The weather Tuesday during the 10-year anniversary celebration of the Clarice L. Osborne Memorial Chapel was on the cold side, just like it was 10 years ago when Baker University first celebrated the chapel’s presence on campus.
John Watson and his wife Pam were among the eight visitors from England who came for the rededication. The British visitors were instrumental in moving the chapel to campus. John Watson said the ceremony went “very well indeed.”
The service lasted much longer compared to the ceremony a decade ago that was about 10 minutes in length. Minister to the University Ira DeSpain said the nearly hour-long ceremony was perfect.
“It helped us to make the connection to what happened in the past,” he said. “It’s important to me that students, present and future, know the story of the chapel.”
Pam Watson and her husband came to the first and fifth ceremonies to celebrate the rededication of the chapel and were excited to witness the 10th.
“This year was bigger; five years ago it was held in the chapel in a small scale,” she said. “There were more people here and more representatives from all aspects.”
John Watson said when the chapel was in Sproxton, England, it was wedged between two buildings. He said it couldn’t be walked around in its former location and looks much better here.
“It stands out,” he said.
Pam Watson said the British in the Sproxton area supported having the chapel moved here because they didn’t want to see it fall apart.
“They did such a wonderful job putting it together again,” she said.
DeSpain said when University President Pat Long first visited Baker, she thought the chapel looked so natural she thought the campus had been built around it.
The chapel hasn’t undergone many changes since it was moved here besides getting new seating, which Pam Watson said matches well. DeSpain said he thinks the chapel has really settled in.
The visitors from England all had a hand in bringing the chapel here. DeSpain said having them back has been really nice.
“It’s a humble thing to be able to see them again, he said. “I’ve really enjoyed them.”
At the end of the worship service, everyone sang “How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds in a Believer’s Ear,” which was a favorite song of Hilda Sentence, the organist of the Sproxton Methodist Church in England for 50 years. That song was the one that ended the last ceremony held before the chapel was moved to Kansas brick by brick.
Senior Matt Kmiec thought the ceremony went really well.
“It was really cool that we did the song at the end,” he said. “I thought it was cool that the people in Harlaxton went to the site today (Tuesday) also.”
At the site where the chapel used to stand, a garden with a plaque explains where the chapel is today. The Harlaxton students usually visit it every year.
Long wanted to hold different events celebrating Baker during the week to build up to inauguration, DeSpain said.
“Today’s ceremony fit really well into that,” he said.