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of that first small group of pioneer students. YOU--as a Co-Worker
with Christ in His great Work--have your part and interest in it,
as I have mine. I hope it gives YOU the same encouragement and
inspiration it gives me.
Eight of those students were upper-classmen, transferred
from the college at Pasadena. Two of the men were seniors. Both
graduated in June, 1961. Both are now ordained ministers, serving
many people in the United States today. Both married girls who
were Ambassador students at Pasadena--both now have children.
The other six sent from Pasadena were 3rd-year students--
three were men, three were girls. One had entered Ambassador at
Pasadena in 1958 from Surrey, England. He became student Body
President his last two years here in England. Today he is an
ordained minister, serving in the Manchester, England, and Glasgow,
Scotland, areas.
One of the other two men sent over from Pasadena is now
an ordained minister and faculty member teaching in the new
Ambassador College in Texas. There's a personal story, concerning
my own family, in relation to this man--so perhaps you'll let me
take space to tell it.
Just before the college opened over here, in the fall of
1960, Mrs. Armstrong and I brought over with us, as a transfer
student, our daughter-in-law, Lois--widowed wife of our son,
Richard David, who was killed in an automobile accident in late
July, 1958. With us was her son and our grandson, Richard David,
then age 2 1/2.
To organize and operate our new radio studio here in
England, we had transferred from Pasadena Mr. Benjamin R. Chapman,
who had been for two years before entering Ambassador at Pasadena
an electronics engineer--this following his graduation from
U.C.L.A. He gave up his high-paying job to study at Ambassador in
Pasadena in 1959. He entered the college here as a junior. During
his first school year here, he fell in love, first with our little
Dickey. Then, later by some two or three months he and Lois found
they were in love. They telephoned Mrs. Armstrong and me in
California to ask our consent to their engagement.
There was a big barrier in the way. We were not willing
to lose Lois as our daughter, and she was not willing to give us up
as "Dad and Mom." We removed the obstacle by adopting Mr.
Chapman as our son--in our affection, even if not legally. In the
spring of 1961, Mrs. Armstrong and I flew back over for the
remainder of that school year, and I performed their wedding
ceremony the day we arrived. Little Dickey said, "We're a FAMILY
now!" Today Mr. Chapman is a member of the faculty at the new
Texas Ambassador College, and they have a lovely new home over-
looking the beautiful Lake Loma (named after Mrs. Armstrong) on our
campus there. A little sister has come to join Dickey, and another
little brother or sister is expected soon. Dickey says, "I want a
brother!" Mr. Chapman graduated here in 1962, and Dickey is now in
the first grade in school.