Jean Sholar Christman-Wake Forest Chaplain Wife

JEAN SHOLAR CHRISTMAN—WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY CHAPLAIN’S WIFE

            Ed and Jean Sholar Christman have been a part of the Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC community for more than 60 years. Both arrived at the old campus as college students in the late 1940s.  Aside from Ed’s three years in seminary, they’ve spent their lives as part of Wake Forest, including Ed’s service as Assistant Chaplain and then University Chaplain. Now retired, Ed and Jean live only a few miles away from the campus and still enjoy spending time there.
            Ed and Jean’s presence has always reflected a constancy of joy, kindness, service, and a belief in progress as embodied in Wake Forest’s motto Pro Humanitate.
            Jean Carolyn Sholar was the daughter of Robert Euel Sholar and Emma Goebel Cox Sholar.  She was born in Cadiz, Kentucky, which is in the southwestern part of the state.  She was the fifth of seven children and the youngest of the three girls.
            Jean’s family moved to Hopkinsville, KY, when she was in elementary school. She was valedictorian of Hopkinsville High School, editor of the high school yearbook, and a member of the National Honor Society.  She then attended Bethel Woman’s College where she was Phi Theta Kappa president.
            In 1949, Jean met Edgar D. Christman. New to the campus, she was working in the cafeteria line.  They met when she served him a cup of steaming coffee served without a saucer, were introduced under a shady tree on the old campus,  became acquainted over a snooze in church, and have been together ever since.   As Ed says, “We found each other’s company very pleasant.”  And thus begins a love story…
            By Christmas, when Jean went home to Kentucky, she already knew she was going to marry Ed.  They were married three years later, on December 23, 1952 at Wake Forest Baptist Church, in Wake Forest, North Carolina, by Pastor J. Glenn Blackburn.  Jean’s brother Ronald gave her away, and Racine Brown, Ed’s roommate, served as best man.
            Jean wrote about the old campus in her notes for the Class of 1951 Reunion Directory, from Homecoming 2001:  “My memories of the ‘old’ campus include the bell ringing after athletic victories, the tradition of speaking to everyone, magnolia trees covering the campus, the rock wall, brick walkways which ruined all high-heeled shoes, meeting my husband, and living in ‘new’ Johnson Dorm with wonderful hall mates and housemother Ma Overby.  Wake Forest professors who have been very influential were Roland Gay, K.T. Raynor, David Smiley, Henry Stroupe, Howell Smith, and Sterling Boyd.”
            Jean had a distinguished school career of her own. She graduated magna cum laude in 1951 with a BA.  She was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Mortar Board, and she was inducted into the honor society Tassels “in recognition of her outstanding attainments in Scholarship, Leadership, and Character at Wake Forest College.”
            After Wake Forest, Jean went on to graduate school at Duke University and was awarded a Master of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.) on September 2, 1957 (when baby Carolyn was four months old!).  She taught mathematics at high schools in Spring Hope, Bunn, and Youngsville, near to the town of Wake Forest.
            Ed Christman was ordained to the ministry on January 15, 1955. Ed and Jean returned from a year in New York City and Union Seminary in the fall of 1969. Ed was turning 40 years old and he was offered the job as University Chaplain at Wake Forest University, a position he would hold for the next 34 years, retiring in 2003.
            Ed and Jean were members of the Wake Forest Baptist Church in Wake Forest, and they were organizing members of the Wake Forest Baptist on the campus in Winston-Salem.
            Jean’s greatest love was to be the mother of two daughters, Carolyn Jo Christman and Kimberly Jean Christman, and even more so to become a grandmother in 2003 to Francisco Christman Shehee.
            Jean was an active member of the Wake Forest community as a leader of the Faculty Wives Club and of the Wake Forest Baptist Church mission group.  She was a literacy volunteer in the Winston-Salem public schools, and she also tutored many children and adults in reading, writing, and mathematics, setting up her ‘school room’ on the dining room table.
            The Wake Forest Divinity School Dean and Faculty honored Ed and Jean Christman upon his retirement as Chaplain by naming the school’s full-tuition fellowship the Ed and Jean Christman Fellowship. The fellowship is awarded to the most promising applicants, providing them up to three years of tuition support.
            Wake Forest University also created, as part of its William Louis Poteat Scholarship program, a scholarship in the names of Ed and Jean Christman. The Christman Scholarship, like the 20 other Poteat Scholarships, is awarded to first year students who are active members of a North Carolina Baptist church and who show promise of making a significant contribution to church and society.
            In 2009, Ed and Jean moved from their house on Royall Drive to Salemtowne, a Moravian-affiliated continuing care retirement community just a few miles away.  Salemtowne is a wonderful home, with splendid neighbors, excellent food, and a spacious apartment.  As Ed says, “we have landed in a wonderful place.”
            What’s best about Salemtowne has been the combination of old friends from Wake Forest (including the Royall Drive neighborhood!) plus new friends from other places. Everyone has had interesting lives and experiences to share. Ed and Jean love the community spirit, the dining room, and the many varied programs. They also appreciate being able to stay so close to the campus.

THE LINEAGE:

(Jean Carolyn Sholar Christman was the daughter of Robert Euel and Emma Goebel Cox Sholar and granddaughter of Drewry and Rosetta Olive Grigsby Sholar.  Drewry was the son of William Bridges and Mary E. Hutt Sholar.  William was the fourth child of Allen and Jemima Bridges Sholar.  Jemima was the first child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges.)