The most recent edition of “Wheaton” Magazine, the alumni publication of my alma mater, Wheaton College in Illinois, contains a wonderful series of articles on the love of reading. The cover features an elegant picture of Wheaton’s Alumna of the Year for 2007, Dr. Beatrice Batson. I have mentioned Dr. Batson previously in the pages of The White Rhino Report. I give her credit for teaching me to love and appreciate the great Russian novelists, especially Dostoevsky.
The author of the main article in the magazine is Karen Halvorsen Schreck, whom I remember as a young girl. Karen’s father, Dr. Clayton Halversen, was Director of the Wheaton College Men’s Glee Club for 30 years. I was privileged to have sung under his direction from 1965-1970. Karen traveled with us to Europe with her parents when the Glee Club toured in the summers of 1968 and 1970. I have vivid memories of a day when we were getting ready to sing in Salzburg, Austria. Sometime during the course of the day, a member of the group was asking where Dr. Halverson had disappeared to. Our accompanist, who had a quick wit, snapped back with: “Oh, he’s off looking for an Austrian Prince for Karen to marry!” Well, in reading Karen’s bio in the magazine, I see that she did to marry a Prince, but did grow into a gifted writer and award-winning novelist.
I commend to you her articles on reading and on Dr. Batson, along with recommendation for reading from some of Wheaton’s English professors. The relevant articles can be found on pages 14-19 of the link below:
http://www.wheaton.edu/alumni/magazine/winter2008.pdf
Enjoy!
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