wfn.org | DNS -- Eva Jean Wrather, writer and church historian dies

["Wilma Shuffitt" <wilmas@oc.disciples.org>]

{ SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1}Title:  Eva Jean Wrather, writer and 
church historian dies
Date: September 21, 2001
Disciples News Service
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Contact: Curt Miller
E-mail: cmiller@cm.disciples.org
on the Web: http://www.disciples.org

01a-50

	Nashville, Tenn. (DNS) -- One of the 
most widely recognized authorities on the life 
of Alexander Campbell has died.  Eva Jean 
Wrather, 92, died at her Nashville, Tenn. 
home September 13. 

	Wrather authored a two volume 
manuscript and numerous articles on the life 
of Alexander Campbell, one of the founders 
of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).  
The manuscript is to be edited and published 
posthumously.  Her interest in Campbell 
stretched back to her teenage years, and her 
research of his life included two trips to 
Scotland to investigate Campbells career 
and to meet his descendants. 

	We have lost the most articulate 
living historical conscience of the church. 
Her passion for the life and work of 
Alexander Campbell was unexcelled, said 
D. Duane Cummins, president of Bethany 
(W. Va.) College, founded by Campbell in 
1840.  

	She brought to her tasks the 
commitments of an historian and the 
craftsmanship of a superb writer, said Peter 
Morgan, president, Disciples of Christ 
Historical Society. Wrather served on the 
committee that established the Society in 
1941 and was a life member of its board until 
her death. 

	Wrather was instrumental in the 
design and construction of the Gothic 
Historical Society building in Nashville, which 
serves as a museum and information source 
for members and researchers from the three 
streams of the Stone-Campbell movement 
worldwide. Her fortuitous  combination of 
artist-historian made her the ideal partner in 
designing the history in stained glass in the 
Societys building. Miss Wrathers and Gus 
Bakers stained glass presentations are 
paintings in light telling our Disciples story, 
Morgan said. 

	The daughter of the late Robert I. 
Wrather and Aubrey Lee Hayes Wrather, 
Eva Jean Wrather graduated magna cum 
laude in 1932  from Vanderbilt University 
where she was a member of Phi Beta 
Kappa. She was a member of the American 
Society of Church History, the Tennessee 
Historical Society and the Association for 
Preservation of Tennessee Antiquities.  

	A memorial service was held at Vine 
Street Christian Church, Nashville, Sept. 19. 
Miss Wrather had been a member of that 
congregation since 1934. A reception 
followed the service at the Disciples of Christ 
Historical Society.  Memorial gifts may be 
made to the Wrather/Hayes fund at: 
Disciples of Christ Historical Society, 1101 
Nineteenth Ave., S., Nashville, TN 37212-
2196. 

                         -- end --

Disciples News Service releases 
are available at 
http://www.disciples.org/dns/index.htm