Lighting the Fire of Learning
How has Walla Walla College changed people’s lives? Countless stories could be told. For one alumni family, these memories are especially meaningful as they remember their beloved parents, Homer and Maudie Spaulding. Although Homer and Maudie never studied at WWC, the Spauldings persisted in sending their children to WWC and later encouraging grandchildren and other young people to attend the school they never doubted to be the best place for a Christian education. JoAnne Peterson, daughter of the Spauldings, tells their story on these pages. In memory of Maude and Homer Spaulding’s unfailing commitment to Christian education and the unselfish help they gave others, the Peterson Family Foundation has presented WWC with a gift of $1 million to the faith in the vision campaign, helping continue the vision of WWC.
Most accomplishments in life begin with a vision, and that is
how Walla Walla College began in December 1892—with a few students, lots
of faith, and a grand Administration Building.
About the same time a little boy, Homer Spaulding, was growing up in North
Dakota. In the early 1900s, around the time a fire destroyed the upper floor
of the Ad Building, Homer was courting a pretty neighbor girl, Maudie Stewart,
and eventually they married.
Homer brought to that marriage fine horses, a dryland farm, and his three motherless children. Maudie brought her cooking, sewing, and gardening skills, a strong religious conviction, a desire to nurture those children, and a cow.
Prior to marriage, though, Maudie declared she wouldn’t cook pork or have a pig in the place. Also she wanted a promise from him that she and the children would not be expected to work on Saturday, her Sabbath, except for essential chores. I can imagine Homer was somewhat taken aback by such a request—but he agreed—and to his credit, he kept that promise. Some 30 years later, he too joined the Adventist Church.
The Spauldings, plain folks with country school education, worked hard on that farm. There was seeding, weeding, threshing, and milking. There was stock to feed, huge gardens to tend, hundreds of jars of vegetables and fruit to pile up, piles of dirty clothes to wash using a washboard, and later a wringer washer. Maudie sewed much of the clothing on her treadle sewing machine and cooked on a wood range. With no electricity, running water, telephone, or other conveniences we now call necessities, theirs was a daunting load.
Yet Homer and Maudie had a vision for their growing family. They realized that education was the key to success. They kept that goal before the children. For instance, the children could not stay out of school to help with spring seeding or fall harvest, as many neighbor children did. They had to attend their classes.
To earn a few dollars, Maudie sold cream and eggs and took orders for fashion frocks. The older boys had a trap line and sold pelts. Others sold subscriptions to magazines, gleaned the corners of wheat fields, raised their own chickens or turkeys to sell, and snared gophers, selling their tails for one cent each at the annual Gopher Day picnic.
It wasn’t all grueling work though. There were wild baseball games and races on summer evenings, along with the “kick-the-can” and “ante-over”. In the winter when the temperature often plunged to 30 below, they played Touring, Authors, Checkers, and the new game, Monopoly. Maudie often read the classics to the children as they washed and dried stacks of supper dishes. Homer would recite poems, especially those by Robert Service, with the children providing sound effects.
In 1932 this college celebrated its 40th anniversary, and in North Dakota, baby number nine arrived in the Spaulding home. Some of the neighbors thought, as perhaps you do too, “That poor family—all those children—they won’t have a chance!”
In quiet moments, the family gathered around the kitchen table and laid out their plans to finish high school and go on to college. It would take hard work, many prayers, and diligent study, but it was possible.
In 1936 the Walla Walla area was jolted by a strong earthquake. The Spauldings were experiencing a shake-up of their own, as the local and national economy slowed. What was to become known in the history books as the Great Depression was engulfing them.
For seven years the grain crops that looked so promising in
the spring and
early summer were wiped out in a few weeks or overnight by grasshoppers, hail,
dust, or drought. The savings Homer had entrusted to the local bank to help
educate his 11 children were lost forever when President Roosevelt declared
a “bank holiday.” Also, the government, hoping to support milk prices,
required farmers to reduce their dairy herds. Maudie wept as several of their
cows were led away—her only source of a little cash.
The bills mounted at the grocery store, feed store, and doctor’s office. The farm payment had to be deferred. They reluctantly borrowed from relatives. Finally the Federal Land Bank sent notice that they were repossessing the farm—and baby number 12 was on the way.
The Spauldings held an auction, packed their few personal possessions in a small trailer and headed west. Relatives in Idaho invited them to spend a few months. They could work in the berries or at the dairy and earn some money before going on to California. It was here that the family learned of an academy and college where you could “work your way through” and earn a degree. That college was Walla Walla.
But World War II interrupted their plans. Homer worked in the shipyards after moving to Southern California. The older boys, one by one, were drafted or joined the army. One son, a chauffeur for a general, lost his life stateside in an automobile accident. Another was killed in the Battle of the Bulge. Maudie said she would never smile again.
One son was now a theology student at WWC when his brother returned from military service. He too enrolled, utilizing G.I. Bill benefits. Maudie and Homer had been able to do little more than give encouragement and advice with a few dollars or new suit thrown in, but how proud they were to witness that first graduation. And the college actually owed their son money when he finished.
Others followed, found jobs on campus or in the community, studied faithfully, and also found spouses who shared their dreams. Eventually, every one of the Spaulding children attended college—seven here at Walla Walla, four of them graduating. Most went on to graduate school. One daughter served as dean of women on this campus. Others became teachers, preachers, doctors, nurses, medical technicians, and an antique car dealer. And those debts that piled up during the lean years in Dakota? Homer finally paid off every cent.
The vision that Homer and Maudie kept before their family during the difficult years did not end with their children, but passed on to the grandchildren. They moved to College Place at about the time the college barn was torn down. They enjoyed being near the college, attending the talent programs, camp meetings, and the little Village Church. But in the mid-60s Homer had a stroke and died, leaving Maudie to carry on alone.
In the early 70s grandchildren who were college age by now were searching for a good school. Money was scarce, so the state schools beckoned, but Grandma Spaulding urged them to attend WWC and stay in her spare rooms. She would clean, cook good meals, do laundry, give advice, and pray for them. Eleven grandchildren have attended WWC, four of them lived with Grandma.
But her generosity didn’t stop with her family. When students, short of funds, learned that the little lady in the pink house might have a room for them too, Maudie took them in, providing room and board for a small fee, with prayer and advice thrown in for free. She never doubted that WWC was the place to get a Christian education. It was worth the effort, and she was willing to do her part.
Her last granddaughter graduated from WWC during its centennial year in 1992, and Maudie Spaulding, dedicated mother and college friend, passed away. But her and Homer’s vision of the importance of higher education, and especially Christian education, lives on, not only in their children and grandchildren, but also in their great-grandchildren. W