LAURINBURG —Beneath a grove of trees nestled between James L. Morgan Liberal Arts Building and Vardell Building, alumni, former staff and students alike gathered Monday to remember and mourn the legacy of St. Andrews University.
“Your heart put you in these chairs,” Rev. Rebekah Carpenter told the 75 or so people in attendance. “Your love for this institution has you standing with no chairs. You are hurting and while it’s important to us to provide a service … this is a really big deal. Generations of folks are feeling and moving through this.”
Just the day prior, the grounds were used to send off the university’s Class of 2025, about a week after it was announced that the college would shutter for good amid financial hardships the institution has faced for several years.
“Now we gather one last time to mourn the loss of this little, humble, gritty, resilient, quirky, extraordinary school, but just because St. Andrews is no more, that doesn’t mean the dream is dead. The dream of St. Andrews is much larger and broader than just this imperfect mortal institution,” said The Rev. Timothy Verhey, a Warner L. Hall professor of Religion and Philosophy.
The ceremony held on Monday mimicked a memorial service with speakers offering words of comfort and attendees sharing what they would miss most about the University, which first opened its doors more than 60 years ago. With teary eyes, hymns from the college’s first 1961 convocation were sung, scriptures were recited and anecdotes were shared about professors who shaped the college, and experiences that played pivotal roles in the lives of the students who attended.
Carie Medlock, Class of 1991, said her biggest memory and love of St. Andrews is the sense of diversity and acceptance among all, as well as seeing her father, George Melton, who was a Professor Emeritus of history at St. Andrews and taught at the school for 45 years.
“I know that he would be heartbroken today, just as I cause he really loved this university as much as I do,” Medlock said ” … I am very lucky to live near St. Andrews, grow up near St. Andrews and be a part of this campus for most of my life.”
Alumna Carol Johnson Martin was part of St. Andrews University’s Class of 1965, the first graduating class that attended all four years of school. On Monday, Johnson Martin attempted to channel the first day of arriving on campus.
“I remember excitement, wonderful people and then the classes,” she said.”Christianity and Culture, everybody I talk to, I’ve told about that course. It has been the basis for my decision making and for my life for all these 81 years, so I am so thankful that I was here.”
Johnson Martin said St. Andrews is where she met her late husband, LeRoy Martin. She recalled herself and her husband placing one of the school’s first ducks on campus.
“My husband died in 2017, my son died in 2017 and now St. Andrews is dead and I am mourning,” Johnson Martin said.
Class of 1989’s William Cuadill said he was grateful for the opportunity to be a Knight.
“We’ve all been so truly blessed to be a part of this institution, to be able to take from it and also to be able to give back to it,” he said.
Caudill said that God’s hands are at work.
“We may not understand it right now, and we’re hurting because of it, but it’s still there,” Caudill said, “I’ve seen it and hope all you see it as well.”
Quoting the words spoken by Hector MacLean at the groundbreaking ceremony for St. Andrews University on April 15, 1959, Verhey said, “‘We are here assembled to celebrate the coming to reality of a dream. A dream not yet fully realized but nevertheless on its way to fulfillment.’”
“That is the way it is with dreams and visions. Once you share them with others and entrust them to God, they become something different, something greater than what you had originally imagined, and those dreams are the richest dreams and the most profound visions,” Verhey said. “
Verhey said that when it was announced that St. Andrews University would cease operation, many were not thinking of themselves.
“Students were thinking about faculty, and staff, and coaches; and faculty, staff, and coaches were thinking about the students,” Verhey said. “It was, strangely enough, a marvelous day of being what St. Andrews is at its best and always has been, a community of mutual care and commitment of mutual learning and support.
“It seems to me Mr. MacLean’s dream was realized right there.”