Walter Fremont
Encyclopedia
Walter Gilbert Fremont, Jr. (July 20, 1924 – January 7, 2007) was dean of the School of Education, Bob Jones University
(1953-1990) and “a seminal force in the inauguration and development of the Christian school
movement.”
but was largely reared in Wilmette, Illinois
and Southern Hills, a suburb of Dayton, Ohio
. A child of the Depression, Fremont remembered his family having a maid before the crash but afterward having too little money to buy coal. Eventually the senior Fremont scrabbled back to economic prosperity and by doing so helped to inculcate in his son a belief in persistence, that “once you start something, you don’t quit.”
As a child, Fremont was popular, athletic, and mechanically inclined. During World War II, he was drafted and assigned by the Army to study mechanical engineering at Carnegie Institute of Technology
. He then served as an engineering instructor and later as the supervisor of a mobile machine shop in Europe.
Following his discharge, Fremont earned an education degree from the University of Dayton
(1947) and a master of science in curriculum development from the University of Wisconsin (1949). In 1947 he married Gertrude Reed, a nursing student; they had three children.
in Greenville, South Carolina
, because of the University’s reputation for “instilling soul-winning fervor” into its students. Fremont was immediately asked to teach educational psychology and taught both semesters while taking thirty hours of Bible courses.
The following year he became a full-time member of the education faculty eventually teaching courses in psychology, counseling, and educational administration. Fremont was a popular teacher, humorous, dramatic, acrobatic, and wildly enthusiastic. Meanwhile he also taught Sunday school, engaged in street preaching, and held Bible studies at a local high school.
In 1953, during a period of upheaval at BJU, Fremont was appointed Dean of the School of Education. He was 29 and served as dean for thirty-seven years. From 1953 to 1959, Fremont worked on his doctorate at Pennsylvania State University
during the summers. He completed his dissertation in about three months by writing from six in the evening until two in the morning. Fremont eventually helped expand the “meager offerings” of the BJU education department at his arrival into full-scale elementary, secondary, and graduate programs.
in a successful effort to make Bob Jones University a leader in the new Christian school movement. Bob Jones III
called Fremont “the John Dewey
of Christian primary and secondary education,” and Keith Wiebe, president of the American Association of Christian Schools
referred to him as a man with a “contagious passion for Christian education.” Fremont’s successor as dean estimated that during Fremont’s tenure the percentage of BJU education graduates who entered Christian school teaching rose from 5% to 90%.
Fremont differentiated traditional education, with its emphasis on rote memory, from Christian education, which he believed should emphasize Bible principles. Arlin Horton, founder of Pensacola Christian College
, accused Fremont of promoting progressive education, and although Horton and Fremont remained personal friends, their educational philosophies diverged during the 1970s, a separation mirrored in the textbooks published by BJU Press
and Horton’s A Beka Book.
Fremont helped found a Children’s Gospel Club in Greenville and served on the executive committee of a Greenville-based mission board. But he claimed that his most effective ministry occurred in camp settings, believing that the camping environment—one that brought people into God’s creation and separated them from normal distractions—was the best place for communicating spiritual truth. In 1967, he and longtime friend, Ken Hay
helped found The Wilds
with Carl Blythe and Joe Henson. Fremont served on the board of directors for twenty-eight years and often spoke at couple’s retreats, which were always completely booked.
(Lou Gehrig’s disease) and given two to five years to live. He continued to serve as dean until 1990, taught from a wheelchair for one more year, and then survived fifteen years more, co-authoring several books from his hospital bed. The Wilds dedicated a Fremont Inn in 1992, and Bob Jones University named the Fremont Fitness Center in his honor in 1993. In January 2007, Fremont died less than a hundred yards away from the Fitness Center.
Bob Jones University
Bob Jones University is a private, for-profit, non-denominational Protestant university in Greenville, South Carolina.The university was founded in 1927 by Bob Jones, Sr. , an evangelist and contemporary of Billy Sunday...
(1953-1990) and “a seminal force in the inauguration and development of the Christian school
Christian school
A Christian school is a school run on Christian principles or by a Christian organization.The nature of Christian schools varies enormously from country to country, according to the religious, educational, and political cultures...
movement.”
Youth and Education
Fremont was born in Terre Haute, IndianaTerre Haute, Indiana
Terre Haute is a city and the county seat of Vigo County, Indiana, United States, near the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 60,785 and its metropolitan area had a population of 170,943. The city is the county seat of Vigo County and...
but was largely reared in Wilmette, Illinois
Wilmette, Illinois
Wilmette is a village in New Trier Township, Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is located north of Chicago's downtown district and has a population of 27,651. Wilmette is considered a bedroom community in the North Shore district...
and Southern Hills, a suburb of Dayton, Ohio
Dayton, Ohio
Dayton is the 6th largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, the fifth most populous county in the state. The population was 141,527 at the 2010 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 841,502 in the 2010 census...
. A child of the Depression, Fremont remembered his family having a maid before the crash but afterward having too little money to buy coal. Eventually the senior Fremont scrabbled back to economic prosperity and by doing so helped to inculcate in his son a belief in persistence, that “once you start something, you don’t quit.”
As a child, Fremont was popular, athletic, and mechanically inclined. During World War II, he was drafted and assigned by the Army to study mechanical engineering at Carnegie Institute of Technology
Carnegie Institute of Technology
The Carnegie Institute of Technology , is the name for Carnegie Mellon University’s College of Engineering. It was first called the Carnegie Technical Schools, or Carnegie Tech, when it was founded in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie who intended to build a “first class technical school” in Pittsburgh,...
. He then served as an engineering instructor and later as the supervisor of a mobile machine shop in Europe.
Following his discharge, Fremont earned an education degree from the University of Dayton
University of Dayton
The University of Dayton is a private Roman Catholic university operated by the Society of Mary located in Dayton, Ohio...
(1947) and a master of science in curriculum development from the University of Wisconsin (1949). In 1947 he married Gertrude Reed, a nursing student; they had three children.
Teacher and administrator
Fremont became an evangelical Christian in 1941. Even as a teenager, he made an interdenominational Bible study the focus of his spiritual and social life. In 1950, with one year of GI Bill benefits remaining, Fremont decided to study Bible at fundamentalist Bob Jones UniversityBob Jones University
Bob Jones University is a private, for-profit, non-denominational Protestant university in Greenville, South Carolina.The university was founded in 1927 by Bob Jones, Sr. , an evangelist and contemporary of Billy Sunday...
in Greenville, South Carolina
Greenville, South Carolina
-Law and government:The city of Greenville adopted the Council-Manager form of municipal government in 1976.-History:The area was part of the Cherokee Nation's protected grounds after the Treaty of 1763, which ended the French and Indian War. No White man was allowed to enter, though some families...
, because of the University’s reputation for “instilling soul-winning fervor” into its students. Fremont was immediately asked to teach educational psychology and taught both semesters while taking thirty hours of Bible courses.
The following year he became a full-time member of the education faculty eventually teaching courses in psychology, counseling, and educational administration. Fremont was a popular teacher, humorous, dramatic, acrobatic, and wildly enthusiastic. Meanwhile he also taught Sunday school, engaged in street preaching, and held Bible studies at a local high school.
In 1953, during a period of upheaval at BJU, Fremont was appointed Dean of the School of Education. He was 29 and served as dean for thirty-seven years. From 1953 to 1959, Fremont worked on his doctorate at Pennsylvania State University
Pennsylvania State University
The Pennsylvania State University, commonly referred to as Penn State or PSU, is a public research university with campuses and facilities throughout the state of Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1855, the university has a threefold mission of teaching, research, and public service...
during the summers. He completed his dissertation in about three months by writing from six in the evening until two in the morning. Fremont eventually helped expand the “meager offerings” of the BJU education department at his arrival into full-scale elementary, secondary, and graduate programs.
Proponent of Christian education
Fremont’s dissertation outlined principles of administration in evangelical Protestant Christian schools, a tiny segment of the educational world in the 1950s but his burden for the rest of his career. Fremont became an early mainstay of BJU PressBJU Press
BJU Press , founded in 1973, publishes textbooks for the Christian school and home school movements as well as trade and children's books.-History:...
in a successful effort to make Bob Jones University a leader in the new Christian school movement. Bob Jones III
Bob Jones III
Robert Reynolds Jones III , third president of Bob Jones University. The son of Bob Jones, Jr., and the grandson of Bob Jones, Sr., the university's founder, Jones III served as president of BJU from 1971 to 2005.-Biography:...
called Fremont “the John Dewey
John Dewey
John Dewey was an American philosopher, psychologist and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. Dewey was an important early developer of the philosophy of pragmatism and one of the founders of functional psychology...
of Christian primary and secondary education,” and Keith Wiebe, president of the American Association of Christian Schools
American Association of Christian Schools
The American Association of Christian Schools is a United States organization, based in East Ridge, Tennessee, that unifies individual Christian schools and statewide Christian school associations across the country for the purpose of accreditation, competition, and group benefits.-State...
referred to him as a man with a “contagious passion for Christian education.” Fremont’s successor as dean estimated that during Fremont’s tenure the percentage of BJU education graduates who entered Christian school teaching rose from 5% to 90%.
Fremont differentiated traditional education, with its emphasis on rote memory, from Christian education, which he believed should emphasize Bible principles. Arlin Horton, founder of Pensacola Christian College
Pensacola Christian College
Pensacola Christian College is an unaccredited fundamentalist, Independent Baptist college in Pensacola, Florida, USA, founded in 1974 by Arlin Horton. The college is actively pursuing accreditation, and as of 7 November 2011 had been awarded candidate status with Transnational Association of...
, accused Fremont of promoting progressive education, and although Horton and Fremont remained personal friends, their educational philosophies diverged during the 1970s, a separation mirrored in the textbooks published by BJU Press
BJU Press
BJU Press , founded in 1973, publishes textbooks for the Christian school and home school movements as well as trade and children's books.-History:...
and Horton’s A Beka Book.
Fremont helped found a Children’s Gospel Club in Greenville and served on the executive committee of a Greenville-based mission board. But he claimed that his most effective ministry occurred in camp settings, believing that the camping environment—one that brought people into God’s creation and separated them from normal distractions—was the best place for communicating spiritual truth. In 1967, he and longtime friend, Ken Hay
Ken Hay
Kenneth Edward Hay is the founder of The Wilds, a fundamentalist camp and conference center.-Biography:Ken Hay, a native of California and a graduate of Oregon City High School, is the son of a Baptist pastor who took his sons to camp settings "as soon as we were old enough to walk." Hay, who was...
helped found The Wilds
The Wilds
The Wilds is a private, non-profit wildlife conservation center located in Muskingum County, Ohio. It is situated on 9,154 acres of reclaimed coal mine land and is home to over 25 non-native and hundreds of native species...
with Carl Blythe and Joe Henson. Fremont served on the board of directors for twenty-eight years and often spoke at couple’s retreats, which were always completely booked.
Illness and death
In 1986, Fremont was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosisAmyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis , also referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a form of motor neuron disease caused by the degeneration of upper and lower neurons, located in the ventral horn of the spinal cord and the cortical neurons that provide their efferent input...
(Lou Gehrig’s disease) and given two to five years to live. He continued to serve as dean until 1990, taught from a wheelchair for one more year, and then survived fifteen years more, co-authoring several books from his hospital bed. The Wilds dedicated a Fremont Inn in 1992, and Bob Jones University named the Fremont Fitness Center in his honor in 1993. In January 2007, Fremont died less than a hundred yards away from the Fitness Center.
Books
- Formula for Family Unity: A Practical Guide for Christian Families (1980) (with Trudy Fremont) ISBN 0890841225.
- Forming a New Generation: A Practical Guide for Youth Leaders (1990) (with Trudy and Gilbert Fremont) ISBN 0890845115
- Becoming an Effective Christian Counselor (1996) (with Trudy Fremont) ISBN 0890848904
- Rambunctious Rattler (1999) (with Susan W. Young), juvenile fiction ISBN 1579242626
- Power to Serve: Living a Joyful Spirit-filled Life (2002) (with Carson K. Fremont) ISBN 9781579247584