When President Charles A. Blanchard
died from a heart attack at age 77 in 1925, Dr. John Wallace Welsh,
pastor of College Church, college trustee and occasional instructor,
was called to serve as acting president ad interim. Blanchard’s
successor was originally intended to be W.H. Griffith-Thomas, the
Reformed Episcopal author, Keswick Conference preacher and co-founder
(with Lewis Sperry Chafer) of Dallas Theological Seminary. The plan was
that Griffith-Thomas, when asked to join the teaching staff in 1923,
would eventually assume the presidency; but he declined the offer.
Before coming to Wheaton, Welsh, a native of Elmira, N.Y., pastored in
Princeton, IL, at the church once led by abolitionist Owen Lovejoy, an
original trustee of Wheaton College. During his Princeton years, Welsh
enjoyed close association with evangelist Billy Sunday, who preached a
sweeping revival from Welsh’s church. The 1927 [[Tower] describes Welsh
as “…resourceful, self-reliant, aggresive, unceasing…” He had two sons:
John, Jr, who became the college’s first physician, and Evan, who also
served as pastor of College Church (1933-46), and later as chaplain for
Wheaton College Alumni Relations. John W. Welsh served faithfully
during uncertain days until a young evangelist named J. Oliver Buswell
was unanimously elected as Wheaton’s third president in 1926. Shortly
thereafter Welsh retired from College Church and moved west to do field
work for the Los Angeles Bible School.
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