One of Wheaton College's oldest living alumni, Dr. Mark W. Lee Sr. ’46, M.A. ’52, started a blog last year at 93 years old. His goal: to teach today’s students how to “live life as an educated Christian.” His source material: his own life.

As one of the last students to be housed in Blanchard Hall as an undergraduate, Mark managed the Stupe in the evenings and stoked coal in 14 buildings in the mornings. Highlights of his Wheaton experience include being elected president of the Student Council and coaching Ed McCully ’49 into winning the nationwide Hearst Oratorical contest. He later worked with Billy Graham ’43 Litt.D. ’56 “in the first years of his emergence as an international evangelist.” Mark eventually became president of Simpson College where he led its transformation from a Bible college to a liberal arts university. 

Mark’s blog is meant to address a concern that too many Christian parents and students are “thinking in secular terms” about the meaning of higher education, viewing wealth and success as its end goal.

“The concept of education, which is intended for formation of self, has been diluted with training, which is for service to mankind through occupation,” says Mark. “Both are necessary, but self-formation is the first priority—especially for the Christian.” 

A notable Wheaton referral Mark made is his great-grandson, Mark Lee V ’16, who graduated exactly 70 years after Mark.

“All this leads me to pray: ‘Lord, permit thy servant to depart in peace, for that servant has seen the glory of the Lord in the lives of students finding the values of God identified in Christian Scripture,’” Mark says.