This weekend, old and new members of the Harding community will gather to honor the people that made the university what it is today.
Legacy Park, which was built this year and now houses students, will be the subject of a series of dedications. According to Cindy Hunter, who works in Dr. Burks’ office and is planning the dedication ceremony, each building in Legacy Park will bear the nameplate of a past Harding legend.
Some of the people being honored were past professors, one was the chief librarian for the Searcy campus as well as the graduate school, one was a board of trustees member and two were missionaries.
“The thing they all have in common was their love and dedication to Harding and the mission of Christian education,” Hunter said.
Harding alumnus Andy Ritchie will speak on behalf of the families being honored at the ceremony, which is at 11:15 a.m. on Saturday. Ritchie, whose parents are being honored, said he knew all but two of the couples and that nine out of 15 of them lived within a half mile of the bell tower.
The building that will bear the Ritchie name is the plot of land on Park Avenue where Ritchie and his parents used to live. His father was a professor in the Bible department and directed chorus, and his mother taught math at Harding Academy.
Ritchie said the ceremony is a big deal for his family, and it is likely that four generations of Ritchies will be in attendance.
Hunter said that when the 15 families were chosen, a letter was sent to their children or spouse to let them know about the dedication. She also requested a picture be sent of the honorees accompanying any information that could be given about their Harding story.
“It has been a lot of time and hard work spent but it has been great to make contact with these families,” Hunter said.
Ritchie said that the families being recognized were true Harding heroes. His own father went on teaching for 10 years after he had been declared legally blind.
“These are the people who made the school,” Ritchie said. “These are people who taught for very little money. They sacrificed to make this possible.”
Outside of each building will be a bronze plaque to honor the families. Hunter said she hopes the buildings will have the feeling of a historic district and that students will stop to read the plaques.
“I think it is important for students to learn about those who have gone before them because Harding is truly a unique and special place,” Hunter said. “It has not progressed through the generations without the sacrifice and dedication of many wonderful people, like these that are being honored at Legacy Park. It is just like in our own families. We all need to know who came before us and what things they did to make the things that we get to enjoy and learn from possible.”
Those being honored are: J.D. and Mary Bales, S.A. Bell, M.E. “Pinky” and Rheba Berryhill, Leslie and Corinne Burke, Dale and Joan Coleman, Alvin and Georgia Hobby, Annie May Alston Lewis, F.W. and Mildred Mattox, John Dow and Helen Pearl Merritt, Erle and Mona Moore, L.E. and Queetro Pryor, Andy and Kathryn Ritchie, Roy and Marj Sawyer, Jack Wood and Mattie Sue Sears and Buford and Ermal Tucker.
