Chief Wilson at the Helm

[p. 35] Henry Wilson had one mission in life that overshadowed all others. That mission was to make the University of Illinois YMCA the most effective and outstanding student Christian association in the country. Most of his working life was devoted to this objective. He came as General Secretary in 1916 and was on the job when he died suddenly of a heart attack on September 15, 1946.

Henry was born in Montreal in 1883 and after completing grade school attended a private preparatory school “for young gentlemen.” Then he entered his father’s real estate and shoe business in Winnipeg, concentrating on the shoe side. As an active member of the Winnipeg YMCA he became deeply interested in boys work, decided that he would like to devote his life to working with young men, and left his father’s employment for full-time boys work with the YMCA.

Success with the work at Winnipeg brought him to the notice of YMCA officials and in 1910 he was asked to become Secretary of the YMCA in Marshalltown, Iowa. This was primarily a railroad YMCA, but Henry saw that the program was expanded and before he left raised funds and saw a new building erected. In 1915 he left Marshalltown for a year at Yale Divinity School. Here he became deeply interested in the student YMCA movement and when approached about becoming General Secretary of the Y at the University of Illinois, accepted and commenced his thirty-year career at that institution in 1916 where he succeeded E. Glen Hersman.

Henry grew up in a family where the father-figure and discipline were important. His father, of English-Irish descent, came to Canada from Dublin. He had attended the Dublin Military Institute and had served in the army. His grandfather on his mother’s side fought in the Civil War, leaving Canada so he could join Sherman’s army. After being captured in the South he was freed, came back to Canada and made his living as a building contractor. He gave liberally to the Salvation Army.

Henry had three brothers, one of whom, Tom, a brilliant and devout young man, was an amputee. Henry was strongly attracted to Tom and spent a great deal of time with him, carrying him on his back from one place to another.

[p. 36] Considering his background it is not difficult to understand certain strong views he held. He believed that the YMCA was a young man’s organization and that its purpose and functioning would be diluted if women were also members. As an administrator he was extremely business-like and believed that certain formalities should be observed, even among immediate members of the staff. Fraternizing and the use of first names were not the order of the day. But this same administrative formalism at that time pervaded the University. The writer recalls that as an Assistant to three Deans of Agriculture prior to World War II, he was never invited to one of their homes—but they were good Deans of Agriculture—just as Henry Wilson was an outstanding YMCA secretary. Business was business and when he was working for the Y, other things had no place. But he did have close friends, many of whom visited in his home—Parr, Baker, and Deans Babcock and Thompson among them. The Wilsons were neighbors and close friends of the Lloyd Moreys, though Morey never served on the Y Board and more often than not took a view contrary to that of the Y when problems arose between it and the University.

Wilson had definite views about the espousal of movements by the YMCA. In his view, it should not. So he refused to have the Y promote the Peace Movement after World War I or either support or denounce compulsory military training. Dr. Henry Wilson, only son of the Chief, remembers as a young boy his father’s total commitment to the Y, his almost weekly trips to Chicago to raise money, the pace at which he drove himself, and his unwillingness to neglect his role in local programs though the search for finances frequently constituted a full-time occupation.

In December, 1941, twenty-five years after he had cast his lot with the University Y a recognition dinner was held for him. What he heard and read on this occasion must have given him great satisfaction—and an even stronger will to make the Y’s program the most distinguished in America.

The Program Expands

In one of his early reports to the Board Chief Wilson said: “So many students come to the University with an institutionalized interpretation of the Association that it is exceedingly difficult for them to recognize it as a Christian movement rather than as a building where they may indulge in swimming or gymnastics or other past times.” After arriving on the scene, the Chief proceeded to dispel this notion and further expand the idea that the main function of the YMCA on a university campus is to render service and create leadership in a Christian context.

Harking back to his work with boys in Winnipeg he strengthened the community boys program in Champaign-Urbana. In addition to its two-fold purpose—to answer the need of boys for healthful recreation and to build leadership in the YMCA students who participated—he no doubt expected that a by-product would be some strengthening of the boys’ feelings about religion and [p. 37] the church. Large numbers of students, including many University athletes, participated in this program as managers and coaches. It is probable that this work with boys spurred the establishment of McKinley YMCA in Champaign.

The Chief was not satisfied with strictly local programs involving YMCA members; he also took a hand in organizing deputation teams which visited high schools and churches interpreting the Christian faith and no doubt serving as excellent recruiting media for the University of Illinois. These teams would frequently spend the whole weekend in a community, appearing in churches and the high school. Hal Colvin recalls that he was scheduled to leave with such a team on the day the old YMCA hut burned. After finding that they could be of no help, he and the team departed as scheduled.

Over the years this work with boys produced countless leaders who became prominent not only on the regional and national scale, but also worldwide. To name just two examples—E. G. Williamson became Dean of Students at the University of Minnesota and was one of the early leaders in establishing guidance and counseling in higher education; E. R. Hilgard became one of the top psychologists in the country.

Hi-Y clubs and an Older Boys Conference were sponsored by the University YMCA. This latter was for older boys and workers with boys from the high schools and Sundays schools of the county. The theme for one such conference was “Where Will You Be Ten Years From Today?” Appearing on the program, besides Wilson and Colvin, were the mayors of Champaign and Urbana, local ministers, several professors from the University, the Ag. Quartet, and Dean Thomas Arkle Clark.

The University Y assumed an increased leadership and participation role in state and national YMCA affairs—such as the National Student YMCA Assemblies held quadrennially and the National Student YMCA-YWCA Staff Seminars held for two weeks each summer.

On the campus the Chief’s prime objective was to reach students—Bible study groups, Freshman Fellowship groups, and All-University Services held in the auditorium were some of the means. At the same time the service activities of the Y were strengthened—finding employment, finding rooms, and aiding foreign students, for example. While all this was going on, the Chief commenced building bridges to the financial community with a view to creating an endowment and raising funds for a new building. For two years he carried on this work alone; there were no other staff members. In 1918 C. D. Hayes joined as Associate Secretary and began working with foreign students. The Chief needed more help and he got it.

Enter Mic

When M. Ian Coldwell (his three initials spell “MIC”) retired after nearly thirty-eight years on the Y staff, Paul Van Arsdell speaking at Mic’s recognition banquet said: “In this hall are those who in the firelight glow of Camp Seymour [p. 38] have seen a tall, straight man with penetrating look and forceful voice stand before thirty eighteen-year-olds with the admonition, ‘Don’t you fellows forget your Christ.’ You have not forgotten; you will not forget.” Although a capable speaker, Mic rarely made public addresses. For these he had the talent, but they were not his method. He preferred to counsel at close range with one individual or with small groups. Moreover, and significantly, rather than impose his own definitive and firm convictions on another, he sought to encourage the individual to build convictions through the person’s own reasoning and conscience. His zeal and relentless energy helped Henry Wilson and others make the University of Illinois YMCA the outstanding organization of its kind in America.

Mic was born on a farm near Oxford, Kansas in 1889. After being graduated from Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas and doing graduate work at the University of Kansas, he taught school and coached football for several years. He came to the University of Illinois in 1918 as a YMCA worker with the SATC (Student Army Training Corp), was discovered by Henry Wilson, and joined the staff of the Y that year.

Mic liked program work and dealing with young men. Though asked to become the fund raiser for the Y in 1940, a task he did so well he was never permitted to escape, his heart was always with program and the counseling and guidance of young men. This assignment which he was not able to escape plus the fact that he and Henry Wilson were both strongminded individuals with their own ideas about running a railroad created a tension between the two which didn’t subside. To the credit of both men and the everlasting benefit of the Y, they delivered the goods despite their feelings.

In 1944 on the 100th anniversary of the YMCA movement a twenty-five year recognition dinner was held for Mic. The occasion was announced by Dr. C. L. Metcalf, Chairman of the Board, and letters came in not only from the local community and the state of Illinois but from around the world. There is no better testimony to the effectiveness of Mic Coldwell than the remarks contained in these letters. Some even contained poetry, the one from Dean Carmichael, for example:

“Some men possess such active central force
That others gravitate into their sphere
And see in all they think and do a source
Of what seems permanent in man’s career.”

Bishop James C. Baker wrote from California, “It was a good hour for us when you came. You have had the good sense to stay by in an opportunity not excelled in any other university in the world.” Charles B. Shuman, later to become President of the American Farm Bureau Federation, wrote: “Your work with the Y has been an outstanding contribution to the building of character in thousands of students.” William E. Britton, a member of the Law Faculty and for a time legal counsel of the University, wrote to the editor of the University of Illinois Alumni News: “I do not want to let the opportunity pass without saying something [p. 39] concerning my impressions of Mic Coldwell’s work at Illinois. Both in and out of the YMCA Mic’s work with students for the past twenty-five years has been of incalculable value not only to the students so helped in the planning of their individual lives but also to the wider interests of the University of Illinois. As an associated layman in the work of the YMCA and as a friend I have known Mic Coldwell a long time. Over the years there have been but few men in or about the campus who have touched so helpfully and so abidingly so many student lives as Mic Coldwell has touched.” Ralph Dunlop, Chaplain of Northwestern University, thanked Mic for leading him into the Ministry and said, “I can remember the first day that I arrived in Champaign and on a lonely Sunday afternoon wandered into the old building to see what I could see, and one of the first persons I saw was you. I shall never forget your cordiality or your sincerity. It meant a lot to me.” Rabbi Abraham Sachar, National Director of the Hillel Foundations, wrote, “Your steady counsel contributed to stabilizing hundreds of young people who passed through the portals of the University YMCA.”

Sentiments like these were repeated when Mic was honored in his retirement twelve years later, in 1956. On that occasion Dean Albert Harno of the College of Law spoke on behalf of the faculty and Corliss D. Anderson, Chicago Financial Consultant, friend of the Y, and Y trustee, spoke on behalf of alumni and friends.

The remarkable impact which both Mic and Chief Wilson made on men who passed through the Y did not result from keeping an eight-hour day or ten-hour day. Both had an uncanny sense about the problems of young men and where and when these problems might arise. Their aim was to be at the right place at the right time—not keep hours. Fortunately for the human race people like this do come along. They are not plentiful and they don’t always earn plaudits—for their cohorts either do not understand or are envious of their commitment. To their everlasting credit they imbued countless young men with the will to act likewise and the world, woefully imperfect still, is better for it. Not for a moment would one discount the role played by the University faculty members, by those who have supported the Y with generous giving, and by the dedicated students who have manned Y offices, but without a Chief Wilson and a Mic Coldwell and in a later day a John Price, and an Ed Nestingen, and others who did not keep hours, all these roles, no matter how well played, would have produced only an ordinary play.

World War I

“They’re back now—most of them, and the others will be here in September. The boys Uncle Sam called away to do that little job the Kaiser put up to us. That means the old Illinois we knew before the war, but richer for the experience. It means the old campus life again and in that life the Young Men’s Christian Association must play its part and render its unique service more adequately than ever before.” This appeared in a little Y wartime publication called Shrapnel, [p. 40] which also contained a plea from Dean Kendrick C. Babcock, Chairman of the Finance Committee, for more funds, explaining that the Y planned a larger program for 1919-20 than ever before. Some notion of the size and scope of that program appears in an article written by Henry Wilson for the November, 1919, issue of The Intercollegian. In part he said: “To the University of Illinois as to many other institutions this season brought the largest enrollment in history and it is safe to say that many of the new arrivals came direct to Association headquarters. A great number of the new arrivals had been in camps in this country and overseas. Indeed, it seems some days as though two out of every three men are wearing the service button. The Hut, which serves as our headquarters, was a familiar friendly sight. The employment secretary was on the job early and late and made his office indispensable to actually several hundred needy men. Upward of 700 men applied, one-third of whom secured permanent positions while as many more found temporary work and odd jobs. It took all the ingenuity possessed by several well-qualified canvassers to open up new sources of employment.” This is how it was without a GI Bill.

The Y cooperated with local churches in putting on social programs—its special contribuiton being a musical each evening from 7 to 8 o’clock for the week prior to the beginning of classes. A World Problems Forum was organized and the meetings drew full houses. Rooming and fraternity houses were canvassed to promote discussion groups. A stag was held with 1,700 men present.

The boys work committee operated in high gear and it was the time when work with foreign students really got under way. In his article the Chief said: “One of the most far-reaching influences of our work is operating in the service rendered our brothers from other lands who have come to our University for study. One of our staff has devoted himself to serving these men in the many many ways open to him . . . making their reception cordial and friendly, helping them find rooming and boarding places, securing helpful introductions for them, and advising them on a multitude of problems peculiar to them . . . all of which takes infinite patience as well as Christian solicitude on their behalf.”

C. D. Hayes, who had served for several years on the Y staff in Chinia and Japan, had been recruited to do this job. It was the beginning of a distinctive program which has been carried on without interruption and which has attracted to the staff of the Y capable people like John Price. Borrowing a page from the way the Y Huts had operated overseas it was decided to bring women into the program. The first one employed was Miss Mary A. Rolfe, who had experience in France with the Red Cross and with both the YW and YMCAs.

For the first time Wilson had a staff, making possible some distribution of labor. Besides himself, C. D. Hayes, and Miss Rolfe it was composed of Mic Coldwell, who handled employment, campus service and membership; Hal Colvin in charge of boys work committees and social service; and Captain J. M. McKendrick in charge of committees promoting discussion groups, religious meetings, gospel teams, and friendship councils.

The Y was active throughout the War years. During the influenza epidemic [p. 41] when meetings were restricted the Y showed movies to the 1,500 SATC men who were bedded down in the armory, “perhaps the biggest bedroom in the world,” one of its publications stated. The Y sponsored religious meetings in the auditorium; nine such were attended by 5,500 men. When Dr. T. W. Galloway came under Y auspices to “deliver a wholesome scientific address on sex hygiene” the commanding officers of the SATC and SNTC ordered a full muster for the occasion.

The Hut was crowded all day long with men going and coming, looking for companionship, something to read, an answer to problems. Not the least of the Y’s activities was encouraging men to communicate with their relatives and handling parcels. On one day 900 bundles were wrapped, stamped, and mailed out. Y secretaries handled an average of 600 pieces of incoming mail daily. An average of more than 1,000 letters per day were written on Y stationery. During the thick of the war in 1917 “bugle services” were held in the University auditorium on Sundays. At one such service David Kinley, then a Dean, made remarks on the War Fund Campaign. Buglers from the Military School of Aeronautics did a number of bugle calls including “forward march, double time, commence firing, cease firing, fix bayonets, charge,” and everybody sang “Oh Beautiful For Spacious Skies,” “Onward Christian Soldiers,” and “The Star Spangled Banner.”

During the war the YMCA worldwide was totally involved. In an “Outline of Presentation for use of Organizers and Solicitors in the National YMCA War Work Campaign,” the financial needs of the national YMCA were explained. These needs were not modest. Besides the operation of its Huts and program overseas with all of the allied armies, 1,200 secretaries were employed in the United States for work in the cantonments. That year, 1917, the national Y needed 35 million dollars. With 38 million men under arms on both sides of the war and an average of 25,000 being killed, wounded, or missing every day it is no wonder that the Y needed extraordinary resources. And through it all the Y was committed to its Christian mission. Of interest are the following paragraphs from the outline:

“The pay for the various armies is; Russian, 1 cent a day; Belgian, 4 cents a day; French, 5 cents a day; England, 24 cents a day; American, 1 dollar to 3 dollars a day. The best paid are the most severely tempted. Our soldiers are farthest from home and are marked by the harpies and other agencies of degeneracy.

“The Soldier wants to spend his furlough seeing the chief points of interest in Europe. Plans are under way now to provide hotels and hostelries and guides in the various cities and to plan healthy occupations that the evils may be counteracted.

“One hotel in the French Alps has been taken over and negotiations are now on for others where summer and winter sports, athletics, mountain climbing, and physical and mental recreation will obviate the necessity of leave to Paris.”

When the ground school of aviation was opened at the University, arrangements [p. 42] were made with the University YMCA to house and feed the student soldiers in the YMCA building. The building at that time was the present Illini Hall. With regard to this venture President David Kinley remarks in his autobiography, “The arrangement whereby the students had been housed and fed in the YMCA building under a contract between the military officers and those of that organization proved unsatisfactory and the University took over the whole matter, making its own arrangements with the Association and becoming directly responsible for housing and feeding the students. . . . Thereafter things moved more smoothly, although it seemed impossible for one or two officers to realize that under the circumstances the methods that might be pursued successfully in an army post in the desert were not altogether successful at a university.”

If this recollection of President Kinley is accurate, it is not the first time an organization has had trouble trying to feed large numbers of people. Witness for example the army itself. Anyway, Henry Wilson didn’t believe that university YMCAs should operate rooming and boarding establishments. They had more important responsibilities. History has proved him right.

Freshman Camp

Though Mic had a hand in creating Freshman Fellowship, Fireside Forum, All-Pledge Banquet, Graduate Student Forum, and Faculty Forum, his most significant program contribution was Freshman Camp. During the Spring of 1926 Mic and the Freshman Program Committee under the Chairmanship of Harry Schlenz came to the conclusion that the kind of orientation Mic and other staff members of the Y were able to give individual Freshmen entering the University should be provided to a larger group and on an organized basis. Instead of putting the idea in cold storage they immediately contacted Y secretaries in towns throughout Illinois stating that a camp would be held in the Fall and asking for applicants. By the time the camp was to open in early September, accommodations were over-subscribed.

The camps, designated as Freshmen Conferences or Freshmen Leadership Conferences became so popular that two three-day camps were held prior to Freshman week on the campus. The best talent the University had to offer participated willingly—Deans, coaches, student leaders, and faculty members prominent in both Y and University activities. The Freshman Camp idea spread and during the next thirty-five years more than forty institutions followed suit. A plaque in honor of Mic Coldwell and Harry Schlenz, originators of the Freshman Camp idea, was dedicated and installed at College Camp, Lake Geneva.

During the forty-seven years it has operated more than 10,000 University of Illinois students have attended Freshman Camp. The impact this has had in getting students involved in activities in the University and on their personal outlook both within the University and in later life is difficult to assess, but it has been tremendous. For example, In July, 1939, Art Mosher, Y President in 1931-32, [p. 43] for twenty years on the faculty or Principal of the Allahabad Agricultural Institute in India, wrote to Mic and said: “If God calls missionaries, he called this one in the first instance through the lips of Mic Coldwell, and he used his same Mic Coldwell to bring me within range of other lips ready to second the motion.” Art also mentioned that he had learned something from Mic about enlisting financial aid for a Christian enterprise—“You should feel somewhat gratified and I surmise highly amused to know how my attitude has changed toward that necessity. I actually enjoy it now. It is almost a shock when someone says now, ‘My, how I would hate to have to beg money.’ It seems that I have heard that song before. You are greatly responsible for that part of my education.”

Attractive folders showing a freshman, suitcase in hand, scanning the whole panorama of the University, announced the camp-conference programs. Questions likely to crowd a freshman’s mind were posed with a promise of answers and pictures of the distinguished professors, deans, coaches and sophisticated young men who would answer them. Posters were sent to the high schools, and city YMCA secretaries were informed. The Camp was well advertised and well attended. In 1937 there were 3,000 applicants from which 300 were selected. The conferences lapsed for two years, 1957 and 1958, but were revived by Fred Miller and Ed Nestingen.

In 1962 Freshman women were included. With the growth of Junior Colleges in Illinois and an increase in University enrollment at upper class levels, Freshman Conference was changed in 1971 to New Student Conference and transfer students were invited. These changes were urged by University staff officers, particularly by members of the Dean of Students office.

In 1972 there was again a change of mind about nomenclature and “Freshman Conference” was restored.

What Is the Y?

Chief Wilson never lost sight of the fact that the Y had to justify its existence. Hard questions had to be answered. Why a Y when the University offered courses in religion and philosophy, when there were a large number of campus churches to serve the students’ spiritual needs, and when many of these churches had strong student foundations carrying on programs and service activities similar to those of the YMCA? Others pointed out that the Illini Union could provide needed social outlets and could institute service programs such as employment and housing. The fact that the Y is still going strong and serving many needs is evidence that Chief Wilson had good answers for the critics. In his 1928 report to the Board he said: “Because of the great urge on the part of many student organizations to justify their existence and because of the fact that we are a semi-public institution which gives license on the part of many who do not even donate to the work to pass judgment on the organization, its management, and its program we may be sure that different phases of our work will be under fire by many self-nominated critics from year to year. For [p. 44] example, we hear now and then that there is no place in the community for the Young Men’s Christian Association. The statement is made that the Union can take over the so-called secular work and the churches can take over the so-called religious work.”

He then reported the conclusions of a conference of church workers held in 1923 to discuss the question “Has the Young Men’s Christian Association and the Young Women’s Christian Association a function in University life in relation to the churches” which in summary said that the YMCA is campus-wide, autonomous, and student controlled; has freedom to deal with all student groups as units; serves to develop the sense of allegiance to the Christian program as a whole; renders practical Christian service in handling rooms, employment, and providing social rendezvous; as an indigenous student organization campus-wide is in a position to deal with the University in ways which an ecumenical student organization cannot; gives a united approach to non-preference students, students from abroad and others; and serves as an agency for initiating or correlating action common to all religious groups.

Just what is the University YMCA then? What is there about it that enables it to fulfill the role carved out by Chief Wilson, Mic Coldwell and others? Some of the early leaders in the movement answered this question very well. Charles K. Ober, a pioneer leader in the inter-collegiate YMCA movement, said:

“It is not the building, but something that built it;
It is not the membership, but something that wins it;
It is not the organization, but something that organizes;
It is not the achievement, but something that achieves;
It is not any thing on earth, but a spirit on earth that lifts things heavenward.
It is a spirit of brotherhood, uniting men of faith in fellowship and service;
It is a spirit of sacrifice, preferring rather to “fall to the ground and die” than to abide by itself alone;
It is a spirit of unity, giving a new evidence and releasing a new energy of Christianity;
It is a spirit of conquest, contending for the Kingdom of Christ unlimited.
It is the spirit of Youth with the dew and freshness of the morning;
It is the spirit of Manhood, pressing forward with the mid-day heat and burden;
It is the spirit of Christ, with His deathless life and his unquenchable enthusiasm;
It is the spirit of Association, the youth, the man, the Christ in undiscourageable and irresistible cooperation.
By the grace of God it is what it is, and by the grace of God one may possess and be possessed by its spirit.”

Clarence P. Shedd characterized it thus: “It has a strong social concern. [p. 45] It finds new ways of working. It is world-minded; it is intercollegiate. It is a crusading movement. It is democratically controlled. It has a liberal membership basis.” Shedd also mentioned that it was ecumenical. But it had not always been so. The university YMCAs led the YMCA movement toward a liberal membership basis—“purpose” instead of evangelical. In his report Wilson never failed to emphasize the Christian character of Y work, the fact that it is directed locally, that it is indigenous, and that the Y does not try to be a church. He stressed the fact that its scope is unlimited but it avoids the cultivation of sectarianism and it has no desire to become a “club.” He never tired of saying that the University YMCA is a movement motivated by a love for young men and a desire to preserve always the highest possible appreciation of the value of personalities.

Testimony that the Y in action fulfilled these standards is not lacking. There is enough to fill a volume. The following echo fairly the themes one would find running through this testimony: “Consistently the University of Illinois YMCA has been one of the strongest influences on the campus in strengthening moral character, in undergirding spiritual ideals, and in developing Christian leadership. In this strategic center of youth, I commend it to you.”—Dr. W. L. Burlison, formerly head of the Department of Agronomy and Chairman of the Y Board in 1929-30. “To me through the years the University YMCA has meant an institution behind which I can place my full support with the confidence that its program would be rational and virile in cultivating Christian character and Christian leadership.”—Dr. Morris M. Leighton, formerly Chief of the State Geological Survey. “My four years experience in the YMCA and my continuing association with it loom large as factors making it imperative that I serve God as best I am able as a full-time Christian worker.”—Dean Leeper, President of the Y in 1940-41, who later became a missionary and lost his life in Japan.

Give Us Men

In the program for the 70th anniversary dinner of the University YMCA is this paragraph: “By origin, history profession, and major sources of support this Association is obligated to high spiritual productivity in the lives of young men and may never with complacency and good faith leave that duty unfulfilled and languish in the domain of good intention, formality, or feeble effort.” Henry Wilson and Mic Coldwell both believed that the most important and distinctive mission of the Y was to take advantage of the fact that it was a university YMCA and produce committed Christian leadership for service in all parts of the world. In a brochure prepared by the Y in 1924 entitled “Leadership, The Primary Religious Aim” is a paragraph saying:: “State universities have assumed the educational leadership of this country. The atmosphere of these tax supported institutions breathes ruggedness of spirit, independence of thought, and affords acquaintance with men preparing themselves for the various callings and professions. Leadership in agriculture, engineering, commerce, teaching, law, [p. 46] medicine, and journalism is now coming from these great centers. In this environment will be found the kind of men we need for professional religious callings as well as the opportunity for raising ideals of community life in states and nations by developing in these potential leaders a sense of Christian mission.”

Thirteen years later when the Daily Illini carried a full page announcing the YMCA’s plans to erect a new building, one of the major items on the page was headed “Development of Leaders is Aim of Y.”

In 1941 Pence James, a feature writer for the Chicago Daily News was invited by the YMCA Board to visit the University and see first-hand how the Y functioned. Out of his visit came an engaging little booklet entitled “Give Us Men.” In the forward he said “It is a very unusual narrative, almost unbelievable to those who are accustomed to reading only “Keep fit—join the Y” ads. Any indifference that may have been shown toward the Young Men’s Christian Association is readily dispelled in the revealing light of a true picture of the University Y and its ability to develop character and leadership.” James also remarked that it was unique among institutions of its kind. He said further, “When on your journeys you come across an organization that was built solely for boys, that has no tickets to sell, no swimming pools to maintain, no gymnasium as a membership lure, nothing to peddle—only an offering of friendship and a program of character building for young manhood that reaches out much further than the inner circle of membership, then indeed you will have discovered the Young Men’s Christian Association of the University of Illinois.”

He then proceeded to relate what he called the “fascinating, I might even say amazing, true stories of some of these boys who have been taught how to be men by the YMCA.” He described Chief Wilson as “a social worker, a fighter for his beliefs, counselor and friend. . . . One moment he is a father to a discouraged youth; the next a disciplinarian to a failing boy; the next a hard-pushing business man making calls at offices all over the state to raise the budget needed to carry on the great work of the YMCA.”

Mic Coldwell also had some notions about making men. One of his favorite mottos was “multiply the doers.” He believed that students had their lives affected just to the extent that they were involved in purposeful programs. He quoted Buck Knight—“This campus suffers from too much spectatoritis.” Out of his own years of experience Mic mentioned “a galaxy of fine spirits and able leaders.” A few of them: William R. Brown, Harry E. Schlenz, Paul C. Brines, James C. Pettee, Don Black, L. S. Highsmith, John Larimer, Carl Milburn, Otis Randolph, John Douglas, Harvey Hensel, Erwin Dueringer, Dean Leeper, Robert Trobaugh, Loren Beal, Arthur Hall, Chester Marquis, and Ralph Johnson. All of these men were active with the Freshman Fellowship Committee; six of them were Y Presidents, five became ministers. All but two, Mic points out, came from small town high schools. Mic’s hope was that every man who was graduated from the University would be graduated a whole man—“Give us men” was more than a slogan for Henry Wilson and Mic Coldwell.

The Chapel

[p. 47] “A great deal of finding oneself in this universe is solitary . . . one must try to understand what he believes.” These were some of the thoughts expressed by Art Mosher in his address at the 80th anniversary dinner of the University of Illinois YMCA on February 20, 1953, two days before the Henry E. Wilson Memorial Chapel was officially dedicated. One of Wilson’s hopes was that a beautiful and inspiring retreat could be a part of the Y. He viewed such a retreat primarily as a place where one could go and meditate, though the chapel dedicated to his memory also serves other purposes. The chapel, which cost approximately $50,000, was financed by gifts. A brochure describing it and inviting contributions stated: “To realize one of Henry E. Wilson’s unfulfilled dreams the YMCA at the University of Illinois is creating a meditation chapel as a memorial to this great leader and friend to all who knew him. As was his wish, the chapel will minister to the deepest needs of all students in its convenient location across the street from the busy campus.”

Participants in the dedication service were Lloyd Morey, then Comptroller of the University, at the organ; Professor Emeritus Arthur B. Mays, formerly Chairman of the Board of the YMCA; Paul Van Arsdell, Chairman of the Board; Paul Burt, Director of Wesley Foundation; James Bailey from the School of Music; Phil Morgan, formerly General Secretary of the University YMCA; Theodore Frank, minister of the First Congregational Church; and Harold Ingalls, General Secretary of the Y.

The dedication leaflet carried a brief sketch of Chief Wilson’s full and fruitful life. In part it said, “From 1916 until his death in 1946 he was General Secretary of the University of Illinois YMCA, a period marked by great success despite fire, depression, and numerous other discouraging factors that might have defeated a man of less faith and courage. His work in the state and national YMCA programs was that of a strong able leader. He served as committee member and officer in numerous phases of those organizations. In 1921 he went to Europe as a member of the Relief Commission of the World Student Christian Federation visiting several countries on work with students and faculty members.

“It has been said that the present University of Illinois YMCA building is a monument to Henry E. Wilson’s vision, energy, and faith. But those who knew and loved him as “Chief” affirm that the more important monument is in the lives of the many students whom he influenced deeply and lastingly.”

Those who visit the chapel find, as the Chief would have hoped, “A little place of quiet rest all sacred to thyself.

“Where quiet thought and prayer bring peace and perspective amid the bustle and hurry of university life.

“Where in God’s presence life is given meaning and purpose.

“Where a student on his knees can face the fact of failure, academic, moral, social.

“Where the ultimate realities become real and true and the fundamental commitments of life are right.

[p. 48] “Where Cabinet, Board, and committee groups may worship before plunging into business and program meetings.”

Henry Wilson’s life with the University YMCA was not an easy one. When he returned from a fund raising trip to Chicago to find his home burned (he was met at the train by his son, Henry, and his only question was “Did anyone get hurt?”); when he had to work long and strenuous hours keeping the Y and its program meaningful and also keeping it going financially; when the depression struck and pledges for the new building could not be met; and when men who had promised to help in the building campaign were, in the light of the depression, not even courteous in telling him they couldn’t help; when he had to constantly be on top of relationship problems with the Y and between the Y, the churches, the local foundations and the University (minor as some of these problems were), he must have felt the need of a retreat such as the chapel now offers.

Following his death (September 15, 1946, while on his way to son Henry’s wedding) the Board of Trustees of the University adopted the following resolution:

“In the recent death of Henry E. Wilson, for thirty years General Secretary of the University YMCA, the University of Illinois lost a loyal friend. While not an official member of the University staff, Mr. Wilson’s contribution to the University’s welfare and student life has been far-reaching and outstanding. His able leadership brought him, and the University, national and world-wide recognition in YMCA circles, and the Association he so ably led has had top rank rating for many years.

“Mr. Wilson’s chief concern was that the YMCA should serve the University by providing leadership and a program in the area of moral and spiritual values.

“The beautiful building which is the house of the YMCA, while a gift of friends interested in the moral and spiritual life of students, is also a testimonial of the dreams and the untiring efforts of Mr. Wilson.

“Therefore, be it resolved, that the Board of Trustees hereby records its appreciation of Mr. Wilson’s contribution to the life of the University over so many years, and directs its Secretary to spread this resolution on the minutes.”