Dp. R. L. Flowers
Being' |M4*sicI«*nl of Duke Uni¬
versity iff only one of the many
jobs that he has confronting him.
llis various activities cover
а
most extensive field.
By R. C. LAWRENCE
THE A poetic- Paul fervently ex¬
claimed “This one thing I do!"
and Robert Lee Flowers might
well have said the same thing, for
he has given fifty-two years of con¬
tinuous service to Trinity College and
its successor Duke University. And
please do not got the impression that
my distinguished subject is nn ancient
of days, or that he is in the sere and
yellow-leaf stage, or anything of that
kind. He is still in the very heyday
of his splendid mental and physical
equipment; he still looks to the East
and to the dayspring from on high;
he still aspires to even larger and
greater fields, and lie continues most
skilfully to direct the activities of one
of the greatest and largest of Southern
educational institutions. And some¬
how he finds the time to serve his state
and nation on many another front of
far-flung useful endeavor.
He i- a product of the county of
Alexander, named for the physician
Governor Nathaniel Alexander; with
its county seat commemorating the
fame of John Louis Taylor, first
Chief Justice of our Supreme Court
as now constituted. One of its most
famous characters was Congressman
Romulus Z. Linney, known through¬
out the State ns the “Bull of the
Brush!»,” but my subject has gone
the Congressman one better for he has
become known ns the "Bull of the
Bull City” 1
Go back to the genesis of most dis¬
tinguished men and you will find that
they were country born, coming from
what Goldsmith termed “a hold
peasantry, their country’s pride.” The
father of my subject was named
George Washington Flowers; and he
named the eldest of his nine chil¬
dren after the South’s immortal
chieftain, so that in the Flowers family
there is preserved the surnames of
two of the most famous figures in
American history. Just how the senior
Flowers managed to raise and educate
his large family, coming on so soon
after the wreck, riot and poverty of
the Reconstruction era, is a tribute
to his pluck, persistence and energy.
The father was an educator himself,
an instructor at York Collegiate In¬
stitute, and here my subject was
1югп
in 1870. When he was yet a lad the
family moved to Taylorsville, where
Robert Lee attended high school
for four years under the tutelage of
A. C. McIntosh, who was later to pass
such a distinguished career at the
North Carolina bar and as professor
of Law at the University. Even in
his youth the growing boy gave
evidence of the radiant future 1m*-
fore him. and he received a coveted
appointment ns midshipman at the
United States Naval Academy at An¬
napolis. from which he was graduated
in 1891. but I cannot call him u sea
dog, as he never served a day in our
first line of national defense.
IX) you recall another distinguished
Carolina educator who was a product
of Annapolis? It was Doctor George
T. Winston, president both of the
University and of State College. Both
men gave up careers of the seafarers
to render a far liner and more effective
service to their State in the cause of
education.
The year of his graduation was the
momentous year when the generous
benefaction of Washington Duke had
caused the removal of Trinity Col¬
lege from its location in Randolph
County to the city of Durham; and
its president, Dr. John F. Crowell,
ihat Moses of Modern Trinity, was
feverishly racing against time in an
effort to get. the college ready for open¬
ing at its new location in time for
the fall opening. The young An¬
napolis graduate had made his plans
to work during the summer months
with the Westingliouso people, but he
paid a visit to Dr. Crowell who forth¬
with laid violent hands upon him.
The main element which was delaying
the completion of the new institution
was the wiring of the building, and
here was a young mathematician and
engineer, competent of pushing this
vital work to n s]*oody completion.
Thus began his connection with
Trinity, which has sine»* continued
with unbroken continuity, and ere the
final chapter has been written in his
life’s work, it may
1и>
given to Dr.
Flowers to make a state record for the
longest, service to any institution.
From the day lie began his somewhat
lowly task, down to the present day
when he is the head and front of a
far-filing organization, he has brought
to his work an abounding energy, a
superb mentality, great gifts for
leadership, lofty ideals, a vision of
high service and valiant courage, and
he has served the cause of his devo¬
tion with zeal, and ceaseless and con¬
scientious consecration. Although a
layman, he serves the cause of his
church and of Christianity quite as
effectively as does many a mitered
Bishop.
His original appointment in 1S91
was an instructor in mat hematics,
and three years later he was elected
to a full professorship in that science,
and in this capacity In- continued until
his elevation to the Presidency. In
1900 he received the degree of Master
of Arts from the instituion he served
so acceptably.
In 1910 when Dr. William Preston
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