William Orison Valentine
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William Orison Valentine (1862-1928) was an innovative educator and missionary in service of the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society. He ministered for some thirty years in Asia, first in Burma starting in 1895 and in the Philippines from 1904 until his death in 1928 at the age of 65.
He was born in Spencer, New York, in 1862, the son of a farmer and horse breeder. After taking the normal course at Mansfield Normal School in Pennsylvania, he taught school for four years and then enrolled at the Colgate Theological Seminary. After completiing his studies, he joined the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society and was sent to Burma — first in 1895 to Rangoon, then to Mandalay where he became principal of the Baptist Mission High School for Boys. During his eighth year in Burma he suffered severe sunstroke and returned to America for treatment. It was during his treatment that he met his future wife, nurse Ina Jane Van Allen.
Valentine and Miss Van Allen were married in 1903 and the couple left for his new appointment at Iloilo in the Philippines. The American Baptist Mission Union had received a grant from John D. Rockefeller to begin educational work In the Philippines, and the Philippine Baptist Conference voted in December 1904 to establish two schools, an industrial school for boys and a Bible school to train ministers and other Christian workers under the administration of Valentine. In the fall of 1905 the Jaro Industrial School was opened as a free vocational boarding school for boys at Jaro, in Iloilo City. The first class consisted of 20 boys who worked four hours a day to pay their tuition, room and board, and spent four hours in the classroom. One of the school's innovations was the adoption of student self-government (the first in the Philippines) known as the Jaro Industrial School Republic modeled on American civil government. The Republic continues to this day at Central Philippine University which evolved from the Industrial School over the years. By 1907 there were 300 boys working an active farm and in various trades, and the Bible school had been split off under a separate principal. Mrs. Valentine was active in school affairs and taught some courses. She also cared for the three Valentine children born in Iloilo between 1904 and 1913. In 1913 the school opened its doors to girls; it was fully incorporated by the Philippine government and enrolled 740 students. From the beginning it served poor students who could not afford schooling otherwise. It continued to grow, and in 2005, as Central Philippine University, it enrolled over 13,000 students at all levels.
In 1914, Valentine returned to America with his family to further his studies. In America he studied at Valparaiso University, where he received a degree in education, and at the University of Chicago, where he presented a master's thesis in the department of practical theology. His thesis, Moral and Religious Values of Industrial Education, recounted the success of work-study schooling at Jaro and other schools in Burma, South Africa and India which had developed a similar philosophy of institutional self support through the work of students.
With the completion of his studies in 1916, Valentine received a new appointment as Provincial Missionary for Negros Occidental on a neighboring island in the Philippines. He and his family went to Bacolod, the capital of the province, where he assumed the pastorship of the Bacolod mission church. He built a new mission house to replace the smaller chapel and encouraged Filipino lay ministers to preach at Sunday services. There were also dormitories for both boys and girls who attended public schools and received a Christian education at the mission. Valentine set about to open new churches and private schools in Bacolod and throughout the province. Mrs. Valentine taught kindergarten in the Bacolod school, and both education and the ministry thrived during the eleven years that Valentine served there. In February 1928 he died in Bacolod of malaria complicated by heart disease and was buried at the American Cemetery in Jaro, Iloilo City. Mrs. Valentine returned to America, and bought a home offered by the Baptist Mission Society in Granville, Ohio, across the street from Denison University where all three Valentine children studied. She died in 1979, aged 100.
Filipinos remember Valentine's vital role in fostering Christian education in the Visayan Islands. At Central Philippine University on October 1, 2005, the university celebrated Founder's Day with the unveiling of a bronze bust of Valentine at Old Valentine Hall. In Negros, the Bacolod Evangelical Church and the Bacolod Christian Center as well as schools and missions throughout the province are outgrowths of Valentine’s work.
[edit] Timeline
- May 9, 1862 Born at Spencer, New York, son of William Valentine and Electa Brown Valentine.
- Enrolled in the Normal Course at Mansfield State Normal School, Mansfield, Pennsylvania.
- Principal, South Waverly School, South Waverly, Pennsylvania.
- Graduated in theology from Colgate Theological Seminary, Hamilton, New York.
- 1895 Sent to Rangoon, Burma, under the auspices of the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society.
- 1895-1896 Taught at Judson College, Rangoon, Burma.
- 1896-1902 Served as principal of the Mandalay Boys High School, Burma.
- 1902 Returned to America to be treated for severe sunstroke.
- Treated at Clifton Springs Sanatarium and wooed his nurse Ina Jane Van Allen.
- Dec. 23, 1903 He and Ina Jane Van Allen were married and left for the Philippines as missionaries.
- Feb. 29, 1904 Arrived at Jaro, Iloilo City, Panay Island, Philippines.
- Oct. 1, 1905 Founded the Jaro Industrial School for boys in Iloilo, Philippines.
- 1905-1914 Served as principal of the Jaro Industrial School.
- 1914 Returned to America for further studies.
- 1915 Received Bachelor of Education, Valparaiso University, Valpariso, Indiana.
- 1916 Received Master of Arts in Practical Theology, Graduate Divinity School, University of Chicago.
- 1916 Appointed Provincial Missionary for Negros Occidental, Philippines.
- 1916-1928 Served at Bacolod, and started several schools throughout the province.
- Feb. 2, 1928 Died at Bacolod, Philippines, interred at the American Cemetery, Jaro, Iloilo City, Philippines.
- 1969 Honorary Doctor of Pedagogy (posthumous), Central Philippine University, Iloilo City, Philippines.
- Mar. 27, 1979 Ina Van Allen Valentine died at Columbus, Ohio, interred at Granville, Ohio.
- Oct. 1, 2005 Bronze bust of Rev. Valentine unveiled at Founder’s Day ceremony, Central Philippine University.
[edit] References
Bibliography
- William Orison Valentine, Moral and Religious Values of Industrial Education (M.A. Thesis, University of Chicago, 1916).
- Roque Granada, William O. Valentine, in Half a Century of Service, Souvenir Journal of the Golden Jubilee Year (Central Philippine University, Iloilo, 1959), p. 48.
- Linnea A. Nelson and Elma S. Herradura, Scientia et Fides. The Story of Central Philippine University, (Central Philippine University, Iloilo, 1981).
- Ina Van Allen Valentine, An Oral History, (Recorded in 1969 and printed by Alpine Vista Press, Longmont, Colorado, 2000).
- Angel F. Lobaton, Sr., The Beautiful American, (Bacolod, 1981).
- Marilyn E. Peterson, Forshee's Legacy to the Philippines, (Prescott Pr., Lafayette, Louisiana, 1995).
- Reinaldo M. Nolido, History of the Church, in Bacolod Evangelical Church Book of Remembrance 1902-2002 (Bacolod, 2002).
- The Central Time 1905-2005, Centennial Yearbook of Central Philippine University (Iloilo, 2005).
- Juanito M. Acanto, The Work-Study Service Program: Centennial Legacy of Central Philippine University, Manila Bulletin, Oct. 2, 2005, p. 11.
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