March 22, 1967
THE TWIG
Page Three
Director of Religious Acfivifies Seeks "Recharge of Infellecfual Bafferies*
Walker Leaves Meredith for Graduate Study
By ANNE STONE
“The more 1 see,” says Bud
Walker, “the more there is to know.”
This comment is typical of Mere
dith’s Director of Religious Ac
tivities — the curious, creative, and
vividly alive young man who will
leave his duties here in June for fur
ther graduate study.
In explaining his plans for the
future, Bud expressed a desire to
get his “intellectual batteries re
charged.” He is interested in gradu
ate courses “related to the church
in a period of rapid social changc,
urbanization, and cybernation, the
church in the political order, secu
larization, and technology and hu
man values.” This area of interest
led to his having an instrumental
part in the planning of this year’s
Directions ’67 symposium, and will
take him next year to one of four
graduate schools — Harvard Di
vinity School, New York City’s
Union Theological Seminary, the
University of Chicago, or Graduate
TTieolofiical Union at Berkeley, Cali
fornia.
Bud sees the role of the church
in our society as “one of the im
mense and overwhelming problems
of our time.” ‘Trotestantism,” he
explained, “grew up in a rural so
ciety, and the church has not ad
justed to urbanization. What we
have are country churches in the
city, only a little more sophisti
cated.”
Anyone who knows Bud Walker
will understand that he is not the
type to sit back and talk about
existing problems. He does some
thing about them. And this par
ticular problem of the church he
hopes to tackle actively after his
planned future study. He will
receive financial aid for up to two
years of additional schooling un
der the Cl Bill, after which he and
his wife, Faye, who will receive her
M.A. in social work in community
organization in June, will possibly
return to the South or go abroad to
work in some area of social action.
There has aways been a bit of
gypsy in Bud, which accounts for
his curiosity, his love of people, and
his desire to become involved in the
world and its problems. A Woodrow
Wilson 'Fellow at Mississippi Col
lege, he was graduated in 1956,
after which he served as an officer
in the Marine Corps for two years,
spending thirteen months in the Far
East. After returning to the states,
he entered graduate school at the
University of North Carolina in
Chapel Hill and received his M.A.
in English there in 1959. Still on
the move, he then went to Union
Theological Seminary and gradu
ated in 1963 after interning for one
year at the First Presbyterian
Church of Fort Wayne, Indiana.
But the summer of 1963 brought
Bud back to North Carolina. Con
vinced that he wanted to work in
the South and with the Southern
Baptist denomination, he heard of
the opening at Meredith for some
one to work with the newly-organ
ized interdenominational Meredith
Christian Association. Former presi
dent Carlyle Campbell was evi
dently impressed with the young
man’s potential, and Bud was hired
as the first full-time Director of Re
ligious Activities.
Bud came to Meredith, he said,
wanting to do “creative, responsible
work in one place,” and there can
be no doubt that this is exactly
what he has done, and more. He
has firmly established the MCA as
one of the three major organiza
tions on campus; he has been adviser
to the summer LISTEN project
at Cherokee; he has been chair
man of the Vocational Information
Committee and served on the Con
cert and Lecture Committee; he has
made the dream of a small chapel
become a reality. In addition, he
has steered four Religious Emphasis
Weeks and helped to coordinate at
least 400 chapel programs. But
above all, he has been a friend to
Meredith students, a listening ear
when a sounding board was needed,
and a source of advice when it
seemed there was no one else who
understood. “If you can’t listen to
.students," Bud believes, “you can’t
love them. You have to leave them
free to make their own decisions,
and then they are free to face the
consequences.”
Bud pointed out that the most
meaningful aspect of his work at
Meredith has been “working with
people who are experiencing the
most exciting time of their lives.”
He further rccallcd: “When I came
here, I found Meredith girls to be
good students, but there was not a
crackling kind of vitality — an in
tellectual give and take. In the past
four years, I have seen Meredith
fS
In a Ij'pical pose, Religious Activities Director Bud Wullter carries out his mean
ingful campus ministry.
Former "Miss Montana" Visits Meredith,
Demonstrates Equitation Techniques
come alive; students have become I
more interested in issues on and off
the campus.” He cited as evidence
the response to the LISTEN proj
ects. the North Carolina Volunteers,
ihe tutoring and other social action
projects, as well as chapel programs
conceived and carried out by stu
dents, last year’s mimeographed
newspaper, Dialogue, which he
called “evidence of creative dissi-
dcnce,” and Directions ’67.
Yet the remarkable thing about
Bud Walker is that he will take none
of the credit for the new vitality
and awareness which has come to
Meredith during his stay here. He
cited an old rabbinical saying to
describe his feeling upon leaving,
which is paraphrased here: “From
my teachers I have learned much.
By LYNN GRUMBLES lone she knew “back East.” She
ff u-i came to Raleieh seeking Mrs. Mary
Ifjou ever see while s anng out prlw.rH. hrJ of ennita-
of the wmdows of your classrooms
on the west side of Joyner or Hun
ter, advanced equitation students
bouncing around as though they had
forgotten the elementary technique
of posting to the trot, don’t become
alarmed! They are simply trying
to master an equally elementary
technique — that of sitting the trot
— which in the field of equitation
is known as dressage. ‘‘Dressage”
is a term which encompasses all
areas of training the riding horse,
with emphasis on the idea that the
horse will be calm, supple, and keen
as the rider guides him without per
ceptible use of his hands, legs, or
artificial aids.
This sudden interest in dressage
is the result of a visit to the Mere
dith campus on March 8 by Miss •
Carol Frazier, who teaches riding
in her new stable-indoor arena
combination in Billings, Montana.
When asked what had brought her
all the way to North Carolina, she
answered matter-of-factly that she
was just passing through on her way
to New York. No matter how hard
I tried to muster up my knowledge
of fifth-grade geography, I still
could not sec a straight line from
Montana, through North Carolina,
to New York. She explained, that
she had not. had a vacation in
Mackay Edwards, head of equita
tion at Meredith, and Mrs. Lila
Phillips Bozick, instructor of hunt-
seat equitation here. Miss Frazier,
Mrs. Edwards, and Mrs. Bozick
were classmates at Stephens Col
lege.
Miss Frazier taught all the equi
tation classes on the day of her visit
—both hunt-seat and saddle-seat,
both college students and town stu
dents. With demonstrations and lec-
the opportunity to try a few of them
ourselves. Joggling around without
stirrups for what seemed hours, we
were not able to rest even a little
under her watchful eye.
Throughout the day we enjoyed
hearing the three instructresses
reminisce. We learned that Miss
Frazier has owned and shown cham
pion gaited horses, that she has
studied equitation in Germany, and
perhaps most interesting, that she
is a former “Miss Montana.” Miss
Frazier was the “first-and-last” Miss
and from my colleagues I have
learned and owe them much in re
turn, but from my students I have
learned the most, and to them I
am forever indebted.”
Nevertheless, Meredith students
have gained immeasurably in the
past four years from their associa
tions with the Director of Religious
Activities. “Thank you” is hardly
enough, but it is an attempt to ex
press appreciation for a job well
done.
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