From the Time Capsule

In 1998, the Westminster campus looked much different than it does today. Knox Hall was only a distant dream, but Pamplin Hall was getting underway. Groundbreaking was held in the fall of 1998 for the two-year construction project that would take the Lower School students out of Upper School buildings and “cottages” located on the practice field near the Upper School Gym and provide them with a brandnew self-contained building near the front of campus.

Mrs. Julia Joiner’s third grade class contributed a time capsule to the building project. The class worked together to plan what would go into the capsule, which was contained in a fivegallon plastic bucket. At the time, Mrs. Joiner said the class contributed a recent copy of the newspaper, a school directory, a Beanie Baby, a deflated soccer ball, a class picture signed by each student, and other items.

According to an interview with Becca (Wiggins) Overcast (‘09) in 2010, the time capsule was an important topic of conversation. “I remember planning the capsule and putting it into the ground. I also remember talking with friends about how old we would be and what we’d be doing when it was time to dig it up,” Mrs. Overcast said.

When the time came to dig up the time capsule for the 50th anniversary, the first challenge was in locating it. Patrick Duckworth of Duckworth Construction lent his expertise in that arena. Not knowing what would be found after 24 years in the ground, Dr. Brower chose a quiet weekend to have Duckworth come to campus with him and unearth the capsule.

Lessons from Mrs. Julia Joiner

name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago.”

During the Opening Convocation, Brower showed an image of the car after it came out of the bucked, observing, “The message remains true for us today that despite our dirt, rust, scars, wounds, and all other sorts of messes, we serve a Jesus who says, ‘I love you!’ This is the message that Mrs. Joiner has for us now, 22 years later. Jesus loves us. Students, you cannot leave here and get an upgrade, you will not find lasting satisfaction and fulfillment, you will spend your entire life chasing and in the end come up empty. Mrs. Joiner is standing in her glory with her Jesus and would tell you it’s true! He really does love us!”

It was a good call. Time and the earth had done their work on the bucket, and the items inside were wet and caked with mud. The newspaper was salvageable, once it dried, but the school directory and class picture were destroyed by the damage from the water. The items such as the Beanie Baby and soccer ball were unharmed, just dirty. But it was the other two items in the bucket, the ones that Brower had no idea were in there, that provided him just the message he was looking to share for this year’s Opening Convocation.

The first was a small diecast Volkswagen Bug with the message “Jesus Loves You” written on the side. It was coated with mud and rust. It brought to Brower’s mind the message in Isaiah 25:1, “Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your

Brower continued that there was an additional question that Mrs. Joiner was posing to us through the final item in the bucket, a small, seemingly handmade bracelet with a phrase in the height of its popularity: “WWJD - What Would Jesus Do? It’s not just a bracelet, it is the answer in a question to life’s purpose. You want to live a life of significance, meaning, and purpose? Seek the will of God and

His Righteousness and wait and see what else just might be added unto you! This now is the question for Westminster as we look to our next 50 years.”

Today the toy car and the bracelet hold places of honor in the trophy case in the Upper School Gym Lobby. The beautiful lessons from Mrs. Joiner live on in her family, her friends, and her students, spreading through the world as they share them with others. Now these lessons also live on in a new generation of Westminster students, who were able to hear them expressed thanks to the contents of an old, muddy bucket.