In its 50th Anniversary Year, Friends University welcomed Sheppard Arthur Watson as fifth president of the university. Coming from Wilmington College in Ohio, where he had been president for seven years, Watson was thrilled to be “getting home,” for his boyhood days were spent near Hesper, Kansas and he was a 1918 Friends graduate. His October 17, 1947 inauguration opened the 50th Anniversary Celebration. Both Dr. Mendenhall and Dr. Young extended greetings.