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. . . Ray and Ruth Ann Myers, recently retired from eighteen years in Seattle where Ray taught earth sciences and science education at Seattle Pacific University, and Ruth Ann worked as Administrative Assistant to four deans and was the school’s Events Manager. Ray was born in Iowa to a Free Methodist pastor and his wife who met at Greenville College. When Ray was six years old his family moved to a little town in northern Michigan near Traverse City. During World War II his father went to work in an armaments factory making tank turrets in Detroit. In high school Ray excelled in track and cross country. He developed a real passion for chemistry, having caught the bug from his teacher at Spring Arbor High School and Junior College. He prepared to teach chemistry, but has never taught it!

 

After graduation from Spring Arbor Junior College, he went to Wayne State University in Detroit. From there he taught junior high math and science for five years. In the process he discovered earth science and it fascinated him. He took summer courses in geology at Wayne State and at the New Mexico School of Mining and Technology.

 

During the push to get a man on the moon in the sixties, the federal government offered incentives to those who would prepare to teach the sciences. Ray attended one year of the Institute for Earth Sciences at Oregon State University, where he received his M.A. Oregon State asked him to join the staff there, and teach some of the science education courses while pursuing his Ed.D.

 

In 1970, Ray and Ruth Ann came to Greenville College to teach with the understanding that he would complete his doctoral work, which he did in 1978—along with expanding their house, teaching and raising three children. To do so, he had to establish an inviolable regimen: He went to his study at 4:00 a.m. and worked on his dissertation until 8:00 a.m. Then he went off to teach and tend to other matters.

 

After seventeen years at G. C. the Myers moved to Seattle in 1987 where Ray taught earth science and science education, wrote grants, and designed and supervised summer courses for science teachers. The Myers really like the great Northwest, but they retired in Greenville because they had a house here, and two of their children, Debbie and Mark, and their kids live here. And it was really a kind of homecoming for them because they had come back to Greenville and attended church with enough regularity during their time in Seattle that when they moved back here some people thought they had never left town!

Ruth Ann is also a Michigander. She lived in Dearborn until she went to Spring Arbor. There she met Ray at a Freshman Orientation camp where they both worked on the kitchen crew. To pass the time they threw water on each other! Ray had a distinct preference for girls named “Ruth.” Before he met Ruth Ann, he had dated five girls and one fiancé named

By Dan Jensen

Get to Know . . .

“Ruth”! Ruth Ann was a member of a women’s quartet. One day their driver/chaperone told them they could invite their boyfriends to go with them on a weekend trip. She did, and he did! Ruth Ann was looking for a man who was a Christian, was kind and had a pleasing personality. She found him! They were married in 1960 and have three children, Debbie (Myers) Gasser, and Mark of Greenville, and Don in Colorado; grandchildren, and great grandchildren.

 

Both of these people are “rock hounds”— not the musical kind, but the kind that collects stones. Ray does it out of professional interest; Ruth Ann does it because they’re pretty! They have many boxes of rocks in their basement gathered from all fifty states. They have moved the entire collection from place to place for years. The fireplace in their home is laid up with some of the rocks and minerals gathered through Ruth Ann’s sharp eyes and Ray’s hard labor and willingness to take great risks. They describe a “rock hound” as one who walks around with a bag of marbles and every time he collects a rock he puts a marble in its place. Then, when he has lost all his marbles, he’s a genuine “rock hound”!

 

When the Myers came to Greenville in 1970, Ruth Ann worked with Howard Krober, and later, Ish Smith in the Development Department at Greenville College. She was soon in charge of the Telethon and fund raising for scholarships. Here in retirement she volunteers in the church office, and co-ordinates the Newcomers Ministry. Ray volunteers with Habitat for Humanity and on construction at the Ayers Center.

 

The Myers have worked and played with their children and grandchildren, and have served where they believed God would have them serve. Right now they are learning about and practicing “parental care”; they cared for Ray’s mother until she passed away. They now care for Ruth Ann’s mother, Clara Dapprich.

 

We’re glad the Myers are with us permanently—no more of this occasional visiting! Their life of service to God and man “has only just begun.”

 

“I am Ray Myers, and I approved this article!”