Name Charles Selecman Role Methodist minister | Died 1958 Books Christ Or Chaos | |
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Occupation Methodist Episcopal Pastor Education Central Methodist University | ||
Charles Claude Selecman (1874–1958) was an American Methodist minister and educator. He served as the third President of Southern Methodist University from 1923 to 1938. In 1938, he was elected as an American bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
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Early life
Charles Claude Selecman was born on October 13, 1874 in Savannah, Missouri. In 1882, he attended Central College in Fayette, Missouri, but never graduated.
Career
Selecman worked as a pastor in Pattonsburg, Missouri in 1898. Later, he was a missionary in Louisiana and Missouri. In 1913, he was a pastor in Los Angeles, California. By 1914, he became the pastor of the newly built Trinity Auditorium in Downtown Los Angeles.
Selecman moved to Dallas, Texas in 1920, where he became the pastor of the newly built First Methodist Church, South. Three years later, he was appointed as the third President of Southern Methodist University, serving from 1923 to 1938. Under his leadership, the campus buildings went from two to seven, and the endowment from US$883,000 to US$2,300,000.
Selecman resigned in 1938 and became a Bishop in Oklahoma City. He moved back to Dallas in 1944. In 1945, he was elected President of the Council of Bishops of the Methodist Church. He also served as the President of the Methodist General Board of Evangelism.
Selecman retired in 1948, and was elected to the Methodist Hall of Fame in philanthropy in 1951.
Personal life
Selecman married Bess Kyle Beckner on April 27, 1899. They had a son, Dr. Frank Selecman,who married Eloise Olive and had two children - Charles Edward Selecman and Mary Selecman Deaton and a daughter, Josephine, who married Douglas Warren Forbes. Bess died in 1943 and Selecman married his second wife, Jackie (Mrs. Pierre D. Mason of Hollywood, California,) in June 1948.
Bishop Selecman was blessed with 3 grandchildren; Cyndy Selecman Morgan (deceased 11-15-12), Betsi Selecman Schaefer, and Amie Eloise Selecman. They all work hard to carry on his legacy of caring for others, sending out a message of love, acceptance, and peace.
Death
Selecman died on March 27, 1958 in Dallas, Texas.