This column by Jim Bishop ’67 was published in the March 20, 2021, Daily News-Record. Jim has graciously “lent” us his blessing to share, as well as a few photos capturing the loveliness of his garden — and his own “dear heart,” Anna.

***

“March, when days are getting long, Let thy growing hours be strong, To set right some wintry wrong.” – Caroline May (1820-1895)

Yes, dear hearts, there are some signs of hope as we muddle through the murky month of March, even as we mark the first day of spring and gravitate further into the Lenten season, culminating with Easter on April 4.

Foremost among the positive signs: While the vexing virus is still stalking its weary prey, more people are getting vaccinated (including Anna and me; got our second shot — Moderna — from the Virginia Department of Health earlier this month). While restrictions remain in place, and rightly so, we grasp at the possibilities that lie ahead to reconnect with people and favorite activities that have escaped us for so long.

“And then my heart with pleasure fills, and dances with the daffodils.” – William Wordworth (1770 – 1850)

Thanks for that encouraging word, Bro. Bill. Clumps of bright yellow Narcissus pseudonarcissus seemed to break forth into joy almost overnight at our domicile, providing a colorful backdrop to winter drabness. Forsythia, hyacinths and tulips are raring to add their colorful tableau of early spring delight.

While Lent intersects with first signs of early spring — a time of promise, renewal and exuberance — it’s also a season of paradox (is the plural paradoxi?). It’s a time that many engage in introspection, fasting and penitence and cut back or seek to eliminate those impediments and practices that stand in the way of nourishing our souls.

Even while entering expectantly into this quest for energizing freshness, I must stop and admit that I am not all that I say I am — or even envision myself to be.

I may not administer the death penalty with a wooden cross, but I am still capable of crucifying my fellow human beings. Today it’s done almost as effectively with razor-sharp words, deadening silence or smoldering anger and resentment toward those who have wronged me, knowingly or unwittingly.

Why do any of us allow animosity, doubt, worry and lethargic self-satisfaction to absorb our being? Life is meant to be lived to the fullest, not halfheartedly endured, the persistent coronavirus aside.

I propose that Lent is intended not so much to “give up” as it is to “take on.” In this vein, I suggest that “hope springs eternal” and takes on new meaning:

• When we acknowledge that life is too short to no longer be content with the way things are and decide to wait no longer for the other person to make the first move toward righting a wrong.
• When we take time to say “thank you,” “great job,” “way to go,” and “I appreciate what you did,” to those around us — our family, friends and beyond — verbally whenever possible or in this era of social distancing — by phone, social media or even, yikes, a handwritten letter.
• When we take deliberate steps to care for our physical bodies — especially as the ravages of time take its toll on the aging process — to foster mental, emotional and spiritual wellness, and to work at quitting one bad habit and cultivating a good one in its place. What better time than Lent to work at this oblation.
• When we learn how to relax (it doesn’t happen automatically in retirement) and just have fun, pursuing something that calls for a fresh spark of creativity in this COVID age.
• When we no longer compare ourselves to someone else or crave his or her possessions and talents.
• When we show genuine interest in what others have to say, beginning with those nearest to us — our immediate families and closest friends.
• When we show greater concern for the outward journey — not burning out by trying to be all things to all people but by identifying a specific need locally that we can respond to and then “just do it.”
• When we go to someone who has wronged us, intentionally or unintentionally or whom we’ve offended and seek forgiveness and reconciliation, striving to the best of our ability to live at peace with those around us.
• When we include in our wardrobe — bought any new apparel lately? — the belt of truth, the shoes of peace and the shield of faith (Eph. 6:13-17).

The encouraging thing is that, for most of us, it’s not too late to work at internal and external changes that help us to become all we are meant to be.

As Indian-American author Deepak Chopra submits, “Find the place inside yourself where nothing is impossible.”

I suggest that the Lenten journey begins, however slowly and anxiously, with being silent, listening, visualizing things as they have the potential to be, exercises that don’t come easily in this dissonant, often overwhelming swirl of activity around us.

Isaiah 40:31 reads: “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not fail, teach me, Lord, teach me Lord, to pray …”

What are we waiting for?

Jim Bishop lives in Harrisonburg. He welcomes your comments at jimanna.bishop@gmail.com

Today, the station is managed and operated by James Madison University and almost exclusively plays automated classical music. But for years it was a community fixture that broadcast chapel services, “educational programming” and a variety of music, all facilitated by student-announcers and engineers.

Once reviled, radio becomes a ‘missionary project’

It’s not clear at what point Mennonite attitudes toward radio broadcasting began to change, but in 1950, a Mennonite men’s quartet named The Crusaders began to sing live on Saturday mornings for 15 minutes on a local Harrisonburg station, WSVA. Within two years, the program expanded as The Mennonite Hour, which was considered “a missionary project of the church.” By the end of 1953, the program was broadcast on 35 stations and EMC offered up space for recording.

In 1954, WEMC was founded with money from the class of 1954 and The Mennonite Hour became Mennonite Broadcasting Incorporated – which is now known as Mennonite Media.

By the late 1950s, WEMC was running up to 70 weekly programs such as “Mennonite Hour Chorus,” “Titus Bender’s ‘Point for Today,’” and “Children’s Story Time” from the balcony of the chapel. The station used a ten-watt transmitter, which had “a signal that barely got off campus on a windy day,” according to alumnus Jim Bishop who worked at the station both as a student and later as EMC staff.

WEMC broadcast daily Bible readings (Alexander Scourby recorded on vinyl, Bishop remembers), regular chapel services, community and public service announcements, and coverage of home women’s and men’s basketball games. Bishop hosted a weekly campus activities report, as well as “Focal Point,” a public affairs program.

“I always wished there were more student-produced programs,” Bishop said. “Someone would get one rolling and then it would end when the student graduated or lost interest.”

Alum Dwight Wyse has similar memories of programming. “I remember one program that I did for a number of years called ‘Folk Music Around the World,’” he said. “That was on Saturday nights. I got married between my junior and senior year and my wife and I would go up to run that program together. We played anything from The Singing Nuns to Simon and Garfunkel.”

One year during the biannual revival services hosted on campus, “the Holy Spirit seemed to be present,” remembered broadcaster Terry Cowan. Regular programming was dropped for the rest of the day, as students and faculty shared testimonies until the evening.

From Lehman to Astral Hall

In the early 1970s, WEMC, needing more space, moved up the hill into the recently renovated Astral Hall. The higher vantage point boosted the station’s signal beyond the campus borders and into the greater Harrisonburg area.

Cowan served as WEMC’s station manager for a number of years and was instrumental in facilitating the move. Cowan, like Wyse and Bishop, learned how to broadcast on the job, as there wasn’t any training available to the students who wanted to work in the station at that time.

“During my time at WEMC, my vision was to provide a window so that the community could see what was going on at the college,” he said. “Before the station existed, there were guys who strung telephone wires throughout the community to they could put speakers in people’s homes so the community could listen to chapel.”

Today, WEMC has a 2000-watt transmitter and is broadcast up and down the Shenandoah Valley. But in the 1960s and ‘70s, “we were limited in our power because of Sugar Grove observatory to the west,” said Wyse. “They tightly controlled how far you could send your signal.” (Sugar Grove Observatory is still part of a United States National Radio Quiet Zone, in which radio transmitters are strongly controlled so that scientific research and military intelligence work can be conducted.)

Wyse graduated in 1968, but was the play-by-play announcer for men’s basketball games for a decade. He said one particular game stands out. In 1971, in the old gym. At the time, JMU wasn’t the athletic powerhouse it is today; it was close game. In the last second, EMU (who had been behind) scored and won the game.

“I was speechless,” Wyse said.

Unable to let listeners know what had just happened, he looked for help from his fellow commentator. But his partner was gone. He had abandoned his post and was jumping around on the court in celebration.

Interest wanes

By the mid-1980s, WEMC was playing more and more contemporary Christian music and holding bi-yearly “WEMC Weekends” to raise financial support for the station. Student-announcers would volunteer for 30-hour-plus “marathon” fundraisers. Some years they met their goals, but increasingly they didn’t.

It’s not entirely clear why the station began struggle. Money certainly had something to do with it (pledges became harder to secure) but also student interest in running the station began to wane. In 2007, James Madison University took over the day-to-day running of WEMC, although EMU continues to own the station and license. Students are no longer involved. An EMU advisory board determines programming, which includes broadcasting Park View Mennonite Church’s service every Sunday following the hour and a half musical program “Mostly Mennonite, Mostly A Capella.”

“I think that the original purpose has been changed and I am sorry to see that,” said Cowan. “I think it would better serve the college’s interests if it was still operated as an arm of the college.”

Bishop, who ran a show right up until the JMU take over of the station, agrees. Many alums who were heavily involved with the station over the years view the transition as a tragedy.

But for now the arrangement is working. Since the station moved to mostly classical music, listenership has doubled and the station remains alive. (Financial difficulties were such that by the mid-2000s some suggested the station should close entirely.) And, should the desire and drive emerge in a new generation of students, the station is still there, waiting for new voices to revive the rich tradition.

Editor’s note: While freelancing for EMU marketing and communications, also reported for WMRA in Harrisonburg. She is now Appalachia Health News Coordinator at West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

This is the third article in an occasional series leading up to ��ݮ����’s in 2016-2017. Other articles have featured Park Woods Cabin and .

Learn more about WEMC: emu.edu/wemc or listen online: wmra.org

And while he aims to stick around for a bit longer, he says next week will mark the beginning of the end.

On Jan. 7, the 65-year-old Belmont Estates resident will give his final broadcast of “Friday Night Jukebox” on WEMC’s 91.7FM, which he has hosted weekly for nearly 11 years.

Bishop began the music show in February 2000 at the suggestion of a former WEMC station manager. The 1950s music program, which runs between 8 and 9 p.m., features Bishop’s personal music library. He started collecting vinyl records in 1956, when he was in the sixth-grade.

“I’ve always loved radio and I always wanted to do something with it,” Bishop said. “I jumped on it because I really enjoyed it. It’s been my escape valve and I’m going to miss it.”

As public information officer for ��ݮ����, Bishop is often quoted in local media outlets about the school. He’s also the author of “Bishop’s Mantle,” a weekly column in the Daily News-Record, and the host of the Saturday morning EMU activities report on WBTX 1470AM.

Bishop has written the DN-R column for more than 20 years and has also contributed essays on health and wellness for Rockingham Memorial Hospital’s magazine, RMH HealthQuest, and a regular column for the Mennonite Weekly Review, a church newspaper in Kansas.

“These things are not things I was planning to do,” Bishop said. “They just happened and I enjoyed them very much.”

Bishop will retire from EMU on June 30, completing his 40th year at the school.

He hasn’t yet made any decisions about his column writing, but plans to continue freelance writing and traveling around the United States. He’s always wanted to see the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Graceland and the California coast.

“I never had a big audience but the people who listened were very loyal,” Bishop said. “I got requests from all over, including one I always got by mail. He also sent me a birthday and Christmas card every year.”

John L. Horst, Ted Grimsrud and Jim Bishop produce and host weekly programs on public radio station WEMC, 91.7 FM. They do it on a volunteer basis because they believe there are sufficient numbers of people hankering for their special brands of music.

And, while they acknowledge that their programs appeal to a “niche market,” they get enthusiastic listener response to shore up their conviction.

“Mostly Mennonite, Mostly A Cappella”

John Horst

Horst, a retired physics professor at EMU, hosts “Mostly Mennonite, Mostly A Cappella,” 8-9:30 a.m. Sundays. He plays blocks of, as the program suggests, mostly unaccompanied sacred choral music by local and nationally-known artists and groups.

Horst draws from years of musical experience, which included singing with the former “Mennonite Hour” radio broadcast’s chorus and male quartet in the mid-1950’s to the mid 1960’s as well as composing. Music from the 15 CD reissues of Classic Mennonite Hour singing often appears on the program.

Listeners on a given Sunday morning may hear groups ranging from local favorites such as the the Eastern Mennonite High School Touring Choir, the EMU Chamber Singers, the Shenandoah Valley Men’s Chorus, the Shenandoah Valley Children’s Choir and local composers Jim Clemens and Brad Lehman. A sampling of contrasting music outside the Mennonite tradition is usually part of each program.

“Friday Night Jukebox”

Jim Bishop

Bishop, who dubs himself a “hopeless nostalgic,” dishes up an hour of dusty discs from the decade of the 1950’s, the “Friday Night Jukebox,” 8-9 p.m. Fridays. The show features straight-ahead rock and roll, street-corner doo-wop harmonies, top ten instrumentals, off-the- wall novelties and sock hop specials with artists as diverse as Chuck Berry, Perry Como, the McQuire Sisters, Marty Robbins, Duane Eddy and Little Richard who shared the charts during this era.

The last 15 minutes of the show every week is devoted to unabashedly romantic tunes to watch the submarine races by. Requests and dedications are welcomed by calling 432-4211.

Bishop also teams up with WSVA radio personality Jim Britt for the monthly “Warped Records Show,” a two-hour montage of, as the title suggests, weird, wacky tunes that were once stables of radio but today don’t “fit” any station genre, 10 a.m.-noon, usually on Thursday. The show will feature warped holiday tunes twice in December – on the 8th and 23rd of the month.

“I’m not aware of any commercial radio station anywhere doing a program like this one,” Bishop notes. “Even WSVA doesn’t know what to make of the avid listener response.”

“Wavelength”

Ted Grimsrud

Rumor has it that if Ted Grimsrud’s CD collection was laid end-to-end, it would stretch from Harrisonburg to Hinton – maybe even Rawley Springs.

Dr. Grimsrud, professor of Bible and religion at EMU and – yes, he’s a rockin’ jock PhD – is host of “Wavelength,” 3-6 p.m. Saturdays. He modestly describes the program as “music from the intersection of country, folk, rock and roll, blues and gospel.”

On any given week, one might hear Waylon and Willie, Ray Charles, Bob Dylan and the Beatles followed by the Everly Brothers, Bruce Cockburn, Nina Simeone and Los Lobos – and it “seams” to work.

The Bible prof-music buff even manages a “Wavelength” blog at

About WEMC and WMRA

WEMC, Virginia’s oldest public radio station, founded in 1955, is owned by ��ݮ���� but now managed by the staff of James Madison University’s public radio station, WMRA. WEMC operates out of WMRA’s studios at Cantrell Ave. The station can be heard on-line at .

Read more…

EMU’s Crossroads magazine won a major award this year from the southeast district of the .

Competing against dozens of magazines produced by larger institutions, Crossroads received a “special merit award” in the category of “magazine publishing improvement.”

The other winners in this category were magazines produced in 2007 by Furman University in South Carolina, Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, the University of Alabama, the University of Miami, Brenau University in Georgia and Barry University in Florida.

The southeast CASE district consists of 565 universities, secondary schools and other institutions involved in higher education from Washington D.C. to Florida. The magazine awards ceremony will be held at the CASE annual regional conference in Atlanta, Ga., on Feb. 19.

Crossroads is published quarterly and distributed to 16,000 alumni, students, parents and friends of the university.

The award confirms informal feedback sent by alumni, such as this Jan. 20 2008 e-mail to the editor from Daniel Lehman, a 1972 graduate who is now professor of English at Ashland University in Ohio: “I have really enjoyed Crossroads in the past year. You are doing an outstanding job (as one journalist to another), and I love the way that EMU is highlighting its distinctive mission as well as the peace and justice programs.”

Betsy Robertson, magazine editor at Auburn University in Alabama and one of the CASE contest organizers, said Crossroads emerged as a winner because “the judges were impressed with the change in editorial direction to focus on current issues and provocative topics rather than the usual mundane assortment of event snapshots, fundraising updates and ‘successful alumni’ profiles.”

Robertson added that the results were especially notable “for a small staff.”

In last year

Sunday, the 89th annual commencement at EMU, will be my 36th to cover in my role as public information officer. I’ve heard many speeches and watched hundreds of students walk the gangplank, receive their sheepskins and exit the platform as full-fledged alumni, with all the rights, honors, duties and fund-appeals ascribed thereunto.

It strikes me up side the head that it will be 40 years since my own graduation from this noble institution. To paraphrase recording artist Bob Seger, "Forty years, where’d they go? Forty years, I don’t know . . ."

In my cobwebbed cranium I still visualize sitting at a desk in a poorly-lit classroom on second floor of the old administration building (which burned down in January, 1984 while being renovated) on a warm May afternoon, taking my last exam, an English literature final for the late J. Herbert Martin.

I gazed out the open window many times while sweating over the test, a series of subjective questions, as the realization sunk in that "this is it." Unless my grade point average states otherwise, I’ll graduate in several days, my checkered college career is over, my first "real" job

The ornaments of our home are the friends who frequent it.

This thought, not original with me but firmly implanted in my thick cerebrum, reverberated down the cobwebbed corridors of my mind as once again I participated in the ancient annual ritual of decorating our Christmas tree.

In some ways, this process has followed a similar pattern ever since Anna and I moved to Harrisonburg in 1971, which now seems like light years ago.

An EMU Campus Center ornament, released in 1988, adorns the Bishop family tree.

For the first time in our married lives, we occupied a house that belonged to us (and the mortgage company, who sent us a Christmas greeting that read, “Merry Christmas, from our house to our house”).

Prior to this, we strung some lights and decorations around our rental apartment in Elkhart, Ind., but didn’t bother with dragging a tree into our cramped dwelling space. Besides, we motored the long distance eastward to spend the holidays with extended family.

Real vs. Artificial

Once settled into our new Shenandoah Valley surroundings, and having an aversion to artificial trees, we started a tradition of trekking to a local evergreen farm, and, after heated debate over possible choices, selected a powerless pine, cut it down and dragged it home, leaving a trail of needles in its wake.

One year, we bent the rules and opted for a tabletop artificial tree. On that occasion, we had an early Christmas gift, daughter Sara having taken in a frisky kitten that loved to defy laws of gravity, and we knew we’d have difficulty shielding dangling ornaments from Santa’s paws.

Ornaments come in a host of shapes and sizes. It’s challenging fun to add one or more new ones every year, while not neglecting or, heaven forbid, mishandling or discarding those that have been around for a long time.

In the 36th year of trimming a tree, I note how many of the accumulated ornaments have special meaning – gifts from family members, from workplace colleagues or special purchases over the years, i.e., a miniature Lionel Sante Fe diesel engine, a No. 53 “Herbie” VW Beetle, a “Howdy Doody” lunchkettle and thermos, a Santa surfing to a Beach Boys’ tune, an Ocean City, N.J., pendant, an EMU Campus Center ornament and others.

Oldest Friends Mean the Most

The different ornaments that deck our tree serve as a reminder of the diversity of friends wife Anna and I have come to acquire. Like ornaments, they are fragile, requiring special handling and care. And like ornaments, our oldest friends mean the most to us.

But friendships are more than decorative. Each of us needs friends in order to branch out and be more than we can be on our own.

Friends are among the greatest gifts we can have if we don’t treat them like possessions. And, they don’t, or shouldn’t, wear out if handled with love and care.

Unlike ornaments, we can’t just let friends hang there, dangling. We need to enjoy them, appreciate the beauty they add to our lives all year round and don’t put them into storage boxes when the initial illumination and delight begins to fade.

Not only that, but the best Friend we can have is the One who’s birth we celebrate and who loves us unconditionally, whether or not we invite Him into our midst. He is the bright and shining Morning Star atop the tree of faith.

James Madison University is like the Costco of local colleges.

JMU touts more students, teachers, property, majors, programs and campus activities than ��ݮ����, Bridgewater College and Blue Ridge Community College

The faculty and staff of ��ݮ���� recognized two colleagues who are retiring and cited 49 others for years of service during the school’s annual recognition dinner held May 2.

Mamie M. Mellinger is retiring as director of health services after serving 20 years in this role. Before that, she was a member of the EMU nursing department faculty, 1970-76 and 1980-86, serving the university a total of 32 years.

Paul T. (P.T.) Guengerich is retiring a second time. He served in a variety of roles at EMU from 1964 to 1981

“Drop the coin right into the slot . . . You gotta hear somethin’ that’s really hot . . .”

So declared Chuck Berry, makin’ merry in 1957’s “School Days.”

For six years now, a devotee of the pioneer rock and roll artist has been doing just that – plunking buffalo nickels into the colorful Wurlitzer and dishing up platters from that ebullient era on a weekly basis.

The first Friday night in February, 2000 host debuted the “Friday Night Jukebox” on WEMC-FM, the public radio voice of ��ݮ����.

The coins apparently didn’t get stuck or run out, as the show seemed to strike a responsive chord with area listeners who thought they’d never again hear songs that they grew up with from that time period, even on area commercial oldies stations.

The big difference – most of the songs are now played off compact disc, although Bishop does revert on occasion to a trusty, dusty rusty turntable for that rare tune still not available in that format.

On the “Jukebox” sixth anniversary show, 9 p.m. Feb. 3, Bishop will feature exclusively the creme de la creme, the No. 1 chartbuster hits of the 1950’s, including the biggest-selling song of each year from 1955 to 1960.

Ordinarily, the program tends to focus more on “songs that charted and received airplay for awhile, but didn’t crack the Top 10,” Bishop said. The show tries to include instrumentals, novelty tunes and one-hit-wonder artists every week, he noted.

The following week, 9 p.m. Feb. 10, the “Friday Night Jukebox” will feature sentimental, unabashedly romantic selections from the 1950’s on a “Pre-Valentine’s Music Special.”

Listener requests and dedications are welcomed by calling 432-4211 by Wednesday of the week.

, is the oldest non-commercial station in Virginia and now broadcasts 24 hours a day.

"Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old time is still a-flying:
And this same flower that smiles today,
Tomorrow will be dying."
– John William Waterhouse

Rather sobering – I’ve written obituaries of six former workplace colleagues over the last three months – Robert D. Yoder, Norman Derstine, Vida J. Huber, Paul R. Yoder, Sr., Mary Jane Detweiler and Linden M. Wenger, in that order.

It’s served as a reminder of the tenuous nature of life – that we’re pilgrims on a journey, emerging from dust and to dust we return.

Early December, I attended the wedding of a nephew, Stephen Bishop, to Julie Snyder, a celebrative occasion as two hearts and lives joined as one.

Almost ironically, both the wedding ceremony – attended by a throng of witnesses – and the funerals, where families and friends celebrated the lives and legacies of the departed, were marked by moments of joy, even laughter, amid a flood of emotions.

I was able to attend the funeral/memorial services of two of the six former ��ݮ���� persons – Norman Derstine and Vida Huber.

I was moved by the worshipful atmosphere and by tributes being given by persons who had related closely to the deceased. The spoken word, stirring, special music and singing of hymns spoke of the triumph of God’s eternal life and love over physical death – in spite of the painful separation – refreshed and renewed my spirit and faith.

All six left an indelible mark on my life, starting with:

* Norman Derstine, 85, from my same home area of Bucks County, Pa., my dad’s best buddy growing up. When I started my public information/media relations position at my alma mater the summer of 1971, Norman was director of church relations here. We worked closely together, literally, office-wise and otherwise. I was struck by Norman’s commitment to promoting the school’s significant contributions to the broader church. He also had much interest in radio broadcasting, as did I, then and now.

* Robert (Bob) Yoder, 76, long-time biology professor in the Suter Science Center next to my office, was rather low-key, a quiet but astute observer of human nature, a friend of the Earth, an avid angler (I once sent him a cartoon depicting a guy sitting in a rowboat fishing. A sign on the side of the small craft read, "I’d rather be working").

Among Bob’s gifts was an amazing flair for writing poems, songs and other creative tributes that he gave others to mark special occasions. He made others feel special, and in turn, so was Bob.

* Mary Jane Detweiler, 79, was the wife of EMU’s sixth president, the late Richard C. Detweiler. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis early in their tenure here. Even while in obvious pain much of the time, she never complained, but rather regularly bore a radiant countenance and a positive spirit. Richard was a mentor; Mary Jane was an encourager.

* Vida Huber, 68, and her husband, Harold, were our good neighbors in the Belmont Estates subdivision ever since we moved to the ‘Burg the summer of 1971.

Vida put the squeeze on me in those early days here, as the EMU nursing department that she headed kept growing, spurring the need for more office and classroom space in the dingy basement of the old administration building. As the program expanded, our office space kept shrinking to the point that four people occupied the area that I had to myself when I started working at EMU.

But Vida never deliberately elbowed anyone. She was a compassionate educator, a good listener, both a thinker and a doer, involved in many agencies and programs beyond her immediate work related to the healing arts. She was anticipating the next exciting stage of life, retirement, when those plans suddenly changed.

The diversity of people who spoke at Vida’s memorial service spotlighted her wide range of influence, community involvement and cutting edge work in the health care arena.

* Paul R. Yoder, Sr. would have turned 90 on Christmas Day this year, was amazing, the perfect example – to me, anyway – of how to successfully grow old with grace and enthusiasm. Paul was an ardent supporter of EMU, usually cheering on the Royals at numerous athletic events and remained a member of the executive committee of the Loyal Royals athletic booster club at the time of his death.

Paul frequently spoke words of encouragement to me on my work here as well as on my column jottings, which energized me in turn.

* Linden M. Wenger, 92, taught undergraduate and seminary-level Bible and philosophy courses for 23 years until his retirement in 1978. He was a pastor/overseer in Virginia Mennonite Conference, held numerous other conference and churchwide offices over the years and worked with older adult issues.

Linden knew his stuff, but he didn’t exactly exhibit the most scintillating pedagogy style when I had him for a philosophy course my freshman year (1963-64) at EMU. So I was in a guarded mood when, many years later, I had him as a guest on my live weekly interview program, "Focal Point," on the university radio station, WEMC-FM.

The topic was his just-released book, "Climbing Down the Ladder," an autobiographical treatise on retirement. The gentle man amazed me – he was both animated and candid in talking about the need to accept one’s limitations as an older adult and the need to graciously turn over certain responsibilities to younger people. It ranks among my most memorable programs in more than 20 years of doing the show.

As I sat there at the funerals, I wondered how many accolades the deceased had heard while alive, well and hearty.

Except for Mary Jane and Linden, the others leave spouses behind to carry on without their mates. It will certainly be a difficult Christmas for each one, as it was for me that first holiday season after my dad died in 1998.

The departure of these six remind me how often I sit and wring my hands over life’s difficulties, on well-made plans that have gone awry.

What a difference it might make if a larger proportion of this energy went into reflecting upon the people whose lives have intersected mine at critical developmental stages, serving as positive role models to me, and to letting them know that.

As a new year dawns, maybe one of the best resolutions each of us can make is to give a bit of yourself – a handwritten card with a message of affirmation, a phone call to someone at a distance who has influenced your life at a critical point, starting with those closest to you and branching out from there.

Isn’t that preserving the spirit of Christmas all year long?

————-
Jim Bishop is public information officer at ��ݮ����. He can be contacted at bishopj@emu.edu.

Do you hear what I hear?

Sounds of the holiday season will fill the air as WEMC, the radio voice of ��ݮ����, features Christmas music the entire month of December.

Under the banner of "WEMC’s Classical Christmas," the station’s holiday programming will feature Christmas carols, instrumental arrangements of carols and longer works composed for the season, such as Handel’s "Messiah" and Vivaldi’s "Gloria," WEMC general manager said.

The station will also feature special Christmas programs from such performers as Wheaton College, Concordia College and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Mondays through Fridays, the music will air 8 a.m.-2 p.m. and 1-4 p.m. Sundays, Kauffmann-Kennel noted.

Individuals, businesses and congregations can sponsor a day or a portion of a day of the holiday music. Those interested should contact Kauffmann-Kennel at 432-4287 or at wemc@emu.edu.

on the FM dial, broadcasts from 6 a.m. to midnight daily. Founded in 1955, it is Virginia’s first public radio station.

By Tom Mitchell, Daily News-Record

Neither John Martin nor his fellow alumni from ��ݮ���� imagined that their senior class’s parting present to their school would get the mileage it got.

In the spring of 1954, Martin and the rest of the graduates at what was then Eastern Mennonite College, along with seniors at neighboring Eastern Mennonite High School, gave a gift that kept on giving: a transmitter that increased power, range and, ultimately, impact, for EMU’s fledgling radio station, WEMC.

While Martin, 77, can’t recall its cost, the new conduit "was definitely an improvement," he said.

"We didn’t have any specific goal in mind when we started this," said Martin, a retired seminary and university professor. "We couldn’t think what it would become down the road."

Exceeding Founders’ Hopes

, which this fall celebrates 50 years on the air, eclipsed its founders’ highest hopes. What was a booth with a 10-watt signal that barely traveled beyond school grounds now uses a 2,000-watt transmitter to reach listeners more than 40 miles away. A program once confined to chats about campus life today plays five styles of music and airs national and world news from two syndicates: British Broadcasting Corp. and National Public Radio.

Before being publicly licensed in 1955, EMU’s radio "station" existed as a wire speaker that barely worked.

"A [tree] limb would come down on the wire, and the wire would continually need repairing," Martin said. "It didn’t work very well."

The improved site, built mainly to upgrade broadcasts of church services, gradually grew to become the daily operation it is today. The station eventually moved from EMU’s chapel in what is now Lehman Auditorium to its current location at on the university’s west side.

Today, WEMC’s programming stresses news and public affairs. The station is on the air from 7 a.m. to midnight, seven days a week.

With virtually no advertisers, WEMC relies almost exclusively on donations, said , EMU’s director of public relations. Bishop has long-time ties to WEMC, and says the station’s noncommercial style affords WEMC more flexibility than its commercial counterparts. With no sponsors, WEMC can freelance more, including in its menu of public-service programs and weekend "specialty" music shows.

Cultural Clout

WEMC’s legion of managers includes the station’s newest director, , who came to EMU two years ago from a similar post at Goshen College in Indiana. While he is relatively new to his post, Kauffmann-Kennel, 51, is impressed with his station’s past. Kauffmann-Kennel applauds WEMC’s early patrons who, however unknowingly, chartered their station’s course with what he considers a progressive gift.

"The gift that the class of ’54 gave was very forward-looking," Kauffman-Kennel said. "In the Mennonite church contest of that era, technology and modern things like radio would have been looked at a little warily, so they were forward-looking, at least in terms of [creating] wider church attitudes toward broadcasting. But they also gave the university an opportunity to share its values with a wider audience, a larger community."

The station’s emphasis, Kauffmann-Kennel adds, has also stretched WEMC’s presence.

"Over 50 years, WEMC has gone from being more internally to more externally focused," Kauffmann-Kennel said. "The station’s original power didn’t carry too far beyond the [adjoining] Park View neighborhood. Now we’re tying to bring EMU to the community and the community to EMU."