The Christine Weaver Memorial Scholarship Fund
More than anything else, Christine Weaver practiced Christian discipleship as Christ taught us. Goshen College nurtured her to embark on the journey of discipleship. After her graduation from Goshen in the 1940’s, she went on to achieve a distinguished career as a professor of nutrition spanning more than four decades in university teaching.
Her academic accomplishments only told a small part of her unusual life. It had a humble beginning. Growing up on a farm in the Midwest, she did not expect to go to college. After high school she hired herself out as a housekeeper. One of her employers, a physician, detected in her untapped intelligence and curiosity. He encouraged her to apply to Goshen College. Once there, her intellect flowered. She reached the top of her chemistry class, taught by the exacting and austere Dr. Miller, whose chemistry classes were known for their rigor. He recommended Christine to go on to graduate school. This launched her life-long career as an academic in nutrition.
Her intellectual make-up, however, was not limited to the confines of her chosen field. She did not shy away from wrestling with those big questions about God, good and evil, free will and personal responsibility, and living as a “Christian” in a secular world. Until her death at age 87 she never stopped her quest for truth and the deepening of her personal spirituality.
She was, paradoxically, an intellectual attracted to abstract ideas and a Christian practicing her most cherished conviction – love. Hers was a loving inclusiveness that showed up in her hospitality toward all who came in contact with her. Although she never owned a car or a house, she entertained many at her bountiful table. Her compassion and care for others cast a wide net. More than any other group, the international students were often the recipients of her largess. In the later 1940’s Christine had volunteered to go to China under the Mission Board of the Mennonite Church. Together with Don and Dorothy McCammon, this first group of five Mennonites set up a health clinic in Sichuan. Christine’s experience from that period of political turmoil shaped her idealism, her future career of teaching, and a profound acceptance of people with different culture and religion.
Compassion and hospitality, however, did not detract from her high academic standards. She was so dedicated to giving students a sound foundation of knowledge, that she made a point of accepting appointments at universities that had sub-standard nutrition departments, especially in historically black colleges and universities (HBCU’s). She would reach her goal of upgrading these departments to accreditation and then move on. When she retired from her last post, Howard University in Washington, D.C., the nutrition department met the requisite standards and was accredited by the American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. At Howard she had to raise the standards by letting go incompetent teachers. On one occasion she had to give the bad news to a very likable professor. They sat across the desk from each other in Christine’s office, and Christine couldn’t speak. Finally the other woman stood up, came around the desk, and put her arm around Christine, saying “Christine, it’s OK, you can say it: I’ve been expecting this.” When Christine retired from teaching she received the highest honor from the Academy of Nutrition for Excellence in teaching.
My husband and I are honored to have known Christine, and feel compelled to offer her example to young people. In honoring the memory of her, we are practicing the hospitality she so unstintingly offered in her lifetime.