1906 Irby Good and brothers and sisters and friends attended a social event on July 4, with boating, prepared food, and photography.
1908 Irby J. Good and Mabel I. Rivir were married on September 2, 1908 in Marion, Grant County, Indiana, where their parents lived. Irby's occupation was listed as teacher and Mabel's as housekeeper, on their marriage licenses. Mabel's father, Eli Rivir, vouched for both Irby and Mabel on the licenses. [3] [4] [5] [Photocopy, Irby Good marriage license, 1908.] [Photocopy, Mabel Rivir marriage license, 1908.]
1909 Mabel's mother died. Julia Ann Rivir, daughter of Lydia Hofman and Henry Hosler, and wife of Eli Rivir, died on December 2, 1909. She lived at 1002 West 3rd, Marion, Grant County, Indiana. [6] [7]
1909 Daughter Julia Marie Good was born on November 5, 1909 in Marion County, Indiana.
1909-1913 Irby J Good was principal of the Academy of Indiana Central College in Indianapolis.
1910 Irby Good (age 25), teacher at UB (United Brethren) College, lived in a mortgage-free house on Otterbein Ave, University Heights, Perry Twp, Marion County, Indiana with wife Mabel (age 23) and daughter Julia (age 1 month). [8] [9] [10]
1911 Lowell Herbert Good, son of Irby J Good and Mabel Rivir, was born on February 6, at 11 AM, in Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana. They lived at University Heights City, where Irby was a school teacher. [11]
1911 Irby J Good was awarded a degree of Master of Arts from Indiana Central College.
c 1911 Irby and Mabel visited Irby's parents Isaiah and Anna Good in Marion, Indiana with other members of the family for this photo, perhaps taken about 1910. Isaiah was holding an infant, likely a grandchild. Since Irby and Mabel were standing behind Isaiah, some have speculated that they might be the parents of the child. Baby pictures of Lowell Good look similar to this one.
1912 Irby Good taught history, German, literature, and geography at Indiana Central University while Dr. Lewis Davis Bonebrake was president. Irby's recitations were scheduled 9-12 am and 2-3 pm. [12]
1912 Sister Lydian Good married Wilbur Sharon on August 14. Arthur and Ida Wirick drove a car to the wedding at the home of Isaiah and Anna in Marion, Indiana. Irby and Joseph's children met Henry's new baby Margaret.
1913 Irby J. Good sold part lot 24, M. Burton's Addition, Perry Twp, to Warren G. Bailey on August 20. [14]
1913 Irby's father, Isaiah Good, died on October 5. [15]
1914-15 Irby J Good was made business manager of Indiana Central College because the health of Dr. Bonebrake was failing. Irby J Good was elected president of Indiana Central College [now University of Indianapolis] on September 9, 1915. [16] Documents related to his presidency are at the university archives [17].
1915 Mabel's older brother Orvin H. Rivir bred swine in Marion, Indiana. He was named many times in The Chester White Swine Record as a breeder, buyer and seller of swine. Some of his swine may have been given family names. One was named "Mabel G", perhaps for his sister Mabel Good, who had married Irby Good in 1908. However, Orvin raised and named many pigs, so the name Mabel was perhaps a coincidence. [18] [19]
1917 Anna Good, Irby's mother, and William Good, Irby's brother, moved to Florida.
1918 I.J. Good was tall, of medium build, with brown eyes and hair, and lived at University Heights, Indianapolis, when he registered for theWorld War I Draft in Marion County, Indiana at a local board outside Indianapolis. His Occupation was president of Indiana Central University. [20] [21] [Photocopy, 1918 IJ Good's WWI draft registration.]
1919 Ida Mae Good, daughter of Irby J. Good and Mable Rivir, was born at 9:50 AM on March 25 at University Heights, Marion County, Indiana. [22]
1920 Irby Good (age 34), college president, and Mabel Good (age 33) lived at University Heights, Perry Twp, Marion County, Indiana (mortgage free) with children Julia (age 10), Lowell (age 8), and Ida M. (age 11 months). Brother Allen B Good (age 26), carpenter, was listed adjacent, living with wife Mary E Good, Howard D Good (age 6 months), and 2 roomers. [23] [24] [25]
1922 Irby J Good, president of Indiana Central College, lived at University Heights, Indianapolis, Indiana. [26]
1923 Irby J Good was awarded a degree of Doctor of Laws from Indiana Central.
c 1923 Brother William visited Irby Good in Indianapolis. The photos above were taken in the summer at an "Indianapolis park".
1926 Irby Good, president of Indiana Central College, lived at 4202 Otterbein Ave, Indianapolis, Indiana. [29]
1927 A study at Indiana Central College led to required health examinations at the college. [30]
1928 Irby J Good, president of Indiana Central College, lived at University Heights, Indianapolis, Indiana. [31]
1928 The family took a motor trip to Los Angeles, California. [32] Perhaps they visited with Mabel's father Eli Rivir.
College Head on Tour
I. J. Good and Family Leave on Motor Trip to California
President I. J. Good of Indiana Central College is motoring to California with his family to spend the summer vacation. While there Dr. Good will attend the International Sunday School Convention at Los Angeles.
1930 The census recorded that Irby Good lived at 4202 Otterbein Ave, Indianapolis (Ward 10 of Perry Twp) as a college president living with Mabel and 3 children. The house had value $7,500. Daughter Julia was listed as a college teacher. [33] [34] [35]
1930 The Indianapolis Directory recorded that Mabel and Irby Good lived at 4202 Otterbein Ave, Indianapolis, Indiana. [36] [37]
1932 Irby J Good was named as President of Indiana Central College. [38] [39]
1933 Irby Good wrote notes about his biography and ancestry. [Photocopy]
1934 Irby J and Mabel I Good lived at 4202 Otterbein Avenue, Indianapolis. [40] [41]
1934 Daughter Julia M. Good and Ranald M. Wolfe were married on June 10, 1934.
1939 Son Lowell Good and Elsie M. Beck were married on June 9, 1939.
1940 Irby J Good (age 55) and Mabel I Good (age 53) lived at 4202 [Otterbein Ave], Indianapolis, Perry Twp, Marion County, Indiana with Ida Mae Good (age 23). [42] [43] [44]
1942 Mabel and Irby Good lived at 4202 Otterbein Ave, Indianapolis, Indiana. [45] [46]
1942 Irby J Good registered for the draft, He lived at 4202 Otterbein Ave, Indianapolis and worked for the college. He was born on March 16, 1885, in Nappance, Indiana. [47] [48]
1944 Son Lowell Good was registered for the draft. [49]
1942 A photo of IJ Good appeared in the ICU yearbook. [Photocopy]
1944 Irby Good's many accomplishments as president of Indiana Central College [now University of Indianapolis] have been summarized. [50]
1944 Dr I. Lynd succeeded I.J. Good as president of Indiana Central College [now University of Indianapolis][51]. When I. J. Good left the presidency in 1944, Mr. Turley sat on the committee that oversaw the interim administration. [52]
1945 Irby J Good, married, son of Isaiah Good and Anna Good, spouse of Mabel I Good, died on February 25, 1945, at age 59, in Warsaw, Kosciusko County, Indiana, of a coronary occlusion. He was cremated. Irby J Good was born on March 16, 1885, in Nappanee, Ind. Lowell Good provided information for the death certificate. [53] [54]
1945 Several obituaries for I. J. Good were published, including the following:
Death of Dr. I.J. Good, from The Telescope
Dr. IJ Good, former president of Indiana Central College, died quite suddenly in a hotel at Warsaw on the morning of February 25, evidently of a heart attack. He had long been a leader in the educational work of the United Brethren Church. His service as president of Indiana Central College, covering a period of 30 years, was preceded by a year as business manager and other official responsibilities. He was one of the first students and a member of the first graduating class, so that his connection with the College dated from its beginning.
He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Mabel Good, two daughters and one son. Mrs. Good who also is a graduate of Indiana Central College, has been a loyal helper to her husband in all the responsibilities he has borne throughout the years. She is widely known in the church, particularly throughout the cooperating territory of the College, and will have the sympathy of a vast multitude of friends in her bereavement.
One of the daughters is the wife of Ranald Wolfe, now with the United States forces in Florida. The other daughter, Miss Ida Mae, is in the United States service as a WAC in England. The son, Lowell, has a business position in Indianapolis.
In the editorial pages will be found a life estimate of Dr. Good whom the editor long has regarded as a personal friend and a man of unusual strength of personality and leadership, whose work in his chosen field is of outstanding value to the cause of Christian education and to the church.
Funeral services for Dr. Good were conducted on Wednesday afternoon, February 28, in the College Chapel, directed by Dr. R.H. Turley, pastor of the University Heights church. The funeral discourse was preached by Dr. O.T. Deever, Secretary of the Board of Christian Education. Dr. W.R. Montgomery, also connected with the Board of Christian Education as director of Brotherhood and Adult Work, read the life sketch including a beautiful tribute to the character and life worth of Dr. Good. Dr B.S. McNeely, pastor of Colonial United Brethren Church at Anderson, read a scripture selection. Dr Heedlie M. Cobb of Hartford City gave the invocation and the regular prayer was offered by Dr. A.B. McKain of Huntington, Indiana.
Music was furnished by the local choir, under the direction of Mr. Mogel, the choir leader, who also rendered as a solo, "The Holy City," and a special selection was rendered by a male quartet made up of ministers.
Telescope, March 10, 1945
Dr. I. J. Good and Indiana Central
Dr. I. J. Good has passed on, thus ending the career of one of the church's most dynamic and useful characters. For more than a third of a century we have thought of him in terms of Christian education - education that is Christian in the fullest sense, realized in large measure in Indiana Central College. That institution will always bear the stamp of his personality. He was identified with it from its beginning in 1905, first as a student and then as a member of the first graduating class. His graduation was followed by service as field representative, business manager and as Acting President.
In 1915 he became president, continuing in that relation until July 1, 1944. The college will stand as his monument. But for him it is doubtful whether it would be in existence today. He took charge of it when it included a single building, a handful of students and a debt that more than balanced its assets. The last year of his incumbency witnessed the liquidation of the last dollar of debt, assets of more than a million dollars, the school established in the love and good will of thousands of alumni and facing the future with confidence and optimism.
That, in brief, indicates the imperishable contribution Dr. Good has made to the United Brethren Church and to higher Christian education. But of course it doesn't tell the whole story. It is only a bird's-eye glimpse of the achievement of a great leader. There were various crises in the life of the institution when the story would have been cut short, but for his faith and courage and undaunted devotion.
Dr. Good was first of all a Christian. His Christian faith gripped his own soul and held him firm in the tasks to which he was called and which he invariably accepted as the will of God. He made no compromise with conscience in the interest of expediency. He sought first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and under his direction that ideal of life was always made uppermost in the classroom and on the campus. His purpose was to make Indiana Central a genuinely Christian college. He saw no reason for promoting a church school if you do not maintain Christian standards.
Concluding his work as head of Indiana Central a call came from the authorities of York College to come over and help them. Largely out of his great interest in the cause of Christian education he responded to the call, giving several months of fruitful service in their successful drive to establish that institution upon a firm financial foundation.
His last work was with the United Temperance Forces of Indiana. It was a work that appealed to him, for he was an inveterate foe of the liquor traffic. To that cause he was giving himself with his characteristic zeal when the end came.
Death came suddenly, while in the line of duty - a fitting end to a dynamic life. While stopping at a hotel in Warsaw Indiana on the night of Saturday February 24, after a busy day, he began to suffer from what seemed to be symptoms of a heart ailment. Medical aid was summoned and a friend remained with him until relief came and it was thought safe to leave him alone. His lifeless body was found in his room the next morning. The spirit had departed sometime during the latter part of the night.
It was, what seems to us, a premature ending of a life that the forces of righteousness can ill afford to lose - a life worthy of emulation and that will be emulated by multitudes now bearing the burden and heat of the day who caught from him the incentive to noble living. He has been called from his laborers but his works follow him.
Rites Wednesday for Dr. I.J. Good at College Chapel
Rites for Dr. I.J. Good, former president of Indiana Central College, will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday in the College Chapel. Dr. Roy H. Turley, pastor of the University Heights United Brethren Church, will preside and Dr. O.T. Deever, Dayton, Ohio, national director of Christian education for the United Brethren Church, will give the funeral sermon. Dr. W.R. Montgomery, also of Dayton, National director of the church adult work and former pastor of the University Heights Church, will give a character sketch of Dr. Good.
Pallbearers, all close associates of Dr. Good, will include Evan Kek, Dr. John Haramy, the Rev. Ralph O'Dell, the Rev. Glenn O'Dell and the Rev. Virgil Tague, Professor James Webber, Major A.F. Williams and the Rev. Craig Brandenburg.
The body will be at Flanner & Buchanan mortuary until 10:30 a.m. Wednesday when it will be taken to the College Chapel to remain until the funeral. Cremation will follow.
House expresses sorrow
Under the leadership of the majority leader, representative George W. Henley (R., Bloomington), Members of the Indiana House of Representatives today recorded in the journal their expression of sorrow and regret over the death of Dr. I.J. Good, former president of Indiana Central College.
Dr. I. J. Good dies on trip
Headed Indiana Central many yearsDr. I. J. Good, 4202 Otterbein Avenue, former president of Indiana Central College and a leader in the United Brethren Church, died early yesterday of a heart attack in Warsaw. He was 59 years old.
Known widely as a champion of Christian education, Dr. Good also was a leader of dry forces and had gone to Warsaw Saturday with other dry leaders to address a religious meeting.
Dr. Good was a member of the first graduating class of Indiana Central College which he headed for nearly 29 years as president.
After being graduated in 1908, he became a member of the faculty and taught until 1914 when he was appointed general manager. In 1916 he was elected president, serving until last July when he was retired by the Board of Trustees.
Led Fund Campaign
Following his retirement he served until Jan. 1 as director of an endowment fund campaign of York College, York, Nebraska. Since Jan. 1 he had served as Legislative Council of the United Dry Forces of Indiana. He was registered as a lobbyist for the organization at this session of the General Assembly.
He was six times elected as a delegate to the General Conference of the United Brethren Church and for the last 28 years served on the board of education and the board of administration of the church.
Dr. Good was born March 16, 1885, at Nappanee. He was reared in Marion and was graduated from high school there. In 1904 he attended Otterbein College at Westerville, O[hio], transferring the next year to Indiana Central College.
In 1908 he was married to Miss Mabel Rivir of Marion. Besides the widow, other survivors include two daughters, Cpl. Ida Mae Good, stationed with the WAC in London, England, and Mrs. Julia Wolfe of Jacksonville, Florida; a son, Lowell H. Good, 4201 Otterbine Avenue; a sister, Mrs. W. G. Bailey of Chicago, four brothers, Joseph Good of Florida, Amos Good of Marion, J. B. Good of Greenfield and Alan B. Good of California, and four grandchildren.
Efforts will be made to return Cpl. Good from England for the funeral. Meanwhile arrangements for services, which will be held in the administration building of Indiana Central College, will remain incomplete. The body will lie in state tonight in the Flanner & Buchanan mortuary.
Funeral services will be conducted by Dr. Roy H. Turley, pastor of the university Height's United Brethren Church, of which Dr. Good was a charter member and a trustee. Tribute will be paid by Dr. O. T. Deever, general secretary of the Board of Christian education of the United Brethren Church.
Tribute paid
L. E. York, superintendent of the Indiana Anti-Saloon League, paid tribute to Dr. Good for his work as legislative Council representing "the church, temperance and civic forces during the legislative session" just before his death.
"Dr. Good expressed his believe that it didn't appear possible that the present legislature and officers of the state would permit this session of the General Assembly to adjourn without the enactment of laws giving the voters the right to determine for themselves whether or not alcoholic beverages may be sold in units of state government," Mr. York said. …
1963 A biosketch reported [60] [61]:
Good, Irby J., college pres.; b[orn] Nappanee, Ind., Mar. 16, 1885; s[on of] Isaiah R. and Anna (Rohrer) G[ood]; Otterbein Coll., Westerville, O., 1904-1905; A.B., Ind. Central Coll., 1908, A.M. 1911, LL.D., 1923; m. Mabel Rivir, Sept. 2, 1908; children - Julia Marie, Lowell Herbert, Ida Mae. Prin. Acad. of Indiana Central Coll., 1909-13; business mgr., 1914-15, pres. since Sept. 9, 1915, Indiana Central Coll. Republican. Mem. U.B. Ch. Home: 4202 Otterbein Av., Indianapolis, Ind. Died Feb. 25, 1945.
1949-1960 Mabel Good (widow Irby) lived at 4202 Otterbein Ave, Indianapolis, Indiana. [62] [63] [64] [65]
1950 Mabel I Good (age 63, born in Indiana, widowed) lived in Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana, in a household with Ida Mae Good (age 31). [66]
1950 Miss Ida Mae Good and John C. Miller were married on May 6. Miss Ida Mae Good was a daughter of Irby J. Good. [67]
1974 Mabel I Good died of a cardiac arrest in Johnson County, Indiana. Ida Miller provided information for the death certificate. [68] [69] [70]
Mabel (Rivir) Good. Irby and Mabel moved to University Heights, south of Indianapolis, where their children Julia Marie, Lowell Herbert, and Ida Mae were born. Mrs. Good was a loving wife and mother during the years Dr. Good served successively as Professor, Business Manager, and then President of Indiana Central College. After his death February 25, 1945, Mrs. Good continued her interest in the College, its people and activities, maintaining her home and flower gardens at 4202 Otterbein Ave. On April 8, this year she moved to the United Methodist Home at Franklin and died in the Johnson County Hospital July 14. We cherish the memory of her devotion to her family, Indiana Central College and her church.
1944 Irby Good delivered a farewell speech to Indiana Central College.
Irby J Good Farewell to Indiana Central College
The following summary was published in the Indiana Central College Bulletin, series 37, No 2
June 1, 1944.
THIRTY-NINE YEARS AT INDIANA CENTRAL COLLEGE
By I. J. Good
The College's earliest Years
There was nothing particularly unusual about the fact that the White River Annual Conference was meeting at the First United Brethren Church at Marion, Indiana, in 1902. Nor was it unusual that a certain high school junior of that church attended as many of its sessions as he could, but it was an unusual and an exceptional occurrence that a real estate man should be on hand to make a speech offering to build a college for the church if the United Brethren of two or three conferences would help him sell 447 lots adjacent to the proposed college site. And it was unusual for conferences to accept such propositions as was done that day for William L. Elder, and that the chief advocate of the acceptance of the proposition should be called to become that college's first president, as was the case of Dr. J. T. Roberts. Nor would there be one chance in millions that the high school junior who listened to the discussion that day would be called upon within a comparatively few years to have a large part in making the enterprise a success after it had become hopelessly involved.
It was rather unusual, too, that the annual conference should meet in that same church two years 1ater and that Bishop E. B. Kephart should be led to send for this high school boy and spend an hour or two persuading him to go to Otterbein College the next day looking toward entering the new college at Indianapolis a year later. After a great year at Otterbein, Bishop Kephart's protege was the first student to appear on the grounds of the new college in the new addition of lots platted as University Heights.
The new college - Indiana Central University - opened on September 27, 1905. Its president, Dr. J. T. Roberts, and his family moved into the southeast corner rooms on the first floor, while other faculty members and students were quartered in other rooms in the college building. There were eight faculty members and about twice that many students. Most of the students came to take academy (high school) courses. There were only two houses within half a mile of the new college except two new ones on Hanna Avenue which the President was having built at the time the college opened.
The teachers and students had to do the best they could, with a few folding chairs and a few tables in the class rooms until other equipment was procured. They a1so went to work on the ground, which had been left uneven about the college building. Wheelbarrows, shovels, hoes, hand rakes served to get the ground ready for grass seed. Then some walks were constructed and the following spring, teachers and students bought and planted maple trees for the space in front of the college. Later they cleaned out the thicket of underbrush back of the college building where the gymnasium, Men's Hall, and Noblitt Observatory now stand. They also dug ditches and laid tile to drain the college basement and put a concrete floor in the basement, The Marion boy was the most advanced student in the college at the time, so it was his fortune to secure almost private instruction, especially under Dr. John A. Cummins. This student not only helped with all the physical improvements, but proceeded to lead in the work of organizing and promoting the YMCA literary societies, and teaching Bible classes and mission study groups. In his senior year he taught several academy classes and became the college's first Student Volunteer for foreign missions. During these three years as a student, constant contact with the President and with Dr. Cummins. who was acting treasurer, kept him thoroughly informed about the terrific struggles involved in trying to secure finances through gifts and loans and to keep teachers. He and Reverend C. P. Martin in 1908 became the first two graduates of the college and then he was urged to stay to teach, which he did.
After these first three years of heroic effort and struggles against tremendous odds, Dr. Roberts gave up the presidency and the college went through the year 1908-1909 without a president and with glimmering hope. Then hopes revived with the coming of Dr. L. D. Bonebrake as president in the summer of 1909, He had been at the head of the school system of Ohio and envisioned larger things for Indiana Central, but the actual problems involved in organizing, financing, and managing this new college with its accumulating debt was too much for him. His robust health gave way, his courage failed and the college soon came to the place where it could not borrow any more money either on mortgage or endorsed notes. It was a crisis.
Changing Leadership
Meanwhile, this new teacher had acquired a wife and two children and increasing anxieties concerning the condition of the college about which he was kept thoroughly informed through Dr. Cummins and President Bonebrake. He was made chairman of a Strategy Committee in 1911 and drew up proposed plans and recommendations for financing the college. The next year he was elected to a vacancy on the Executive Committee and on January 28, 1914, the Executive Committee in desperation made him Financial Manager and Treasurer. He gave up his classes at once. There was no time to be lost. Large notes with personal endorsements were overdue and suits for payment were being filed. There were only about sixty students, mostly in the Academy, and the income from fees and from pledges was negligible. The small faculty salaries were far in arrears and the teachers could not continue under the circumstances, It looked hopeless.
The new Financial Manager started out to procure gifts to pay off the notes at banks which were pressing, and to pay other unfunded debts and to make payments again on the mortgage and to pay more on current teachers' salaries and to bring about a larger interest on the part of the church and conference leaders and to secure the membership of church leaders on the Board of Trustees and on the Executive Committee. Real progress was made along all these lines and when President Bonebrake's ill health made it impossible for him to continue, the Manager was made Acting President in June, 1915, while Bishop Fout and a committee were to secure a new president, The committee contacted every man whom they thought to be available for the presidency of the college, but they received no encouragement whatever. Then on September 9, 1915, at a special meeting of the Board of Trustees held at Kokomo, Indiana, Bishop Fout reported the unsuccessful efforts of the committee to secure a satisfactory candidate for the presidency. Although it was quite evident that the Acting President was entirely too young and too inexperienced, besides, he lacked the prestige, academic training, and experience as a public speaker to qualify him as a promising candidate for college president, the Bishop pointed out that there seemed to be no alternative action to take, so he made the motion that the Acting President, I. J. Good, be made President of the college.
Here was a task that looked so impossible that no qualified person would undertake it, yet it was thrust upon a young man barely thirty years of age who was not trained for the task, nor did he have prestige or experience, nor was there assurance that he would grasp the magnitude of the undertaking. Fortunately, no one could foresee the tremendous difficulties that were ahead for the new President. He began during the First World War and continued through a decade of unbridled cynicism and declining moral standards, followed by a long and devastating depression which ran on into the Second World War with its threat of destruction for the college. To make an impossible task during a time of impossible conditions even more impossible for the young, inexperienced, and unprepared President, on whom the task had been thrust, there were differences of opinion as to how to proceed. The new president believed that it was not only advisable, but necessary, to weld the church forces together in a strong and common purpose to maintain the college on a good basis, but also to put its finances in satisfactory condition before successful appeals could be made to large contributors outside the church. There were others who held that it was not only possible but desirable to secure large gifts from outside contributors without large financial efforts in the church for the college. This fundamental difference of opinion in procedures made college financing exceedingly difficult and it made it impossible to have a successful campaign for funds in the decade between the First World War and the depression when other conditions for a financial campaign in the church constituency were quite favorable, and it almost prevented the Victory Campaign later.
Problems, Toil, Progress
In spite of the terrible handicaps and difficulties, the new President believed desperately that the college ought to succeed and that "whatever ought to be done can be done." Believing this, he gave himself to the undertaking with unreserved zeal and abandon. He continued his solicitation of funds and in the management, endeavored to make every dollar do duty for two or three dollars. He pled the cause of higher Christian education and of Indiana Central College in the local churches, in district meetings, in youth rallies, in annual conferences, in the General Board of Christian Education, in the General Board of Administration, in the State Department of Education, and in all of the General Conferences after 1913. College bulletins, posters for the churches, the Reflector, and articles in the church periodicals brought the college to the attention of the United Brethren people in every nook and corner of our Area. Fortunately for the college, he was elected to membership in all the General Conferences from 1912 on, and to the General Board of Administration continuously after it was first organized in 1917, and to the Board of Education in 1917. He also served as a member of the Executive Committees of these Boards almost constantly after 1917. The first long decisive step forward for the college came with the campaign for $250,000 in 1918, which the President organized and directed. The campaign was completely successful and inspired confidence throughout the Area and the whole church and led to other advances. Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota joined the three conferences in Indiana in the support of Indiana Central, bringing the college church constituency to over 100,000 members.
In order to increase student attendance, it was necessary to erect dormitories (Roberts Hall and Cummins Hall had already been purchased), but it was first necessary to develop a plan for a campus with an adequate layout of buildings, but to do this it was necessary to purchase additional acreage and in order to do this it was necessary to purchase the whole Hanna estate of 110 acres north of Hanna Avenue. The college was not in position to do this, so the College Improvement Association was organized as a stock company and the land was purchased, making it possible for the college to secure the desired fifty acres for expansion and the development of the plan for the Greater Indiana Central College.
Then in 1921, the first new dormitory, Residence Hall, and the gymnasium were planned and built, resulting immediately in doubling the student attendance. The next year Dailey Hall was erected and the heating plant was greatly expanded, and again there was a large increase in student attendance. Then within the next four years, Men's Hall and New Hall were built and still further expansion of the heating plant and enlargement of the gymnasium took place. A few years later Professor Loren S. Noblitt and his brother, Quinton G. Noblitt, planned and gave to the college the Noblitt Observatory with its six-inch telescope. All during this time, laboratories and the library were developed and the Campus was beautified.
This program of development and construction was made possible largely by the success of the 1918 campaign for $250,000 and it resulted in multiplying the student attendance by about ten, in building up a comparatively strong faculty, in securing recognition from the State Department of Education as a standard college and in really producing enough income from students to make it possible to operate through the depression in the 1930's, when income from pledges practically ceased.
It had been planned to carry on another campaign for funds while this expansion program was on, but it was impossible to secure the necessary cooperation; consequently, the depression period which struck in 1929 proved almost fatal to the college. People could not make their pledge payments. Students could pay only a part of their fees. Severe faculty reductions and salary adjustments had to be made. Principal and interest payments on college debts could not he made, A suit for receivership by an impatient creditor made it necessary to work out a plan of debt reduction which required the approval of all the creditors of the college. It was necessary to do a lot of explaining, but in view of the calamity that was befalling banks and innumerable mercantile and industrial concerns, the creditors were most sympathetic since they could not see how a college could live at all under the depression conditions. In nearly every case they were also most complimentary of the splendid work the college was doing and expressed themselves as interested in its continuance. Mr. Q. G. Noblitt again gave invaluable aid in this crisis and the college survived the storm.
Fortunately for the college and for hundreds of students who could not pay their full expenses in college during the depression, the college arranged to let students pay a part of their expenses after graduation. By this procedure, there were many students that received their college training and are paying for it now who could not have been in college then if they could not have had extended credit. Comparatively few former students are proving unworthy of the trust that was imposed in them and the college is now far stronger financially because of those payments made by former students. The amount of these payments for last year alone was $28,086.00.
It was thought that a campaign could be launched in 1937, but the General Conference arranged to launch the Ministerial Pension Campaign in that year. It was arranged, however, that a joint campaign might be conducted in this Area but some of the church leaders in this Area were sure that a joint campaign could not be successful and would not approve it, so the college had to wait another four years before a campaign could be undertaken. It was exceedingly fortunate that through the years the General Conference had yielded to the President's plea and made increasing provision for the college current expenses out of the benevolence budget receipts. This amount grew to approximately $28,000 per year and is a vital factor in the success of the college till other funds are provided. If it had not been for this current income from the church treasuries, the college could not have operated.
At the General Conference in 1941, it was only after the most urgent appeals that permission was given to undertake to finish the Ministerial Pension Fund in a joint campaign with the college in this Area, Even after the General Conference had approved the joint campaign, the college Finance Committee would not approve it until the President had convinced the members of the Executive Committee, all of whom were opposed, that the campaign could be made a success. The recommendation of the Executive Committee was then taken to the Board of Trustees, which approved the launching of the campaign for pledges for both the college and Ministerial Pension. The responsibility for organizing the plans and the forces as well as securing and training solicitors and leading them in the actual solicitation fell to the President. The Bishop, conference superintendent and pastors joined in this effort and rapid progress was made. By the end of the first year in 1942, there was already almost $100,000 pledged and almost $400,000 by Commencement in 1943.
The Victory Campaign was proving an unprecedented success. It was bringing encouragement to the whole church and was a stimulus to the completion of the Pension Fund everywhere and it was proving to be a great stimulus in the hopes and interests of the college, while it was also proving a great inspiration to the hundreds of people who were making the pledges. Many of them were entering into the spirit of larger giving more than ever before and were coming to think more of the church and its enterprises. By Commencement time 1944, all the conferences in the college constituency had their Pension quotas paid and almost $90,000 had been added to the college assets through the Victory Fund, while the total pledged was approximately $435,000.
During the summer of 1942, the college served the army by housing and feeding two hundred trainees while they were quartered on our campus, being given instructions in the construction and operation of the Allison motor. They were withdrawn in the fall and quartered in barracks nearer the flying field. Soon afterward the army made arrangements to send us four hundred Aircrew trainees for us to instruct, house and feed. Three hundred came before March 1, 1943, and another hundred were added by April 1. The faculty was reorganized, students were shifted, and an immense amount of work was done to meet the requirements. A considerable amount of improvement was made. There was a high degree of satisfaction on the part of the trainees and on the part of the faculty, but the commanding officer objected to certain restrictions placed on the use of our college buildings by the Board of Trustees and he caused the withdrawal of the trainees by August 1, 1943.
Already nearly all the male students had left the college for army service and the occupancy of three of the four dormitories during the spring and summer of 1943 by army trainees with the expectation that they would remain through the winter prevented the usual enlistment of new students for the fall. This, together with the fact that large numbers of girls were going into industry for war production, resulted in a large reduction in student attendance in the fall of 1943.
The Gains Since January, 1914
Although the college situation looked hopeless thirty years ago and the conditions during these thirty years have not been favorable for the solving of such difficult problems in college promotion and although the leadership that was available for the task was too young, untrained, inexperienced, and entirely experimental to start with, there have been tremendous gains made during this time.
There was then only one poorly equipped building on eight acres with a little handful of students, mostly in the Academy. There was almost no recognition of the college and its work. The college was completely submerged in debt and the constituency knew but little about the college and felt almost no responsibility for its success. There were only 14 graduates up to January, 1914, and there were slight facilities available to house students at the college.
There are now almost sixty acres of campus with nine buildings, including the original college building, a gymnasium, four dormitories, two large residences and the Noblitt Observatory. Athletic fields and extensive plantings of trees and shrubs have been developed. Drainage has been provided. An extensive heating plant has been developed. A good library and laboratories have been built up. The student body grew to an enrollment of 535 at one time and the student body has effective organizations for intellectual, social, moral, and physical development. Such discipline and general standards of conduct have been maintained as to make the college attractive to the best type of students. Teachers have been carefully chosen for their interest in spiritual and moral values as well as for academic training. The curriculum has been broadened as much as the finances would permit. The faculty responsibilities for enrollment, counseling. discipline, and sponsoring of organizations were definitely distributed and met. The collecting of fees, ordering of materials and provisions, and maintenance problems are being handled efficiently by the Treasurer.
Provision has been made for the payment of the last part of the college debt through the receipts from the Victory Fund. Under normal conditions, the income from student fees, the dormitories, the benevolence budget and from endowment as now provided is sufficient to operate on a standard college basis and to secure membership in the North Central Association. (The Association is accepting no members until after the war.) Thrift and economy have' been practiced in the operation of the college, making expansion possible and further retrenchments unnecessary.
The alumni and former student group, which was too small and too young before the depression and too poor and frustrated during the depression to be of real help, is now, for the first time a great potential force in the promotion of the college.
With the other gains through the years and the provision for the final debt payment through the Victory Campaign and the favorable position as to the North Central Association, there is now for the first time a splendid opportunity to appeal to men of larger means, both inside and outside of the church, for larger gifts. Other conditions also make such an appeal especially opportune at this time.
The church constituency has shown such interest and ability in the Victory Campaign as to prove that it is able and willing to meet the needs of the college if the college is true to the purposes of the church and if the needs of the college are adequately presented.
The General Conference has now provided that the special emphasis of the whole church during the next several years shall be to make adequate provisions for the colleges. Therefore, this is now an unprecedented opportunity in the church in this Area to advance the interests of Indiana Central College. This opportunity will probably not be duplicated in many years.
Encouraged by the advances that have been made in the past and especially in the Victory Campaign, the church leaders in this Area have definitely shown I a willingness in .recent months to assume a much larger responsibility than ever before for the direction and management of the college. This Interest and willingness to help promote the interests of the college is exceedingly important and valuable in the promotion of the college when all these forces are properly coordinated and cooperative.
It is no small thing to have increased the financial standing of a college, including good pledges, from practically nothing to over a million dollars and to have made proportionate gains in every other respect while at the same time the college rendered a great service to the church. This is what has been done at Indiana Central College during the past thirty years.
Conclusion
It is not difficult to understand that anyone who has lived with and for a cause for thirty-nine consecutive years and for over thirty years has borne the chief responsibility for its success and promotion, must have reluctance and regret at being relieved of his responsibilities. Especially is this true when the release comes just at the time toward which his plans and efforts have long been directed, when the greatest advancement is being made and the progress is most encouraging and even more so when the immediate plans provide for the reaching of cherished goals and everything is favorable for the reaching of those goals.
Any captain starting out on a long voyage with a poorly equipped and unseaworthy ship, certainly would like to have the privilege and the honor of bringing his ship into his home port, especially if he had succeeded in greatly improving his ship in every port at which he had stopped. To give up his commission just at the time when he is in the midst of his greatest and final program of putting his ship in first-class condition before going into home port with his cargo, would bring disappointment to any captain.
However, any captain who really loves his ship, as any true captain does, will still love it and be anxious for its success, even if the company owning the ship retires him in the final stage of his voyage, thinking that a new captain will do better with it. In his heart he will still cherish it as HIS ship and he will be anxious that the new captain be able to do more with it than he himself was ever able to do.
On the recommendation of the church leaders in this Area, arrangements have been made for President Good's retirement from the presidency as of July 1, 1944. The action was taken on the presumption that the college would be more successful with a new leader. Since the President has served the college for thirty-six years, the Board of Trustees has voted to make adequate provisions for his retirement.
Now that the action has been taken and a new president is being secured, it is urgently important that there be the utmost unity of purpose in the church among the pastors and laymen and among the alumni and in the faculty and student body to reach the immediate goals of the college during this time of greatest opportunity. The possibilities for the advancement of the college now are tremendous. The leadership of a new and better prepared president who can start with a new vigor and have the prime of his life to give to the college calls for and requires full confidence and cooperation.
Let it be remembered that there is no cause that is more important than the training of an effective Christian leadership, that this cannot be accomplished without colleges that are vitally Christian and that there is no task more important and more difficult than that of the presidency of a college like Indiana Central. If the president is to succeed in his leadership, he must have the prayers and cooperation of those who are interested in the success of the college.
The new president and the college will have the sympathetic and fu11 cooperation of the retiring President. Nothing can bring more joy to the heart of the retiring President than to see the rapid advancement of the calling for which he has labored and lived for so many years. His sincere prayer is that God will give wisdom and guidance to those who carry responsibility for the promotion and success of the college and that He will bless every effort that is put forth in making it as successful as possible in accomplishing the purposes for which it was founded.
The retiring President has a deep appreciation and gratitude for all the church leaders, ministers, laymen, teachers, students, and especially the field men who cooperated so loyally and shared in the successes of the college.
Something More
Even while the above paragraphs Were being written, urgent requests came from leaders of York College and of the Southwest Area and of the Board of Education that President Good attend the Board of Trustees' meeting at York, Nebraska, to help plan "The Greater York College Campaign." He accepted the invitation to attend the board meeting at York and under the influence of the compelling purpose of higher Christian education and the gracious but insistent persuasion of the leaders who are so courageously promoting York College, he is now to give such time and effort as he can as the "Director of The Greater York College Campaign."
York College never undertook a campaign for $350,000 before, but it urgently needs this amount to start on a larger future, "Whatever ought to be done can he done," so President Good starts on July 1 to help York College prepare to render a larger service in that great empire of United Brethren west of the Mississippi. Indiana Central College and York College are two vital factors in determining the expansion and service of the church West of Ohio. They should move forward together in mighty strides during these days of tremendous opportunity.
Money invested in these colleges will yield a thousandfold in returns in Christian leadership and in making the world a better place in which to live.
Come on, brethren, let us not lose any time nor waste an opportunity. These are days of destiny- Let us move forward with greater courage, clearer vision, and more sacrificial devotion than ever before. None of us should be entirely "retired" in a time like this. Our best days are just ahead. Let no one halt or falter now.
1991 Ida Mae Miller, married, spouse of John Miller, died on April 3, at age 72, in Danville, Hendricks County, Indiana. She was born on March 25, 1919, in Marion Co Ind, daughter of Irby J Good and Mabel Iota Good. [73] [74]
1994 Julia Marie Good Wolfe, daughter of Mabel Rivir Good and Irby J Good, died on December 3, 1994, in Rancho Bernardo, California. She was born on November 5, 1909. [75]
Research Notes:
This is a chronological picture story of Irby and Mabel Good. Many of these pictures were preserved by their daughter Ida Mae Good; their grandson Douglas Wolfe; and their niece Margaret Good Gregory. Some are from Indiana Central University (ICU), now the University of Indianapolis. There remain several unidentified persons in these pictures, and some names and many dates could be wrong.
1916 Irby Good wrote a letter to his brother James and explained what he knew of their ancestry. The Good ancestry back to Christian Good was summarized, with an extra generation for a John Good, between Christian Good and Jacob Good, compared to what we show. Little was recorded of the Rivir ancestry in the letter. [Photocopy, Excerpt of letter.]
Copies of many letters and records, related to Irby J. Good and Indiana Central College [now University of Indianapolis], are available at the The University of Indianapolis Archives and at the Plainfield Historical Library, Plainfield, Indiana.
[1] Family Document, Files of Margaret Good Gregory.
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[5] Indiana, Marion Public Library Marriage Index, 1831-2008, [AncestryRecord].
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[10] United States Federal Census, 1910, [FamilySearchImage], [FamilySearchRecord].
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[12] Indiana Central University Bulletin (Indianapolis, Indiana: October, 1912), 5, [Indiana_University].
[13] The Indianapolis Star, Indianapolis, Indiana, June 19, 1913, page 3, [NewspapersClip].
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[46] R.L. Polk & Co, Indianapolis, (Marion County, Indiana) City-Directory (Indianapolis, Indiana: 1942), 545, 1942, [AncestryImage], [AncestryRecord].
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[48] United States World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942, [FamilySearchImage], [FamilySearchRecord].
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[56] U.S., Newspapers.com Obituary Index, 1800s-current, [AncestryRecord].
[57] The Hancock Democrat, Greenfield, Indiana, March 1, 1945, page 8, [NewspapersClip].
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[73] Indiana, U.S., Death Certificates, 1899-2011, [AncestryImage], [AncestryRecord].
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[75] California, Death Index, 1940-1997, [AncestryRecord].