Gunsolley, Jeremiah Alden (Professor)

GUNSOLLEY

Posted By: Mary H. Cochrane, Volunteer
Date: 6/30/2019 at 13:45:40

Prof. Jeremiah Alden Gunsolley

Lamoni's Passing Parade.
by Joseph Anthony. p. 141Blair Publ. Co. ca. 1948

One institution which held more than usual interest for me during my early days in Lamoni was Graceland College. As far back as I can remember I had heard my parents talk so much about it and the important part it would play in the activities of the church, and we had seen numerous pictures of it published in the church papers. From these sources I had gained the impression that Graceland was a school much different from the usual run; in fact, in a boyish way I had visualized it as one which surpassed all others. Upon my first visit to the hall, however, my enthusiasm was considerably dampened, as the college building sat out in the middle of a large field and s far as improvements upon the ground surrounding it, very little had been done; and when it came to making comparison with some of the fine schools and campuses I had seen in the West, it placed Graceland at a marked disadvantage. Nevertheless there was something especially interesting about this institution even in its undeveloped state to me as well as all residents of Lamoni. It was generally recognized that it required time for development and it was so new and different from any other institution in the town that spectators were quite numerous about the grounds whenever work was in progress upon the building or upon the grounds.

And naturally where there is any form of public activity, there is the usual group of curious youngsters eager to see all that is going on. In this group I claimed membership and many times I with other boys of the town sauntered out to the hill upon numerous occasions just to keep posted on developments. Although at this time the school had very few students and no organized athletic program, yet at one time I remember there was talk of a college baseball team and we made several trips to the hill to watch the college boys practice. When college was dismissed for the summer, however, all activity ceased; the building was locked up and remained so until time to reopen for the reconvening of school in the fall.

It was at this time of year upon one occasion that I remember walking out to the college grounds with a couple of my friends. It was late in the summer and the grass and weeds had attained quite a rank growth all about the building. As we neared the building we discovered the figure of a man almost hidden in the tall weeds, and as we drew nearer we co9uld see that he was dressed in overalls and wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat, and that he was mowing the grass with a scythe. When we came within speaking distance he paused in his work, removed his hat and as he wiped the perspiration from his fact he made a casual remark about the heat. Then we recognized him. He was J. A. Gunsolley.

At that time it did not seem so unusual that one of the faculty would be mowing weeds about the building, because at that time we had but vague conceptions of the specific duties of faculty members, but the thing that did impress me was the apparent enormity of the job. The sun was terribly hot and the grass was tall and tough, and if he intended to clear the whole grounds it seemed to me it would be a never-ending job.

For the moment he dripped his scythe as we approached and walked with us around to the east side of the building which offered the only shade from the blazing sun, and there he was content to rest from his strenuous labor and visited with us for some little time; and then I realized why so many people in Lamoni referred to him as Uncle Jerry. My conception of school teachers at that time was that they were usually strict and reserved and I naturally supposed that college teachers would be even more extreme in these characteristics; but there was a college professor dressed in common working clothes who wiped the perspiration from his face with a bandana handkerchief and talked with a group of youngsters in a manner one might expect from an older brother. From that time on I felt I really knew J. A. Gunsolley and why to so many people he was Uncle Jerry.

That day we also went inside the building which in those days presented little of interest except a series of vacant rooms. There was nothing elaborate in the way of furnishing a few chairs and tables—and the finish of the woodwork and walls bore evidence that it had been done with the least possible effort to permit occupancy by a restless group of students who had been forced to attend classes in a downtown building while they waited for the new college building to be completed. Many of the rooms were unfinished, and bare lath and studding’s were the only evidence of partitions in a number of places.

In some of the room's hornets and found means of entrance and had built their nests of mud, which were spotted here and there upon the open lath. The activities of these insects were the only signs of life and except for the occasional buzzing of their wings as they flew by us the building seemed strangely silent and deserted. At one point in our rounds of exploration we came upon an especially large nest of the insects, and filled with the youthful desire for adventure we picked up some odd pieces of lath and attempted to fight them, but our weapons proved inadequate to the task and we found those large striped fellows were plenty scrappy; and after witnessing how vigorously they resisted our efforts and feeling keenly the effects of those sharp stingers, we gave up the fight with the excuse that some day we would equip ourselves with the proper paddles for hornet fighting and then we would come back and really wage war upon them.

As we finished our tour of the grounds that day and started off through the pasture and down the hill, we looked back toward the building to see Uncle Jerry at his work, swinging his scythe with a slow rhythmic motion, forming a picture which made a vivid impression upon my boyish mind and one that has stayed with me throughout the years. At that time I thought chiefly of the enormous amount of grass and weeds to be cut and wondered why there was but one man to do it Was he the only one available to do all that work, and was he always there upon the hill alone—just he and those yellow jackets?

Naturally as time went on and I grew older I became more familiar with Graceland College and its activities, and my ideas changed accordingly. The significance of all that long grass became of les importance as I learned the real nature and type of work J A. Gunsolley was doing in connection with that institution. And I also learned that he was not alone in his efforts, for there were many good men and women who were just a much interested in the project as he and who were backing every movement for the benefit of the institution in every way that was humanly possible, yet there was much of the work that he did accomplish through his own tireless, persistent effort.

And through his efforts to save for posterity the institution which was so much a part of his life, he demonstrated that he and the yellow jackets had at least one character in common—the determination to fight to the death. To think of Uncle Jerry as a vicious fighter like the yellow jacket would be inconsistent with his easy-going, even tempered manner, and yet when the occasion demanded he demonstrated that he possessed a truly fighting heart, and the tenacity which recognized no defeat. Yes, that instinct was synonymous with both, and when sometime later the yellow jacket was chosen as a symbol depicting the fighting spirit of Graceland, the selection was a significant one.

To estimate or endeavor to give a fair representation of the value of the service and accomplishments of J. A. Gunsolley during the many years he was connected with the college would require volumes. To those familiar with the circumstances there is no doubt that he was the man who bore the direct burden of its operation, and it was his counsel and advice which gui9ded even those who were supposed to be his superiors in establishing the policies of the institution. In the first eighteen years of the college there were almost an equal number of shifts in the roster of presidents, none of them remaining in office long enough to definitely establish a policy of operation or an adequate curriculum.

During this time Uncle Jerry served in every conceivable position: instructor, business manager, acting president, and as occasion demanded assumed responsibilities as custodian of the building and grounds, publicity agent and general handy man. And no matter in which capacity you found him he was the same congenial, friendly, even tempered Uncle Jerry. Through the darkest days of the institution he was in charge of finances when the demands of creditors soon exhausted a badly strained treasury, leaving little to care for current running expenses or salaries of teachers long=past due; and to make matters worse, many who in the beginning were enthusiastic over the future of the institution and numbered among its loyal supporters, became severely critical. Even among the active representatives of the church –a church which so few years previously had sponsored the establishment of the college—were men who went into their mission fields decrying the mistakes and the impracticability’s of Graceland.

Any of dozens of similar elements of discouragement would have been sufficient to completely thwart the interest and progress of the average person but not Uncle Jerry Gunsolley. He moved along from day to day in the even tenor of his way, determined that Graceland must succeed, and even to his closest associates rarely divulged even a little concern over what most people wo9uld have considered insurmountable obstacles. In addition to all thee responsibilities and worries he found time to do a certain amount of church work, and he was always ready to give help and counsel to faculty embers and students; and over a period of years he made it possible for hundreds of youngsters to obtain an education who otherwise would have been denied the privilege.

He was rather slow and deliberate of action but few could make the display of energy that was ever one of his strong characteristics. On cold winter mornings he was always first to arrive at the college building and when the snow was deep he often shoveled through the bad drifts to make it easier for those who were to follow. If the weather was especially bad—the typical Iowa blizzard variety for instance—upon reaching the building and sensing the futility of trying to conduct classes, he contacted all available teachers by phone that they might be spared the effort of making a strenuous and useless trip.

Incidents of this character could be numerated by the dozens, but their importance is trivial compared with many of the difficulties encountered in those early days in which Uncle Jerry played so prominent a part. Today among the supporters of Graceland we hear much about the Graceland spirit—that inspiring, intangible force which has enveloped Gracelanders of several generations and furnished the incentive for the development of a more complete college life and richer more uplifting experiences. Just what it is or where it came from is very much a matter of speculation, but to those familiar with the incidents of those days, there is little doubt but that it was born during this period of poverty sacrifice and discouragements, when Uncle Jerry Gunsolley and his little band of valiant co-workers stood by so faithfully to save Graceland College for the future. Then it was that their sincerity, their steadfastness and loyalty, along with the spirit, of the yellow jackets, the tower, the west door and many other familiar symbols, became the warp and woof in weaving the fabric which has formed the mantle of tradition known as the Graceland spirit, which has been passed from generation to generation and is as enduring as the institution itself.

While J. A. Gunsolley is known principally for this work in connection with the college, he is also known a man who has always had the interests of Lamoni at heart and a citizen of many years has always been prominent in the promotion and advancement of the community. Recent developments have made it necessary for him to establish residence elsewhere, and when we count the years he has been with us we realize that he has reached the bend in the road; yet to his friends Uncle Jerry will never grow old, and we will always think of him as one of the pillars of strength in this community—the father of Graceland College, a true friend, a worthy steward—a trustworthy member of Lamoni’s passing parade.

Transcription by Jean Belzer

Prof. Gunsolley 1915 biography