Robert's Wesleyan College

B-E-L-L graduation. (iPhone Photo by BobbaLew.)

Last Saturday, May 9th, 2015, I visited Roberts Wesleyan College for the first time in my entire life.
The occasion was the graduation of my niece’s daughter Christina from the B-E-L-L program, which stands for Bridge to Earning, Learning and Living.
The B-E-L-L program is affiliated with Roberts.
My niece’s daughter apparently has some kind of learning disability. I don’t know what it is, since she seems a whiz on her Smartphone and iPad, and as far as I know that’s self-taught.
I’ve always wondered about Roberts Wesleyan, since I’m a 1966 graduate of Houghton College (“HO-tin;” as in “hoe,” not “how” or “who”), about 75-80 miles south of Rochester (NY).
Supposedly both colleges were founded by Wesleyan Methodists, who were extremely strict when I was at Houghton.
I don’t know as that’s true any more. It’s like love and tolerance have triumphed over noisy breast-beating rules-making.
So I wondered if Roberts was similar to Houghton.
Houghton remains evangelical, so I wondered if Roberts is too.
Houghton was a compromise with my father, who wanted me to attend Moody Bible Institute in Chicago like he did.
Moody was not a college at that time —I think now it is.
That was my excuse; I wanted a college degree.
My real excuse is I felt uncomfortable at Moody. It’s an urban environment, and I’m from the suburbs. My father was comfortable because he was from the city.
My father wanted me to attend a Christian college, with hopes it would “straighten me out;” I was “rebellious” and “of-the-Devil.”
My brother-from-Boston made an interesting observation the other day.
“The trouble with Houghton is it’s out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere.” That’s true, and Roberts is 10-15 miles west of Rochester.
But in the late ‘50s when I was considering college Roberts wasn’t on the map. It was founded in 1866, even before Houghton (1883), but as a seminary. First Roberts became a junior college in 1945, then it was accredited as a full four-year college four years later.
The two premier Christian colleges were Wheaton and Houghton. Wheaton was first, and Houghton second. Anything else was perceived as useless.
Wheaton is the alma-mater of evangelist Billy Graham.
I applied to Wheaton and was turned down. Houghton would accept me if I did six weeks of summer college courses, proving I could do college-level work.
I’ve never regretted attending Houghton, although I graduated a ne’er-do-well without their blessing. I almost got kicked out three times for various sins, like tight pants (a-la-Rolling Stones), a Beatles haircut, and good old “bad attitude.”
Houghton was the first place I encountered adult authority-figures who valued my opinions, instead of automatically telling me I was “rebellious” and “of-the-Devil.”
My sister, now deceased, who also attended Houghton but only two years, told me Houghton is where I flowered. People, especially professors, encouraged my offbeat observations that made them think: “But Dr. Lindley, what if ‘the-middle-of-the-road’ is wrong!”
“So what did you actually get out of Houghton?” a friend asked once.
“A wife,” I said; “and a really good one at that.” Also a penchant for being anal about grammar and spelling. An attribute that served me well at the Messenger Newspaper in Canandaigua, despite my being post-stroke.
I never learned grammar — I majored in history. But I read so much it showed me the way. Spelling is just caring.
“Are you here for the ‘Bell’ graduation?” someone asked as I walked toward the Thomas Golisano Library, site of the graduation. Golisano is the mega-rich CEO of PayChex, and has funded building-after-building in the Rochester area.
Once inside “Are you here for the ‘Bell’ graduation?” another asked.
I began to wonder. Christina’s last name happens to be “Bell,” so I wondered if she was the only graduate.
“No,” I was told. “They named the program after her.”
So here we all were sitting quietly on white folding chairs in the college library.
It was an oven, the air-conditioning didn’t work.
Photographers flitted about, and we were being serenaded by flute music.
Someone gave an invocation prayer at the beginning of the ceremony, followed by “Amen.”
At which point the entire audience uttered “Amen.”
I turned around toward my relatives and said “the audience didn’t say ‘Amen’ at the end of a prayer when I was a kid.”
My niece’s new boyfriend nodded in agreement.
People were announced, and then the eight graduates.
Each graduate received a certificate, plus an announcer gave that graduate’s stated goals. —I can imagine trying to get goals out of Christina. It must have been a struggle. “I don’t know.......”
A few of the graduates spoke, but Christina didn’t say anything.
After that, refreshments downstairs.
So does Roberts remind me of Houghton? Hard to say; not enough contact.
But the punch wasn’t spiked with vodka, and there was no dancing.

• My sister Betty, slightly younger than me, died of cancer in 2011.
• I had a stroke October 26, 1993, from which I pretty much recovered.