I was just thinking, reminiscing, about my long association with Central Baptist College. My wife, Karen, and I attended the wonderful Homecoming Luncheon recently. It was one of the very best we have attended since 1972. A few decades ago, I served several years as president of the Alumni Association, and our committee did our best to make Homecoming special. But admittedly, we didn’t measure up to this year’s two-day event.
During the luncheon, several former students and others who have contributed greatly to the ministry of CBC received awards that included the Outstanding Alumnus Award, Half-Century Club inductees, Achievement Award, Service Award and the well-deserved Legacy Award, which was presented to outgoing CBC President Terry Kimbrow. Congratulations to each of those and also to those who worked so diligently to provide us, who are former students, with such a wonderful day back on campus.
From Way Back Then
I enrolled at CBC in September 1964. Karen enrolled in 1967. Things looked different back then on campus. The huge three-story Old Main, completed in 1893, housed administrative and faculty offices, classrooms, a chapel with a balcony and housing for students and married couples. The three-story Bruce Hall, the girl’s dormitory, built in 1920, still stands as the only original structure on campus, although it is in poor condition. Those buildings housed the Central Women’s College from 1893 until 1950, when the BMA of Arkansas purchased the campus and named the new college Conway Baptist College. I was among the young men who moved into the modern Williams Hall in 1964. And, oh, the stories I could tell about those days.
Kenneth Brown was one of the most influential instructors I had as a CBC student. Uniquely, he was the first student to enroll in the college. Despite being a superb teacher, he was an amazing humorist. Stories from his era of teaching still prevail!
A School with Christian Ideals
Known for several decades as a “preachers’ school,” CBC has provided education for men and women from across the nation and numerous foreign countries. As a private school, no government restrictions were placed on the college. That made that slogan very real; indeed, CBC was and is a school that adheres to Christian ideals. Innumerable men and women have been eternally saved, multitudes of men have answered the call to preach (I am one of those), and many missionaries serving the Lord across the globe received an education at Central Baptist College.
All the Way to Today
Homecoming reminded Karen and me of just how thankful we are for CBC. Boys and girls from the 1960s remain our friends to this day. Seeing some of them at Homecoming was such a joy. Many of us have witnessed our children and even grandchildren attend and graduate from CBC. Our granddaughter, Mallory Guyton, is CBC’s Alumni & Digital Communications Coordinator.
The campus has certainly changed. Old Main is gone, replaced in the mid-1980s with the Harold E. Cooper Complex. The Mabee Center has now replaced the old student center. The Old Library has been replaced with a new one. Administrative offices and classrooms are now housed in the Watkins Building. Dickson Hall, the newest dormitory, stands tall on campus and is named after former CBC student and missionary David Dickson.
I could talk for days about Central Baptist College. Karen and I dearly love the school that not only educated us but also brought us together. Reminiscing? Yes! We married at Antioch Baptist Church, and our wedding reception was held in the foyer of Bruce Hall on Dec. 7, 1968.
Are we thankful for Central Baptist College? Rest assured that we are. And so are hundreds of other men and women who have walked that campus since 1950.
