FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 4/9/04

Seventy years after Dr. Willard Rowland left Greenville College and his hometown, the college and the town had mostly forgotten him, but Dr. Rowland never forgot Greenville .

Last fall the 89-year-old retired medical doctor gave gifts totaling more than $260,000 to Greenville College , $100,000 to name the art gallery in the Maves Art Center and another $160,828 to establish an endowed scholarship to benefit future students from Bond County with financial need.

On Saturday, April 17, during Heritage Day in Greenville , the college will officially dedicate the Frank Taylor Rowland and Blanche Elynda Rowland Art Gallery . A brief ceremony begins at 10:30 a.m. , followed by a reception and exhibition of the paintings of Dr. Rowland's late wife, Elynda. The gallery will also be open to the public during the day Monday through Friday of the following week. These events are free and open to the public, and the community is encouraged to attend.

Gallery's Namesakes

The gallery's first namesake is Dr. Rowland's late father, Frank Taylor Rowland, a prominent businessman and civic leader in Greenville during the first half of the 20 th Century. Taylor Rowland, as he was known by his friends, moved to Greenville from Pennsylvania in 1911 and founded the Bond County Gas Company. The company drilled its own wells in the area to supply the community with natural gas.

Taylor Rowland served on the Board of Education for the Greenville Public Schools from 1918 – 1934, several of those years as president, and was a member of the Greenville City Council in the 1920s. He died in 1950.

The gallery's other namesake is Mrs. Blanche Elynda Rowland. Lynda, as she was known, was the second wife of Dr. Willard Rowland. They were married for 22 years, from 1980 until her death in 2002.

Many years before she met Dr. Rowland, she took an interest in oil painting. Mrs. Rowland studied painting formally at Instituto Allende, an international university of the visual arts in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico . The exhibition in the gallery includes most of her works from more than 60 years of amateur painting.

Donor Comes Forward

No one in the Greenville College Advancement Office knew who Dr. Willard Rowland was when he called last June from his home in Portland , Oregon , to inquire about the possibility of setting up an estate gift to benefit the college. He said he had grown up in Greenville but had not been back in many years.

Born April 15, 1914 to Frank Taylor and Maybelle Grigg Rowland, Willard attended Greenville College for one year only, 1932-33, and left after his freshman year. He transferred to Washington University in St. Louis , where he earned his undergraduate and also his medical degree.

He went on to become one of the country's preeminent plastic surgeons. He worked for several years at the world renowned Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, and during World War II he served as chief of plastic surgery at the Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, MD. For many years he maintained offices and practices simultaneously in two cities, alternating seasonally between Portland , OR , and Palm Springs , CA .

After leaving Greenville in 1933, Dr. Rowland never again lived here, although he did occasionally return to visit with family and friends. After his mother passed away in 1979, he didn't have much reason to come back to town. Most of his friends are long gone now.

Return to Greenville

With his connections to Greenville fading, Dr. Rowland wanted to do something to honor the memory of his father, as well as his beloved wife, who had died just a few months before his first call to the college last June. He came back to Greenville in September to meet with college officials and to tour the campus.

One stop on the tour, the new Maves Art Center in the old Coast to Coast building, was of particular interest to Dr. Rowland because of his wife's lifelong interest in painting. He was surprised even to learn that Greenville College had an Art Department , and he was impressed with the recently renovated facility.

The visit went well. Before leaving, Dr. Rowland informed President James Mannoia that he intended to give the college about a quarter of a million dollars. College officials were surprised to learn that, instead of setting up an estate gift that would come to the college after his death, Dr. Rowland had decided to make a current gift.

The money came very soon after that visit, in the form of two separate stock gifts in October and November, together totaling $260,827.68. The first $100,000 was designated to the art gallery naming opportunity, and the rest to establish the Frank Taylor Rowland and Blanche Elynda Rowland Endowed Scholarship to benefit future generations of college students from Bond County who have financial need.

“This is a very substantial scholarship for us,” says Dave Disch , Director of Development at Greenville College . “At $160,000, this is one of our largest scholarships. The Rowland Scholarship and the Rowland Art Gallery are wonderful and fitting tributes to the memory of Dr. Rowland's wife and his father, and their legacy will be a blessing to our students for generations to come.”

Greenville College is a four-year accredited Christian liberal arts school with an enrollment of about 1,300 students in traditional undergraduate, graduate, and adult degree completion programs. Founded in 1892 and affiliated with the Free Methodist Church , the college is located in Greenville , Illinois , 45 miles east of St. Louis .

CONTACT: Dave Disch ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )
Director of Development
Greenville College
(618) 664-6503