An Uncommon Man; The Life of John W. Raley

264 pages. Illustrations. Footnotes. DJ has tears at the bottom front and back top. Frontis illustrations. Inscribed on the rep by the author. Inscription reads For Rosalee and Earl, All the memories of all the years---With love and appreciation, Helen Raley Raley Chapel OBU Nov. 1, 1970. Includes a section on 'He Was Always Good Copy' by Jack Austin Reese. Dr. John Wesley Raley (1903-1968) was an author, president of Oklahoma Baptist University for 27 years, a member of the Oklahoma Hall of Fame and of the Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame. Dr. Raley moved to Oklahoma in 1931, when he became pastor at First Baptist Church of Bartlesville. In 1932 Dr. Raley was elected as chairman of the board of trustees of Oklahoma Baptist University. In 1934 Dr. Raley was elected as president of the University, beginning the longest tenure of any OBU president. Dr. Raley received an honorary doctorate from OBU in 1935. In 1958 he was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame and later inducted into the Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame. In 1961 Dr. Raley resigned his position as president of Oklahoma Baptist University, citing reasons of health. He was elected chancellor, serving until his death in 1968. Raley Chapel is OBU's signature building on the Shawnee campus. In June of 1934, at the age of 23, Mrs. Raley became First Lady of OBU. The Raleys would serve as president and first lady of the university for 27 years, from 1934-61. During that time, the Raleys led OBU through the Great Depression and World War II, and into a period of great growth in the late 1940s and early 1950s. "An Uncommon Man: The Life of John W. Raley" by Helen Thames Raley is a biography about John Raley, who was president of Oklahoma Baptist University for 27 years. This book tells John's story from his youth to the end of his presidency at OBU. Oklahoma Baptist University (OBU) is a private Baptist university in Shawnee, Oklahoma. It was established in 1910 under the original name of The Baptist University of Oklahoma. OBU is owned and was founded by the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma. A commission to plan the founding of a Baptist university in Oklahoma was established by the Baptist Convention in 1906 (one year prior to Oklahoma statehood) while in session in Shawnee. At the second annual meeting of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma (BGCO) at Ardmore in November 1907, the Baptist Education Commission unanimously passed a resolution stating its sense that "as soon as practicable a new Baptist University be established". A board of trustees was elected soon thereafter in 1907. The university opened in September 1911, holding classes for 150 students in the basement of the First Baptist Church and in the Convention Hall of Shawnee. Students came from other universities and preparatory schools, and at the close of the 1911-12 school year nine students received degrees. Included in the first student body were three men who later served as United States Senators: Josh Lee and Robert S. Kerr of Oklahoma and Huey P. Long of Louisiana. Oklahoma Baptist University served as an army aviation training site from February 1943 through the summer of 1944, hosting the 91st College Training Detachment. Cadets lived in WMU Dormitory, attended classes in Shawnee Hall, drilled on the campus oval, and exercised on the athletic fields. During the time of the U.S. Army attachment during World War II, approximately 2,000 cadets were trained during the sixteen months of OBU retaining military detachment. According to John Wesley Raley, OBU's president during that time, "OBU's participation in the military program provided several benefits: Satisfaction that the university had participated in the war effort; favorable advertising through the cadets who had been on campus; the ability to maintain a strong faculty, despite the decline in regular enrollment which had dropped to 326 in 1943, the smallest enrollment since 1918; the maintenance and enlargement of the.…