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A Family of Successful Entrepreneurs Born in Marion, Indiana, Ronald Morrell Jr. started to work for his grandfather’s company, Morrell Floor Covering, at a very young age. Morrell Floor Covering has been in Marion for sixty-two years, making it the oldest black-owned business in town, and helping to instill
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Childhood in Nigeria Born on February 12, 1979 to two bi-vocational pastors, Blessing “Yemi” Mobolade grew up in Lagos, Nigeria. Mobolade’s early days were spent engrossed in Yoruba culture as his father worked in finance for ExxonMobil—a job that often took him far from home—while his mother
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Childhood Lewis A. Jackson was born in Angola, Indiana on December 29, 1912. Just three years later he had constructed his first model airplane—only twelve years after the Wright Brothers’ historic flight. Jackson was only eight years old when he began to work to help support his family, and
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An Unsung Hero Although not nearly as prominent as civil rights era figures like Martin Luther King Jr or Rosa Parks, Nevada Pate was an influential civil rights activist and African American teacher within her community during both the civil rights movement and beyond. While her passion was education, her
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The Complex History of the Wesleyan Church, IWU, and Race Introduction The Wesleyan Church sprang directly out of the abolitionist movement, made significant contributions to the fight to end slavery, and then had numerous missteps over the course of the twentieth century (missteps which IWU is not exempt from), before
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The MCU Comes to IWU By Malachi Nutter A Dream Come True Over the last fifteen years, few film series have been as impactful as the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Across over two dozen films and a variety of television series, Marvel Studios has crafted an interconnected tapestry of characters and
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History of the Award In 2003, Indiana Wesleyan University created the Society of World Changers to recognize individuals whose lives serve as an inspiration, symbolizing the difference one person can make for the Kingdom of God. Eight years later, in 2011, IWU decided to add the Alumni World Changer designation
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A Global Dream By Malachi Nutter David Wesley Wright was born in 1955 to Wayne and Virginia Wright inside a mission hospital in a depressed area of the Philippines. The Wrights were serving as missionaries with the Wesleyan Church’s Department of World Missions at the time and decided it
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Onwards and Upwards By Malachi Nutter Henry L. Smith grew up in Frankfort, Indiana as the oldest of eight siblings. Both of Henry’s parents were ordained in the Wesleyan Church, with his father serving for over fifty years as the pastor of Victory Chapel Wesleyan Church. Smith later described
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Rebirth of a University By Malachi Nutter Born in Akron, James B. Barnes was raised in Barberton, Ohio where he played basketball and football in high school, before graduating in 1960. The Barnes family was far from rich, with both of Jim’s grandmothers living with them at one time
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A Two-Year Leap By Malachi Nutter Jim Hill grew up in North Carolina, the son of an evangelist who often traveled and was known throughout the Wesleyan Church. As such, when it came time for him to attend college there was one clear, Wesleyan choice for him–Houghton College. While
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The Once and Acting President By Malachi Nutter Born the son of a previous acting Marion College president, Robert R. Luckey was connected to Marion College from the beginning. Growing up in Houghton, New York, Luckey later said he never remembered a time when he did not want to teach.