Silliman University Alumni & Friends @ SD Count our SD Portal Happy blessings Thanksgiving November 2012 Xtra Bells toil for Silliman, started extension initiative

Alumni Corner: Boyd Anderson and Rosemary Bell 1948—1958 Reunion with shuttle Endeavour By Ligaya Magbanua Simpkins An offer of a job in the Philippines as a missionary Priceless!!! American Missionaries 11th in a Series and teacher of agriculture at a university was made to Nothing could describe the Boyd Anderson Bell after the end of WWII. In 1948 sense of pride Sillimanian Alex the Boyd Bells, the youngest Presbyterian missionaries Christmas party Dec. 9 Strong felt when he saw the in their time, soon found their way on the ship The The annual SUAF Christmas par- space shuttle Endeavour in its Silver Briar to Silliman University with their three-year ty will be held Sunday, Dec. 9 from final home, the California Sci- -old daughter, Betsy Jane. 1—5pm at the Mira Mesa Library ence Center in Los Angeles. Prior to their arrival in the Philippines, Rosemary community room, 8405 New Salem Endeavour, the fifth and final Fleming Bell, R.N., served as Head Nurse of the mater- Drive, SD. NASA space shuttle, was con- nity Unit at Allegheny General Hospital in 1944 and as Family contributions ($20 per structed as a replacement for an Infirmary Nurse at the Torrance State Hospital in family) should be directed to Grace Challenger, which was de- 1945. Boyd obtained his B.S. in Agronomy from Penn- stroyed seconds after its launch Tan before Nov. 30 to allow for on January 28, 1986. Endeavour menu preparation. flew its first mission in May Those planning to bring favorite 1992 and completed its last mis- dishes, please coordinate with Fely sion in May 2011. Narvaez, Laarni Gularek, Ligaya Simpkins and Precy Garrido.

Doing good, SUAF donates books Philippine-related books and me- dia materials collected by SUAF be- came welcome additions to the Mira Mesa library following a presentation Oct. 27 with US Rep. Bob Filner as Alex Strong, SUHS „51, meets guest speaker. shuttle Endeavour — again! Over 100 attendees participated in Alex Strong had been part of the event wherein librarian Jennifer the welding crew that had Suder accepted the donated collec- worked on the shuttle before it tion for the library‟s Philippine Herit- was shipped to Florida by Rock- age and Cultural section from SUAF well International Space Trans- president Laarni Gularek. portation Systems Division in The event was characterized with a May 1991. Not unlike meeting Filipino theme — décor, food, attire The Bell family in 1955: Betsy in back, and an old friend again. and entertainment, including violin Raymond, Tom and Marily in front. Alex‟s father Dr. James Wal- renditions by SUAF member Dr. Jose ter Strong, a U.S.Navy dentist, Jacinto. It also generated coverage sylvania State University in 1942 and worked at the came to Manila with Admiral in local Filipino newspapers, eliciting Eastern States Farmers Exchange in 1942 and at State Dewey in 1898-1899 when the comment from former librarian Tere- College, Pennsylvania in 1948 as an assistant manager. nd Philippines became US territory. sita Flores as easily “surpassing past Boyd Bell served with the 462 Squadron of the U.S. He stayed after his discharge and book presentations”. Air Force from 1942-1946. He was stationed in Florida settled in Basilan where he Aside from retiring Rep. Filner and was later sent to Iwo Jima in 1945. See SHUTTLE page 2 (who success- See BOOKS page 2 See BELLS page 3 SD PortalXtra November 2012 page 2

SHUTTLE … from page 1 dren: Alexa Ann, William Richard, owned a rubber plantation named Randolph Henry, Nancy Rae, and Di- American Rubber Company. He met anne Mae. and married Crispina Tolentino, a While working at North American Filipina teacher with whom he had five Aviation, later known as Rockwell Inter- children: Julia, Estella, Inez, Feliza national, Alex pursued his undergradu- and Walter. When Crispina died dur- ate studies and earned his Manufactur- ing childbirth, he married Isabel Gar- ing Engineering degree which focused cia, a Spanish woman and had seven on machine shop, welding and manufac- more children: Elizabeth, Fred, turing. He had worked on the Minute- James, Francis, Josephine, Thomas man program and participated in the and Alexis. NASA/APOLLO program at various Dr. Strong sent all his children to locations (Palmdale, Canaveral, St Lou- Silliman. Inez and Feliza, Alex‟s half- is) but eventually returned to Palmdale Building Endeavour sisters, are shown in a picture of the to work on the shuttle Endeavour as choir directed by Rev. Irving Chan- Weld Engineer until his retirement in

non (SD PortalXtra, Oct. 2012). After 1992. a 3-year delay because of WWII, the Norma Strong took accounting classes youngest, Alex, was sent to Silliman in at night and handled their private ma- 1946 for his 6th grade education and he chine/welding shop business in Oregon Silliman until its closure. She was then hired as alumni completed his high school education at Norma an accounting assistant at Rockwell in SUHS in 1951. and Alex It was early on that Alex met Nor- the Accounts Payable department where Strong ma Belloso, SUHS „50. Both remem- she worked until she, too, retired in beside ber Jean Carson, Phyllis Mckinley, 1992. the re- Carol Mahy and Donald Appleton as Alex and Norma presently reside in tired their classmates. Los Angeles. They plan to relocate to space Alex and Norma got married and Oregon where other family members shuttle. came to the U.S. They have been mar- now reside. ried for 61 years and have five chil- — Ligaya Magbanua Simpkins

BOOKS … from page 1 back to chapter presidents Susan Monte de Ramos fully won his bid to become mayor of San Diego), other lumi- Soldwisch, Nate naries graced Tan and Fely. the occasion. Also performing US Congress- with vocal rendi- man-elect tions during the Scott Peters, presentation was and Dave Rob- Grace de los erts, also elect- Reyes. ed to San Die- go‟s Board of Supervisors, came as did actor Bruce Davison of the Emcee Ben Sy addresses attendees. ABC television series “Last The donation came out to more Resort”. than 150 books/CDs/DVDs collect- The book ed from donors and purchased from Retiring US Rep. Filner (and newly elected San committee was chapter funds raised through carol- Diego mayor), with Bruce Davison and US Rep.- headed by Fely ing last Christmas. elect Scott Peters. Narvaez. Professor Jacinto in a Great work was violin solo “Pakiusap” done by other committee members especially Ben Sy. Assis- tance also came from Shana (Soldwisch) Johnson whose hus- band Ky works for US AID in Manila. More pictures of book Library donations by SUAF is an on-going project dating presentation on page 6. SD PortalXtra November 2012 page 3

BELLS … from page 1 program “You and Your Baby” while Boyd Bell, with the The Silliman Agriculture Department was organized on help of George Juliano, han- March 2, 1949 and Boyd Bell, an assistant professor on the dled the agricultural and farm department faculty, became the first department head in May programs of DYSR station in 1952. He set objectives to prepare students for teaching, man- disseminating agricultural infor- aging plantations, rural organizing, extension service and coop- mation through Boyd‟s “Farm erative organizing in addition to preparing them for communi- Hour”, a program designed to ty teaching and contributing to the preparation of rural minis- reach people from all walks of ters. With these objectives, the Agriculture department used life with the University exten- Silliman Farm as their laboratory for practical training and ex- sion programs. perimentation and the cooperative effort was successful in aug- Boyd was transferred from Silliman University in 1958 to do rural extension work under the auspices of the UCCP Church. Emmanuel Gervacio succeeded Boyd Bell as head of Boyd hosting DYSR the agriculture department and farm program continued the university exten- sion program. Boyd Bell had done much to elevate the department‟s status to merit grant fundings from abroad, particularly Germany. By 1957 the list of specialized courses in the Department of Agriculture totaled 17. Dur- ing this period, the Fenn survey (1954-1955) had recom- mended the start of a four-year program leading to a Bache- lor of Science degree although this program did not fully materialize until 1962. Rosemary was the Research Director of Publications and Audio Visual Aids for the Silliman Extension Service in 1956. She worked closely with Dumaguete District Picture of the Bell extended family taken during memorial Conference churches and held varied positions in an official service for Rosemary Bell in 2005. capacity as an elected member of the Executive Committee, as fraternal worker and rrogram chairman of the Women‟s menting the food supply for the campus, especially for the caf- Missionary Union, advisor to the Christian Youth Fellow- eteria and dormitories. ship and chairman of the Christian Education and Planning In order to integrate the agriculture program into the Univer- Committee. She also participated in an aggressive visitation sity‟s academic program, the agriculture curriculum was orga- program where volunteers gave one Sunday a month of nized within the College of Arts and Sciences to ensure ade- their time to visit rural churches. As Acting Director of the quate education to students who would not be able to pursue Christian Literature Center in the University, Rosemary further studies at Los Banos and who would have to return to saw how the literature program had benefited students and the rural areas. A two year preparatory curriculum was like- faculty and she wise instituted and arrangements were made for Silliman agri- proposed extend- cultural students to transfer to Los Banos with junior standing ing the scope to in order to complete the four-year course at the U.P. College of serve the rural Agriculture. churches of the The agricultural extension program had started in 1950 with Visayas and proposals by Dr. Leland E. Call, a visiting Fulbright professor Mindanao as from Kansas State Agricultural College, and continued to de- well as improve velop with the added expertise of Dr. Robert Polson, another the Silliman- visiting Fulbright professor from Cornell University. Boyd Bell Conference rela- served as the Acting Director for the Extension Service starting tionship. in 1954, chairman of the Extension Service committee in 1955 Boyd had met Agriculturist with chickens and eggs. and was the Superintendent for Silliman Farm in 1956. Rosemary when The DYSR radio station at Silliman had a program depart- they were mem- ment with service units on religion, music, women and chil- bers of the choir at Penn State University and at Silliman, dren, and farm. Mrs. Helen Mahy coordinated the programs Boyd was known for the tenor solos he performed in for women and children and her unit was assisted by Rose- church. He conducted the University choirs until the arrival mary Bell, Dorotha Vernon, Rosita Romero, Edna Lauby, of William Pfeiffer in 1952 and was a member of the Rosario Raterta and several others. Rosemary hosted the famous “ Faculty Four” which regaled the university with Continued next page SD PortalXtra November 2012 page 4 their performances of old favorites, serious music and folk Betsy received a voice scholarship to attend Arizona State and songs. Betsy recalls that he could have been a professional after graduating in 1963 she went to Tempe, with music perfor- singer but decided early on he did not want to make a living mance as her major. She worked full-time as secretary to the with his voice and preferred to focus on helping farmers. Dean of Social Work at Arizona State, finished her bachelor‟s Rosemary continued to study piano with Professor Albert degree and earned her Masters in Voice Performance and Peda- Faurot and accompanied Boyd during recitals in the Faurot stu- gogy. In 1972 she was awarded a Rockefeller Grant in Music for dio. study in New York City. Her music career has included perfor- mances as an opera singer and concert soloist throughout the Unit- ed States. From 1986 until 1993 Betsy was administrator of the Montessori de Terra Linda Montessori school in San Rafael, Cali- fornia and then returned to school for a California Teaching Cre- dential. Betsy married Everett Taylor in 1966. They divorced as Betsy‟s career started to take off. Her second husband, Jim Allen, Justin‟s father, worked for the San Francisco Opera Company. Their marriage ended when Justin was five years old. Justin, a registered nurse like his grandmother, works in Traverse City, Michigan where son Quincy lives. Betsy now resides in Anderson Valley, CA where she had con- ducted the Anderson Valley Community Chorus, taught English and reading at the public schools and coordinated the A.V.I.D program, a course designed to prepare high school students for college. Betsy continues to help educate young people and share her love of music by playing violin with her local community or- Rosemary… and the Bell campus home on Langheim Rd. chestra. Upon completion of his undergraduate work at the Arizona By 1954, the Bell family, who had made their home on State University, Raymond Bell began a 13-year teaching career Langheim road, had grown with the births of three more chil- in Albuquerque, New Mexico then went on to earn his MM at the dren, Raymond, Tom, and Marily. The entire family loved University of New Mexico. He taught high school band in the music and spent time around the piano singing for fun, thus it Albuquerque Public Schools. Raymond and his wife Kathy was no surprise that daughter Betsy found music to be her fa- moved to Colorado Springs in 1985 where they still reside with Colleen, the youngest of their three children. After a sales career that spanned 18 years, he returned to teaching high school band and orchestra in 2003. Kathy had met Raymond at Arizona State University and has been actively involved in Christian Education through the United Methodist Church they belong to. She is the current program coordinator for the Foster Grandparents program of Volunteers of America in El Paso County. Daughter Erin Mal- doff lives with husband Christian and daughter Emma in Long- mont, Colorado and son Ryan and Madeleine Bell are in Missou- la, Montana where they are pursuing advanced degrees at the Uni- versity of Montana. Tom Bell, who was born at the Silliman University Hospital two years after Raymond, studied Art at Clarion College for three years then transferred to Ivy School of Professional Art in Pitts- burgh, PA to study photography. Tom met his wife Sarah (Sis) Maietta in college. Both are now retired from life-long careers with the state government where Tom worked for 15 years as a photographer for State Media Services and 15 years for the Penn- sylvania State Treasury Department. They have two children, Pat- rick and Christine, two grandchildren and two step- Pony and bike rides … fun and play with the Bell children. grandchildren. Tom has lived in Harrisburg since 1960 and notes that “.. I'm retired and working harder than ever but loving it.” vorite subject while at Parker High School, Arizona. Her early Marily, the youngest, got her BA in Liberal Studies and Mas- violin lessons were given by Professor Zoe Lopez at Silliman ter's in Education. She taught drama and self-esteem building clas- and Betsy continued her lessons with the violin and clarinet in ses for twenty years at a middle school in Union City, CA which Arizona. She performed her first solo at Silliman Church at age coincidentally then was 75% Filipino. She married Steve Har- 13 and continued doing solos throughout high school. rington in 1974. Steve taught high school Continued next page SD PortalXtra November 2012 page 5 drama for 33 years and upon retirement, the Harringtons moved States ...Even after to Loveland, CO. Marily made costumes for 75 of Steve's over all the years away 100 productions and now enjoys teaching jewelry making clas- from Silliman, Boyd ses and doing the costumes for the Harrington Arts Academy, and Rosemary had her son's business in Loveland. God has blessed them with many great memo- three children and three grandchildren, all residing in Loveland. ries of their time in In 1959, Rosemary began having health issues and the Bell the Philippines, family decided to return to the United States. After a year in shared wonderful Pennsylvania, the family moved to Parker, Arizona under the stories, and kept in auspices of the Board of National Missions for the Presbyterian contact with many Church. Boyd served as lay preacher at the then Mojave Pres- of their friends and byterian Church located on the Colorado River Indian Tribes colleagues and their reservation while Rosemary worked full-time at the Indian families. Their chil- hospital and as a school nurse for Parker Dam schools. dren also consider Boyd Bell decided to become an ordained minister after 5 their formative time years of service, and chose to attend the Pittsburgh Theological Betsy with iconic Silliman professor at Silliman as an Seminary. After his ordination he went to Sligo, Pennsylvania Dioscoro Rabor. important part of where he served as area minister for eight small Presbyterian their family history.” churches. Area Ministry was a new concept developed to help smaller churches that could not support a full-time minister. All rights reserved—LMS

Through this program, Boyd was able to return to the farming References: area of northeastern Pennsylvania where as a boy he spent eve- Betsy Bell Taylor Telephone Interview and Notes, 2012 ry summer vacation on his uncle‟s farm. Rosemary again Raymond Bell Notes, 2012 worked as a nurse at the local nursing home and helped to build Tom Bell Notes, 2012 the local Easter Seal program for disabled children. She was Anderson Valley News, 2010 also instrumental in starting the Truck Stop Ministry along Carson, Arthur L., “Silliman University, 1901-1950” Highway 80 all across Pennsylvania. Lauby, Paul , Udarbe, Proceso U., Lauby, Jennifer L., Boyd‟s health issues forced him to retire in 1985, and he and “Clouds by Day and Fire by Night: The Silliman Story” Rosemary moved to Sun City, Arizona. When Boyd passed Tiempo, Edilberto K., Maslog, Crispin C., Sitoy, T. Valenti- away in 1990, Rosemary moved to Los Gatos, California to be no, Jr., “Silliman University 1901-1976” near her daughters. She continued to work part-time in nursing. Silliman University Faculty Personnel Records In 2000 Rosemary relocated to live with Betsy in Boonville, The Weekly Sillimanian, Jan. 8, 1949 California. She became intimately involved with the communi- ty, helping to create an Elder Home, finding a site for the Teen Center, becoming a member of the Health Center Board, start- Editor’s Notes: ing a small writer‟s group, and singing in the chorus and with Readers who would like to contact Betsy Bell Taylor The Golden Girls. She passed away in 2005 at the age of 83. may use her email address: [email protected]. On their years at Silliman, Marily remembers a vibrant, Next month’s feature on American Missionaries green landscape, digging in the rich soil, swimming in the will be the last to appear in this newsletter. The au- ocean, and warm, friendly people. Tom recalls “It was a great thor will however carry on her research and writing time in my life that came to an end too soon. I remember the schools there, and I always felt welcome everywhere we went. on the more than 150 missionaries/fraternal workers. The tartanillas were fun to watch and ride in… Fishing for Should the reader be interested to contribute/share tilapia was fun... the guavas, bud-bud.. sugar cane.. I loved personal or anecdotal references, please contact her that stuff… Those acacia trees are beautiful and provided directly by email: shade and some shelter from the rain. The rain, the rain! Lis- [email protected] tening to it bounce off the tin roof of our house made it easy to fall asleep at siesta time. I have always liked having and ERRATUM: In last month’s feature in American Mis- being around animals, and I'm sure it's because my dad did sionaries on Rev. Channon, son Hiram’s birth year was too. It was a great time.” Betsy notes of her parents that “… religion and our church erroneously listed as 1984. It should be 1894. were certainly important to them and they had all the Chris- tian values. So when I was three we moved… It was the be- PortalXtra is published monthly ginning of many years of great happiness for us all and I was by SUAF@SD in San Diego, CA there until I turned 13, apart from one year spent back in the SD PortalXtra November 2012 page 6

Book Presentation, Oct. 27, Mira Mesa Library, San Diego, CA

Alma Lavergne with librarians The Teresita Flores working and Jennifer group Suder

Ribbon- Joe Jacinto cutting marks 90th

SUAF founding mem- ber Dr. Jose Jacinto was treated to a birthday lunch- eon Nov. 17 by wife Julie with over a hundred other family guests in Ramona, CA — he notched his 90th Laarni, Ben, Rep. Filner, TV actor Bruce Davison, Rep.-elect on Nov. 12. Scott Peters, Ligaya and Fely. Professor Jacinto is remembered by alumni for the years he taught philosophy and religion at Silliman. The Jacintos have lived in Ramona for the last seven years, having moved from Corona to be near where daughter Raquel Branom and family also reside. The birthday cele- brant with family and Fely and Ga- ya.