Book of essays published by friends of late professor

By Tiffany Stephenson

LITTLE ROCK — The Rev. Dr. William C. Gentry is gone, but those left behind have endeavored to ensure that his work lives on through a book of his essays.

Gentry died in the summer of 2003, after 29 years as assistant professor of philosophy at Henderson State University. He was also an ordained United Methodist minister.

Dr. Kev in Durand, who a s - sumed Gentry’s job upon his retirement in 2000, said that Gentry was vital in the university’s growth process.

“His vision for the university has shaped the education at Henderson,” said Durand. “He was dedicated to a liberal arts education.”

Gentry’s widow, Betty, said Gentry often spoke of his students when he was at home, and he loved teaching.

“Bill was a very gifted teacher,thinker and caregiver, and he would have been able to go other places to teach, but it didn’t work out that way. He had a very hard decision to make. He thought it through and knew that he wanted his family here,” she said. “He made a deliberate decision to put all his energ y into teaching at HSU. He didn’t complain or do the minimum. He used all of his energies and efforts.”

In addition to teaching philosophy, Gentry worked to help establish Henderson’s Master of Liberal Arts program and led a symposium, each fall and each spring, discussing topics as diverse as the environment and Africa. He began the school’s Honor’s College and has a classroom named after him in the college’s Sturgis Building.

“He understood the interconnections between all of the disciplines,” Durand said. “The university has benefited from thattremendously.”

Although Betty Gentry said that she only attended a couple of Gentry’s classes and did not know him very well in the academic setting, he often spoke about his students and enjoyed spending time with them.

“He loved to grill hamburgers and have students over for supper a couple of times a semester,” she said. “He loved teaching and loved his students. He was always telling me about his students - how they were progressing and thinking and what was going on with them.”

Gentry often used his own research and essays, which he had written at various times throughout his career, to inspire his students. Betty Gentry said that some of her favorites included one on Homer’s contributions, terminology that is used in philosophy, stemcell research and the Arkadelphiatornado of 1997.

“He loved books, and he seemed able to read books and apply their principles and truisms to any area of living,” Betty Gentry said.

“History, religion, sports, politics, ethics or art. Ethics was his favorite. He applied ethics to all that he did.”

Gentry himself was also affected by these essays, particularly the discussion about the use of stem cells in research. After his retirement, Gentrywas diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, the disease that eventually took his life, and he underwent a stem-cell transplant.

“They [essays] were careful and scholarly, from his own experience of living with cancer,” Durand said.

“He put aside political rhetoric and got to the heart of the philosophical matter.”

Gentry had a vision of publishing some of his essays, but was not able to do so before his death.

With this in mind, Durand contacted Betty and told her he wished to publish volumes of Gentry’s work. The originalidea was to publish them in Henderson’s online archives. But Durand had previously published a couple of books with University Press of America, and contacted them about Gentry’s work. The result was A Philosophical Life: The Collected Essays of William C. Gentry.

After editing all 32 essays, Durand sent them to University Press and the book was published in June, then released to the public in July. A memorial service was held in Arkadelphia on Sept. 7 to launch the book in the area and give people the opportunity to remember Gentry’s life.

“The book is doing reasonably well, from my limited vantage point. We only get updates from UPA at the conclusion of the fiscal year, so we won’t have a number for a bit, yet. However, the bookstore here in town sold out of it,” Durand said. The book is available at amazon.com and at the HSU bookstore.

Durand is in the process of compiling a book of Gentry’s essays on religion.

Betty Gentry is working on compiling Gentry’s sermons, as well as stories about life within the church.

Durand said that the second and third editions of the bookmay be a while in coming.

“Generally, in academic publishing, new editions of textbook s come out ever y three to five years,” he said.

“However, since this isn’t strictly a textbook, but is rather a piece of original scholarship, it may be longer before a new edition is authorized.”

Proceeds of the book will go to the Philosophy Fund at the Henderson State University Foundation, which helps support conferences, scholarships and the work of Henderson’s philosophy department, in keeping with Gentry’s lifestyle.

“He was always tr ying to think of ways in which to make living life a better experience,” Durand said.

“He was ver y concerned with making connections to how people actually lived, and to be useful, have an effect and make people’s lives better,” Durand added.

Betty Gentr y knows how pleased Gentr y would have been with the publication of these books, and hopes that people realize and remember what a great man Gentry was.

“He enabled me to become a better person than I would have been without him,” she said.

Tri-Lakes, Pages 124, 135 on 09/28/2008