Photo courtesy of Kresge Archives
Longtime librarian of Covenant, Mr. Gary Huisman, passed away on Tuesday, Oct. 28 of this year in his home in Lookout Mountain, Georgia. He was a father, a mentor and a cherished part of his community.
Huisman was born in Grand Haven, Michigan, to Henry B. and Jennie (Hoebeke) Huisman on April 8, 1940. He graduated with degrees from both Calvin College and Western Michigan University. Shortly afterwards, he became the fledgeling Covenant College's first librarian.
During his time here at Covenant, he oversaw the installation of a microfiche catalogue, the construction of Anna Kresge Memorial Library, and the digitization of the library catalogue. He started working at Covenant in 1966, shortly after the college's move from St. Louis and spent the next 36 years pouring into the students and faculty here. He was a regular contributor to the Covenant Reflections, a monthly staff publication.
His biblical convictions grounded his work as a caretaker of knowledge. In a Reflections article published in April 1974, he lays out a case for Christian relations of information being his main vocation. He even argued that both the Dewey decimal system and the Library of Congress system were, as a result of being grounded in evolutionary ideology, fundamentally flawed and advocated for a new, Christian classification system.
Huisman was a man who took his faith seriously and let it permeate every facet of his life. In his own words, he said: "Everything means and is meaning, pointing beyond itself to all other aspects of meaning, the whole creation pointing out above itself to its Creator. The library stands as a testimony to that revelation—and perhaps the library is the most visible, tangible testimony within the Christian community—that all the various parts and aspects of reality are meaning, a revelation of God."
He and his wife, Julie, were early members of Grace Presbyterian Church. They were married in 1968—back when Grace Presbyterian was still meeting in Carter South Porch. Grace Presbyterian grew out of Carter and eventually took residence in a building a couple minutes down the road—the building we now call the Kirk. Grace Presbyterian also played a founding role in both New City Fellowship and Chattanooga Christian School. Huisman was a ruling elder at Grace Presbyterian for many years and was an accomplished organist. He loved the word of God and was known to give Bible copies to young people and family members.
He is survived by his wife Julie ’71, children Jeanie (Matt) Christian ’93, Brant (Melissa) Huisman ’96, and John (Jennifer) Huisman ’98; and nine grandchildren: Riley Christian, Julia Christian, Regan (Sam) Bryant ’17, Meara (Addison) Beiter, Henry (Madison) Huisman, Isabel (Amario) Andre, Linda Beth Huisman, Knox Huisman and Rebecca Huisman.
An intimate reception was held at Grace Community Church, Trenton. Many Covenant faculty were in attendance. Memorial contributions were made to the Covenant College Foundation.
Thumbnail photo courtesy of Kresge Archives.