Fifty-Year Alumni Honored

July 05, 2009

Pictured - (left to right) Rev. Steve and Paula Cairns, director of alumni relations; Rev. Larry and Lois Sibley; Mr. Paul and Jo MacDonald; Dr. Louis and Audrey Voskuil; Rev. Frank and Hope Arnold; Rev. John Young; Dr. Peter Lillback, president

Rev. Sibley, MDiv, '59

Upon graduating from Westminster, Rev. Sibley went right into pastoral ministry, serving three different churches. From the pastorate, he moved on to serve as a campus staff member for Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship in Cleveland, OH. After several years of working with the IVCF, he moved into a volunteer role so he could manage the Logos Bookstore in Ohio. Thereafter,he moved to Philadelphia to become the business manager for the Center for Urban Theological Studies (CUTS). He lectured there and at Westminster on practical theology. He also served Westminster as a chaplain at this time and a trustee for the Huguenot Fellowship. Today he continues to teach at Westminster as well as the Baltic Reformed Seminary. In 2003, he completed an STM at the Lutheran Seminary. He writes regarding worship, liturgical theology and history. He has five children and ten grandchildren.

Mr. McDonald, BDiv, '59

"Graduating at the height of the teaching shortage of 1959, I was persuaded by Professor Clowney to fill a teaching vacancy at Phil-Mont Christian Academy. This was the start of a forty year teaching career, mostly in Maine. An interest in home missions, fostered while laboring with pastor Charles Stantonin in central Maine during my college and seminary summers, induced me to employ homiletic training in more than 40 churches in Maine, in some cases for years. I have served on the sessions of four Orthodox Presbyterian churches and on the OPC Committee on Christian Education since 1972. My three daughters are all married to sons of OPC ministers; my older son is a Westminster alumnus and an Evangelical Free pastor in Wisconsin; and my youngest, after serving as an OPC missionary associate in Japan, is now headmaster of a Christian school in Bangor. At this point, two of my 19 grandsons are exploring training for pastoral ministry"

Dr. Voskuil, MDiv, '59

Born in Cedar Grove, WI, he was baptized and later became a confessing member of Calvary OPC in Cedar Grove, as did his wife Audry. They were married in 1955 and soon after graduated from Calvin in 1956. After seminary he taught at Phil-Mont for two years. In 1961, he started teaching at Trinity Christian College while also doing graduate work at Loyola University in Chicago. He received a MA and PhD from Loyola. In 1972, he moved to Chattanooga, TN and taught history at Covenant College until 2001. His academic interests were history, contemporary global history and the relation of world view to culture and cultural change. He has four children.

Rev. Walter Arkell, BDiv, '59

Born in Toronto, Canada, he received his BA and MA from Bob Jones University. He then went onto to study with us at Westminster. He was pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Maryland for 11 years. He then preached at First Presbyterian Church in Ridgefield Park, NJ for 28 years. He also served as Moderator of the Presbytery as well as the Commissoner of the General Assembly several times. As a member of the West Jersey Presbytery, he has continued to serve as Interim Pastor and as a Supply Pastor. He and Barabara have been together for 55 years. They have four children and seven grandchildren.

Rev. Frank Arnold, BDiv, '59

"After graduation, I went back to work as a metallurgical engineer just as I had planned; however volunteer service as a prison chaplain led me into full-time ministry and ultimately to Brazil under the Southern Presbyterian Church. My wife, Hope, and I spent 33 happy and, hopefully, productive years there in church planting, administration and theological education. After retirement, I have volunteered with immigrant ministries in Greater Atlanta."

Rev. John Young, MDiv '59

He was a Reformed Baptist pastor for 40 years, serving the Lord with six different congregations. He spent most of his career at American Baptist churches in Southridge, Mass. and Beaver Falls, PA. Given the coffee shop boom, he also became a coffee business entrepreneur. He raised four children and now lives in New Hampshire with his wife Ginny. He emphatically stated that, "Coming to Westminster was the best decision he ever made." And after catching his breath, he made us promise to let the world know that because of this, "I am putting Westminster in my will."