Honor to Whom Honor

Overton Memorial Library

Sixth Honors Evening

Friends of the Overton Memorial Library

Friends of the Overton Memorial Library hosted the Sixth Honors Evening on June 7, 2011. During the evening, more than 650 volumes were added to the library’s holdings, bringing the total collection to more than 90,000. Dr. Bill Bagents, Vice President of Academic Affairs, presented President Dennis Jones with The Matthean Parables by Ivor Harold Jones, the 90,000th monograph added to the Overton Memorial Library.

Honors Evening provides individuals an opportunity to express gratitude for the important people in their lives. A lasting gift of a book is placed into the Overton Memorial Library with a bookplate stating the honoree’s name and who donated the book. Honors Evening always takes place on the first Tuesday in June.

This year, Friends of OML chose to honor Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Shuffett. Mr. and Mrs. Shuffett hold a special place in the hearts of the Friends of the Overton Memorial Library and Heritage Christian University. Mr. Shuffett served HCU as controller as well as Vice President of Business and Finance after having received a degree from Heritage Christian University. Mr. and Mrs. Shuffett were among the first lifetime members of the Friends of Overton Memorial Library. Mr. Shuffett won the Friend’s annual poetry contest each of the first three years. He authored the university’s history, As the Waters Cover the Sea. Mrs. Shuffett is a nurse and has worked faithfully by her husband’s side. Volume 32 of the Discoveries of the Judaean Desert has been added to the library in their honor.

In addition to Mr. and Mrs. Shuffett, Friends of the Overton Memorial Library recognized men and women who have labored to take the gospel to a foreign land. Obviously, many of the honored missionaries could not attend, but Friends of OML were pleased to see L. T. and JoAnn Gurganus, Louis and Bonnie Rushmore, Kyle and Sony Clayton, Edmund and Maurine Cagle, Myra Underwood and Cynthia Tillery.

Many volumes were also added in memory of Allen Bagents, the son of Drs. Bill and Laura Bagents.

On display last evening was an important work recently received by the Overton Memorial Library, a facsimile of the Codex Sinaiticus. Codex Sinaiticus is one of the most important books in the world. Handwritten well over 1600 years ago, the manuscript contains the Christian Bible in Greek, including the oldest complete copy of the New Testament. Its heavily corrected text is one of outstanding importance for the history of the Bible, and the manuscript – the oldest substantial book to survive from antiquity – is of supreme importance for the history of the book. The facsimile is now housed in the Coy D. Roper Rarities and Antiquities Collection along with several other Bibles.

Dr. Betty Hamblen gave an address entitled “In Honor of Libraries.” In her speech, Dr. Hamblen emphasized the vital role libraries play at different stages in one’s life. Nathan Daily, Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies, served as the evening’s emcee.

The Seventh Honors Evening is scheduled for June 5, 2012, at 7:00 p.m. Friends of the Overton Memorial Library hope to acquire Biblia Sacra Iuxta Latinam Vulgatam Versionem ad Codicum Fidem. This 18-volume set is a major critical edition of Jerome’s Latin Vulgate. We invite you to help us meet our goal. If you would like to honor someone special during next year’s Honors Evening, please contact librarian Jamie Cox at jcox@hcu.edu.