A large crowd packed inside the festively decorated Ulrey Performing Arts Center last Saturday afternoon, but not for a show or for a dinner theater production. Instead, Searcy locals, Harding faculty and guests from around the nation gathered to celebrate the 90th birthday of the building’s namesake, Dr. Evan Ulrey.
A 1946 Harding alumnus, Ulrey majored in English, Speech and Bible. After graduating, Ulrey spent the next four years in Baton Rouge, La., where he worked with a church while earning his Master and Doctorate of Philosophy degrees from Louisiana State University. Ulrey then returned to teach at Harding in 1950, where he met his wife, Betty Ulrey, who was a junior at the time. He continued to teach for the next 42 years, along with his wife, who taught english at Harding for 25 years.
“Of course his goal and aim was to teach at Harding,” Betty Ulrey said. “He loved teaching. When I married him, I really wasn’t planning on being a teacher, I was planning to be a journalist, but later I found out that I needed to be a teacher for our children. But we both just loved Harding and loved the students and loved the Lord, and that was the best way we could serve the Lord. It’s been a wonderful life. The Lord’s blessed us richly.”
Ulrey’s wife and three grown children, Ann Ulrey, Robert Ulrey and Bonnie Barnes, organized the celebration.
“My mother and my sister and my brother and I, we knew we wanted to have a party, and we started thinking what can we do, how can we celebrate it,” Barnes said. “We thought this would mean more to him than going on a family vacation or anything like that. We just thought this would be really special to him.”
Several current members of the Sub-T social club, which Ulrey was once a member of and at one point the Skipper, made a surprise appearance to wish Ulrey a happy birthday.
“We just came by to show our support for him and wish him a happy birthday because he is one of our oldest members,” senior Sub-T Skipper Josh Stevens said.
Stevens added that Ulrey is one of three former Sub-T members to have a building on campus named after him. The two other buildings are the Ganus Athletic Center and the Jim Bill McInteer Center for Bible and World Missions.
During his time as a Harding faculty member, Ulrey directed several plays and was made chairman of the speech department, executive secretary-treasurer of the Arkansas Speech Association, editor of Speech in Arkansas, the southern representative to the legislative committee for the Speech Association of America and director of the Arkansas Consortium for the Humanities.
Ulrey was also a board member of African Christian Hospitals, an elder at College Church of Christ and president of Harding’s alumni association. Under the direction of President Benson in the 1960s, he took a year off from teaching to raise money to build the American Heritage Center. Ulrey said his proudest achievement, however, was getting elected to be the national chairman of the Pi Kappa Delta debate society.
Ulrey said it is an honor to still be celebrated among the Harding community.
“It means a wonderful thing,” Ulrey said. “I’m so happy to see everybody around.”
