firsthand

Biola University Centennial Oral History Project

INTERVIEWEE: Louis Delgado

INTERVIEWER: Alica Stevans

DATE: December 8, 2006

ALICA STEVANS: This is Alica Stevans for the Biola Centennial Oral History Program, which is trying to collect the stories of people who were important to Biola’s history in time for the centennial in ’08. I’m here with Dr. Louis Delgado who came to Biola when it was still Biola College. And he actually designed our first emblem for the college. Dr. Delgado, do I have your permission to interview you?

LOUIS DELGADO: Certainly.

AS: All right. So you came to Biola when it was at the downtown campus, correct?

LD: Yes. We were still in downtown Los Angeles—Sixth and Hope.

Campus Life - Downtown L.A.

AS: Can you tell us a little about what life was like when it was in the middle of Los Angeles?

LD: Well, it was a little hectic, being downtown Los Angeles. And in those days, it was required that all students come in and spend at least the first year on campus in one of the dorms. But they was so crowded I kind of got the…I got excused. So I lived maybe within, oh, five, six miles from the campus. So I would come in on a bus for my daily classes. But it was interesting because we didn’t have much of a campus. You stepped out of the Church of the Open Door, which was being used as the Biola campus—Biola College campus—and you’re right in the street in the middle of Los Angeles, just opposite the Los Angeles County Library. So it was not much of a campus atmosphere and my coming in and out didn’t lend itself to much of a college atmosphere. Unless you got involved with the college activities.

AS: Did you?

LD: In some, yes, especially the missionary efforts by some of the students, what was called Student Missionary Union—SMU. It still exists.

AS: Yes it does. What other campus activities were going on then?

LD: Well there were sports, intramural sports, and I was not involved in that because it required you being close to the team on the college campus. Also, trips that were made by different classes according to the interest of the class. And missionary trips, which I got involved in summer work. And down in Baja California, Mexico.

Safety in L.A.

AS: There…people conjecture now about why exactly we moved to La Mirada. Space is an obvious issue because—as you said—you went right from the campus onto the street. Other people wonder if it had something to do with the distress that was going on in Los Angeles at that time. Did you ever feel threatened or unsafe when you were on the campus?

LD: During the day, no, but I can see, from the young girls’ perspective, in the evening it felt kind of dangerous walking out into Los Angeles streets in the evening. Even I would walk there and you had to be careful in the evenings. So that’s a good reason for moving out.

La Mirada Campus - Early Years

AS: When the campus, when you moved here, which…how much of the campus was built up?

LD: When we finally moved…well, actually I did not move here, I did not attend here, I did not attend classes on the La Mirada campus. We were the first class to graduate from this campus using an oval lot out here where—what would it be? Talbot?—where Feinberg Hall is.was an oval, a grassy area, and we used that for the first graduation from the La Mirada campus. So the next year—I graduated in 1959—the very next year they started classes over here, they were busing students in this direction while using the downtown campus and the La Mirada campus. Eventually, in two to three years, the whole school moved out here.

AS: Biola became a college in 1949 and it was still downtown then.

LD: Yes, yes it was.

Delgado Creates Biola Emblem

AS: And you designed the emblem for, like, the mascot kind of thing, right?

LD: Mm-hmmm.

AS: How did…was there a contest? How did that happen?

LD: Well, since the school had been going on for a few years when I first came to Biola—that was in 1955—the students recognized the fact that they had used other, a couple of icons, little symbols to represent the school. Biola, which meant Biola is the Bible Institute of Los Angeles. But since it became a college they said, well, we need a college mascot, which, by then, it was the eagle was adopted. Well, let get the students—the student body leaders—said, let’s get the students a chance to offer designs. So that from the designs that were offered, we can pick one by popular consensus of the student body. So, in all, about thirteen designs were submitted. And I, as a sketch artist—I loved art; in those days I ws preparing for the ministry but my first love was art. I designed three emblems: a traditional one with a shield, a comical one with an eagle landing, as most of the colleges have now, and a modernistic one with a triangle showing the progress and the speed of an eagle alighting. So I submitted those three designs and there was clearly no—what do you call it?—the majority vote by the student body since there were thirteen submissions. So they decided on holding a runoff election with the three top frontrunners in votes from the student body. And it just happens that my three were the top vote getters. (laughter) So they came back to me and said, Lou, would you mind if we include a fourth one from another student, just to make it look fair? (laughter) And I said, sure, that’s fine. So, in any case, the shield is the one that won for the first Biola emblem: the shield with the Bible, an eagle’s head, and the three crosses of Christ and Biola College.

AS: Who was the president at that time? Was it Talbot?

LD: No, it was Dr. Sutherland. Talbot was quite a few years before that.

Student Ministry and Missions

AS: OK. (long pause) (microphone noise) I’m trying to think of how exactly, where I want to go from here. You were involved in the Student Missionary Union. What kind of things were they doing at that time?

Latin America and Mexico

LD: Besides the street evangelism in downtown Los Angeles, they would have a beach ministry. In summer they’d go out to the beaches and do some personal work on the beaches with young people, especially. They had neighborhood youth clubs over—children’s clubs. And those that were interested, really interested in getting a good taste of missions in Latin America would join the team that would go in the summer to Cuba. In those days—let’s see, that would be—no, that was before ’49. And others would plan trips for down to Mexico, as we did, to do youth work. And since I was not on campus, I didn’t get involved with too much with the inner workings of the SMU—just as needed on some of the trips, maybe a Spanish-speaker down in Mexico, and so forth.

AS: Did they often go to Mexico? Or did they concentrate more on Los Angeles and the beach.

LD: Well, the group that we formed to go to Mexico—we would go down every summer and we established a youth program down there, a camping program that included youth or sports, it included arts and crafts—and that was more or less my department—and games and so forth—a camping experience. And, of course, the biblical studies daily and evangelism in the local communities up in the mountains of Baja California. That was the main thrust of our ministry experience down there.

Delgado's Personal Story

AS: And you became a missionary, correct?

LD: Yes, I did, quite a few years later.

AS: Were you…you were studying for the ministry. Did you go to Talbot or did you go to another divinity school, another seminary?

LD: Well, when I got out of Biola, I was offered a pastorate at a small church in Santa Fe Springs, which I did for three years. But that just showed me that I needed a little more preparation. (laughs) I was a bachelor pastor and I think all good pastors should be married (laughs). So I decided to go back to Talbot Seminary and finish my B.A. in Bible Studies at Biola, I decided to back to seminary for one year. That’s when I met the woman that was to be my wife. And all those biblical studies (laughs) went down the drain. (laughter)

We got married, started a family, and she and I were missionaries at heart so, we went to Baja California as missionaries. We started our family also. And from then one it was just a question of how was I going to support the family? So after one year of working down in Baja California, I got a job teaching right over the hills here in Hacienda Heights. And to support the family I was in a language program, language arts. And I taught for seven years. And all this time, involved with our missionary effort in the summertimes and our youth programs down in Baja California. Eventually we thought, rather than just being involved in summertime, we decided to go full-time, after seven years of teaching. So we did.

AS: When did you get your doctorate?

LD: That I got just about five years ago.

AS: Really.

LD: (laughs) It was one of the last items on my personal agenda, goals to accomplish in my lifetime. After I got my masters in Marriage and Family Therapy, I said I need a title of a doctor. So I decided to come back to Talbot and get the D.Min.—Doctor of Ministry—just five years ago.

AS: Wow! So your career has stretched from the forties till the nineties… No, wait…

LD: No, the fifties.

AS: The fifties. So…OK, got it. I’m working out the timeframe. Fifties—that’s a long…

LD: Yes. And in one way or another, we’ve been involved in Biola all that time.

AS: When you were teaching, how were you involved in Biola?

LD: Friends that we have here. Friends that were teaching. We met professors throughout the years that have become friends. We’re actually a Biola family: all five—well, all four, except my wife—attended Biola. My three kids attended Biola; they graduated from Biola University. And my wife went to Pas Naz—Pasadena Nazarene. (laughs) And we met a lot of students, friends of our kids and the group that studied here at Biola. So we were always in touch with Biola, with the activities, and being down in Mexico City as missionaries, we’re close by. Any time on furlough, we’d catch up on things. And now that we’ve been back from the field ten years, we’re only about ten minutes from Biola University. So we keep up with a lot of the activities. We have a lot of friends, still, at Biola. And another thing that, now that you mention our ties to Biola, when I was attending Biola in the late fifties, Dr. Cook—the president of Biola—was just a year ahead of me. So that’s where I got to know Dr. Cook since those days. And we’ve been friends ever since.

AS: Do you have any exciting stories about Dr. Cook?

LD: Well, not really, because he was living in and out (laughs), living out. So I didn’t get in on the nitty gritty; I didn’t get in a lot of personal things that went on. It was more a casual acquaintance. But over the years, we got better acquainted since that one point he became the president of the missionary group under which we were serving. So we got a lot better acquainted there and our ties became a lot closer. And since he eventually wound up here at Biola as president… Well, yeah, I know Dr. Cook.

Changes at Biola

AS: So since you’ve been involved in Biola that whole time, has it changed much over the years?

LD: It certainly has! When I first became acquainted with Biola it was BIOLA—Bible Institute of Los Angeles. In fact I had an older brother who came to seminary in downtown Los Angeles, two older sisters had attended the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, in those days, seeking to prepare pastors, missionaries, well, God’s servants in various ministries. Since then, to see Biola flourish into a university has been quite a transition and quite a growth that I’ve seen. So just the fact that it became a college in 1949. When I first considered my first career and the preparation I’d receive, my first love was art. I got a scholarship from high school to go to Chouinard Art Institute. Midway through that scholarship I said, no, I should be serving the Lord. I don’t know where or how or with whom. But I should be serving the Lord and the best place to prepare to serve the Lord is Biola. And fortunately, by then, Biola was a college—an accredited college—so that made a lot of difference in my choice. So I attended Biola and in those days, believe it or not, we paid seven dollars a unit. (laughs) So that was a big help.

AS: (laughs) Seven dollars a unit…wow! Things really…

LD: Things have changed, haven’t they? (laughter) And now, currently I’m impressed with the schools that have been established here at Biola: the School of Business, especially the School of Psychology, Rosemead School of Psychology. And of course, there is Talbot Seminary; it’s always been a part of it but now it’s a seminary, a prestigious seminary in theology. Then you have a good art program. So it’s really becoming a full-fledged university and I’m glad to see that.

Mission Endures

AS: From….The change from when you first became acquainted with it, when it was the institute, to now as a university, do you think that the mission of Biola has changed?

LD: That is one encouraging and comforting aspect of this school. The basic and main objective is to train people to serve our Lord in various fields, whether it’s in what we call full-time ministry or not. Whether a person goes into business, into the fine arts, or in any other field, he gets a kind of preparation so he can be a vital servant of the Lord. And in that aspect, I don’t believe it has changed. It has maintained its focus of preparing people to serve God in various ways and in various fields. And I’m encouraged by that.

Memories of Student Life

AS: Let’s go back to when you were a student here. Who were some of the outstanding people on campus?

LD: Hm-mmm. Now you’re taxing my memory! (laughs) Remembering names…but I still remember what an excellent trumpet player, Harry Sweet. And every program, he was one of the key performers. And, of course, Dr. Cook. Let’s see, let me think about…

AS: What about teachers that really stood out?

LD: Well, I’ll tell you the two main teachers who really—I really appreciated all of; the teachers I had—the two that stood out were English: Dr. Whiting and Dr. Stanton. Dr. Whiting was our Bible Survey teacher, excellent teacher. Of course, his English accent made it sound more authoritative. (laughter) And Dr. Stanton, who was also a bible teacher, wrote the book, Kept from the Hour. And one of his main thrusts was this pretribulation presentation of the churches rapture and so forth. I remember his specifically for that. And Dr. Hewling, the music teacher…now there was one music teacher who knew how to relate to students, and knew how to teach classical music to anybody and make them appreciate it. I remember from our Music Appreciation class… And, of course, the ones that I, not by name, but I do remember that we had some great missionaries come out of Biola from my generation, and some that we’ve known over the years. Some that have served far and wide as missionaries. Since I was inclined more toward the mission field, that’s where most of our relationships were found.

AS: How did Biola shape and change Los Angeles? Or did it? Or did Los Angeles change Biola? What was the relation of the city to the college?

LD: Since I was not too tied in with the inner workings of the school…there was a lot of outreach done in the inner city. But I don’t recall any major impact. I think it’s in these last years that Biola has made more of an impact with what it offers, with the voices of authority that are consulted on campus. Now you hear of Biola in the news, in the newspapers. But in those days…it’s been a gradual thing. I don’t recall much of an impact in those days. In the city.

AS: You keep talking about, mentioning, because you did not live on campus you weren’t really involved. Was it really hard to be a commuter student?

LD: No, no. Because I was very close to the bus lines. You get on the bus in downtown Los Angeles, walk four blocks, you’re at school. It was actually quite convenient and I didn’t have to be on campus subject to all the campus rules. (laughter)

AS: They had the contract even then?

LD: Yes, yes.

AS: When you were…was it different for you because you did not live on campus?

LD: It wasn’t to be. But I was faithful. (laughter)

Contract

AS: How different was the contract then from what it is today? Today our rules are basically: no smoking, no drinking, no, you know, sexual impurities, not dancing, and I think there’s something else but I can’t remember off the top of my head what it is.

LD: It sounds very like what we signed in those days except for, if I’m not correct on this—in those days they included movies.

AS: Did they?

LD: Yes, but I would sneak out once in a while to see a good movie. (laughter) I’m glad it’s not on today’s.

AS: Was that typical or were you just a rebel?

LD: No, I liked movies because I like the theatre. My kids love the theatre. And they were something I appreciated. I was quite selective, of course.

AS: Did students…was it typical for students to…

LD: Sneak out?

AS: To sneak out and see movies or…

LD: Yes. And I can…I noticed, I observed it on campus, you had two groups: those that were faithful to the death and those who would speak out. (laughter) And, unfortunately, I was faithful in many ways but I did fall into this other group once in a while. (laughter)

AS: Could you really tell the difference, or did you just know? Did you, like, oh, they always follow the contract or was there an actual…

LD: Yeah, you could tell the difference, yes. You could tell the difference and I don’t know if you can do that today. You saw students and you can just see in their eyes, in their demeanor, and their studies—they were dedicated to serve the Lord. And those who were there to get a liberal arts education, study the Bible, and maybe, maybe, serve the Lord but retaining some of their lifestyle that they had before coming to Biola. So you could see; there was quite a different between these two groups. And by the way, I had friends in both groups.

AS: Did they discipline the people who didn’t always follow the contract? Or was that…

LD: Yes, as far as student discipline was concerned, I’m sure it went on and it was carried out faithfully by those—especially by those on campus with those on campus. And I was…I witnessed a couple of times when two students at different times who were, not disciplined, but at least it was brought to their attention. But I was not a witness to too many of those things because I was not on campus. But I’m sure they did.

AS: I’m sure they did. We’re an upright and moral school.

LD: Sure. (laughter)

Traditions

AS: What kind of traditions did Biola have? Was there…we just had, on campus, we had BAB Week—Betty Asks Bob—that started… I don’t remember when it started, but it was a while back. Did they have events like that, that went on year after year?

LD: As far as a BAB Week, I don’t recall that we had that. Maybe there was something…some event where the girls asked the boys. But I do recall that there were many banquets sponsored by the different groups, maybe at the end of a sport’s season. They had the awards banquets and since… Here again I’m at a loss because, as someone commuting daily, I was really not involved too much in those activities. I just remember going to one main banquet, a sport’s award banquet, where I was awarded the prize for the winning emblem, since it was used as a sports’ emblem. So that’s the only awards banquet I remember.

Designing the Emblem

AS: What else do they use the emblem for besides sports?

LD: Just about everything: your books are covered with that emblem, there were decals for the cars. In fact, the emblem I designed was all over Los Angeles, taken by Biola students. And something very interesting, when I was called back a few—was it two or three years ago?—to receive the Eagle Award here on this La Mirada campus. I said, Wow, I have to look up an old design. I couldn’t even find my annual, my yearbook. And one of my…my youngest sister called me up and says, I hear you’re gonna receive an award for designing the emblem. I just so happened to have a decal from the late fifties that I bought and kept. She didn’t attend Biola but, of course, she was so proud of her older brother that she bought one and kept it. And this is the one I brought to the awards assembly and I left it here in the Heritage Room in the Library. And that’s displayed: a decal from the late fifties of the emblem I designed.

AS: When you were, like, on campus, could people see you walking around and go, oh, that’s the guy who designed the decal?

LD: Listen, that gave me my fifteen minutes of fame. (laughter) That did it. Everyone’s all, oh, there he goes—the designer-guy. (laughter) By the way, I was asked to contribute some sketches for other groups, and so forth. Immediately I was discovered. Because no one knew I was a sketch artist then until after I won the emblem design contest.

AS: What else did you design?

LD: Not much of any particular design but just helping out with the illustrations. At that time, I worked my way through Biola working for the Los Angeles County Cultural and…the cultural department, where they needed a sketch artist to design wooden projects that were produced by the hundreds and assembled by children in the county parks. So I worked my way through school as a sketch artist, illustrating manuals and designing toys and arts and crafts material. But I did help two or three other groups at Biola with illustrations, something I really enjoyed.

AS: Do you continue to sketch even though you went into the ministry?

LD: Very little. Something I regret over the years. Very little. And, actually before I went into the ministry, teaching school, I taught not only language arts. I taught art. And there was a survey course, a little bit of everything from clay models to sketching to painting to weaving, that sort of thing. So once I left the teaching profession I regret I left a lot of the artwork behind. And I got so busy as a missionary, although it was a desire I had, I didn’t do too much. Except for a few cover illustrations for some pamphlets that our team would put out. I did very little.

Equipped for Missions

AS: How did Biola train you to be a missionary? Would you have been a missionary just the same without Biola? Or did it effect you in the way you did things?

LD: I think I would have been a missionary but not as well-prepared had I not come to Biola. It was after my experience at Biola, of course, I met the woman who is now my wife, and a lot of things that I learned at Biola, and the tools and the preparation I got all came into play. This is what I can implement on the field. Because I had been a pastor—I failed to mention, before…I did mention that…a bachelor pastor. So I can see how Biola helped me to study the Bible, to implement the biblical principles, not only in my ministry but personally. So it was a great help to have that Biola experience behind me. And since my major at Biola then was Biblical Studies, I had studied Greek, so I was prepared—I was better prepared with my Biola experience for the ministry of being a missionary.

AS: What did you get your doctorate in?

LD: It’s called the D.Min—Doctor of Ministry.

AS: Was that…did it feel like a continuation? Was it the same kinds of things only harder?

LD: It felt like a continuation, in a sense, because all the years I’ve kept up with reading, kept up with the latest movements, and the latest subjects offered and courses offered at Biola and at other schools. I kept up with it so, in coming back, it was kind of putting the finishing touches on what I had been doing, learning, and experiencing on the field. For example, my master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy, which I got at another school. It was a ministry that just demanded this kind of preparation to work with the families. And today this is our basic thrust in our ministry is to attend to families. I do a lot of marriage and family counseling. So my D.Min. program here was hearing the latest from the specialists in different fields that was really a help in confirming things I had known and done, and learning new things and expanding my knowledge of those areas that are so needed in actual and practical ministry.

Biola's Theological Stance

AS: Is the theology the same?

LD: Very much the same, yeah. Yes.

AS: How has it changed?

LD: Well, I see Biola a little more open to other denominations, perhaps we are not too aligned with strict conservative denominations. But I don’t see too much change in the…except in a theology base and a Bible that is considered the word of God, and our mission on earth to spread the gospel to all nations. So, very little, if any, that has changed, from that perspective that I’m aware of.

AS: Do you think that Biola is doing a good job of keeping to its roots?

LD: In some ways, yes. Keeping to the biblical roots, the mission, the call of mission to serve God in various ways and in many ways and different ways. One thing I did notice that a lot of the traditions, until recently, were not really known or at least displayed until we saw some of the Heritage Room. And so a lot of the fundamental traditions were kind of passed by because Biola now is a university, creating its own traditions, its own experience. And I kind of felt bad about that because I’m from the old school. I see that now students are being made aware of the roots of Biola, a lot more than before. And that’s good. So they can appreciate the growth of Biola and what Biola now has to offer, what it represents in our society, here in southern California and throughout the United States and throughout the world.

AS: That’s right because Biola has done missionary things. There was a school in China, wasn’t there?

LD: Yes.

AS: And they do some things in Africa. I’m…I think…So it really is a world-wide thing. Do you think that Biola will be able to maintain its spiritual integrity and its impact as it continues to grow?

LD: I certainly hope so. But I think it will. If they get men like the professors we have now—good men like Dr. Cook to lead them—and keep that focus on that mission. And then, in spite of the growth, keep faithful to the mission God has given Biola. I think it can do it.

Keeping the Mission Through the Next Presidency

AS: Now, Dr. Cook is retiring next year. What kind of man do you think that they’…that Biola will need to maintain the things that are our mission? Will it need to be someone like Dr. Cook or is there more to it?

LD: I think very much, I think that would describe it best: very, very much like Dr. Cook with administrative skills and experience. And I think that’s what he brought to Biola, besides his missionary experience. And his experience in serving the Lord and his experience with Biola, being a Biola student. Of course, it would not necessarily have to be a Biola student but some person that would be able to appreciate what Biola stands for—its traditions and its goal here on earth as a school, preparing young Christian leaders. I would call them leaders…you would have to be a person very conscious of that and perhaps shares in the experience. And, of course, more than anything else, that can administrate a school this size with its goals and provide the leadership necessary and the inspiration necessary.

AS: Where do you see Biola going as it gets bigger? Since things cannot stay the same, do you think that it would add more schools? That it would add more campuses—I think that’s highly unlikely but…

LD: Mm-hmm.

AS: What kind of things do you think we’ll change as we grow and move forward?

LD: Well, in the future, I can see it growing. And I know that in this moment we are sitting in a added campus. This used to be an elementary school, the grounds that we occupy now. So it may be, perhaps, acquiring properties in other parts of southern California to expand the school. Which would be good. And expanding this program, one of the most encouraging programs added in the last few years is the course in apologetics. That is making an impact in many ways and with many people—ex-Biolans as well as the present generation. Also in our society, preparing people to face the onslaught of the attacks on the gospel and biblical truth and Christianity and the church. And I’m encouraged by that but I do hope it does not expand to the point of losing that main focus, of being an institution that would train Christians to serve God in different ways and different places regardless of whether they carry on the so-called “old-time ministry.”

AS: Would you say that that is the need that Biola fills, training people to serve God whatever they do?

LD: I believe it does. Yes, it does. It does meet that need. That remains a main focus. It can expand to other types of schools but maintaining that focus.

AS: Is there any…I don’t have any more questions. Is there anything that you would like to tell me that I haven’t asked you about?

LD: Well, I think you’ve done a good job of covering the many points and I think I’ve told my story at Biola. I’d just like to add how much I appreciate being associated with Biola. If nothing else, as an ex-student, and one that supports the programs at Biola and recommends it. And being a leader of a Biola family. All of my kids feel the same way so I appreciate this opportunity to become part of the oral history that you’re in the process of collecting. And I appreciate it and I thank you for it.

AS: Thank you.

LD: You’re welcome.