Cedarville Magazine
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9
They stepped out of the car to
find a tiny campus surrounded
by cornfields. Cedarville had
recently transitioned from its
Reformed Presbyterian roots to
Baptist leadership. The Depression
and war years had been tough
on the small school, but a new
President — Dr. James T. Jeremiah
— and an eager constituency had
breathed new life and hope for the
future. Dr. Maddox’s experience
and earned doctorate brought
credibility to the administrative
team. He immediately set to work
on accreditation matters.
The newlyweds rented a home
on State Route 42, across from a
Shell gas station. The new Mrs.
Maddox quipped, “At least I can
watch the trucks go by!” A former
Executive Director with the Girl
Scouts in Waukegan, Illinois, she
was not particularly excited about
the move. She had left behind a 12-
year career directing 750 women
and more than 3,000 Scouts to
come to a small, struggling campus
with 98 students. But she saw this
adventure as a new season of life,
and she was determined to make
the most of it.
In 1959, when one of the speech
professors left to pursue mission
work, Miriam Maddox was hired
to cover his classes. One term led
to another, and her responsibilities
and influence grew. She taught
interpretive reading, acting, play
production, voice and diction, and
speech. In addition to teaching,
she started and coached the
debate team. For nearly 14 years,
she directed most of the campus
plays. She finished her career
conducting individualized speech
therapy sessions every Tuesday and
Thursday in her office on the first
floor of Williams Hall.
Although Maddox never held
a formal leadership position or
served on academic committees
at Cedarville, her influence and
professional accomplishments were
significant. She was well educated
and professionally accomplished,
INFLUENCE
by Janice (Warren) Supplee ’86
She was well educated and professionally
accomplished, but it was her
influence on the campus
culture and the individual lives of students
that
forged her legacy.
I
n July of 1956, Miriam Boltz and Dr. Clifford Maddox left their
comfortable lives in the Chicago suburbs and arrived in the
sleepy village of Cedarville, Ohio. The engaged couple were
longtime acquaintances, and both had been widowed years before.
When Dr. Maddox accepted the job to become Cedarville College’s
first academic dean, he did not want to move alone. He asked Boltz
to join him— as his wife. They married on August 25, 1956.
As part of my doctoral program, I was asked to research and share the story of a woman in educational leadership.
MiriamMaddox came to my mind. I had never met her, but her name was familiar — a women’s residence hall on campus
bears her name, and I knew she had a connection to Cedarville’s communications program in which I’d studied.
What began as the task of writing a paper became the privilege of sharing a life story. I discovered a woman who left a
lasting mark on Cedarville University and who still inspires vivid and meaningful memories for all who were touched by
her life — literally thousands of former Cedarville students, her faculty and staff colleagues, and Christian leaders with
names you would recognize. This is Miriam Maddox’s story, although she would be quick to say it is God’s story. For nearly
four decades, Cedarville was blessed to be a part of this story, and we are all the better for it.
