Testimonials

Ann Hope Haldeman '48

Mrs. Ann H. Haldeman has enjoyed a near-lifetime relationship with Westminster as a student, alumna, parent, volunteer, Alumni Council member, Westminster Fund Board chair, and four-term trustee. Among her favorite memories, though, was her student job as a "chapel checker."

"We had compulsory chapel four times a week, and it was the chapel checker's job to see that everyone was in their assigned seat and checked off in the attendance roster. Chapel lasted about twenty minutes, which was just enough time to run up to the Grille for a Coke. A forgiving chapel checker was a very popular person."
View Ms. Haldeman's entire testimonial

Mrs. Ann H. Haldeman '48

Mrs. Ann H. Haldeman has enjoyed a near-lifetime relationship with Westminster as a student, alumna, parent, volunteer, Alumni Council member, Westminster Fund Board chair, and four-term trustee. Among her favorite memories, though, was her student job as a "chapel checker."

"We had compulsory chapel four times a week, and it was the chapel checker's job to see that everyone was in their assigned seat and checked off in the attendance roster. Chapel lasted about twenty minutes, which was just enough time to run up to the Grille for a Coke. A forgiving chapel checker was a very popular person."

She first visited Westminster as a junior in high school to visit her older brother (Robert A. Hope Jr. '49) and friends from her hometown of Wilkinsburg. She entered the two-year secretarial program in the fall of 1944, and stayed to earn a teaching certificate.

"It was a very exciting time to be in college," Haldeman recalled. "When I started, Westminster was nearly an all-girls school because of the war. The servicemen began returning on the G.I. Bill in the fall of 1945, and by the following spring all of the dorms were full and the townspeople pitched in by renting rooms in their homes."

After graduating, Haldeman taught for several years and then married. She and her husband, Edward F. Haldeman, established a successful family insurance business, and had four children. She was a member of the Alumni Council in 1985 and recently widowed when offered the opportunity to serve as a trustee.

"It was a perfect opportunity at just the right time," she said.

Haldeman completed her fourth term as a trustee with 16 years of service last May, and plans to continue to volunteer.

Her strong personal and financial commitments to Westminster reflect the deeply satisfying relationship that she has had with the College and its people. "Westminster provided me and thousands of other young people with a wonderful education, and as an adult with meaningful opportunities for service and friendship. Giving back will help extend these important benefits to others."



Dr. Ross H. Musgrave '42

Dr. Ross H. Musgrave remembers as if it were yesterday the afternoon in 1939 when "two ladies dropped out of the heavens" and offered him a scholarship to attend Westminster.

"I walked home from Ambridge High School, and they were sitting out on the front porch with my mom sipping iced tea," he recalled with a laugh.
View Dr. Musgrave's entire testimonial

Dr. Ross H. Musgrave '42

Dr. Ross H. Musgrave remembers as if it were yesterday the afternoon in 1939 when "two ladies dropped out of the heavens" and offered him a scholarship to attend Westminster.

"I walked home from Ambridge High School, and they were sitting out on the front porch with my mom sipping iced tea," he recalled with a laugh.

After two years at Westminster, Musgrave entered medical school at the University of Pittsburgh and served as an Army surgeon at the end of World War II. He subsequently enjoyed a distinguished career as a plastic surgeon and clinical professor of plastic surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, specializing in the treatment of cleft palate. His development of new surgical treatments and prolific research won many regional and national awards.

In retirement, he has served as executive director of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Alumni Association, and from 1992 through this past May as a trustee of Westminster College.

Without the scholarship to Westminster, however, Musgrave doubts that he could have attended college and experienced such a rewarding professional and personal life.

"I feel so indebted to those people, now long deceased, who provided scholarships to kids like myself during the Depression. It was a wonderful start that changed my life. We both believe very strongly in scholarships, and that is what prompted us to make this decision. Scholarships provide opportunities that otherwise would just not be available."



Dr. Delber McKee & Margaret Carson McKee M'61

Stability is an important quality for individuals and institutions. That's partly why Westminster professor of history emeritus Dr. Delber McKee and his wife, Margaret, recently purchased a charitable gift annuity from the College.

"As retirees, a safe and secure stream of guaranteed income to diversity and supplement other resources is very attractive," he said. "And equally important, it offers a means of making a substantial gift eventually to the endowment of the College." View Dr. and Mrs. McKee's entire testimonial

Dr. Delber McKee & Margaret Carson McKee M'61

Stability is an important quality for individuals and institutions. That's partly why Westminster professor of history emeritus Dr. Delber McKee and his wife, Margaret, recently purchased a charitable gift annuity from the College.

"As retirees, a safe and secure stream of guaranteed income to diversity and supplement other resources is very attractive," he said. "And equally important, it offers a means of making a substantial gift eventually to the endowment of the College."

The gift reflects the couple's long-term relationship with and commitment to Westminster. The two met in Seattle where McKee was stationed with an Air Force intelligence unit during World War II and were later married when the war was over. He completed masters and doctoral degrees in History from the University of Wisconsin and Stanford University and was teaching at Simpson College near Des Moines, Iowa when circumstances brought him to Westminster.

"The minister of our church in Indianola had left Iowa to become chair of the History Department at Westminster," McKee recalled. "Soon, he needed someone to teach Asian and diplomatic history, which were my fields. He got in touch with me at Stanford by telephone and persuaded President Orr to send me a contract."

McKee taught for 36 years, retiring in 1988. Ironically, his move from the Midwest to Western Pennsylvania represented a return to his family roots. He had grown up in Superior, Nebraska, a small Great Plains town 'in the heart of Willa Cather country,' and his early childhood on a farm without electricity or running water was very similar to the experiences described by the author (whose works he enjoys) in My Antonia and O Pioneers! Later, the family moved into town during the heart of the Dust Bowl.

"My grandfather had moved from Western Pennsylvania to Nebraska to farm around 1912, and I was very surprised to find that his original home had been only about 20 miles from Westminster."

The McKee's had three children - all Westminster alums - and Margaret earned an M.Ed. in 1961 and taught for six years in the Wilmington Area Schools. They live in Shenango-on-the Green in New Wilmington, and are involved in a variety of church and civic activities. Margaret enjoys quilting, and Delber has helped organize and preserve the College's artifacts and contributed to a community history of New Wilmington. "We enjoy being involved in church, community, and college projects," they both agree, "as well as visiting our children and four grandchildren."