The importance of one

—Stephen D. Eckstein Jr.

In July 15, 1945, I arrived home to Kansas City, Missouri, on a 30-day furlough before I was to ship out to Japan for the invasion. On Aug. 6, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. We stayed around the radio and heard three days later the second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, and soon the war ended. So many lives were lost during World War II, and I was thankful to be able to return home. God had answered many prayers for a safe voyage home — hallelujah.

On Aug. 15, I returned to camp in Tennessee awaiting my discharge from the Army. I was only there three weeks when I was sent to Camp Beale in California to help get Christmas gifts sent to all the soldiers in the Pacific.

On the last Sunday in October, I attended church in the San Francisco area. After the service was over, I shook hands with the preacher, J.D. Bales, who was in California getting his Ph.D. He said, “Soldier, what are you going to do after you get out of the service?” I replied, “I don’t know.” And he said, “Why don’t you come to Harding?”

When I got home, I decided I wanted to go to school on the G.I. Bill. I enrolled at Kansas City Junior College, but I didn’t like it at all. I remembered Bales telling me about Harding. I sent a letter and was told to come on down for spring 1947. I found there were about 100 ex-servicemen and about 400 girls at the college. There were rules girls couldn’t ride in the car with boys, and they had to walk a certain distance apart on Sunday afternoon. I didn’t like the rules. All the ex-servicemen didn’t like the rules. I spent a lot of time playing basketball, baseball, softball and football intramurals.

After the spring was over I went down to the V.A. and told them that I wanted to change and go to another school. They told me, “You can’t keep changing schools!” So I decided I would go back. What happened then was that my dad gave me a little encouragement. He had known Hebrew all his life and studied a little Greek. He told me, “Take Greek.” I enrolled in Greek.

There were about 10 of us in the class with dear Brother Leslie Burke. After the quarter was over eight of the men quit, but one other guy and I continued. It was the best thing I ever did. It changed my whole life. Brother Burke was what I call a Jesus man — a great man who loved the Lord and a great teacher. For the next couple of years, I had Leslie Burke as my professor.

Then I met Bill Harper, who came from Eastern New Mexico University in Portales, who said everyone ought to go out there. I got my master’s there and then I talked to Carl Spain who was the Bible chair at Texas Tech. I decided I would go there since it was a great opportunity. Around that time, I also started driving out to Shallowater, Texas, to preach.

One day, while I was in the office studying, seven elders knocked on my door telling me they’d like me to take the Bible chair at Portales. I nearly fell out of my chair. My wife, Mildred, who I met at Tech, and I went to visit before we took the job.

Mildred and I decided to move to Portales, and I led the Bible Chair there for 33 years. After that, we moved to teach at Michigan Christian College for 15 years. We retired in Lubbock, Texas. I’m 96 years old now, and I’m teaching a Bible class on Wednesday nights that “Everybody is Important.” My point is that one person can have a tremendous impact. Preacher Bales introduced me to Harding. My dad’s statement to “take Greek” was so important. If I hadn’t have learned from Brother Burke, I wouldn’t have taught Greek to all the people I did. This is the importance of one.

Stephen D. Eckstein Jr., Ph.D., served in World War II before graduating in 1949.