This Week in Texas Methodist History  June 11

President Selecman Launches Campaign for $500,000 for Theological Education at SMU  1026

Rev. C. C. Selecman was named the third president of SMU in 1923 after three years as pastor of  First Methodist Church (South) of Dallas in 1920.  He remained president of SMU untiln1938 when he was elected bishop of the MECS.  He continued in that role with the creation of the MC in 1939.  When he took the presidency, there were 2 buildings at SMU.  When he left, there were 7.  He was rightly known as fundraiser and builder rather than an academic.  His tenure as president coincided with a huge increase in wealth in Texas with the discovery of some of the largest petroleum deposits in the world within a few hundred miles of Dallas.

One of the many financial campaigns President Selecman conducted was one for theological education in 1926.   The goal was $529,000 to be used for scholarships, an endowment and a dormitory for married students expected to cost $150,000.  A striking feature of the campaign was that it would not be limited to Texas.  Remember that the jurisdictions did not yet exist, but Selecman targeted Oklahoma, Missouri, and Arkansas, states that would later be in the in the South Central Jurisdiction, in the appeal.  He also targeted California.  He had served in Los Angles (except for World War I Red Cross work) before coming to Dallas in 1920.

The campaign committee included the "usual suspects"  Dean Kilgore, Bishops Moore, Boaz, and Hay, and also prominent pastors, one of whom would later be elected bishop, Ivan Holt, then of St. Louis.  Two pastors on the committee would later become Dean of Theology at SMU:  Paul Quillian of Camden, Arkansas, and Eugene Hawk of Fort Worth.  Other prominent Texas Methodist pastors included J. W. Mills of Beaumont and Frank Richardson of Wichita Falls.  Wealthy lay men such as W. W. Fondren and R. H. Kirby were joined by about a dozen other laity from Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas.   

One will recognize both the Fondren and Kirby names as buildings at SMU still bear their names.  This campaign of 1926 represented only a small part of their philanthropy to SMU and other Methodist causes.  I have written a great deal about Fondren, but not so much about Kirby in past blogs.  Kirby was born in Hempstead (then Austin County, now Waller County) in 1851.  He attended Texas Military Institute, New Business College, Vanderbilt, and the University of Texas where his mother was dean of women.  He entered business and had interests in agriculture, oil, timber, land development, and city rental property.  Besides the Methodist Church, his passion was the Dry Cause.  He was state chair of the organization fighting for prohibition and donated at least $100,00 to that cause and travelled at least 50,000 miles on speaking trips.  It is estimated that he donated $2,000,000 to philanthropy during his life and left an estate of $1,00,000 when the died.   Unfortunately, he died only 2 years after this campaign in 1928 at the age of 67.  By that time he had already given gifts to SMU of $100,000 for Kirby Hall, $10,000 for loan fund for theological students, $1,000 for Virginia Hall for women, $5,000 to help found the university, and 800 acres of land between Houston and Galveston.  His body was laid to rest in Glenwood Cemetery in Houston.