(Photo by Calvin Shepherd - Use By Permission)
Alderson West Virginia - A History
Who's Who In America
In
a
history
of
this
kind
it
is
not
possible
to
write
even
a
short
biography
of
many
local
well-known,
able
and
worthwhile
people.
Alderson
has
had
its
share
and
many
of
her
sons
and
daughters
have
distinguished
themselves.
These
people
deserve
more
recognition
than
a
short
sketch.
However,
their
fame
and
achievements
can
not
be
recounted
here.
The
following
people
have
appeared
in
Wh0’s
Who
in
America,
and
short
biographies
of
them have been used.
For
three
years,
1926-1929,
Dr.
Judson
Allen
Tolman,
Ph.D.,
was
President
of
Alderson
Junior
College.
He
was
a
well
known
educator
before
coming
to Alderson and while in Alderson, the Junior College had its greatest enrollment.
Another
former
Alderson
resident
of
distinction
was
Ira
B.
Bush.
He
was
an
educator
and
had
been
Superintendent
of
Schools
in
several
school
systems
before
coming
to
Alderson
as
President
of
Armstrong
College
for
about
three
years
in
the
mid-thirties.
He
was
a
former
member
of
the
West
Virginia Board of Education, and had been President of West Virginia Teachers Association. Dr. Bush died in 1935.
Another
famous
educator
and
minister
who
will
long
be
remembered
in
Alderson
was
Dr.
Walter
S.
Dunlop.
He
was
born
in
Ayreshire,
Scotland
in
1878,
came
to
the
United
States
in
1901
and
earned
his
D.
D.
degree
in
1929.
Dr.
Dunlop
was
the
pastor
of
Old
Greenbrier
Baptist
Church.
Dr.
Dunlop
was
a
small,
distinguished
gentleman
with
a
great
personality.
He
was
an
eloquent
speaker
with
the
rare
ability
of
dominating
an
audience.
He
was
a
scholar
who
could
quote
poetry
in
a
forceful
way.
Before
coming
to
Alderson
in
1929
he
had
been
pastor
of
churches
in
Pennsylvania
and
Washington.
Dr.
Dunlop
was
the
last
President
of
Alderson
Junior
College,
and
the
first
of
Alderson-Broaddus,
from
1932-1936.
He
then
reentered
the ministry and later became Vice President of American Baptist Publications Society. He died in 1941.
Helen
Hironimus
came
to
Alderson
as
one
of
the
first
members
of
the
staff
of
the
Federal
Industrial
Institution
for
Women,
under
Dr.
Mary
B.
Harris.
She
had
an
L.L.B.
degree
from
Washington
College
of
Law.
She
was
Assistant
Warden
at
the
local
prison from 1929-39. She became Warden in May 1941. She retired in August 1949. (Click on photo for larger view)
Lewis
Edgar
Johnson,
for
years
one
of
Alderson’s
most
prominent
leaders,
was
born
in
Monroe
County
in
1860.
From
1909
to
1948
he
was
President
of the First National Bank which he helped organize. For 21 years L. E. Johnson was a Director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.
Another
famous
woman
who
lived
in
Alderson
in
"The
Cedars",
was
Ruth
Bryan
Owen
Rohde.
She
was
the
daughter
of
William
Jennings
Bryan,
and
she
had
a
distinguished
career.
During
her
life-
time
she
was
a
writer,
lecturer,
Congresswoman,
war
nurse,
University
teacher
and
diplomat.
Mrs.
Rohde
was
born
in
Illinois
in
1885
and
her
father
moved
the
family
to
Nebraska
where
Ruth
grew
up.
Her
second
husband,
Major
Reginald
Owen
of
the
British
Army,
became
an
invalid.
To
support
the
family
Ruth
Bryan
Owen
became
a
lecturer
and
had
great
success
after
World
War
I.
She
taught
public
speaking
at
the
University
of
Miami
in
1926-
28,
and
ran
successfully
for
Congress
from
Florida
in
1929.
She
served
as
a
Congresswoman
until
1933.
President
Franklin
D.
Roosevelt
then
appointed
her
as
the
Nation’s
first
woman
diplomat,
Minister
to
Denmark,
until
1936
when
she
married
Captain
Borge
Rohde
of
Denmark.
She
resigned
as
Minister,
returned
to
the
United
States,
and
again
became
a
lecturer
and
writer. (Click on photo for larger view)
In
1939,
the
Rohdes
bought
"The
Cedars",
remodeled
and
repaired
it,
and
made
it
an
Alderson
landmark.
In
June,
1939,
the
Rohdes
had
a
house
warming. Mrs. Rohdes wrote a poem for the occasion. The first verse was:
"I have crossed the oceans oe’r,
And traveled with a will,
But always I was longing for
A white house oh a hill."
The Rohdes lived at the Cedars for several years and knew a great many Alderson people.
On July 27, 1954, Ruth Bryan Rohde died of a heart attack in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The
"white
house
on
a
hill",
The
Cedars,
is
now
the
fine
home
of
Mr.
and
Mrs.
A.
W.
McThenia.
Since
they
acquired
it,
additional
improvements
have
been made.
One
of
Alderson’s
most
illustrious
native
sons
was
Eldridge
Campbell.
He
was
born
in
Alderson
December
1,
1901,
the
son
of
Dr.
Eldridge
H.
and
Bessie
Spessard
Campbell.
Dr.
Campbell
was
a
well
known
physician
and
he
and
Mrs.
Campbell
were
members
of
prominent
Monroe
families.
Eldridge
went
to
the
University
of
Virginia,
and
while
there,
won
a
Rhodes
Scholarship.
He
went
to
Balliol College, Oxford, on the scholarship in 1925. (Click on photo for larger view)
After
he
returned
to
the
United
States,
he
received
his
M.D.
degree
from
Johns
Hopkins
University
in
1927.
He
was
on
the
faculty
of
Albany Medical College, Albany, New York, as a professor of surgery from 1934-1956.
Eldridge Campbell was a Colonel, Medical Corps, U. S. Army from 1942—46. He was Surgeon General in Japan and Korea in 1952.
Eldridge
Campbell,
scholar,
surgeon,
professor,
soldier,
was
decorated
and
honored
more
times
than
can
be
listed.
Two
honors
are
indicative
of
his
greatness. He was decorated with the Legion of Merit, and he was a Diplomat of the American Board of Surgery.
Dr.
Campbell
married
Eleanor
Brown,
the
daughter
of
a
great
Johns
Hopkins
doctor,
Thomas
R.
Brown.
He
died
December
15,
1956.
His
sister
Elizabeth, Mrs. Carl Bivens, lives in Alderson.
The contents contained in this series is copyrighted and the sole property of The Greenbrier Historical Society - Lewisburg, WV Used by permission - November 18, 2008
Main Index
The History of Alderson, West Virginia
From The Journal Of The Greenbrier Historical Society On Alderson, West Virginia
Written by Kenneth D. Swope - Compiled and Transcribed by Barry Worrell
Charles David Nash
: Alderson’s own ‘Thomas Edison”.
