Boston Says “Hello” and “Goodbye”

The new semester began at Boston Baptist College as many students arrived for the “fall Blitz” on August 20.  Even more students settled into the dorms as they continue to arrive as registration is ongoing through the middle of September.

But amid the hellos and new introductions, the Boston Baptist community said goodbye to long-time, much-loved, team members, Mike and Elly Patterson.  The Pattersons came to Boston in 1989 and at the close of the most recent academic year completed 29 years of extraordinaryservice in Boston.  Mike Patterson served as a full-time professor for all of those years, specializing in American and Ancient History, but teaching many Bible courses as well.  His Old Testament Survey courses and ground-breaking civil war courses were student favorites across the decades.  Professor Patterson’s energetic lectures were not only full of critical information but were also woven with homespun “Pattersonisms” that left his students pondering and smiling.  Mike Patterson taught more students and more courses than any professor in the history of Boston Baptist College.

While Mike labored in the classroom, Elly Patterson served just as faithfully in the college Business Office as well as in a wide range of roles in support of Boston students.  For the past several years she had been the Dean of Women, and worked to “be there” for the young women of Boston as they prepared for Christian service.  Mike and Elly Patterson epitomized the sacrifice and service that real ministry requires, and their contribution to Boston Baptist College simply cannot be calculated!  They now reside in Augusta, Georgia.  On September 6, the college honored them with a retirement reception in the Orelia Rawlings House (the O.R) and friends, colleagues, pastors, students and dozens of alumni from four different decades came to show their love and appreciation.  Along with other honors, the Pattersons were presented with an engraved retirement clock that simply read, “Thanks for being Boston with us.”