BY BEN JOHNSON

he image most have of Dr. George Washington Carver is that of a dedicated scientist and inventor, dressed in a white smock, fussing over his many experiments in his laboratory or growing peanuts, sweet potatoes, or other plants in his fields at what was then Tuskegee Institute.

Carver would amaze scientists and others the world over with his productivity during his stint at Tuskegee, developing more than 300 different products from peanuts, producing another 118 products and more than 500 dyes from 28 different plants.

But there�s another image of Carver that Dr. Calvin Edwin Moseley, Jr., has of the genius scientist�as a Bible teacher. Moseley learned about the Bible and prayed together with one of the most productive scientists of the twentieth century.

Carver�s influence would propel Moseley to become one of the most respected members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Moseley�s career accomplishments showcased his many talents, as a singer, musician, preacher, teacher, lecturer, administrator, and pastor. The Moseley Complex housing Oakwood College�s Religion Department is named for him.

Moseley�s involvement with the Seventh-day Adventist Church has been so extensive that even today mention of his name brings hushed reverence from members, including Oakwood College president Delbert Baker.

�What a man!� Baker responded when asked about Moseley. �You know he�s 94 and still going strong.�

Moseley�s Adventist assignments have carried him to countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East as an official missionary preacher, teacher, and adviser for some 20 years for the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, based in Washington.

Moseley, now 94 and retired just nine years ago as Oakwood church associate pastor, still lives in Huntsville with his wife of 66 years, Harriet Frances. His involvement with Oakwood College stretches back to 1925, when he enrolled in what was then Oakwood Junior College.

Demopolis Native
Moseley was a product of a prosperous Demopolis, with its farms, dairies, sawmills, and cement manufacturers, born just after the turn of the twentieth century. He was just 15 years old when his parents sent him to Tuskegee in 1921.

Moseley, Sr., a plasterer, and his wife, Lilly Belle, provided a middle-class life for the family and wanted the same for their children. They had a career as a civil engineer in mind; the closest option Tuskegee offered was as an electrical engineer. But a headstrong Moseley had a different track in mind. He planned to finish at Tuskegee and then head to Howard University to study law.

All that changed after Moseley met Carver.

Young Moseley faithfully attended Carver�s Bible classes. Carver particularly liked the book of Deuteronomy and its lessons about the blessings that come to those who obey God�s Word.

�That�s where [Moseley] developed his appreciation for the Bible,� offered Dr. Mervyn Warren, Moseley�s son-in-law and a longtime administrator and professor at Oakwood. �How many people can say that George Washington Carver introduced them to a love of the Bible?�

Warren recalled Moseley talking about those Deuteronomy Bible lessons during weekly family dinners. �I liked to pick his brain,� Warren said. �We would talk a lot about religion.�

Moseley had met Carver while working as a student messenger for Tuskegee president Robert Moton, Booker T. Washington�s successor. Carver soon became Moseley�s mentor.

Joyful Noises
Moseley�s long musical career as a singer and a cornet player also began at Tuskegee. He sang in a quartet at Tuskegee and taught himself to play the cornet.

Later, after transferring to Oakwood Junior College in 1925, he would be a member of the famed Alabama Jubilee Quartet. The group traveled the country, raising funds and promoting the school. It was during one of the group�s treks to Chicago that Moseley would meet his bride-to-be, Harriet Frances Slater.

Moseley�s family had been Baptists but converted to the Adventist Church in 1922 after moving to Jackson, Mississippi. Moseley was baptized in the Adventist Church the next year in Jackson after attending a tent revival featuring noted Adventist evangelists F. S. Keitts and J. H. Laurence.

Another life-changing experience followed his baptism, leading him to a career as a minister. When the scheduled preacher failed to show for a Jackson church meeting, Moseley was �drafted� to replace him. His premiere sermon was so moving that church members asked him to consider the ministry. Though Moseley resisted, an illness changed his mind.

�I tried hard to evade the responsibility until I was stricken for 13 days with a near-fatal illness,� Moseley recalled for a 1983 Adventist publication. He nearly died of typhoid fever.

�The question came to my mind, �You intend to preach?� I promised the Lord that if He would raise me up from my bed, I would do whatever He wanted me to do.�

He completed his undergraduate studies at Jackson State College and Oakwood. In 1929 he earned a bachelor�s degree from Emmanuel Missionary College (now Andrews University) in Michigan. He began his ministry the next year.

In 1932 Oakwood College made history by naming J. L. Moran as the school�s first Black president. Moran then tapped Moseley to be the school�s first Black chair of the Theology and Religion Department. He also became the first Black pastor at the Oakwood College church.

These changes were monumental, coming two decades before the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling outlawing public school segregation. But it wasn�t unusual for Oakwood to be ahead of the times in terms of social change. Student protests had prompted the board of trustees to desegregate the teaching and administrative ranks. That came three decades before campus protests around the country forced desegregation at campuses around the country.

Moseley chaired the department from 1934-1951, helping train some 98 percent of the Adventist Church�s Black ministers, Oakwood archives show.

In 1954 Moseley traveled the world as the general field secretary for the world church of Seventh-day Adventists. After he retired in 1971 he was named associate pastor of the Oakwood College church, serving under Elder E. C. Ward until 1993.

Quieter Days
These days Moseley takes it easy. Around town they call him �Mose,� �Rabbi,� �Granddad,� �Elder,� and �the Father of Preachers��monikers he earned during his heyday. He spends most days at home, but when he does get out, trudging through the complex that bears his name, teachers, administrators, and students alike wander out to offer a greeting and a hug.

His age means Moseley�s time as a much-in-demand speaker is over. His recollection of his glory years is fuzzy at best. He spends his days with his wife at their three-bedroom, gold-colored brick house on the edge of the Oakwood campus.

Out front, the redesigned Oakwood Avenue carries traffic whizzing past his driveway. Across the street is the Harris Home for Children. Next door is the office for WCOG-FM radio, Oakwood�s radio station. Out back and on the side are the pecan trees and fig trees he planted decades ago. In the summer he still goes out to gather fruit from them.

The house is filled with photos from Moseley�s career and of his two children, four grandchildren, and other relatives and friends. The living room and dining room have showcases containing mementos and collectibles from Moseley�s global jaunts. Statues, curios, plates, carvings, artwork abound. There�s even a camel�s saddle there next to the lamp table.

�He doesn�t remember much now,� said Warren. �He used to tell us all about these various things, about where he went and what he did. . . . He�s done so much.�

Dr. Moseley and his wife, Harriet Frances, have been married since 1933.

His philosophy, his recollections are contained in the hundreds of sermons he wrote and delivered. Two books he wrote offer more insight. The Heritage Wall with some pictures and mementos from his career is posted in a room at Oakwood church.

And he�s still giving, still producing. After he retired, Moseley established the Moseley Scholarship Fund, now the Moseley-Warren Scholarship Fund. From Moseley�s initial donation of $15,000 two decades ago, the fund is now worth more than $300,000. The money pays for scholarships for students who want to study religion, theology, and religion education.

When visitors do stop by the house, they talk with both Moseleys about his exploits. And Moseley, more often than not, will take their hands and offer up a prayer, just as he did so many years ago with Dr. George Washington Carver.

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Ben Johnson is a writer for the Huntsville Times. This article originally appeared in the Huntsville Times on Sunday, January 30, 2000, pp. F-1, F-10. It is reprinted with permission.