A member of the Harding Board of Trustees for 27 years, Thomas Leman Johnson, aged 94, died December 16 in Wenatchee , Washington following an extended illness. Johnson and his wife, Ruth , traveled to Searcy for the semiannual meeting from the time he was elected to the Board in 1953 until health problems prevented travel abou t six years ago, Born in Kansas on March 15, 1885, Johnson moved to Washington not long after the turn of the century and pioneered in the development of the fruit industry in the Northwest. He was also active in the growth of the church in Wenatchee. Active in civic affairs, he served as a justice of the peace, member of both the Kiwanis Club and Chamber of Commerce and president of the Wenatchee Valley Traffic Association and Central Washington Museum Board. Johnson was a collector of antique glassware and accumulated a sizable array of rare pieces. He and his wife exhibited a keen interest in students, establishing a student loan fund for Bible majors and hosting the A Cappella chorus in Wenatchee. The esteem in which the Johnsons were held in their community was evidenced on the observation of their golden wedding anniversary in 1962 when more than 900 persons attended a reception held in their honor. Although the Johnsons had no children of their own , they loved young people and assisted many students to obtain a Christian education . ~tI Born in Hohenwald, Tennessee on May 10, 1917, Joseph Guy Petway died in a local hospital on November 28, 1979, at the age of 62, following an extended Hiness with cancer. He was engaged in the hardware and funeral directing business after graduating from high school. He enlisted in the U. S. Army Air Corps on August 1, 1942 and rose to the rank of major. During World War II, he was a pilot instructor at basic and advanced military flying schools after graduating from flying school. He also took flight engineering training and became an ain:;raft observer. Following World War II, Major Petway served. in personnel and administrative positions at various bases in the United States and Japan. He was assigned to Korea in 1950 and participated in five campaigns , receiving the Bronze Star Medal. the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the United Nations Service Medal with five battle stars. From 1951 until his retirement on November, 30, 1962, he Ii lied a number of important assignments in the States and Japan, primarily in the areas of informa tion and public relations. In 1963, Major Petway joined the Harding staff as assistant to the president. When the American Heritage Building was completed in 1965, he was appointed manager of the building, which was used as a continuing education center until the space was needed for a residence hall for students. He served in this capacity until 1977 when illness forced him to retire. During his years in Searcy , he was an active member of the College church. Mrs. Petway, the former Loudine Guthrie of Hohenwald, attended Harding College in 1936-37. Their three children, Stephanie, Alec and Sonya, who is currently a junior, have all 6''''':-, attended Harding. ll!!1J Junior Jellrey Martin Reed, age 20, was killed about 6,30 p.m. on Saturday evening, February 23, when the car in which he was riding with Jonathan Bedwell, Gary Giddens and Steve ShapkoL also students at the University, was hit headon by a drunken driver. The students were traveling south , and the other car pulled across the double-yellow center line into their lane as the driver attempted to pass another northbound car. Born in Centralia, Illinois on November 21, 1959, Jeff had grown up there and graduated lrom the high school in June, 1977. He had enrolled at Harding in the lall 011977 and was pursuing a social science major. He planned to study law alter graduating from Harding. Jeff was a member of the Delta Omega men's social dub and was very active in dub sports and the intramural sports program. Two days before the fatal accident, he had served as captain of the basketball team that won the 1980 minor league championship. Cecil Beck, director of men's intramurals, commented, "Jeff was a good sport who participated enthusiastically in almost all sports and he was a real team leader. " He bowled lor the College Bowl team in the Searcy business league and had planned to participate in intercollegiate bowling in 1980-81. Virgil Lawyer, who teaches the Civil War course Jeff was taking this semester, commented, "Jeff was a very eager student who liked to get involved. Any student who maintains a 90-orbetter average in the Civil War course is called a general and Jeff had reached the rank of a brigadier general. " Jell attended the worship services of the College church regularly and was active in the church program of his home congregation in Centralia. He had also worked for the Murray Children's Center there. V\', ... [Ill: ' Killed on the evening of May 31, 1979, James Herbert Smith was 32 years of age when the singie-engine airplane he was piloting crashed in a field near Springfield, Kentucky. He was on his way to East Liverpool , Ohio, where he had grown up , to preach in a week-long gospel meeting. Born on July 3, 1945 in East liverpool, Jim had graduated Irom high school there. He had attended Kentucky Christian College in Grayson, Eastern Christian College in Bel Air, Maryland and Southeastern School of Evangelism in Atlanta, Georgia prior to enrolling in Harding College in the Ian 01 1977. He was also serving as a security officer for the University at the time of his death. Smith had preached lor 16 years, the first 10 years for the Christian church . In 1973, he took his stand for undenominational New Testament Christianity in Sumter , South Carolina. Subsequently, he had preached for congregations in Sumter and Duluth and Clarksdale, Georgia. At the time of his death , he was preaching for the Colony church of Christ in Bee Branch. His body was buried in the cemetery behind the Colony building. He was the husband of Cathleen M. Smith, dean 01 the School of Nursing. The Smiths were married on March 17, 1967. They lived on a farm a few miles south of Searcy where they raised horses and Doberman pinscher dogs and he enjoyed training these animals. Smith was a charter member of the noon Optimist Club in Searcy and a member of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association and the National Pilots Association. He loved people and was very supportive of his wife in her heavy responsibilities as dean of the School of Nursing while pursuing doctoral study at Vanderbilt University on a part-time basis. tmtl 441 In Memoriam
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