Q&A with MU President Emeritus M. Elton Hendricks and his wife, Jerry, during a short visit to campus in June.
We lived on the MU campus for 27 years. It was our home, and we still can’t drive down Ramsey Street without pulling in and driving around this beautiful campus.
(We know a few guards who let us in.)
Q: Where are you living now, and what’s keeping you busy these days?
A: We live off Village Drive here in Fayetteville in an independent living facility and have about 50 neighbors, all retired, who tell stories just like we do. You get old people together like that, and we all tell old stories.
Q: Any projects in the works?
A: (Elton): I’m writing a couple of articles right now. I’m a physicist by background and my academic training, and I’m also a theologian, and so very interested in the relationship between science and religion, so that’s what I’m working on now. Before that, I was working on my autobiography that was recently published.
(Jerry): We travel a little bit, not a lot. We just got back this weekend from the Savannah area, where we attended a family reunion.
Q: So this area remains very special to you?
A: Very much so. We have a great many friends and family in the area, so we have a lot of meetings and meals with people we’ve known and loved for a long time. That’s an important part of our life right now. Of course, my son Dr. George Hendricks (MU’s senior director for Legacy Planning and longtime professor of Social Work) lives here as do his two sons. We have a daughter in Raleigh and one lives in Shelby. Her son is an MU alum. So we have four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Q: You were instrumental in many new programs at MU, can you tell me about one?
A: I remember the first Physician Assistant Program at MU had just four students, and now they tell me we have 1,000 applicants for 40 spots! We only had four because I told the director we were going to have a very rigorous program… and only four made it.
Q: What would you like to say to the alumni and those currently at MU?
A: I’d let them know we truly enjoyed getting to know the students… inviting them into our home. We’d sit in our living room and talk about important issues. I run into former students, and they tell me that meant a lot to them. For today, I’d share that education is not only training of the mind but is also a nurturing of the heart and attitudes and values… Be good citizens, concerned about making a living, certainly, but more than that, be committed to making a life.
To learn more about the great accomplishments at MU during the Hendricks administration, visit methodist.edu/past-presidents.