ANNUAL FUND
INVEST IN SEATTLE PACIFIC
My name is Edward Blair. I was that high school freshman and I’d like to share a bit of my story with you. My memories of SPC (now SPU) are a treasure for me. I was active in music and sports, playing center for the SPC basketball team as well as tennis. I was also student body president. But it was the work of the faculty in the classroom that set my feet on the path that the Lord had prepared for me.
In my day, names like Moyer, Ashton, Marston, Beegle, and Watson were more than buildings on a beautiful campus. They were the mentors and teachers and family that poured themselves into our souls. I can close my eyes and see and hear them as few living today can. With the help of SPC President C. Hoyt Watson, I received a generous scholarship to attend the Biblical Seminary of New York. It was at seminary that I met my wife, Vivian. From there we went on to Yale and a fellowship in Biblical archeology in Israel, to teach at Garrett Theological Seminary for 29 years, and to write.
If I have accomplished things in my life, it is because the means have been given to me. I feel only gratitude! And besides, all this is as nothing compared to what God has planned for us. The most advanced social thinkers and philosophers have never produced any vision of the future comparable to what God has in mind for his children.
I am now 97 years old and so thankful for the blessings my Lord and Savior has provided for me. Between my parents’ sacrifice and the scholarship dollars made available by SPC donors, I was able to graduate from college. The rest, as they say, is history.
My story is being repeated again this fall in the lives of a new freshman class. The Lord has prepared good works for them to accomplish, too. In fields like English, theology, nursing, business, music, teaching, and mathematics they will have an opportunity to “engage the culture and change the world,” much as we in the class of ’31 did.
But, like me, they will need the sacrifice of parents and the gifts of donors to make an SPU education possible. Over the years I‘ve had the pleasure of giving back financially to help current students complete their education at Seattle Pacific and follow God’s calling in their lives.
Whether you are from the class of 1931 or 2009, or somewhere in between, please join me in supporting student scholarships at SPU. Then add that new freshman class to your prayer list this year and see what God does with them!
Edward P. Blair, S.T.B., Ph.D.
Class of 1931
Update on Dr. Blair: On Tuesday, October 7, 2008, Dr. Edward Blair went home to be with his Lord and Savior. It was my pleasure to work with Dr. Blair on this letter to the alumni and friends of SPU. HIs greatest wish was that his story would be used to further the vision and mission of Seattle Pacific University. Your gifts to support stdent scholarships will continue his legacy. - Mark Miles, Director of Annual Giving
Click here to read Olivia's story
Click here to read Melyssa's story
Click here to read Rebecca's story
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