Page 149 - History of UB Church in Hburg Region
P. 149
History of U.B. Churches in Harrisonburg-Staunton Region December 26, 2024
Leipzig in 1879, he set up some classroom experiments to test the students’ powers of observation and
memory. His most dramatic experiment was a fake murder that caused one of his students to faint.
None of the ministers who came to the Shenandoah faculty via the Dayton pastorate taught a
greater variety of courses than A. L. Maiden in the 1920s. Catalogs of that period show that he taught
introduction to psychology, educational psychology, history of education, school hygiene, principles of
secondary education, introduction to moral and religious education, organization and administration of
religious education, church organization, Sunday School or Church school, mathematics, general
inorganic chemistry, and general biology. He taught these courses on the strength of 2 years as a student
at Shenandoah Collegiate Institute (1903-05), a B.A. degree from Bridgewater College, and the B.D.
from United Theological Seminary, Dayton, Ohio.
Student reaction to these preacher/teachers was generally favorable, with highest praise reserved
for Wade and Millard Miller, A. L. Maiden, and Kenneth Kyre. When the Virginia Conference decided
to send Millard Miller to Winchester First Church in 1937, “The Arrowhead” ran a headline reading,
“Sudden Removal of M. J. Miller Comes as Blow.” The writer of the article noted that the “written and
voiced” protests of “the entire student body” went unheeded by the Conference stationing committee.
Pastors assigned to the Dayton U.B. Church served Shenandoah outside both the classroom and
the church as advisors and counselors. Ken Kyre served as an athletic coach for a number of years.
Their wives, too, became involved as counselors and as employees of Shenandoah in other capacities;
but alumnae remember the contribution of Mrs. M. J. Miller to launching the May Day tradition in 1934.
The Move. The move of Shenandoah to Winchester in 1960 was traumatic for the Dayton U.B.
(by that time, EUB) Church. In his Pictorial History of the Virginia Conference, David Franklin
Glovier wrote, “In 1960 the Dayton Church, for the first time, had broken its relationship with the
College. However, the members of the Church have accepted the fact of the move with courage.” The
move was less traumatic for Shenandoah, in as much as it took on many new faculty unaware of the
Dayton traditions and heritage; and after a few years it no longer had students who had experienced life
on the Dayton campus.
Both Shenandoah College and Conservatory and the Church that built its first house of worship
because of Shenandoah have made new lives for themselves. The Dayton congregation, now known as
Dayton UMC, worships in a new sanctuary, but drawing from a musical tradition nurtured by its
association with Shenandoah. The Winchester Shenandoah College and Conservatory has far
outstripped the dreams of those who engineered its move, but it is beginning to look back with deep
appreciation upon a meaningful period in its history.
II.B.14 Dayton U.B. Church and SCI 135
Leipzig in 1879, he set up some classroom experiments to test the students’ powers of observation and
memory. His most dramatic experiment was a fake murder that caused one of his students to faint.
None of the ministers who came to the Shenandoah faculty via the Dayton pastorate taught a
greater variety of courses than A. L. Maiden in the 1920s. Catalogs of that period show that he taught
introduction to psychology, educational psychology, history of education, school hygiene, principles of
secondary education, introduction to moral and religious education, organization and administration of
religious education, church organization, Sunday School or Church school, mathematics, general
inorganic chemistry, and general biology. He taught these courses on the strength of 2 years as a student
at Shenandoah Collegiate Institute (1903-05), a B.A. degree from Bridgewater College, and the B.D.
from United Theological Seminary, Dayton, Ohio.
Student reaction to these preacher/teachers was generally favorable, with highest praise reserved
for Wade and Millard Miller, A. L. Maiden, and Kenneth Kyre. When the Virginia Conference decided
to send Millard Miller to Winchester First Church in 1937, “The Arrowhead” ran a headline reading,
“Sudden Removal of M. J. Miller Comes as Blow.” The writer of the article noted that the “written and
voiced” protests of “the entire student body” went unheeded by the Conference stationing committee.
Pastors assigned to the Dayton U.B. Church served Shenandoah outside both the classroom and
the church as advisors and counselors. Ken Kyre served as an athletic coach for a number of years.
Their wives, too, became involved as counselors and as employees of Shenandoah in other capacities;
but alumnae remember the contribution of Mrs. M. J. Miller to launching the May Day tradition in 1934.
The Move. The move of Shenandoah to Winchester in 1960 was traumatic for the Dayton U.B.
(by that time, EUB) Church. In his Pictorial History of the Virginia Conference, David Franklin
Glovier wrote, “In 1960 the Dayton Church, for the first time, had broken its relationship with the
College. However, the members of the Church have accepted the fact of the move with courage.” The
move was less traumatic for Shenandoah, in as much as it took on many new faculty unaware of the
Dayton traditions and heritage; and after a few years it no longer had students who had experienced life
on the Dayton campus.
Both Shenandoah College and Conservatory and the Church that built its first house of worship
because of Shenandoah have made new lives for themselves. The Dayton congregation, now known as
Dayton UMC, worships in a new sanctuary, but drawing from a musical tradition nurtured by its
association with Shenandoah. The Winchester Shenandoah College and Conservatory has far
outstripped the dreams of those who engineered its move, but it is beginning to look back with deep
appreciation upon a meaningful period in its history.
II.B.14 Dayton U.B. Church and SCI 135
