I have three albums for you, each with less than one hundred images so they won't take long to go through, but I will give them to you one at a time. The first one takes you to Dr. Corey's home, President of Biola University. This was where the Board of Trustees met and included in their agenda for their May board meeting to honor my mom for her thirty-two years of service to Biola as she prepares to retire at the end of June.
How 'bout you grab a cup of coffee...I think I'll tell you the story of how Biola has been in our family for nearly one hundred years.
I was in my third year at Biola when my mom began working as a secretary. But my mother's story about Biola actually begins with my great-grandmother, Edith Gold Wallace. In 1918, she obtained a position at Biola in the business office. My great-grandfather had died as a result of becoming ill while fighting in the Spanish/American War. My great-grandmother had to go to work to support herself and my grandmother, Dorothy. They moved into the women's dormitory, the Willard Hotel. (In the next album, you will see a picture of my great-grandmother and my grandmother.) She was employed by Biola for twenty-three years, where she retired in 1941 as the superintendent of the women's dorm.
Fast-forward approximately thirty-five years to my mother.
After living as a homemaker for twenty years my mother found herself in a similar situation where she had to go to work to support her five children. She only had a high school degree and little experience. She started out at a plumbing and heating company while my grandmother watched my younger sister and brother. I was in high school as well as my older brother and Karin. My mom switched to Thermador Waste King, the company that makes garbage disposals. It wasn't the greatest working environment, but she needed to provide for her five children. My future sister-in-law was working at Biola when I was in my third year there. We were new friends (I met Tim through her, but that is a whole other story for another time!), and she told me about the secretarial position. We didn't think my mom had much of a chance, but we encouraged her to apply anyway. I loved the thought of her being out of a secular environment and working with other believers.
She was extremely nervous for the interview and as she sat waiting she saw a spider crawl across the desk in front of her. She reached out and squished it with her finger! The secretary of the personnel office leaned over to the interim personnel director and whispered, "I don't care what she's applying for, hire her!" (True story!) She had so little work experience but she had done a lot of volunteer work and could type seventy words a minute...on a typewriter...she got the job!
It was the Lord's doing, of course.
Thermador Waste King offered my mom a raise to keep her, which would pay her more than Biola, but she turned them down. She could not forget the warm feeling at Biola. Her new boss had even prayed with her, unheard of where she had been working! She took the job at Biola and her very first week she not only answered phones and wrote letters, she proctored a chemistry test for Dr. Crawford, her new boss, who was also a chemistry professor! (I didn't do so well in Dr. Crawford's class...I was a nursing major at the time...decided to switch to Education and become a teacher...a good move on my part!) Three months after being hired by Biola, her boss became the Vice President. He loved my mom's work so he took her with him as his secretary. Eventually my mom became secretary to the President, and for the last fifteen years has been secretary to the Board of Trustees. My mom even got to sign the Big Red Book that contains Biola's doctrinal beliefs. In that book are also her mother and her grandmother's signatures.
The Lord through Biola has been so faithful to my mom and to our family. My niece, Lauralyn Koontz, recounted God's blessings to our family through Biola at the dinner. The biggest blessing for me was when the president, Dr. Cook at the time, was by my mom's side as my step-father was lingering near death after a heart attack while on a cruise to Alaska with all the board members. Dr. Cook called me and told me what was happening and then prayed with me. You will see Lauralyn in the album, behind the famous Biola podium. Lauralyn is a sophomore at Biola, set to graduate in 2012, and when she was finished Dr. Corey said he'd never heard a senior give such a moving speech, let alone a sophomore. One of the board wives shouted when she was finished, "Do it again!" There weren't many dry eyes when she closed with the words, "My goal tonight is to express to all of you my family's gratitude to Biola in all it has done for my family. So thank you! And I'm proud of you Gramma, and I love you."
Enjoy the album by
clicking here. (And by the way, the cheesecake that was served...was to die for!)
