upward to the heavens

Looking Back: The John B. Begley Chapel

BY JACINDA MCQUEEN • STAFF WRITER

It has been nearly 20 years since construction began on John B. Begley chapel. Since then, the chapel has served an important purpose for the Lindsey Wilson College (LWC) community. Before 1992, when the chapel was commissioned, there was no plan for the college to have a chapel at all. The idea came from an anonymous donor who agreed to pay $1 million for the construction of the chapel. After the architectural plans had been made, the bid came in at $2 million, resulting in another anonymous donor contributing $1 million to the project.

Dr. William T. Luckey Jr., who is now president of the college, was working as vice president at the time.

“I don’t think any of us had thought about it or, it wasn’t part of a strategic plan or facility master plan, it was a donor that thought ‘this is something that I think Lindsey should have and I’m willing to help pay for it’,” Luckey said.

The architect for the project was chosen after Jim Blair, who was a member of the board of trustees at the time, saw a CBS Sunday Morning special about an architect named E. Fay Jones. Blair decided that if LWC were to have a chapel, Jones should be the one to design it.

“He was called America’s greatest living architect,” said Luckey.

Jones, who was a student of famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright, is known for building a number of chapels in Arkansas including the well-known Thorncrown chapel located just outside of Eureka Springs.

Because most chapels designed by Jones were in wooded areas, it was expected that the Begley chapel would be located at the bottom of the hill in a wooded area, however, Jones had other plans.

“There were no handcuffs put on him at all,” said Luckey.

Jones wanted the chapel to be built in the middle of campus and he drew inspiration for the design of the Begley Chapel while driving to campus from the airport in Nashville.

“He was struck by the beauty of the country as he drove from the airport in Nashville to campus. He saw the rolling hills and the silos that were spread throughout,” said Luckey.

The design also stemmed from Jones’ belief in a power greater than us. Jones wanted the chapel to remind us of this power by designing a structure that would draw our eyes upwards toward the heavens.

“I remember Fay saying I don’t know what it is, this power that is greater than we are, but I think it exists and somehow I think it exists in the heavens,” said Luckey.

Maurice Jennings, an architect who worked with Jones for more than 25 years, worked with Jones in designing the Begley Chapel. The Begley Chapel was the last chapel that Jones designed. When compared to other chapels designed by Jones, the Begley Chapel is a little different architecturally.

“This is the only chapel, of fifteen built, that consists of a round plan. All the other Chapels are composed of straight elements. The Begley Chapel is the only chapel with no glass windows. We strived to use brick to its potential,” Jennings said.

They also wanted to ensure that the Begley Chapel complimented the rest of the campus.

“It was important to design a structure that incorporated the brick that is predominate on campus, and yet lift the structure up to architecture. The brick foundry did an excellent job in making the special pieces of the arched entry, and the masons were more than capable of constructing the brickwork,” said Jennings.

For Jennings, seeing a design like the Begley Chapel come to life is very fulfilling.

“To see a structure take form on paper is always exciting, but it can never compare to seeing the three dimensional building,” said Jennings.

The completed three dimensional building as we see it today, however, is a little different than what the original architectural plans depicted. For example, the brick interior caused problems with sound inside the chapel.

“We had to bring in an acoustics expert from St. Louis to help us with acoustics,” said Dr. Terry Swan, who is dean of the chapel.

Because the sound reverberated so much in the original design, some changes had to be made.

“When you walk around and you see those wooden sound barriers along the wall, that was originally not supposed to be part of the design,” Luckey said.

Also not included in the original plans were the offices located below the chapel.

“They put in these beautiful offices and of course, this was all a gift to the school,” Swan said.

Despite these deviances from the original plans, the chapel continues to be very important to the LWC community.

“I’ve come to believe it’s kind of a holy place over time and the reason I say that, not to over spiritualize it, except that so many persons have had positive experiences here who have committed their lives to god, who made decisions to serve God in a career, students have proposed to others here, and gotten married here,” Swan said.

While there are many different events that take place in the chapel, perhaps the most important, yet simple function of the chapel is to provide a quiet place for students to escape to.

Jennings described the chapel as “a place to recharge your body and soul.”

For almost 20 years, the chapel has succeeded in providing this for all students.

“That’s all we want it to be, a place where you can go in and pause and reflect and think and feel love and comfort,” said Luckey.

The Begley Chapel has become a symbol for the LWC community, highlighting the relationship between the college and the Methodist church.

“It’s not only beautiful architecturally, but it’s a reminder of the deep foundation for this school which is it’s a church related college,” Swan said.

In the future, Luckey hopes that the chapel will continue to be useful to students whenever they need it.

“There will always be students with pain. There will always be students with challenges. There will always be students with problems and I want them to always have a place where they feel they can go into 24 hours a day and feel comforted,” said Luckey.

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