Tabor College celebrates 100th anniversary during Homecoming celebration

A record number of former students, faculty and staff are expected to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Tabor College during its Centennial Homecoming Celebration, which started Wednesday and runs through Sunday.

Established in 1908 by those of the Mennonite Brethren and Krimmer Mennonite Brethren faiths, Tabor College began with 39 students and three professors.

About 11,000 students have attended the college.

“Tabor College has meant so much to so many over the past 100 years that we’re inviting the entire community to join us as we celebrate a century of God’s faithfulness to the college,” said Jeremy Jordan, director of alumni and related programs.

For more than a year, Jordan and his centennial committee have worked to make the Centennial Homecoming Celebration special.

Several landmark events have been added to the traditional homecoming fare of alumni reunions, food and football.

“It will be a grand celebration,” Jordan said. “Personally, I’m excited to be a part of it.”

The Centennial Homecoming won’t be the first Tabor College homecoming for Dr. Jules Glanzer, but it will be his first as president of the college.

“I expect to see many old friends, make many new friends and meet many of the extended Tabor family,” said Glanzer, a 1974 graduate of Tabor. “I expect there to be lots of laughter, tears, and storytelling, about how Tabor has transformed lives and how vocations are having missional impacts in the world.

“One of the highlights for me personally will be having all of the living former presidents on campus at the same time,” he added. “I’m excited to learn from them and hear their stories.”

The living former presidents of the college, Vernon Janzen, Dr. LeVon Balzer, Dr. H. David Brandt and Larry Nikkel, will participate in a forum titled “Celebrating Tabor’s Centennial: The Past 25 Years,” at 10:15 a.m. Saturday.

All former Tabor College presidents will be honored at 11:15 a.m. Saturday at the Centennial Plaza Dedication Ceremony, in which a new sculpture titled, “Called to Serve,” will be dedicated on the campus lawn.

“I view the plaza as sacred space on campus,” Glanzer said. “Until now, we didn’t have a place where our 100-year mission was featured. Now we have a location on campus where our mission is engraved in bronze for all of the Tabor family and our guests can see and experience the Tabor mission.”

Other highlights of the Centennial Homecoming Celebration include:

• On the stage, Tabor College Board Chairman Lyndon Vix, an attorney from Maize, will play a leading role in a cast of more than 50 performers on stage, as Tevye, in the campus production of “Fiddler on the Roof.”

The play will be performed through Sunday at Hillsboro High School. (See details below).

• On the athletic fields, men’s and women’s soccer games against University of Saint Mary will begin at 11 a.m. Saturday, with the pageantry of a traditional homecoming football game, including the presentation of the host and hostess and a game against Friends University at Reimer Field. The pageantry begins at 1:30 p.m. Kickoff is at 2 p.m.

For a complete list of activities, go to the college’s Web site at www.tabor.edu.

In addition to the special events, a gathering of many generations of people who’ve shared “The Tabor Experience,” should make the Centennial Homecoming Celebration one for the ages, Glanzer said.

“We only have one of these in our history,” he said. “And, of course, it would be sweet if we won the football game.”