1980s photo courtesy of BGC History Center
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Simultaneously Spiritual Living on campus definitely includes fun and games—and it should, says Jim Benjamin, associate dean for residence life. But at Bethel, it’s much more than that. The strengthening of personal relationships with God and each other is the permanent backdrop to late-night pizza orders, movie-watching, and pingpong competitions. “We want students to take advantage of the learning environment outside the classroom,” explains Benjamin. “We want them to experience growth in their interpersonal skills, social networking, and spiritual life.” Living in residence halls often gives students a safe environment in which to practice living out the very things they’re learning in classes and chapel services. Benjamin’s staff, including 10 resident directors, works hard around the clock to ensure that each Bethel student feels welcome and comfortable. “We want to actively engage with our residents in authentic ways,” says Jenn Hillier, resident director for Bodien, a first-year student residence hall. “We want to create a place where students can be real, a place where each resident can give and receive love as we encounter the joys and challenges of life together.” To do that in Bodien, she says they work hard and play hard. Down from freshman hill, upper-class students in Heritage Hall this year are thinking about limits. “The prophet Habakkuk writes of his doubts and frustrations. He doesn’t believe God will show up in his circumstances,” explains Steph Williams, Heritage’s Resident Director. “So, what do we limit? Ourselves, others, the present, the future, our God?” The hall’s theme verse for this academic year is God’s response to Habakkuk (1:5): “Look at the nations and watch—and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.” “We’re asking how much different life could be if we rejected the limit of expectations and chose expectancy,” says Williams. “We believe that an infinite God can do more than we can ask or imagine!” Learn more about Bethel’s other residence halls at cas.bethel. edu/student-development/reslife.
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Fall 2009
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he guys taped a dead fish under our dorm sink in Edgren. Unfortunately, the quietest (and most easily scared) girl found it! At 5 a.m., the tape wouldn’t stick anymore, and the fish landed at her feet. She then proceeded to scream until we were all up!
Colleen Nelson ’01, S’06
or my senior year, I lived in a Heritage apartment with six girls, but we considered the six girls who lived across the hall from us our honorary roommates— spending as much time in their room as we did in ours. One evening we ended up in my room for a while, watching “The Office.” Now, because Bethel is a safe place (and we were right across the hall), we’d left the front door unlocked. During a commercial break, my friend Amy wandered across the hall. Thirty seconds later, she reappeared in our doorway and calmly stated, “The door to the toilet room is missing.” Silence. “What?” Eliza asked. “The door to the toilet room is missing,” Amy repeated. We looked at each other, disbelieving, before the eight of us jumped up screaming. We sprinted across the hall and someone had indeed taken the door off by its hinges, leaving an open stall. We immediately knew our culprit. Mike Frederickson, aka, “Freddy.” He’d pulled such a prank when we were freshmen. Plus, we knew he had the right tools.
Nicole Westlund ’09
Alum News Bethel Magazine incorporates Alum News from all schools of Bethel University. (SEM) indicates news from Bethel Seminary alumni and (CAPS/GS) indicates news from College of Adult & Professional Studies and Graduate School alumni. No indication is news from College of Arts & Sciences alumni.
1931 Myrel Harriet Anderson, 98, of Braham, Minn., passed away in August. She was preceded in death by her husband Frank Lowell Anderson, and is survived by her sons Gerald, Dennis (Mary), and Richard (Pam); her daughter Pat (Ed) Anthony; 14 grandchildren; 28 great-grandchildren; and five great-great-grandchildren.
1942 Merriam Leslie Olson died in July in Texas at the age of 89.
1944 Chaplain (Ret. Col.) Willis Warren Wessman (SEM), Topeka, passed away at the age of 88 in July. He served in the U.S. Navy (1944-1946) and later as an Army chaplain from 1951 until his retirement in 1979. He served during the World War II, Korean, and Vietnam War eras. His wife, Dolores (Poole), preceded him in death in 2003. He is survived by his son, Kim; daughter, Kathleen (Norman) Bacon; a granddaughter, and two grandsons.
1948 Valeda Samuelson has a new mission: Central Clearinghouse in Israel. She
Ron Asmus
2009
also continues her other ministries in the Philippines and Israel.
1946 LeRoy Gardner founded North Central Baptist Church in St. Paul and served as pastor for 39 years. In 1997 he moved to Carmichael, Calif., and founded a new church. A speaker and author, he and his wife Kay now live in Southern California.
1949 Walton Johnson (SEM) lives in Superior, Wis. He served seven churches in 35 years, and for two years in Chicago at the denominational headquarters. Since his 1983 retirement, he has served as an interim pastor in 12 churches and is still active in ministry. His first wife, Eunice, passed away in 2003. They had four children, Vern ’76, Dale ’78, Paul ’80, and Lois. He married Marit Johnson in 2005.
1953 In August 2009, Marian (Peterson) Johnson passed away in Sioux Falls, S.D., at the age of 78. She lived in Slayton, Minn., and is survived by her four sons, Gary (Sue), Dean, Gene (Karla), and David (Lisa); 14
Former director of CAPS/GS student services Ron Asmus passed away in August after a 15-month battle with leukemia. He was 66 years old. Asmus worked for Bethel from 19912009, first as an admissions counselor for what is now the College of Adult & Professional Studies and Graduate School. He eventually became director of admissions for that area and was instrumental in the significant growth spurt in adult programs during the 1990s. A short time later he was asked to become the first director of student services for CAPS/GS. Asmus is survived by his wife of 46 years, Sharon Johnson Asmus; daughters Jennifer and Rebecca, and son-in-law Ben Hasselblad; grandchildren Christina and Austin Asmus, and Natalie, Kari, and Annika Hasselblad; and other family and friends.
“Measure our performance by what God accomplishes through our graduates after they have been prepared at Bethel to go out into the world to serve.” —John Alexis Edgren, Founder grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren.
1954 George William Chalmers (SEM) died at age 85 in Manila, Philippines, in August. He was a career missionary to the Philippines with the BGC (now Converge Worldwide), and a U.S. Navy veteran. He was preceded in death by his wife Nancy and a son, Stuart. He’s survived by his children, Daniel (Carla), James (Laurie), Faith (Mansor Chitsazann), Philip (Jennifer), and daughter-in-law Candace; 16 grandchildren; and eight greatgrandchildren.
1958 Nancy and Joel Stolte continue their ministry with Wycliffe Bible Translators in Bogotá, Colombia. They are making a recording of the New Testament in the Waimaha language, and are close to a final edit of a Waimahan New Testament, complete with maps, drawings, and pictures.
1959 Ed Whitford lives in Tecate, Calif. He helped start Tecate Mission, which ministers on both sides of the border. He and missionary Bill Jones aided in construction of and taught in the Seminario Biblico de Baja California, affiliated with La Iglesia Bautista La Hermosa, a church in Tecate, Baja California, Mexico. The seminary has sent more than 450 pastors and mission workers to serve throughout Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and the United States.
1964 Dale Pearson retired from the St. Paul Public schools at the end of the 2000 school year after teaching mathematics for 34 years. In the fall of 2001, he began teaching at Minnehaha Academy and retired from there at the end of the 2007 school year. He lives in Little Canada, Minn., with his wife Corrine.
1965 David Mbithi Mbiti, recipient of the 1997 Bethel Alumni Achievement Award, pas sed away at Karen Hospit al, Nairobi, Kenya, in May. He was a former director of education for Kenya, former deputy vice chancellor (finance and administration) of Daystar University, former assistant director, education program, for the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, and an elder and trustee for Christ is the Answer Ministries. He is survived by his wife, Dorothy, and his children, Josephine Muthoki, Irene Mumo, John Maithya, Juliet Mueni, and Isaac Mulangu, and his grandchild, Nia Mutanu.
1966 Hugh and Martha (Gemmel) Tracy are at a new assignment for Wycliffe in Dallas. Hugh will plan the training for Wycliffe field workers, and Martie will offer secretarial support to the international literacy and education coordinator.
Bethel University
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