Prayer

This poem was written by Connie TerMaat and published in the Fall 1950 Calvin College Literary Review. It was one of the six poems that won him the top prize in the Eerdmans Literary Awards competition.

Prayer

God, we who travel in the night upon the lake
Have loved the vastness of our world.
We have seen Thy hand
And even in the stars, Thy face.
We thank Thee in the times of storm
For harbor lights, the red and white
That guide us from the violent dark;
We of little faith who dare not tread
The waves which bare the heavy moon,
The golden footsteps of the sun,
We who have entered harbors during a storm
To find the tumult of great emptiness,
We who must so soon depart the lake,
We ask for lights to leads us home,
To guide us to that port where seagulls cry
And circling, sing not loneliness, but love.

Robert Haan with Baby Chris

Debate!

With debates in the news, I thought I would share these pictures of Connie TerMaat, high school debater.


From the Sheboygan North 1947 yearbook page above, we learn that his senior year he debated for the affirmative- Resolved: That the federal government should provide a system of medical care available to all citizens at public expense. They tied for third place at the Wisconsin Forensic League District Tournament and for fifth place at the National Forensic District Conference.

Below we see Connie TerMaat, debate coach in 1953 at Grand Rapids Christian High.


His debaters are listed as D. Monsma, A. Bos, L. Plantinga and B. Jeltema with S. Monsma and R. Baker in the back. They debated - Resolved: that the Atlantic Pact Nations Should Form a Federal Union. They had a 10-18 record but the yearbook explains that they debated against more experienced teams in state competition.

Here's a picture from the Grand Rapids Christian High 1953 yearbook of Dad as high school teacher. Or some bad imposter as it looks nothing like him. I'm sure the "Use your hands" quote is a reference to debating.

The Chimes

I decided to do a little musty archival research into the box of old Calvin Chimes newspapers that is in our basement. This article with photo from spring 1950 announces Robert Haan's appointment as editor of the Chimes. It details his grandfather and father's history with the paper. Click on the photos to enlarge.

Here is Robert's first editorial, a peptalk for returning students in the fall of 1950. I find his opening paragraph about not knowing how to stay busy over summer vacation very amusing considering the post below about his ability to make my vacations very memorable. Again click on the photo to enlarge and read.

(This bit just lets you see the part I couldn't capture in the first scan.)

Dad was on the staff of the Chimes too, as a member of the 'Policy Committee'. (Mom says that's another word for 'crony'.) Here's an editorial by Dad which stood out because the references at the beginning to the newly formed United Nations and the Korean war give it a little more historical context outside church and school matters than do many of the others I've skimmed.