Today’s winners are Mala Trott, Steven Lopez, and Marguerite Lauderback. They correctly identified the man who gave a powerful speech to save Loma Linda University School of Medicine at the autumn 1915 meeting of world leaders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The man was Percy T. Magan, namesake of Magan Hall, and his speech led to a unanimous vote to keep the School of Medicine at Loma Linda University open. Winners, please email pr@llu.edu to claim your prize, which must be picked up within 60 days.
The reason for this debate was that Loma Linda University — or the College of Medical Evangelists, as it was then known — struggled to provide adequate clinical facilities for medical student training, and the American Medical Association was demanding it.
The solution was to build a clinical teaching hospital in Los Angeles — a decision urged at the 1915 church meeting by Dr. Florence Keller, Josephine Gotzian, Mrs. Stephen N. Haskell, and Emma Gray. The women started a successful movement to raise funds for the new facility, White Memorial Hospital. It was named after Loma Linda University Health co-founder Ellen White, who had died a few months earlier on July 16, 1915.
White Memorial was dedicated at a ceremony on April 21, 1918, with more than 2,000 in attendance. What unexpected occurrence happened during that service?
Please email the correct answer to pr@llu.edu by midnight Tuesday, Sept. 30, for a chance to be a random winner. One answer per person.