It was indeed a Sunday lunch tradition at the Bedford home to use a nice tablecloth and set the dining-room table with china, silverware and crystal. The usual menu was eye of round roast (which had been gently cooking while they were at church), rice or mashed potatoes with homemade gravy, and fresh green salad.
Then there was Dan Carroll, who taught Christian Education and was known for his beautiful chalk-art evangelistic presentations. His wife Betty Alice initiated her students into the mysteries of Greek. Back in the Bedfords’ Rosario days, Dan and Ben had made a trip to close a property deal in Junín, in northwest Buenos Aires Province, in a venerable old Jaguar formerly assigned to the Watsons. Dan suggested a cross-country short cut, part of which was over an unpaved road. Unfortunately, an axle broke and the time required for repairs forced them to make their separate ways home considerably later than originally planned.
Justice Anderson taught History and Homiletics and had covered Pastoral Ministry before Ben’s appointment to the Seminary. The two men shared a profound love of evangelism. Justice crisscrossed the country with mission teams and was instrumental in encouraging home mission pioneers Alba Montes de Oca, Miriam Brunner and Gladys Greca. His wife Mary Ann’s many talents included organizing memorable social events. She was the unforgettable roastmaster of a party honoring a Mr. Underwood, who had given a series of lectures on evangelism and publicity. Her imitation, complete with board and diagrams, had them all, roastee included, breathless with laughter. After the furlough in which Justice earned his doctorate, a spoof graduation ceremony was held at the Mission’s New Year’s Eve party. Former president Bill Cooper did the honors, capping the presentation in his deep Mississippi accent: “Some people graduate magna cum laude, but in your case, it’s ‘Lawdy, how come?!’”
Julio Díaz, a native of Santiago Province, had attended the Seminary in Buenos Aires as a young man, striking his professors with his potential. Bill Cooper paved the way for him to go to college in Mississippi, where he saw a very attractive redhead on campus and told his friend, “You see that girl? I am going to marry her.” His friend laughed and told him he had no chance, but Julio proved him wrong. The Díaz family had first returned to Argentina as independent missionaries and started a church in Mar del Plata. Recently Julio had earned a graduate degree from Southwestern Seminary and Ben had been the grader who had evaluated his exams in the class on Revelation. Now Julio was teaching New Testament and Dorothy was the official Seminary nurse. Their daughter Gwen was one year and one day younger than David and Nelda was one year and one day younger than their son Walter. Julio’s office was near Ben’s and he made a point of popping out to see Nancy while she was waiting to be taken home after being dropped off by the school bus. He had a stash of caramelos33 that he shared with her and called her “Nancy Francy.” She fully reciprocated his affection.
Stanley Clark, a brilliant scholar and linguist whose main field was New Testament, was Ben’s prayer partner, early every school day. Thirty years later, Stanley reminisced in a letter:
Kathleen and I remember with a great deal of joy the many happy times we have spent together. It was your initiative that got me involved in many opportunities of ministry, for example, a preaching mission and the organization of the church in Río Grande back in 1965.
One of the delights which you and I enjoyed, Ben, was praying together when we had adjoining offices here in the Seminary and both of us served on the faculty. When I meet now with faculty members to pray, my thoughts go back to those times when we prayed together for the ministry of the institution.
At last there was a full-time music professor, Kent Balyeat. He and his wife Lloydene were so beloved by the students that many called them Mami and Papi. Kent made countless trips to churches and mission points with student groups and a ride in his Estanciera34 was an unforgettable experience. He was a wild and erratic chauffeur who hailed the mad drivers of Buenos Aires as long-lost brothers. Lloydene was a legendary hostess and made beautiful handcrafted candles for every occasion.
Besides his duties as professor, John Cave was Seminary Librarian. One of his great successes was developing contacts in England that resulted in substantial donations and a huge shipment of used books at amazingly reduced prices that greatly enriched both the school stacks and the individual professors’ collections. His wife Laura was a talented musician and delighted congregations with her solos and many duets with Kent Balyeat. John was pastor at Florencio Varela, a South Zone congregation, and had worked with Ben by lending not only young people from his church but his own time to help with the mission point in Solano.
Ann Margrett, a veritable institution in herself, headed the Women’s Department until her retirement. She was quintessentially feminine and, in addition to academic courses, had taught deportment, etiquette and kindred subjects for years, so that it was with considerable astonishment that Ben witnessed her unexpected performing abilities during a Seminary social hour, in the course of which she crawled up onto the piano. From his very first year in Argentina Ben had often been teamed up with Ann in what the Mission liked to call “oiling committees,” special task forces set up to defuse and solve conflicts. In addition to the spiritual side, she was able to understand the cultural aspects of any given situation as both missionary and missionary kid.35
There was also an impressive group of part-time professors, including psychiatrist Daniel Tinao; physician, pastor and Renaissance man Carlos de la Torre; pastor, Old Testament scholar, journalist and editor Daniel Daglio; and social work champion Sarah Wilson, among others.
Santiago Canclini, beloved elder statesman of Argentine Baptists, fondly known as “Mr. Baptist,” was now Chaplain. He had taught, pastored, preached, written and led for decades. David and Nelda remembered his inimitable mop of snow-white hair flapping in the wind during a visit to Comodoro and how he had told jokes and made them laugh (in her case, painfully since she had the mumps).
Juan Ciéslar, a very able and successful pastor, was Seminary Administrator for several years. He was followed by Alberto Pizzicatti, chairman of the deacons at the Bedfords’ first church in Argentina, who applied all his brilliance and experience as former General Manager of Rosario’s electric utility company to help the Seminary run smoothly. Other good friends from Rosario were there, too: Ananías and Nelly González, Ignacio and María Teresa Loredo, Alberto and Rosa Cáceres, Marcelo and Leonor Rodríguez, just to name a few, now students preparing for full-time Christian service. Ananías and Ignacio were working for the Convention’s Publication Board and on literature for Training Union and Sunday School, respectively. Their ties to Christian Education had them collaborating closely with La Nell as well.
One of Ben’s most valuable colleagues outside the Seminary was Pastor Miguel Bollatti, secretary of the Convention’s Mission Board. He was instrumental in placing students and working out which churches needed help with supporting student helpers. He and Ben spent hours poring over lists and crunching the numbers.
This group of pastors, professors and students yielded an amazing crop of leaders for many years to come. They became pastors, missionaries, educators, musicians and social workers who made lasting contributions not only in Argentina but throughout the world.
Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina
“Mom, can you do me a favor?” asked David.
“What is it?”
“Please don’t cry when you see me off at the airport. I don’t want my last image to be of you in tears.”
“Well, I’ll try, but I’m not sure I can promise,” hesitated La Nell.
David was graduating from high school. The caption under his picture in the school yearbook said, “He walks, he talks, he eats, but mostly he talks!” He was planning to develop that gift by majoring in French. He would be attending Texas Technological College (soon to become Texas Tech University)