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Milo Adventist Academy

KRISTOPHER C. ERSKINE

Kristopher C. Erskine completed an M.S. in social science at Syracuse University and a Ph.D. in the history of Sino-U.S. Relations at The University of Hong Kong. Erskine teaches American Foreign Policy, topics in the 20th century United States and Chinese history. Erskine has published articles on Sino-U.S. Relations, written a book on the history of Adventist commercial cookie bakers, and is completing a manuscript on the role of non-state actors in the formation of international relations. Erskine is an assistant professor of history and history education at Athens State University.

Milo Academy is a coeducational boarding high school in Days Creek, Oregon, operated by the Oregon Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. Origins During the years following World War II the Seventh-day Adventist membership in the North Pacific Union saw significant growth, jumping from 26,682 in 1945 to approximately 31,113 members by 1951, an increase disproportionate to the overall population growth of those living within the North Pacific Union.1 Both schools and churches were filled to capacity. According to union president Lloyd E. Biggs, “in many places the seating capacity of our churches is inadequate and the character of the building is substandard. A larger challenge is the over-crowding of our secondary schools.”2 One of the components of the North Pacific Union was the Oregon Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. The Oregon Conference already supported Laurelwood Academy in Gaston. Although located in the state of Washington, Columbia Adventist Academy also attracted some Oregon students due to its location just north of Portland.3 Enrollment at Laurelwood Academy in 1951 was 421, all housed in a single dormitory. Biggs wrote that no “self-respecting denomination” would permit such overcrowding to continue and that in order to “relieve the congestion and for future growth a new academy must be erected.”4 The campaign began in earnest, and at one of the Oregon camp meetings in the early 1950s “mysterious signs [were] posted in conspicuous places” that read, “319,” catching the attention of camp meeting attenders. Before the session ended, “everyone far and near was in on the secret”--it was the estimated number of Adventist students of academy age not attending Adventist schools.5 For that reason “a beautiful new site was purchased in Southern Oregon, near [the small town of] Milo.”6 Donald Van Tassel, Milo’s first history teacher, reports in an unpublished manuscript on the history of the academy that a local Adventist named Walter M. Corwin sold his 447-acre Bar Lazy Eight ranch to the church for $65,000, substantially less than it was worth.7 Van Tassel also states that the sale included barns, a fruit drying building, a farm house, two tractors, two cows, one heifer, one horse, and one colt. Most of the buildings were either torn down or moved to make way for the new academy.8 By the end of 1952, although no foundations yet existed for the school buildings, steady progress could be seen at the site of what would become Milo Academy.9 Notices in the North Pacific Union Gleaner (NPUG) advertised for “two or three, top grade, experienced” carpenters, and under the supervision of superintendent George Johnson, the construction of Milo Academy began.10 The conference estimated the project would cost around $250,000.11 The Iconic Bridge The only way onto the property was across a decades-old wooden covered bridge across the South Umpqua River. After eight years of heavy Milo Academy use, however, the school determined that the wooden structure was no longer safe for its heavy farm vehicles, even after extensive repairs on the bridge. By March of 1960 a new steel trestle bridge paralleled the old wooden one. Although nothing has been found to verify the claim, several sources indicate that local residents wanted the new bridge covered. By 1962 the upper structure of the original bridge had been transferred to the new one and Milo once again had a covered bridge.12 The Milo Academy Bridge, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, has remained an icon to Milo graduates across the decades.13 The Early Years The conference scheduled the school to open the fall semester of 1955. Most of the faculty and staff were in place by the spring of that same year, and in May Milo Academy hired its first principal, L. E. Russell. Russell, who would also serve as business manager, would arrive from Ozark Academy in June. He wrote in the NPUG that he looked forward to the “pioneer” work at Milo.14 Initially, Milo was a boarding-only school, a fact not immediately clear, however, to would-be students, their parents, and nearby property owners. Advertisements appeared in the NPUG for land and homes near Milo on the speculation that families would like to move closer to the new academy so their sons and daughters could attend as day students. But the conference president, Lloyd E. Biggs, published an announcement in that same publication in July, just two months before Milo’s first day of school, noting that it would not accept any day students.15 No rationale is given but the policy was probably short-lived, Jim Gregg, an entering freshman in 1959, remembers that two of his classmates were off campus students.16 “At last the opening of Milo,” wrote principal Russell in August. The first day of Milo Academy’s classes would be September 5, 1955. Russell quoted Ellen White in his statement of purpose for Milo: “The greatest want of the world is the want of men, …men who will stand for the right though the heavens fall.”17 Russell wrote that “it is our object to help fill that need. It is the purpose of Milo Academy to build men and women of character who will serve God as leaders of tomorrow. Therefore we have chosen as our motto: ‘Building Souls for Service.’”18 Building of the campus had begun in 1952 and was not projected to be fully complete until 1960, but the first graduating class of 23 students marched across the stage of the unfinished gymnasium at the end of the initil school year in 1956.19 In its first year Milo (grades K-12) had enrolled 180 students. That number increased to 191 in the second year, and despite “limited facilities,” by the third year enrollment stood at 245.20 Faculty and staff continued to “labor” under this rapid growth. During the fifth year of operation enrollment at Milo reached 314.21 To support such growth in student enrollment school leadership sought to provide work opportunities similar to those on many other Adventist academy and college campuses. In the early years at Milo students helped construct the remaining school buildings–the administration building, the gym, and the church–and so gained what they likely reasoned was a more practical instruction in carpentry and concrete work.22 But as enrollment increased, so did the capacity for the academy to develop additional programs within which students could apprentice. In 1959 Milo opened a bakery and in 1963 they started a tree nursery, industries in addition to the dairy and poultry farms, which produced enough milk and eggs for both the academy’s needs and to sell to the local community. Through the 1960s and into the 1970s Milo continued to develop facilities that would employ student workers, including a printing shop and a furniture factory.23 They provided labor for students and income for the academy, enabling many to attend Milo that otherwise may have not have been able to muster the financial resources. Declining Enrollment Despite its commitment to industry and practical employment for the students, and its initial years of steady growth, by 1965 enrollment growth had neared its peak.24 That same year Milo received Oregon state accreditation. Although enrollment was steady during the 1970s, by the mid-1980s a downtrend had begun. Throughout the 1990s enrollment never reached 300. Between 2000 and 2010 matriculation did not rise above 200, and in 2010 the year began with just 97 students. The 2010-2011 school year marked the first time in its history that Milo began with less than 100 in the fall.25 Complicating recruiting efforts between 2006 and 2010 were charges and convictions of sexual assault against minor students by non-student campus residents.26 Five years later, in December 2015, a winter storm left more snow on academy rooftops than the structure could sustain and several buildings flooded, causing nearly $2,000,000 in damage.27 Still, since 2010, enrollment has hovered steady at around 100.28 As part of its struggle to maintain enrollment, the school has made efforts to provide additional funding to students through on-campus labor. Administration and faculty have attempted to remain creative with school programs and resources in an era when Adventist secondary schools throughout the United States are annually tightening budgets and cutting faculty and staff. One of those efforts was an Equestrian Center that Milo opened in 2015.29 Milo has also enlisted the help of the Maranatha organization to rebuilt Camp Umpqua, a short-lived, defunct summer camp as old as Milo Academy itself. Once fully repaired, the Milo administration plans to use the facility for church and Pathfinder retreats.30 In 2016 Milo introduced an Organic Agriculture program, part of which harkens back to Milo’s early days in which they farmed eggs. The output of eggs by the contemporary poultry operation is comparable to that of when Milo first opened.31 The year 2016 also saw Milo begin a screen printing business.32 Such operations provide the students tuition assistance and practical work experience. By 2018 Milo employed 30 students in its agriculture, screen-printing, and advanced assembly industries.33 Those numbers had decreased somewhat by early 2020. In the spring semester of that year Milo employed 21 of its students in its agriculture and advanced assembly programs, while the screen-printing industry struggled and had no student labor.34 By 2020 Milo had introduced new curriculum offerings to its program: vocational education certificates in culinary arts, construction, heavy equipment operation and repair, agriculture, youth ministry, and leadership.35 Continuing Its Mission Milo began because the 31,000 Adventists in the North Pacific Union had only one boarding school and it was overflowing. Thus, Milo served a critical need. At present the critical needs have been reversed--Milo, like many other Adventist schools, needs students. Its role in the North Pacific Union, in the Oregon Conference, and in its local community, were vital to Adventist education in the North Pacific in its first half century. It had also become a much- needed institution in the North Pacific for Adventist students who wanted to attend an Adventist high school but did not have a day academy nearby. Currently Milo is the only Seventh-day Adventist boarding academy in the Oregon Conference and has held that status since 1985 when Laurelwood Academy closed. Columbia Adventist Academy, also operated by the Oregon Conference, long maintained boarding facilities but became a day academy in 1977. But Milo’s faculty and staff would likely note that goal of “building souls for service” is ongoing. The academy’s mission statement reads: “Milo Adventist Academy is a school family committed to creating opportunities for: developing a Christlike character, pursuing educational excellence, discovering the joy of service in a safe, nurturing, and friendly environment.”36 This work begins anew with each freshman class that comes across the Milo Academy covered bridge. Principals L. E. Russell, 1955-1962; Lyle W. Cornforth, 1962-1966; J. Randall Sloop, 1966-1968; M. L. Mooers, 1968-1970; Lyle B. Griffin, 1970-1974; G. Charles Dart, 1974-1981; Ed Norton, 1981-1984; Marvin Mitchell, 1984-1986; Glen Chinn, 1986-1989; Loren Fardulis, 1989-1992; Ed Starkebaum, 1992-1994; G. Charles Dart, 1994-1996; Larry Ballew, 1996- 1997; John Kriegelstein, 1997-2002; Randall Bovee, 2002-2012; Randall Thornton, 2012-.37

SOURCES 89th Annual Statistical Report of Seventh-day Adventist Conferences. Washington D.C.: General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, 1951. Annual Statistical Report of Seventh-day Adventists. Washington D.C.: General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, 1955-1957, 1961. “At Conference Academies…” North Pacific Union Gleaner,” March 10, 1969. Biggs, Lloyd E. “Academy Building Projects.” North Pacific Union Gleaner, November 23, 1953. Biggs, Lloyd E. “Carpenters Wanted.” North Pacific Union Gleaner,” August 31, 1953. Biggs, Lloyd E. “Governor’s Visit to Milo.” North Pacific Union Gleaner, September 24, 1956. Biggs, Lloyd E, “Responsibilities and Objectives of 1951.” North Pacific Union Gleaner, January 1, 1951. Biggs, Lloyd E. “Special Notice Concerning Milo Academy.” North Pacific Union Gleaner, July 25, 1955. Biggs, Lloyd E. “The New Milo Academy.” North Pacific Union Gleaner, May 2, 1955. Biggs, Lloyd E. “Up Out of the Mud.” North Pacific Union Gleaner, November 1, 1954. Dart, Charles. “Furniture Manufacturing Plant Aids Milo Academy.” Gleaner, August 18, 1980. Duin, Steve, “Milo Academy Menace Nabbed in California.” The Oregonian / Oregon Live, September 29, 2010. Duin, Steve. “Oregon is in a Costly Prison of our own Making.” The Oregonian / Oregon Live, September 29, 2010. “Institutional Statistics.” The 148th Annual Statistical Report–2010. Silver Springs, MD: General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, 2010. Hernandez, Kathy. “Milo Adds Free-Range Eggs to Agriculture Program.” Gleaner Now, November 2017. Hernandez, Kathy. “Milo Opens New Screen Printing Industry.” Gleaner Now, November 2916. Hernandez, Kathy. “Milo Develops Organic Agriculture Program.” Gleaner Now, July 2016. Hernandez, Kathy. “Volunteers Bless Milo Academy.” Gleaner, Northwest Adventists in Action, September 2017. Hernandez, Kathy. “Winter Storm Inflicts $2 Million in Damage on Adventist School.” Oregon Department of Education Website, January 25, 2016. “Milo Academy Mission Statement,” Milo Academy. Accessed January 7, 2018. http://www.miloacademy.net/#about/mission. “National Register of Historic Places.” National Park Service. Accessed January 23, 2018. https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/AssetDetail/4f757192-8656-4ce3-9a1c-1fdc1985751a?branding=NRHP. “New Seventh-day Adventist School Complete with City Facilities.” The Oregonian, October 14, 1956. “Oregon News.” North Pacific Union Gleaner, November 24, 1952. Russell, L. E. “Building at Milo.” North Pacific Union Gleaner, July 30, 1956. Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook. Washington D.C.: The Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1945 and 1951. Van Tassel, Donald. “History of Milo Academy.” Various untitled rough drafts of an unpublished manuscript, 1960. Milo Adventist Academy Library, Alumni Archives. White, Ellen G. Education. Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press, 1903.

NOTES 1. Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1945), 44. Accessed January 10, 2018, http://documents.adventistarchives.org/Yearbooks/YB1945.pdf; Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1951), 56, accessed January 12, 2018, http://documents.adventistarchives.org/Yearbooks/YB1951.pdf; 89th Annual Statistical Report of Seventh-day Adventist Conferences, 1951, ed. H. W. Klaser (Washington D.C.: General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, 1951), 56, accessed January 20, 2018, http://documents.adventistarchives.org/Statistics/ASR/ASR1951.pdf.? 2. Lloyd E. Biggs, “Responsibilities and Objectives of 1951,” North Pacific Union Gleaner, January 1, 1951, 10, accessed January 25, 2018, https://adventistdigitallibrary.org/adl-379311/north-pacific-union-gleaner-january-1- 1951?solr_nav%5Bid%5D=d481ce2cf3ec5666e2e6&solr_nav%5Bpage%5D=0&solr_nav%5Boffset%5D=0.? 3. After struggling through the 1980s and 1990s, closing and then re-opening, Laurelwood Academy relocated to Eugene, Oregon, in 2007 but effectively closed five years later due to low enrollment.? 4. Biggs, “Responsibilities,” 10.? 5. Donald Van Tassel, “History of Milo Academy,” unpublished manuscript, 1960, 4. Folder “Milo History,” Alumni Archives, Milo Academy Library. Van Tassel was Milo’s first history teacher and boys’ dean.? 6. Biggs, “Responsibilities,” 10.? 7. Van Tassel, “Milo,” 28, 30.? 8. Ibid., 44.? 9. "Oregon News,” North Pacific Union Gleaner, November 24, 1952, 4, accessed January 25, 2018, https://adventistdigitallibrary.org/adl-379407/north-pacific-union-gleaner-november-24- 1952?solr_nav%5Bid%5D=e1994aae05edf9706bb4&solr_nav%5Bpage%5D=0&solr_nav%5Boffset%5D=0.? 10. Lloyd E. Biggs, “Carpenters Wanted,” North Pacific Union Gleaner, August 31, 1953, 3, accessed, https://adventistdigitallibrary.org/adl-379445/north-pacific-union-gleaner-august-31- 1953?solr_nav[id]=fc34e9a47a1e9bc64575&solr_nav[page]=1&solr_nav[offset]=7 on January 28, 2018; Lloyd E. Biggs, “Up Out of the Mud,” North Pacific Union Gleaner, November 1, 1954, 6, accessed January 15, 2018, https://adventistdigitallibrary.org/adl-379504/north-pacific-union-gleaner-november-1- 1954?solr_nav%5Bid%5D=a5d8a9e1582eb3e31a4b&solr_nav%5Bpage%5D=3&solr_nav%5Boffset%5D=20? 11. Lloyd E. Biggs, “Academy Building Projects,” North Pacific Union Gleaner, November 23, 1953, 6, accessed January 24, 2018, https://adventistdigitallibrary.org/adl-379457/north-pacific-union-gleaner-november-23- 1953?solr_nav%5Bid%5D=cc0c8522a730d99fc5f2&solr_nav%5Bpage%5D=0&solr_nav%5Boffset%5D=0.? 12. “New Seventh-day Adventist School Complete with City Facilities,” The Oregonian, October 14, 1956; Van Tassel, “Milo,” 21, 22.? 13. “National Register of Historic Places,” National Park Service, accessed January 23, 2018, https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/AssetDetail/4f757192- 8656-4ce3-9a1c-1fdc1985751a?branding=NRHP.? 14. Lloyd E. Biggs, “The New Milo Academy,” North Pacific Union Gleaner, May 2, 1955, 5, accessed January 21, 2018, https://adventistdigitallibrary.org/adl-395662/north-pacific-union-gleaner-may-2- 1955?solr_nav%5Bid%5D=dacff4826f809e7968eb&solr_nav%5Bpage%5D=2&solr_nav%5Boffset%5D=2.? 15. Lloyd E. Biggs, “Special Notice Concerning Milo Academy,” North Pacific Union Gleaner, July 25, 1955, 4, accessed January 29, 2018, https://adventistdigitallibrary.org/adl-379540/north-pacific-union-gleaner-july-25- 1955?solr_nav%5Bid%5D=126efef7f7ea3661c73f&solr_nav%5Bpage%5D=0&solr_nav%5Boffset%5D=0.? 16. Jim Gregg, phone interview with the author, July 2, 2017 and January 28, 2018. Gregg attended Milo Academy from 1959 to 1963.? 17. L.E. Russell, “The New Milo Academy,” North Pacific Union Gleaner, August 15, 1955, 9, accessed January 17, 2018, https://adventistdigitallibrary.org/adl-379543/north-pacific-union-gleaner-august-15-1955; Ellen G. White, Education (Mountain View, CA, Pacific Press, 1903), 57.? 18. L. E. Russell, “Building at Milo,” North Pacific Union Gleaner, July 30, 1956, 5, accessed January 1, 2018, https://adventistdigitallibrary.org/adl-379591/north-pacific-union-gleaner-july-30- 1956?solr_nav[id]=fc34e9a47a1e9bc64575&solr_nav[page]=1&solr_nav[offset]=0.? 19. Russell, “Building at Milo.”? 20. “Denominational Institutions,” The Ninety-Third Annual Statistical Report of Seventh-day Adventists, 1955, ed. H.W. Klaser (Washington D.C.: General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, 1955), 20, accessed January 28, 2018, http://documents.adventistarchives.org/Statistics/ASR/ASR1955.pdf; “Denominational Institutions,” Ninety-fourth Statistical Annual Report of Seventh-day Adventists, (Washington D.C.: General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, 1956), 20, accessed January 12, 2018, http://documents.adventistarchives.org/Statistics/ASR/ASR1956.pdf; “Denominational Institutions,” Ninety-fifth Annual Statistical Report of Seventh-day Adventist, 1957, ed. H.W. Klaser, (Washington D.C.: General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, 1957), 20, accessed January 28, 2018, http://documents.adventistarchives.org/Statistics/ASR/ASR1957.pdf; Lloyd E. Biggs, “Governor’s Visit to Milo,” North Pacific Union Gleaner, September 24, 1956, 5, accessed January 28, 2018, https://adventistdigitallibrary.org/adl-379599/north-pacific-union-gleaner-september-24- 1956?solr_nav%5Bid%5D=76f02a80f58678c76381&solr_nav%5Bpage%5D=5&solr_nav%5Boffset%5D=18; “Denominational Institutions,” Ninety-fifth Annual Statistical Report, 20.? 21. Biggs, “Governor’s Visit,” 20; “Denominational Institutions,” The Ninety-Ninth Annual Statistical Report of Seventh-day Adventists, 1961, (Washington D.C.: General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, 1961), 20, accessed January 28, 2018, http://documents.adventistarchives.org/Statistics/ASR/ASR1961.pdf.? 22. Jim Gregg phone interview with the author, July 2, 2017 and January 28, 2018.? 23. “At Conference Academies…” North Pacific Union Gleaner, March 10, 1969, 14, accessed January 28, 2018, https://adventistdigitallibrary.org/adl-380224/north-pacific-union-gleaner-march-10- 1969?solr_nav%5Bid%5D=55892f905c1e90d6910a&solr_nav%5Bpage%5D=0&solr_nav%5Boffset%5D=0; Charles Dart, “Furniture Manufacturing Plant Aids Milo Academy,” Gleaner, August 18, 1980, 20, accessed January 28, 2018, http://docs.adventistarchives.org/docs/NPG/NPG19800818-V75-16__C.pdf.? 24. “Denominational Institutions,” Ninety-ninth Annual Statistical Report of Seventh-day Adventists, (Washington D.C.: General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, 1961), 20, accessed January 19, 2018, http://documents.adventistarchives.org/Statistics/ASR/ASR1961.pdf.? 25. “Institutional Statistics,” The 148th Annual Statistical Report – 2010, (Silver Spring, MD: General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, 2010), 59, accessed January 16, 2018, http://documents.adventistarchives.org/Statistics/ASR/ASR2010.pdf.? 26. Steve Duin, “Milo Academy Menace Nabbed in California,” The Oregonian / Oregon Live, May 24, 2010, accessed January 24, 2018, http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/steve_duin/index.ssf/2010/05/milo_academy_molestor_nabbed_i.html; Steve Duin, “Oregon is in a Costly Prison of our own Making,” The Oregonian / Oregon Live, September 29, 2010, accessed January 28, 2018, http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/steve_duin/index.ssf/2010/09/oregon_is_in_a_costly_prison_o.html.? 27. Kathy Hernandez, “Volunteers Bless Milo Academy,” Gleaner, Northwest Adventists in Action, September 2017, 19, accessed January 28, 2018, https://www.andrews.edu/library/car/cardigital/Periodicals/Northwest_Gleaner/2017/2017_09.pdf#page=19; Kathy Hernandez, “Winter Storm Inflicts $2 Million in Damage on Adventist School,” Oregon Conference Education Department Website, January 25, 2016, accessed January 17, 2018, http://oceducation.org/winter-storm-inflicts-2-million-in-damage-on-adventist-school/.? 28. Cheryl Andrieux, email message to the author, January 12, 2018. Mrs. Andrieux and her husband Al Andrieux worked and volunteered at Milo from 1983 until her death and his retirement, both in 2018. Enrollment in the fall semester of 2018 was 101.? 29. Kathy Hernandez, “Milo Opens New Equestrian Center,” Gleaner Now, February 2015, accessed January 28, 2018, http://gleanernow.com/news/2015/02/milo-opens-new-equestrian-center.? 30. Kathy Hernandez, “Milo’s Camp Umpqua Expands,” Gleaner Now, April 2016, accessed January 28, 2018, http://gleanernow.com/news/2016/04/milos-camp-umpqua-expands.? 31. Kathy Hernandez, “Milo Develops Organic Agriculture Program,” Gleaner Now, July 2016, accessed January 28, 2016, http://gleanernow.com/news/2016/07/milo-develops-organic-agriculture-program; Kathy Hernandez, “Milo Adds Free-Range Eggs to Agriculture Program,” Gleaner Now, November 2017, accessed January 28, 2018, http://gleanernow.com/news/2017/11/milo-adds-free-range-eggs- agriculture-program.? 32. Kathy Hernandez, “Milo Opens New Screen Printing Industry,” Gleaner Now, November 2016, accessed January 28, 2018, http://gleanernow.com/news/2016/11/milo-opens-new-screen-printing-industry.? 33. Cheryl Andrieux email to the author, January 19, 2018.? 34. Kathy Hernandez, email to the author, February 10, 2020.? 35. Ibid.? 36. “Milo Academy Mission Statement,” Milo Academy, accessed January 7, 2018, http://www.miloacademy.net/#about/mission.? 37. List of principals provided by Milo Academy staff. Email from Cheryl Andrieux to the author, October 16, 2017. The author wishes to acknowledge Cheryl Andrieux and Kathy Hernandez for compiling and providing archival material.?

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