Here is my snapshot:
I first met Dr Clifford Wilson towards the end
of 1989 when he interviewed me for the position of Registrar with Pacific
College of Graduate Studies. It was an unusual moment for me, because
prior to the call from Ron Suter that I was to be interviewed that day, I had
been gardening and was up to my elbows with dirt. I had no time to take a
shower with only about 20 minutes to quickly rinse my hands, change my shirt,
run a comb through my hair and present myself for interview. Fortunately
the office was not far away from where I lived. So it was with some
trepidation that I arrived at his office.
Interview preliminaries were exchanged, and
then Cliff made a call to Avis his wife. After a few minutes, he passed
the phone over to me and said say a few words to Avis. So we spoke for several
minutes. Ah ha I thought to myself "this is a test".
I must have responded well to this 'left of
field' occurrence, because I began work as Registrar the very next
day. Unbeknown to me at the time was the fact that Cliff and Avis
were leaving for America for an extended period at the end of that week so
there were only three days for me to learn the ropes.
Fortunately, Ron Suter and Edith Donovan were also there and an invaluable
wealth of support.
Cliff was a dynamo running on full speed
with the brake pedal missing and I am sure he was often frustrated
because we rarely met his deadlines. Life at PCGS was like being on a
treadmill and not being able to get off because there was no “stop and rest”
button to press.
Sometimes as he arrived for a meeting he would
say to me “Have you had any new ideas since we last met”? I was always
pleased to be able to say, on a few occasions, “yes”, and he could hardly wait
to hear what they were.
As time went on Charles and I, Cliff and
Barbara became good friends working together to bring opportunity for Christian
men and women to embark on Biblical studies to earn professional degrees
without the need to leave home or work.
His generous spirit and kindness were
remarkable. He recorded radio programs which are beamed
across the world every day. He was also a prolific writer and Charles
reprinted many of his writings.
So Cliff, you were a giant force in Education,
Archaeology and Creation studies. Thank you for expanding my
horizon.
