By Saziye Gourley-Ozhayta
Dr. Ruth McDowell Lavender will be retiring at the end of this semester, but before leaving she used poetry to reflect on her personal journey at Milligan in her Journeys Lecture hosted by Milligan’s chapter of Alpha Chi.
Lavender, a professor of English and humanities, recently experienced the tragedy of her first husband’s death in an unexpected plane crash in 2010 and then the gift of long lost love when she married her 7th grade friend Richard Lavender last year.
Lavender’s “I Choose to Walk at all Risks” lecture was not all that different from one of her humanities classes. She shared pieces of poetry she has taught on while at Milligan that helped her learn what it meant to be a human. She gave handouts with seven poems printed on it, including “Dover Beach” by Matthew Arnold, “Thou Art Indeed Just, Lord” by Gerald Manley Hopkins and others covered in sophomore year of humanities.
While speaking, Lavender referred to poems in the handout that helped her through her trials and also gave her hope.
Lavender said that throughout life, “we are here to bear the beams of God’s love.”
She connected this to the love she felt from the Milligan community when her late husband passed away. In an interview with The Stampede Assistant Editor Syd Bickers, Lavender said she remembered entering her office to find anonymous gifts on her desk during the first few weeks she returned to work after her husband died.
“Their love for me in tough times was probably the most memorable time,” Lavender told Bickers.
She said her students and faculty members did not try to explain the tragedy but simply showed they were thinking of her.
In her lecture, Lavender referenced “Thou Art Indeed Just Lord,” which she said could teach the reader many things but noted that it taught her that trails in life are like the rain in the poem, unwanted by necessary. She related this to her loss.
“By fall of 2011, I let it go. I take the rain I need rather than what I want or desire,” said Lavender.
“Many people in the rest of the world believe just that the world doesn’t have love, joy, certainty, etc. but my life has taught me that we need to hope – that there is a place for refuge,” said Lavender, after reading “Dover Beach.”
With the love and compassion of the Lord Jesus Christ, “it has been a joyful journey for me,” said Lavender toward the close.
Lavender graduated from Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, Tenn. in 1968. She taught at Furman University in Greenville, S.C. from 1988-1991 and Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Ill. from 1991-1998 before coming to Milligan.
“It will be hard not to teach,” said Lavender, but she said she does not plan on returning to any classroom setting other than a small book club in the future.
Lavender plans to fill her retirement by traveling. Her son lives in South Africa, and she plans on making more visits there. She also wants to read books that she has not had time to read while teaching. She will kickoff her retirement with a road trip to Las Vegas with her husband Richard Lavender. Lavender said her husband’s family lives there.
Lavender also plans to begin work on a memoir.
“I’ve got a story I need to tell,” she said.
*This story was reported with the help of Assistant Editor Syd Bickers.
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