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have lunch with her at the Charlotte Country Club,” recalled Witherspoon.
major discipline. That’s why I decided to do the Philosophy Department first.”
SOUGHT BY MISS BONNIE It was during those storied Sunday luncheons that Cone, known widely as “Miss Bonnie,” began working on the young professor to join Charlotte College. Although impressed with the institution and Miss Bonnie’s vision for it, doing so would have to wait for nearly a decade while Witherspoon earned his Ph.D. in New Testament at Boston University, and while he spent two years as assistant professor and director of religious life at Dakota Wesleyan in South Dakota. He finally joined the Charlotte College faculty in 1964, and the school became UNC Charlotte a year later. The 30 years in between Witherspoon’s hiring and retirement were filled with a long list of accomplishments. Described as a great teacher, caring counselor, skilled ombudsman, host, patron, politician, PR practitioner and troubleshooter, Witherspoon also served as college chaplain and on practically every University committee. Under his leadership, the Department of Religious Studies grew from a handful of courses to a full-fledged degree program. He was also instrumental in establishing campus governance. He was the first chairperson of the University Senate, the institution’s earliest attempt at a governing body, twice served as president of the faculty and was University marshal from 1988 to 1993. Invariably, the stories friends and colleagues tell are of his extraordinary generosity and kindness, such as the time he gave his gloves to a stranger who was working in the cold without any. As an ordained United Methodist minister, he served the spiritual needs of the community, especially those of students and alumni in times of joy and sorrow. “Loy probably married more UNCC graduates than anybody in the history of the University,” noted Woodward. In his comfortable den surrounded by books, photographs and mementos, Witherspoon joked that being a practicing minister wasn’t always viewed as a positive. He encountered a great deal of suspicion when he initially suggested creating a Religious Studies Department. “They thought I was coming in there to turn all the students into little future Methodist ministers — or worse Baptist ministers,” he said with a laugh. “Most of them had not really gone to major universities where the study of religion was a
‘FROM THE GROUND UP’ Despite being a Duke alum, Witherspoon said he never contemplated teaching there or at UNC Chapel Hill, another well-established institution. “I was so committed to Miss Cone and what she was doing here — where we could go from the ground up and build it as we thought it should be.” He demonstrated that commitment to the fledgling University in myriad ways. In 1966, he purchased a plot of land and built his home directly across the street. He raised money to commission musical compositions for the installation of chancellors Colvard and Woodward, organized a contest among the students to write words for the University’s alma mater and was instrumental in bringing the Greek system to campus. “I thought there were just certain things that ought to be done if you were going to be a major institution, and Miss Cone encouraged it,” he said. “We knew what needed to happen, and by hook or by crook, she and I found the money to get things started in the right way.” Since his formal retirement in 1995, Witherspoon has remained engaged with the University and the awards and accolades continue to come. In 2001, he received the UNC Charlotte Distinguished Service Award. That same year, the University chapter of Lambda Chi Alpha, for which he had served as faculty adviser, endowed a scholarship that
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“We knew what needed to happen, and by hook or by crook, she and I found the money to get things started in the right way.”
UNC Charlotte founder Bonnie Cone enlisted Loy Witherspoon as one of the first faculty members of the University.
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UNC CHARLOTTE magazine 15