S ome people are fortunate enough to add years to their lives and yet never seem to grow old. Dr. and Mrs. Gordon Hooker are in this category. After highlighting their lives with forty-one years of service to Biola, they are entering “semi-retire ment.” We who are well acquainted with them chuckle at the word retirement, for we know that their ministry will continue as long as the Lord allows them to remain on earth. What have been the lives of these godly people? Mrs. Hooker was a California pioneer, her fam ily being one of the first to settle the San Joaquin Valley. Her parents and grandparents helped com prise the three founding families of what is now Porterville, California. The first plaster house in Porterville was built by her grandfather. Mrs. Hooker began teaching in the public schools. During this time she heard about Biola through the KING’S BUSINESS. Her application to teach at Biola was not accepted so she jour neyed to John Brown College, at Siloam Springs, Arkansas, where she undertook a laborious load. For three years she taught there during the day and attended Bible classes during the evening. The following year, Mrs. Hooker took a leave to enter Biola where she took a post-graduate
course. Not long afterwards, she was asked to ac cept the position of Dean of Women. Having felt led to teach, however, she declined the request. It was at Biola that she met Gordon Hooker. Dr. Hooker, although a resident of the U.S.A. for more than forty years, always has captured the attention of others by his “Down Under” accent which he has retained. He joined this world the third of seven brothers and sisters in Miritah, Tas mania, Australia, a tin mining town. Being musically inclined, Dr. Hooker planned to enter music training courses at the Albert St. Conservatory of Music, in Melbourne, Australia. This training was interrupted by World War I when he enlisted and joined the front lines. While serving in the British infantry and the New Zea land Army, he organized a brass band. Many sol diers were fascinated with his near perfect pitch and ability to write a composition without the use of instruments. As well as playing all the brass instruments, the piano, and the organ, Dr. Hooker has written hun dreds of hymns, published two books of songs (he is about to publish another), and written numerous pieces of band music. However, it is not this for which he is most remembered. Those who have
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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