A Life of Perpetual and Selfless Service at Greenville College

Seldom in our world today do we find a man or woman whose dedication to a cause and community involvement are found worthy of public recognition. Yet when such a person arrives on the scene we should be more than willing to recognize the achievements of that person in a manner that is appropriately demonstrative of our graciousness to them for their perpetual and selfless service. Walter Addison Joy was such a man and Greenville College together with the community of Greenville, IL will forever remember him in that capacity.

Walter A. Joy was born on January 27, 1880 and came to Greenville College as a preparatory student in 1892 and continued on for eight years until his graduation in 1900. In 1900 there were two college grads, four theology grads, and five prep grads. In addition, four commercial and three music certificates were also awarded. Along the way he received a shorthand certificate in 18851. Walter A. Joy remembers a very different Greenville College than the one attended now by almost 1000 students. In an article published in The Papyrus, Greenville College Student Newspaper, on March 18, 1924, entitled "Reminiscences," he recalls:

"…There was no gym and no athletic field but we did have a pasture that covered the entire block where the F.M. Church now stands and after school the boys often played old fashioned football in which game the ball was not touched but really kicked…There was no library except a few volumes of real books surrounded by hundreds of old Congressional Records which the students of that day can remember very distinctly as stowed away on one side of the room which is now the present Papyrus Office…Chapel was held at 8:45 in the room now used by the Business Department and all class recitations were held in the four adjoining rooms in the basement of the main building (Old Main) and the one room on the west side of the potato cellar…Boys rooming on the fourth floor will recall how Webster (Professor of mathematics) was called "felt boots" because, as a Preceptor, he wore them to enable him to sneak up on the guilty folks unaware. However one bright morning these same felt boots waved proudly from the top of the College flagpole and their usefulness was at an end."

At the turn of the century all departments carried on in "Old Main." The sixty or so students lived on the upper floors and the classes taught, Joy recalled, were Latin, Greek, History, Science, and English. The Greenville College of 1900 is a far cry from the Greenville College of today.

Currently the campus consists of fifteen buildings. The Ruby E. Dare Library houses more than 120,000 books, 540 periodicals, newspapers, and pamphlets and 4000 recordings, music scores, mounted pictures, slides and microfilm. There is not only the student newspaper, but also the yearbook and a radio station. Greenville College allows students to participate in several cross-cultural experiences in the nation and around the world. Almost every state is represented in the student body including Alaska, a state at the time of Mr. Joy's attendance not yet conceived. Furthermore more than 30 denominations are represented. Walter A. Joy was a part of these changes however.

After graduating he immediately went into the mercantile business with his father F.P. Joy at F.P. Joy & Company, “The Store of Satisfaction.” F.P. Joy & Company sold ladies’ footwear, ladies’ hosiery, ladies’ ready to wear, dry goods, floor coverings and notions. The Joy family also owned Joy’s Grocery. On September 6, 1904 he married Laura C. Richards, the daughter of a former Greenville Presbyterian minister at the Presbyterian Church in Mt. Carmel, IL. F.P. served on the Greenville College Board of Trustees until his death in 1916. At that time, though there are some discrepancies among sources, his son Walter became a member of the Board and served as its treasurer for more than five decades.

On October 22, 1963 a community dinner was held saluting Greenville College. It was at this dinner that then President Glenn A. Richardson revealed the name of the new men's dorm that had been completed in August of that year. The name: Walter A. Joy Hall. Named so in honor of Mr. Joy and his service to Greenville College. At that time, Walter A. Joy had been a member of the Board of Trustees for 47 years. He served another 5 years for a total of 52 years--the longest term for a member of the Board of Trustees in Greenville College history to this day.

Conceivably his greatest gift to Greenville College was his writing of the Alma Mater in 1899. The history of the Alma Mater is somewhat enigmatic as there are several gaps in the records maintained at the Greenville College Archives. There have been several attempts made at a college song or alma mater, on one occasion inspired by a contest in The Papyrus. The winner, “Hail Greenville College!” was written by Gertrude Hill Nystrom.

The first record of an Alma Mater at Greenville College can be found in the first annual published by the College, The Okaw, in 1903. This version was written by Walter A. Joy and arranged by E. Grace Hogue, wife of then President Wilson T. Hogue. It takes a different form than his later version that we still sing today:

• On Egypt’s northern boundary, Enshrined ‘mid southern vales, Where birds sing ever merrily, Where beauty never fails; Our cherished Alma Mater lies, The queen of favored lands, The queen of all our hearts and lives, Endeared by loves strong bands.
• The birds in charming melody, Sing in the lovely skies; The beauty from the heavens above, That ever greets our eyes Is only the reflection bright, On earth’s celestial dome; Of love peace, happiness and light, Within our college home.
• Though time should scatter us afar, Yet on our memory, Let this bright scene of College days, Remain eternally; And though our homes in East or West, Be found some future time, We’ll love our Greenville College home, In Egypt’s southern clime.

This version is also cited in The Okaw of 1904 as “Greenville Alma Mater.” Just below it however, are the lyrics of “Hail! Greenville!” the traditional text of the Alma Mater, also by Walter A. Joy.

In 1910, The Vista published the “College Song” written by S.P. Crouch, Class of 1904 and arranged by Myrle G. Parsons, Class of 1907. Just three years later, in 1913, The Vista published “Alma Mater – Greenville” by Walter A. Joy. This is the first record to date that cites the text of the song we sing today as the official Alma Mater.

The tale that surrounds the writing of the Alma Mater is as follows. In the late nineteenth century the Greenville College male quartet often performed in the surrounding communities of Greenville. The day preceding one of these occasions, Professor Robert English, who led the quartet, felt a song was needed that would adequately represent the College to the community of Sorento, Illinois. He approached Walter A. Joy who agreed to the challenge that resulted in “Alma Mater! Greenville!” set to a slightly modified tune of “Hail. Hail, Cornell!” which was performed the following evening.

To this day it is sung by students, staff, faculty, and administration and is the song that forever rings in the memories of those who pass through the hallowed halls of Greenville College. It is perhaps the one thing that all those associated with the college have in common:

In the midst of rolling prairies ‘neath fair skies of blue, stands our noble Alma Mater, glorious to view. Let the chorus swell in anthems, far and loud and long, Greenville College and her glory, ever be our song. Tho’ from here our paths may sever, and we distant roam, still abides the mem’ry ever, of our college home…Swell the chorus, speed it onward, over vale and hill, hail to thee! Our Alma Mater, hail, all hail! Greenville!

Mr. Joy through his writing of the Alma Mater was able to express the heart and soul of Greenville College, a task few are able to do. It stands today as a symbol of all that is good and true about the college.

By Timothy Alan Sievers