FEAVER,
J. Clayton Feaver
Philosopher
and educator J. Clayton Feaver, whose teaching career in higher education
spanned 54 years, died July 14, 1995 in Norman at age 84.
Feaver, an ordained minister in the Presbyterian church, was named to the
prestigious rank of David Ross Boyd Professor of Philosophy during his 36 years
on the faculty at the University of Oklahoma.
During his last 10 years at OU, he also served as director of OU's
Scholar-Leadership Enrichment Program, designed to bring together
internationally known scholars with Oklahoma's best students.
Memorial
services are scheduled at 11 a.m. July 17 at the First Presbyterian Church of
Norman, with the Rev. Glen Doake presiding.
First Presbyterian is located at 555 South University Blvd. Feaver was a
long-time resident of Norman.
Few
college professors have impacted as many lives as Feaver did.
He is best known for his broad influence in the classroom: as an OU
faculty member, he taught roughly 1,500 students per year for 30 years.
He
retired from OU in 1987, only to accept another teaching position as Professor
Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma in its
Distinguished Emeriti Faculty program. He
continued teaching until his death, creating unique courses developed to explore
new facets of philosophy and thought. In
December, he launched a new study called "American Philosophies of Social
and Religious Morality," designed to examine the ethical, socio-political
and theological emphasis in American thought.
J.Clayton
Feaver was born June 24, 1911, in Fowler, Calif., the son of Ernest and Agnes
Feaver. Part of a second-generation
farming family in the San Joaquin Valley, he graduated from Fresno State College
in 1933. He spent the following
year at San Francisco Theological Seminary.
In
1935, he met and married Margaret Storsand. He graduated from the Pacific School
of Religion in 1936 and was ordained in the United Presbyterian Church, USA.
In 1937, he entered Yale University, where he completed doctoral studies
in the School of Divinity.
In
1941, he joined the faculty of Berea College in Berea, Ky., where he taught for
10 years. After a brief stint
working as a riveter for Douglas Aircraft in Long Beach, Calif., he was
appointed to the position of Kingfisher College Professor of Philosophy and
Religion and Ethics at the University of Oklahoma in 1951.
In
1959, Feaver was awarded the distinction of David Ross Boyd Professor of
Philosophy. In addition to several
outstanding teaching awards, he received the University's Distinguished Service
Citation in 1979.
Citing
problems of content and delivery, in 1968 Provost Pete Kyle McCarter recommended
to OU President George Lynn Cross that Feaver be asked to deliver the invocation
at OU home football games. He
agreed and until 1995, Feaver opened OU's contests with a prayer.
In
1977, he was appointed director of the Oklahoma Scholar-Leadership Enrichment
Program (OSLEP), a statewide program providing enrichment opportunities for all
Oklahoma colleges and universities. Retiring
from the OU faculty in 1981, he continued as OSLEP director until 1987.
From
1989-95, he held the position of Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Philosophy
at USAO in Chickasha. There he
taught with teams in the Interdisciplinary Studies Program.
He
is survived by his wife Margaret Storsand Feaver of Norman; daughter Elaine
Feaver Witten of Slaughterville; daughter and son-in-law Ellen Feaver Lucas
and Tom Lucas of Norman; son and daughter-in-law John Hansen Feaver and
Marilyn Feaver of Chickasha; sisters Grace Alexander, Evelyn Watkins and Edith
Fessenden, all of Long Beach, Calif.; grandsons Joshua Blyden, James Feaver,
Matthew Feaver and Joshua Glass; and granddaughters Medea Glass and Emily Witten;
four nieces and nephews, and a host of friends and colleagues.
In
lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the J. Clayton Feaver
Scholarship Fund at the University of Oklahoma Foundation.