Dr. Tur routine
II is work in the Holds of liotli
rclitiioii anti education have won
for him a poriiianoiil nielie in
\orlli Carolina's liall of fanu*.
Ill/ FRANCKS griffin
THE phrase "a «.‘111 Ionian and a
scholar" might well have
been coined for I >r. Samuel B.
Tiirrentiiie, because the shadings of
character and personality which the
above expression both states and im¬
plies are all wrapped up into the
stately figure of that prominent min¬
ister and educator of this state.
The years of Dr. Torrent ine’s life
date back to the mid-nineteenth cen¬
tury. A native of Chatham County,
he graduated from the University of
North Carolina in 1884, at which in¬
stitution he also receives! his
М.Л.
degree. Love for Alma Mater is still
one of his most noticeable character¬
istics and he seldom misses an oppor¬
tunity to return to "the Hill” for
alumni sessions.
Attended Other Universities
After leaving the University he
took courses at Vanderbilt University,
Vale University, the University of
Chicago, and Colombia University
hut so much for his own education.
The rest of our story is concerned
with his work in the education of
others, which, needless to say, is quite
a different matter.
Soon after graduation he became
connected with the Union Academy
in Chatham County. While in that
position lie assisted the superintend¬
ent of public instruction of Orange
County in conducting institutes for
teachers and in sU|«crvising examina¬
tions for public school teachers. Thus,
he became one of the pioneers in
North Carolina’s public education de-
velopment.
Another academic post was the as¬
sociate professorship of the Cartors-
ville Institute in Georgia. All
branches of the formal education of
those days fell under his guidance in
those institutions — Creek. Latin,
English literature, higher mathe¬
matics — and his thorough and ap¬
plicable knowledge of those subjects
was often a source of startled admira¬
tion among modern college girls whom
he taught many years later.
Though the phase of his long line
of service connected with the Method¬
ist ministry of this state is not the
primary theme of this sketch, it may
well be said that through his pas¬
torates in Winston-Salem, Charlotte,
Greensboro, and other cities in the
Western North Carolina Methodist
conference he established for himself
an enviable position in church circles.
(letting back to his service in edu¬
cation — in the early lS90's when the
late l>r. John Franklin Crowell re¬
signed as president of Trinity College,
Dr. Tiirrentiiie declined a tender of
the presidency of that institution, but
for 47 years he 1ms -om-d as one of
its trustees.
Greensboro College in 1903
His first connection with Greens-
U»ro College came about 1903. For
years the little institution -the sec¬
ond oiliest chartered college for women
in the .South— hud struggled to gain a
foothold onto financial security, hut
the road was rocky and in 1903 it was
on the verge of closing. Dr. Turret!-
line, loyal to the interests of educa¬
tion. aided in an extensive canvass for
funds to prevent the college from fall.
He was at that time pastor of the
West Market Street Methodist Church
in Greensboro. During week days lie
traveled tirelessly over the state mak¬
ing a plea to district meetings for aid
to the college. On Sundays he would
return to fill his pulpit in Greensboro.
According to the college history, the
college alumnae greatly aided by such
men as Dr. Turrentine, finally man¬
aged to purchase the college which
they presented to the North Carolina
and the Western North Carolina con¬
ferences.
But Dr. Turreutine's work was not
over. Bad hick again settled on the
college, for on February 23. 1904, at
2 o'clock in the morning fire swept
down to destroy the building. So, dur¬
ing the summer Dr. Turrentine again
•et out in a state-wide canvass for
funds to rebuild the college and once
more Greensboro < 'ollege was saved.
When Mrs. Lucy II. Robertson, be¬
loved president of the college, re¬
signed in 1913, the trustees called one
of the institution's best friends for the
Г
it ion and in that year Dr. Samuel
Гиггспппе
assumed the presidency
of the college. That place he served
faithfully and progressively until
1935 when he resigned.
For four years thereafter he re¬
mained actively connected with the
school as president emeritus and pro¬
fessor of Bible, and many a girl will
(Continued on page tuenty-lwo)
