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Spring
2014 7
you Fifty Thousand Dollars.”
Dumfounded, MacLachlan stared at his
hostess. Surely he had heard wrong. Slowly
the words sunk in and he managed to recover
his senses. “My dear Mrs. Kennedy, do you
really want to commit yourself to such a large
gift just at this time? I know the estate is not
yet settled, and I am for the present quite
satisfied to know of your keen interest in the
college and its work.”
“Oh, I’m quite sure it’s all right,” promptly
answered Kennedy. “Stephen (a relative) was
in here this morning and told me that I could
begin to give away money and I want my first
gift to go to your College.”
MacLachlan remained motionless. From the
corner of his eye, he saw Kennedy’s guest
dabbing her handkerchief to her eyes. With
shock, he realized that his own tears were
silently flowing.
The date was October 25th 1910. “I began
to clearly comprehend the significance in the
life history of the College of two such splen-
did and unexpected gifts in a single day,” he
wrote in his diary, “this is surely ‘Founders’
Day’ for International College.”
Henceforth, Founders’ Day at IC in Smyrna
was officially commemorated on October
25th every year.
With the annual fund boasting $75,000,
MacLachlan finally had enough capital to
build his dream: a sprawling IC campus with
state of the art facilities.
He couldn’t wait to return to Turkey.
But first, MacLachlan – now just over 50 –
wanted to find a suitable man to teach and
assist him and eventually take his place. Being
a Protestant minister, he naturally headed
towards the Union Theological Seminary (in
NY) and found himself seated across a young
seminary graduate, Cass Arthur Reed. Little
did he know that he was looking at the man
who would eventually not only become his
son-in-law but the person who would play a
pivotal role in moving IC to Beirut twenty six
years later….
To be continued…..
Historical information based on: an interview
with Dr. Howard Reed (summer 2011); Pot-
pourri of Sidelights and Shadows from Turkey,
by Alexander MacL
achlan, 1937.
Smyrna
(Part VIII)
MacLachlan and his daughter, Rosalind,
were invited by wealthy philanthropist
Helen Gould to spend a few days at her
summer home - the Lyndhurst’s estate.
Source: www.digitalhistoryproject.com
MacLachlan’s dream was to build
big and modern facilities for his
boys who were now living in
over cramped school buildings.