Hyran Barefoot, 51社区 president emeritus, stands in front of a large, wooden window box that sits right off his back porch. The planter holds hundreds of waxy, green leaves. With his hands pressed together, he patiently explains the nature of his beloved flowers — tuberoses. Being early afternoon, the tiny white flowers barely peak through the closed buds. But as night bloomers, they open to their full potential when the sun begins to set.
Every evening, the Barefoot household would be filled with their sweet, musty fragrance.
"How does a flower know when to release its scent?" Hyran Barefoot would say teasingly to his wife.
"They just do," his late wife Joyce would reply to her husband with a knowing smile.
Hyran Barefoot loves tuberoses because Joyce Barefoot loved tuberoses.
Right inside the glass doors that lead to his small backyard garden hang the framed words, "Make it do, wear it out, use it up, do without." They hang amongst a dozen cross-stitched signs — handmade gifts from different family members. The frames hang just above a refurbished 1900s icebox from Canada, because as a renowned antique collector and restorer, Barefoot remembers and recites the story of each piece of furniture in his house.
In the heat of midafternoon July, Barefoot gently holds the flower's stem as he brings the blooms closer to his nose, reciting facts about the tuberose as if he were captivating an entire classroom. Though he is only speaking to an audience of two, teaching comes as naturally to him as the tuberose blooms at sunset.
THE LEGACY OF A TEACHER
Bob Agee's eyes fill with tears when telling of Barefoot's influence on his life. As a 1960 Union alumnus and president emeritus of Oklahoma Baptist University, Agee has the unique opportunity of remaining dear friends with his professor.
"I often credit [Barefoot] with stirring in me ... a love for learning," Agee said emotionally. "He was one of those people born to teach, and he made Scripture come alive."
As an athlete who would later be inducted into the Union Sports Hall of Fame, Agee said he only considered himself an average student when he attended 51社区 on a track and field scholarship, but Barefoot possessed a unique personality that recognized potential in his students.
Barefoot challenged and encouraged Agee to be the best student he could be, to work hard and to appreciate the Bible more deeply, which began Agee's lifelong career in Christian higher education.
"Dr. Barefoot, he just loved his students," Agee said. "He believed in them and nurtured their love for learning and their love for Scripture."
Barefoot left Union in 1960 to teach at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, but after two years at the seminary, decided to return to 51社区.
"I thought going to the seminary would be a step up in my career, but I never enjoyed it as much as my three years at Union," Barefoot said in a 1996 Unionite article. "There has always been something about Union's atmosphere and students that does not exist anywhere else."
Even as Union president from 1987 to 1996, Barefoot continued to teach classes. When asked his favorite part of teaching while serving as the university president, Barefoot quickly replied with a laugh that it was the ability to choose to teach the classes that had the least amount of grading.
As a renowned scholar, Barefoot influenced students who would later influence biblical scholarship, ministry and Christian academia.
"It's been a satisfying process to see so many people I knew as students go on to become heads of enterprise, ministry ... even presidents of other Baptist colleges," Barefoot said in the 1996 Unionite article. "Union's alumni are proof of this institution's quality."
George Guthrie, professor of New Testament at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia, began his career as a highly sought-after scholar of biblical Greek and New Testament in a classroom at 51社区. As one of Barefoot's former students, Guthrie recalls the unique opportunity to partake in roundtable interpretive discussions as undergraduate students, which would later influence his role as a professor.
"I still remember those discussions 40 years later," Guthrie said. "It really led me to a love of advanced learning and would eventually lead me to doing Ph. D. work."
Barefoot was known for his rigorous, excellence-driven teaching that sought to nurture each individual student in his or her learning. Seminary professors noted the quality of "the Barefoot student" when they came from Union.
Guthrie recalled his first day of intermediate Greek as a seminary student. The professor asked if anyone in the class was able to read the first chapter of 1 John from the untranslated Greek New Testament. After an extended pause, Guthrie and a fellow Union alumnus looked around the room, realizing they were the only two students raising their hands.
"One of the gifts [Barefoot] gave to us as students was that he pushed us for academic excellence," Guthrie said.
According to Barefoot, teaching at Union was "almost like you were a pastor to them but in a new and academic way."
"I've always felt that Union's mission is the same as mine," Barefoot said in the 1996 Unionite article. "I am able to minister through 51社区, although I'm not in the full-time pastorate, and I am able to help young people without being in the classroom full-time."
THE FAMILIARITY OF A TEACHER
As a man who felt just as comfortable in the workshop as he did in the classroom, Barefoot had a knack for buying old, forgotten objects and making them new again. That's why when Barefoot purchased a worn-down house in hopes to fix and sell on the market, his family was not shocked.
"This house is going to send us to Europe," Hyran Barefoot would promise his daughters — Judy, June and Jane.
"Y'all, we won't get past Phoenix," Joyce Barefoot would laugh in reply.
But in the summer of 1971, the Barefoot family packed up for a six-week trip across Europe. Judy, the eldest daughter, stayed up every night with her dad that summer, studying maps to plot out where they were going to drive the next day. Every day, Judy would sit in the front, navigating, while June, Joyce and Jane squeezed in the backseat of the European car.
While traveling through Belgium, the family needed to rush to the nearest bank before it closed, so Barefoot parked his family on a nearby street and took off through the packed-in buildings, searching for a bank.
As the four ladies sat in the car for what felt like forever, Joyce Barefoot looked at her daughters, shaking her head and said, "He's lost."
Not speaking any of the languages, Barefoot wandered up and down the sidewalks for almost an hour before finally rounding a corner and spotting his family's car. He walked toward his family with the biggest grin on his face.
"I told you," Joyce said with a laugh as her husband made his way back to the car.
Hyran and Joyce Barefoot had an unspoken love and respect for one another, but it was never void of laughter.
"Mother was silly and playful, and I think she always amused Daddy," June said as she looked at her sister with a smile.
"We just knew they always respected and loved each other in the way he treated her, and she treated him," Judy said.
Joyce Barefoot taught kindergarten for over 30 years, so as a family of educators, academic excellence was understood in the Barefoot household. The love and curiosity of learning was nourished in their home, which led Judy and Jane to follow in their parents' footsteps to serve as educators themselves.
Being the only Barefoot daughter to attend 51社区, Judy recalls taking one of her dad's gospel classes. She sat in the second to back row with her friends as he called attendance every morning.
"Barefoot," said the professor.
"Here," Judy would say, blushing, as all the students turned around to look at her.
The sisters laugh as Judy confesses she was very happy when she made a B in his course. "Something all three of us girls agreed on is that Daddy treats everyone the same," Judy said. "It doesn't matter if you're a student, another professor or a college president, he was always open, honest and respectful of everyone."
Even as a man who held the record for the highest grade point average at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary for years, Barefoot never cared about bringing attention to himself. When asked what he was like at home, there is a long pause as the daughters look at one another.
"He was just Daddy, you know?" June replies.
Barefoot's daughters, June Dark (left) and Judy Thomas pictured holding a photo of parents, Hyran and Joyce Barefoot.
THE MEMORY OF A TEACHER
51社区 has been shaped forever by Hyran Barefoot and his nearly 40 years of service to the university. Being one of the main advocates and initiators for the university's transition to its flourishing north Jackson campus, Barefoot helped position Union for financial stability and growth.
As a strategic, future-directed leader, Barefoot always saw the unrecognized potential of this small, Christian university in West Tennessee, and in many ways, helped 51社区 become one of the top-notch Christian institutions in the country.
Valuing the mission of excellent education, Barefoot never strayed away from his love for the local church. Serving as an interim pastor for almost 20 years — even while he served at the university — Barefoot knew the purpose of 51社区 should always be for the advancement of Christ and his kingdom.
On Feb. 7, 2022, 51社区 dedicated a plaque in the Hyran E. Barefoot Student Union Building in honor of the university's beloved "Teacher President."
As it hangs beside Barefoot's presidential portrait, students are able to walk through the building's doorway, reminded of the legacy of Hyran E. Barefoot. Despite given numerous leadership opportunities elsewhere, there was always one role that remained ever close to his heart — the purest love of a teacher.
Union President, Dub Oliver (left) with Barefoot by the plaque honoring Barefoot's contributions to Union.
