“For me, there was no greater challenge or joy than sitting at the feet of a master and being tutored in how to read a text closely.”
up in East Texas. After graduating from ACU, he earned his J.D. from Baylor Law School. He worked as a general practice lawyer in Tyler, Texas, and later founded a law firm with his brother. He also held his private pilot’s license and helicopter license. Walker is survived by his wife, Rhonda (Sylvester); his parents, Don (’55) and Wanda (Walker ’57) Weathers; two brothers, Wade (’83) and Wynne (’88) Weathers; a daughter, Grace Weathers; and a son, Ross Weathers.
1980
– DR. KEN CUKROWSKI (’84)
Evelyn Annette Fowler Jordan died Sept. 7, 2012. While at ACU, she appeared in several theatrical productions and was a Sing Song hostess in 1980. She is survived by her husband, Don Jordan; a daughter; a son; her mother; and a sister, Teresa (Fowler ’78) Jones.
1990 GERALD EWING
Malherbe was a beloved scholar, professor and churchman Although Dr. Abraham “Abe” Malherbe (’54) passed away in September 2012 (see page 79), his legacy remains alive through his scholarship and church work. His vast knowledge of the Graeco-Roman milieu of early Christianity, the Pauline corpus, and New Testament scholarship – combined with a keen eye for nuances in the Greek text – created a rich experience for his students. He was incredibly attentive to detail; I can remember him spending a whole two-hour graduate class on just a few verses from 1 Thessalonians. I marveled at his precision. I try to recreate those experiences for my students and develop their capacity to read Scripture in a careful way. And when I tell them, “Read Luke 1:1-4 and tell me 10 things about the author, the recipient and the Gospel of Luke,” they look at me with the same incredulous expression I had when Abe posed similar questions in my classes with him. For me, there was no greater challenge or joy than sitting at the feet of a master and being tutored in how to read a text closely. Abe’s attention to detail was not simply for detail’s sake; he loved the message of Scripture and called students to think critically about their scholarship. Students who took his classes left with both a deep knowledge of the Bible and a love of the text; reading was a sacred task and thus should be approached with appropriate rigor and respect. His high standards were legendary – often intimidating – but they stemmed from his respect for God’s Word. I remember working extremely hard on a presentation on a passage in Matthew and feeling pretty good about it, until I was challenged by his comment, “Good work, Cukrowski, but what is the significance of your work for our understanding of Matthew?” He was right, of course; we weren’t done until we had grappled with the implications of our scholarship.
Abe loved his heritage in Churches of Christ; he particularly valued our commitment to Scripture and to truth. He paid tribute to his Christian heritage in a variety of ways, such as contributing generously to ACU’s Brown Library. Another time, when ACU honored the aging Eldred Echols (’42), the preacher who had baptized Abe in South Africa, I saw great emotion well up in Abe’s eyes as he reminisced and thanked his mentor. Every year at the national meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, even though he maintained a busy schedule as an internationally renowned scholar, Abe always made time to speak with and encourage his former students. We students in the graduate and doctoral programs at Yale Divinity School were privileged to see Abe in the classroom and at church. It would not be an exaggeration to say Abe carried that little congregation at Whitney Avenue for decades, both with his leadership and his pocketbook. Several times during my 10 years there, Abe did the weekly preaching in the absence of a full-time minister; additionally, he was the Sunday morning Bible class teacher for much of that time. As rigorous as he could be in the classroom, he was as pastoral in the congregation to brothers and sisters of all races and classes and education levels. One of his many talents was an ability to converse with anyone on subjects as wide-ranging as detective novels and his favorite film, The African Queen, to rugby and eschatology. I wonder just how many visitors to New Haven he and his gracious wife, Phyllis, have housed and fed. Even though future generations sadly won’t be able to hear Abe Malherbe’s resonant South African accent as he personally instructs them, they’ll continue to hear his voice through the many writings, students, preachers and churches he so strongly influenced. 䊱 – DR. KEN CUKROWSKI
78
Spring-Summer 2013
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AC U TO D AY
James Michael “Jimmy” Womack, 44, died March 23, 2013, in an automobile accident near Pecos, Texas. He was born June 16, 1968, in Corvallis, Ore., and graduated from A&M Consolidated High School in College Station in 1986. He attended Pepperdine University before graduating from ACU. A counselor for at-risk youth in the Texas Hill Country, he was an avid fly fisherman who traveled the world pursuing his hobby. Among survivors are his parents, Dr. James (’64) and Raby (Beakley ’63) Womack; a sister, Wendy (Womack ’90) Hill; and several aunts, uncles and cousins.
2015 Lindsey Lee Smith, 20, died Jan. 25, 2013. Born June 29, 1992, she graduated from New Braunfels High School and was a junior advertising/PR major at ACU. She was a 2012 graduate of the the Disney College Program. She had three great passions: her faith, the performing arts and seeing the world. She starred in several high school and community theatre productions, and was a coach at TBarM Sports Camp. She sang on the praise team with her father at the New Braunfels Church of Christ and was active in ACU’s faith-based drama troupe, Seekers of the Word. Among survivors are her parents, Todd (’87) and Linda (LaBounty ’87) Smith; two brothers, Connor and Dawson; grandparents Joe and Jana Smith and John and Nancy LaBounty; a grandmother, Barbara Brigance; and great-grandparents Ben and Loretta Smith and Chet and Bonnie Norton.
OTHER FRIENDS Dortha (McElroy ’87) Greenlee, 77, died Oct. 12, 2011, in Abilene. She was born May 5, 1934, in Breckenridge and married Charles Greenlee Dec. 10, 1949. She worked at ACU in the World Famous Bean cafeteria, the computer center, the Office of Admissions, and the restoration history library. Dortha is survived by her husband, Charles; three sons, Bob (’74), Ed (’79) and John Greenlee (’87); a daughter, Deborah (Greenlee ’76) Dannheim; 10 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. Betty Marlar Gainer, 88, died Oct. 3, 2012, in Irving. She was preceded in death by her husband, Homer Gainer, a former ACU trustee. Homer and Betty received ACU’s Christian Service Award in 1990. She is survived by two daughters, Dell Anne (Gainer ’70) Patterson and Lucy (Gainer ’72) Brady; a son, Joe Gainer (’79); six grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren.
Homer and Betty Gainer