The Verses Repeat
This story originally appeared in Archways Magazine's Fall 2016 issue.
By Amanda Broulik
Kevin Wycoff (’71) sits in his living room, trying to remember the words. “All hail Nebraska Wesleyan, thy light shines far and wide…” Then he’s stuck—the next line of NWU’s hymn faded somewhat by the 45 years between him and his last University Choir performance.
His wife, Paige (Woodworth) Wycoff (’71), chimes in from the kitchen, her soprano voice resonating through their Hastings, Neb., home. “A beacon high of faith and love be ever more our guide.”
The pause that follows is soon broken by laughter and stories. With Kevin and Paige are Delane (’67) and Dorothy (Minor) (’68) Wycoff and Georgene (Crandall) Smidt (’63). Together, they represent one of five Wycoff generations of Nebraska Wesleyan University alumni and supporters. Many of them received science degrees and launched medical careers. Still, music has remained a strong thread woven into their family’s history.
Their grandfather, Ray Wycoff, played cello and started a church orchestra in the 1920s. Their love of music stayed with them throughout their lives.
Four generations of NWU graduates followed suit. While they were busy studying everything from physics to physiology, the Wycoff family was always also involved in music in one way or another—like a favorite verse, repeating over generations.
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Ray received his medical degree from the University of Iowa. In the early 1920s, he and Ima became medical missionaries and moved their young family to Puerto Rico to serve at Ryder Memorial Hospital. Ray saw patients and Ima trained local girls to be practical nurses. Three years later, they moved to Lexington, Neb., where Ray would practice medicine for nearly 50 years.
Ray and Ima connected with Nebraska Wesleyan through their church. In 1955, they created the Dr. and Mrs. Ray S. Wycoff Endowed Scholarship at Nebraska Wesleyan. They couldn’t have known the scholarship would become a legacy their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren would proudly maintain.
Ray and Ima’s children, Ruby (’41) and Keith (’42) Wycoff, were the first of the family to attend NWU. Keith would eventually serve on NWU’s Board of Governors and was awarded the 1994 Alumni Medal of Honor for lifetime achievement and service.
He used to tell his kids tales from when he was the night watchman on campus. One of his morning duties was to chime Old Main’s bell at a certain hour. On one occasion, that bell wouldn’t chime; someone had stolen the clapper. Days of investigation followed. Then, one morning at daily chapel, the clapper reappeared, strung above the stage of the C. C. White building. (The “clapper caper” was never solved.)
Ruby’s daughter, Georgene, was the first of Ray and Ima’s grandchildren to attend Nebraska Wesleyan. Georgene studied pre-nursing at NWU, finished her degree at Bryan Health and became a school nurse.
She never technically graduated from NWU, but she likes to joke that she did. Ruby was pregnant with her during graduation, so Georgene did in fact cross the NWU commencement stage.
Keith’s son, Delane, was the next to attend NWU. His future wife, Dorothy, worked as a student assistant in the chemistry stock room, handing out chemicals and pipettes to the students who came in on weekends to make up lab hours.
“That’s our first memory of each other,” Dorothy said. “Delane was usually behind, so he was always coming in on Saturday.”
Or, as Georgene suggested, “Maybe that’s not why he came—maybe he was just interested in the pipette lady!”
Their first date was at a movie in the old Enid Miller Theatre. It could have gone better. “Delane was a projector nerd,” Dorothy said, “so he was running the movie and changing reels, and I had to sit by myself!”
Delane earned his M.D. and specialized in clinical pathology. Dorothy earned a master’s degree in physiology, then later went to medical school, saying, “Well, if Delane could do it, I knew I could.” She also became a doctor, specializing in anatomic pathology.
Their son, Jason Wycoff (’95), graduated with a degree in physics, same as his grandfather.
All the “Wesleyan Wycoffs” had busyness in common. Alumni like Kevin had trouble narrowing down their curiosities. “I had such broad interests I ended up graduating with a made-up degree,” he recalled.
His advisor combined his classes, gave him some credit hours and labeled it biophysics. He ended up going into family medicine, an obvious outcome in retrospect. “When your grandpa’s your own doctor, it’s not that big of a leap,” he said.
Paige graduated with degrees in elementary education and French. She went on to teach kindergarten, co-own and operate a gift shop, and sit on NWU’s Board of Trustees and President’s Council.
Kevin and Paige met at NWU in “Music Appreciation.” They both had “W” last names, so they “sat in the back row and flirted with each other,” Paige said. Their first official date wasn’t until their senior year. They also went to a movie, but sat together.
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The Wycoffs revisited many more memories that afternoon. They remembered the events that led to the “Bell-Sod Trophy” and the infamous rivalry with Doane: the “D” emblazoned into the grass on NWU’s football field and the bell stolen in retribution. And they laughed about the time Kevin made his stage debut as the horse in Man of La Mancha.
“They couldn’t have done that production without me,” he joked. “The whole thing would have fallen flat.”
Then there were the names of countless professors and classmates, pranks that they had pulled on each other, residence halls they had lived in, and tales of many more Wycoff alumni.
Paige said that Ray and Ima would be “enormously proud” that so many of their descendants have come to Nebraska Wesleyan and are now giving back to it. Besides music and medicine, the Wycoffs are connected by philanthropy.
“We feel very fortunate to support the place which gave us such a wonderful start,” Paige said. “Wesleyan is where we found each other and found our way forward into adulthood. We happily join with other members of our extended family in supporting Wesleyan’s effort to provide a quality education for tomorrow’s young people.”
Over the years, many family members have given back to the university through Ray and Ima’s endowed scholarship. “We add to the Wycoff scholarship fund each year, hoping to make it grow,” said Dorothy. “Both Ray and Ima were very much loved, so it’s a good way for their direct descendants to honor them. It’s become a memorial to them.”
But their philanthropy doesn’t stop there. For more than 60 years, the Wycoff family’s generosity has touched nearly every area of the university. They have supported the Archway Fund, other endowed scholarships, faculty development, athletics and capital projects, including NWU’s new science building through Doctors for Science. Their annual gifts have supported the immediate needs of the university and their gifts to the endowment are helping to secure the future for NWU and tomorrow’s students.
Even Will Seng (’16), the most recent member of the Wycoff family to graduate from NWU, has supported the university by giving to his senior class gift last spring.
“Last Father’s Day, I was talking to my great-grandpa [George Crandall (’42)—Ruby’s husband] about his time at Nebraska Wesleyan,” Will said. “He was talking about his classes in Old Main, and it’s just incredible to think that, seven decades later, I was learning in those very same classrooms.”
“NWU gave so much to me over four years,” he continued. “It made me discover who I am as a person. Giving back wasn’t hard. I didn’t even think about it; it was such an obvious decision.”
Giving came as naturally to him as the words to an old and favorite song.
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Amanda Broulik is the writer and communications coordinator for Nebraska Wesleyan's advancement office.