Description
Dr. John Galloway Truitt, Sr. was born June 15,
1891 in Summerfield, North Carolina. He attended Elon College and
graduated in 1917 with a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degree.
He also attended the Princeton Theological Seminary and graduated in
1923. In 1934, he was awarded the honorary degree Doctor of Divinity
from Elon College. The John Galloway Truitt, Sr. scrapbook contains
a variety of materials from around 1910-1916. Specifically, it
includes photographs of West Dormitory, the Old Main Administration
Building, the Elon College water tower, the old well, possibly Elon
College’s dirt tennis court, Elon students, downtown Elon, the many
churches where John G. Truitt, Sr. served, homes he visited as a
pastor, and other non-Elon related photos. This scrapbook also
includes programs from Elon College events such as the Philologian
and Psiphelian Annual Celebrations, Literary Society Representative
Evening, the Freshman-Sophomore Debate, Department of Music Recital,
Dramatic Recital, Graduate Recital, Class Day Exercises,
Baccalaureate Day, Baccalaureate Sermon, and Commencement. According
to the 1917 Phi Psi Cli yearbook, John G. Truitt, Sr. was involved
with the following Elon College organizations and activities:
Philologian Literary Society, Christian Endeavor Society, Y.M.C.A.,
Student Volunteer Band, College Representative in Intercollegiate
Peace Contest (1912), Sophomore Debater in the Freshman-Sophomore
Debate (1914), Junior Debater in the Junior-Senior Debate (1915),
Secretary and Treasurer of the Ministerial Association (1915),
President of the Student Volunteer Band (1914), Chief Critic of the
Ministerial Association (1915), President of the Christian Endeavor
Society (1915), President of the Philologian Entertainment (1915),
President of the Self-Government Board of Alumni Building (1916),
Class Poet (1916), and Associate Editor of the Phi Psi Cli (1916).
There is information about nearly all of these organizations and
activities in the scrapbook. In addition, the scrapbook has
information about non-Elon programs and organizations that John G.
Truitt, Sr. was associated with, including the United Society of
Christian Endeavor, Intercollegiate Peace Association, North
Carolina and Virginia Christian Conference, Blue Ridge Summer
Schools and Christian Conferences, Student Volunteer Union of North
Carolina for Foreign Missions, and Laymen’s Missionary Convention.
There are also invitations and programs to commencement exercises at
Bethany High School and Merry Oaks High School. There are also many
letters, as well as several approved dismissals from class for his
weekend preaching commitments. John G. Truitt, Sr. was the son of
Harrison Lee and Elizabeth Simpson Truitt, the husband of Adelia
Jones Truitt, and the father of Frances E. Cousins, Ann R. Herbert,
and John G. Truitt, Jr. He served as a pastor for churches in
Norfolk, Virginia; Dayton, Ohio; and Suffolk, Virginia, and served
as interim pastor at many other churches. Additionally, he served as
president of the Southern Convention of Congregational Christian
Churches and was elected President of the North Carolina Association
of Child Care Institutions. He also served as the Superintendent of
the Elon Homes for Children from 1949 to 1960, during which time he
modernized the Home and made it more financially sound. He died in
Burlington, North Carolina on December 21, 1978.