1952-03-01

              Illinois Wesleyan University Bulletin
ALUMNI ISSUE MARCH, 1952
Carl Neumeyer New Director
Of Wesleyan Music School
Carl M. Neumeyer has been ap-pointed
new director of the school
of music. He comes to Wesleyan
from Southern Methodist university
where he is assistant dean. He is
a graduate of Murray Teachers col-lege
of Kentucky, has a master's
degree from Wesleyan, has studied
at Columbia and the University of
Texas and has a doctor's degree in
music from the University of In-diana.
He has also had a wide
teaching experience.
Jordans Die in Accident
Doctor A. P. Jordan died in a
Nashville, Tenn., hospital as the re-sult
of an automobile accident
which occurred March 7 in which
Mrs. Jordan was killed instantly.
Dr. and Mrs. Jordan were returning
from a two-week vacation in Flori-da.
Dr. Jordan was a Wesleyan
trustee and was at the time of his
death pastor of the St. James Meth-odist
church in Danville. Previously
he was superintendent of the
Bloomington district of the Illinois
conference. Both of Dr. Jordan's
daughters are alumni of Wesleyan,
Betty (Mrs. Robert Ficklin '43), and
Helen (Mrs. George Wood '48). A
son, Rev. George Jordan, of Stock-ton,
Wis., also survives.
Alumni Day to Be 77th
Reunion for Dr. Van Pelt
Alumni Day, June 7, will mark
the 77th anniversary of one of Wes-leyan's
distinguished alumni, Dr.
Samuel Van Pelt, of Los Angeles,
who graduated from Illinois Wes-leyan
in June, 1875. He was one of
16 men who received degrees at
that time, and the 161st graduate
of the school. In 1875 the old law
school graduated its first class, of
which there were seven members.
Mr. Van Pelt is Wesleyan's oldest
living alumnus in the number of
years since his graduation. One oth-er
alumnus, Mr. Sylvester Melvin,
is older than Dr. Van Pelt, but he
did not graduate until 1878. He has
passed his 100th birthday.
Fred Muhl
Illinois Wesleyan observed Found-ers'
day in part by conferring on
Fred Muhl the degree of Doctor of
Science and upon Professor W. W.
Wallis, the degree of Doctor of
Laws. This was a memorable occa-sion,
since seldom in its history has
Wesleyan conferred degrees on its
own faculty members.
Dr. Muhl has been a member of
the faculty since 1910. Previously
he had coached Wesleyan's football
teams. After 1910 he was in charge
of all athletics as well as carrying
on his teaching of mathematics.
Through the years he has turned
out championship teams not only
in football, in which he himself
excelled at the University of Illi-nois,
but in basketball, baseball,
and track. In the classroom he was
an interesting teacher, his words
of wisdom left an impression on
many alumni. He is known to alum-ni
as a gifted public speaker. His
talks in old Amie Chapel were al-w
ays listened to attentively. No one
knows more about Wesleyan than
"Fred."
Dr. Wallis, who has occupied the
chair of history at Wesleyan since
1921, and has been a member of the
faculty since 1918, holds a special
W. W. Wallis
place in the affections of alumni
who were in his classes. His lectures
have always been popular, and his
classes crowded. Over the years a
number of students have taken, if
possible, every course he offered,
because of regard for him and be-cause
of his interesting lectures. He
served as dean of the college of
liberal arts for 16 years and is still
"Dean" Wallis to most alumni.
Preceding the honoring of the
two professors, the Collegiate choir,
under the direction of Lloyd
Pfautsch, sang two numbers. The
convocation address was given by
Dr. Walter Havighurst, professor of
English at Miami university in Ox-ford,
Ohio. He gave a fine address
on the subject, "The Two Ques-tions."
He elaborated on the ques-tions,
"What can we know?" and
"What can we believe?" He brought
out the fact that Americans excel
in the field of usable knowledge.
Dr. Harry McPherson '06 present-ed
Professor Muhl as candidate for
a degree, and Dr. E. E. Atherton
presented Professor Wallis. Alumni
who had a part in the exercises
were Dr. Sidney Guthrie '13, Dr.
Fred Melvin '23, and Dr. Loyal
Thompson '10.
Muh! and Wallis Honored on Founders' Day
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