Paee 6 - CROSSROADS - December. 1977
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JAMES G. BABB JR.
Annual Fund Underway
The 1977-78 Annual Fund
Campaign was officially kicked
off al a special combined
meeting of the Hoard of Ad
visors and Board of Trustees
held in the Abbot Vincent
Taylor Library Thursday, Nov.
17.
Plans for reaching the
$:{(K),(KH) goal were discussed.
This amount is needed to
balance the current operating
budget of the College. Thf
success of the Alumni Phon-a
thon was also discussed. It was
noted that the Phon-a-thon
exceeded its goal of $15,000 (see
Phon-a-thon article).
The general chairman of the
1977-78 Annual Fund Drive will
be Dan C. Turner. Turner is
president of the D.C. Turner
('onstruction Co. of Charlotte.
DAN C.
His generosity to the College
has been evident in the past,
including the refinishing of the
tennis courts.
Serving as chairman of the
Board of Advisors in the Annual
TURNER
Fund Drive w'ill be Charles L.
Grace, president of Cummins
Carolinas, Inc. of Charlotte.
E.F. Gallagher, II, a 1931
alumnus of the College, will
chair the committee respon
sible for the Board of Trustees.
Gallagher is chairman of the
board of Good Will Publishers,
Inc. of Gastonia. He has served
on the board of Advisors at
Belmont Abbey College for 18
years and is currently serving
on the Board of Trustees.
Another alumnus, James G.
Babb, Jr. (BAC ‘59) recently
promoted to executive vice
president of Jefferson-Pilot
Broadcasting Co. in Charlotte,
will be responsible for gaining
the support of the corporations
and foundations.
Dr. Kevin Soden (BAC ‘67)
and his brother Brendan Soden
(BAC ‘71) will serve as chair
man and co-chairman of the
Alumni Annual Fund Drive,
which is already moving close
to its goal.
m
DR. KEVIN .SODEN
CIIARI.E.S L. GRACE
; J
r ;™- ■
•4
Z-’t
I rs. Martin and David arc pleased with pledge
Phon
- a -
thon
Raises
Over
J $17,000
DR. BEN JUDKINS, Br. Gregory C'orcoran, O.S.B.,
and Warren Clark discuss progress.
During the second and third
weekends of Novemtx'r thirty-
six members of Belmont Abbey
College's faculty, staff, alumni
and students engaged in the
first Annual Fund Alumni Phon-
a-thon at Good Will Publishers,
Inc. in Gastonia. Thanks to
K.F, Gallagher II, chairman of
the board at Good Will, the
callers were able to use fen
WATS lines in reaching the
alumni.
The co-chairpeople for the
Phon-a-thon were Mrs. Jane
Freeman, librarian, and Mr.
Jack Hanahan. chairman of the
physical science division and
associate professor of Spanish
and geology. The results were
outstanding.
Two hundred eighty-one
alumni pledged to this year’s
Annual Fund Drive. Their
pledges already total $17,705,
and commitments continue to
come in. The average pledge
from (he alumni w'as $62. The
College is extremely grateful to
all those who made Phon-a-thon
pledges and also to those who
mailed in their support to this
year’s Annual Fund Drive.
Our sincere thanks to all
members of the faculty, staff,
alumni and students who gave
their time over the two
weekends.
much from him, for in my view,
too many of them today seem to
seek popularity with students,
or at least try to find a modus
vivendi with them by choosing
the line of least resistance.
Father Cuthbert truly cared for
all those generations of
students, and because he cared,
he had the strength to be a stern
but fair disciplinarian when
discipline was clearly needed.
By the same token, I know of no
.one who has helped in ways
beyond telling countless
students, as much as he did over
so many years. He counseled
them, consoled them, assisted
them with their problems, both
personal and academic; no one
knows the hundreds of students
who owe their college education
to him, for he went out and
begged or borrowed the money
to keep them in college when
their funds ran out. His deep
love and caring for students is
what won for him, first of all,
their respect, which rapidly
grew into devotion, and that is
the reason why alumni who had
received so much from him
traveled from near and far to
attend his funeral; that is the
reason why glowing tributes to
this man have been pouring into
the College since the day he
died.
A story that appeared a few
years ago in The Charlotte
Observer gives some indication
of the kind of man he was and
the caring for students that was
as natural to him as breathing.
A married student at the
College had told Father Cuth
bert of his problem of having to
take care of his one-year-old
baby while his wife worked.
“How can I attend classes,” he
asked Father Cuthbert,
“carrying my baby around?”
“No problem,” Father Cuthbert
told him, “I’ll take care of the
baby while you attend classes.”
The picture of Father Cuthbert
in The Charlotte Observer
walking up and down the
avenue with a big smile on his
face, carrying the baby,
provides for us an insight into
the kind of man he was.
In summing up Father Cuth
bert’s life, it must surely be said
that he spent himself utterly in
the cause of Catholic higher
education. In 1972 Pope Paul VI
extolled the work of Catholic
colleges and universities as the
“pastoral ministry of thought”
and a work that is
“irreplaceable and urgent.”
Almost a half-century before
the Pope made this statement.
Father Cuthbert understood
this and practiced this pastoral
ministry of thought through his
work in Belmont Abbey College.
His total commitment to this
“irreplaceable and urgent”
work and his daily dedication to
it were generated by his deep
faith in the Christian Gospel,
the Good News that teaches us.
the true meaning of our lives on
this earth. Consequently,
Father Cuthbert lived a life that
was full of meaning and pur
pose, and to those who stood by
his bedside at 9:40 pm. on
December 1, 1977, his beautiful
and peaceful death reinforced
their conviction that the Good
Ijord Himself has given Father
Cuthbert Allen the greatest of
all accolades, the accolade
which all of us still here on earth
pray and work for: “Well done,
good and faithful servant.”