in the ancient civilizations and in the formation of the Catholic Church, and how God moved throughout the centuries with grace and ease. I am not doing him justice by trying to explain his thoughts, but I was honestly enthralled by the words that fell off his lips. He was one of my favorite teachers of all time.
Dr. Stevens did more in his life then most people even think possible. Endured the Great Depression, college graduate, survived WW II, preacher, teacher, professor, college president, really good golfer.
Look here to see all the cool stuff about Dr. John C. Stevens, one of my favorite people from my years at A.C.U. I will continue to try to be a fraction of the teacher he was. That alone would make me better.
4 comments:
Thank you for writing this! Dr. Stevens was indeed a great man. What a priviledge to get to know someone like him. I didn't have him as a teacher but rather as a "boss." It was a joy to be around him and his unfailing, never wavering positive, God centered spirit. As a friend wrote to me to tell me of his death said, "a great man has fallen in Israel." Blessings on you and your family.
I didn't take one of his classes either but his legacy on campus was impossible to miss. I'm thankful for the significant influence he had in making ACU what it has become.
I will never forget the last day he went to teach his final class. Faculty, Staff, and students lined up from his office door in the Brown Library all the way down the sidewalk to the Admin Building, up the stairs and down the hall to his 3rd floor classroom. We all held purple or white balloons. When he walked out of his office to make that final trek to teach the class he loved so much, we all cheered and cheered and cheered for his entire walk. I can't help but think about the angels chearing him into Heaven with his sweet Ruth walking arm and arm with him.
Sweet, kind, gentle spirit of a man up to the end. No longer is he 'Ruth-less' as she joins his side in Heaven.
The angels are throwing a party like none ever experienced, and are about to get the greatest lecture on Western Civilization they ever had!
Great write up, Byron!
-TMS
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