As the world responds to the loss of Reverend Billy Graham, some of the OKWU family also took time to reflect on the life of “America’s Pastor”.
The much-loved and recently-retired Peggy Mills worked at Oklahoma Wesleyan for more than two decades, and her husband, Dean, was an alumnus of OKWU antecedent, Miltonvale Wesleyan College. She recalled her first experience at one of Graham’s crusades in September of 1964:
The newly-married Mills—Dean, a college sophomore, and Peggy, who worked for the college’s recruiting office—gathered a group of friends to travel from Miltonvale in Kansas, to Omaha, Nebraska. They stayed with family in the area, and arrived early for the crusade in order to sing with the large choir. “Not only had I never seen that many people in one place,” shared Peggy, “but to see thousands respond to the invitation to give their hearts to the Lord is an unforgettable memory”.
Following that experience, Peggy and Dean traveled to Denver the next year for a crusade, and attended several in California after a move there when Dean became a pastor. “These trips made a profound spiritual impact on my life” Peggy said, “Thank you, Lord, for Billy Graham and the countless number of people he challenged to meet the real Jesus.”
