Founder’s Day, a day to honor the legacy of Isaiah V. Williamson and celebrate what would have been his 223rd birthday, featured a keynote address by former Williamson president Dr. Paul Reid, the bestowing of the Board of Trustees’ Isaiah V. Williamson Award and the C.W. Schrenk 4W9 Young Alumnus Award, and the Sons of the American Revolution’s William J. Yearsley 4W1 Award.
Reid, speaking in the Clara Schrenk Memorial Chapel on Feb. 5th, opened his talk saying he was going to stress Isaiah Williamson’s legacy, behavior, and character qualities. He said, “Legacy has value only to the extent that you keep it alive and alter your behavior year after year.”
He then talked about six of Williamson’s characters and behavior, beginning with entrepreneurial spirit.
“When Mr. Williamson was born, 95% of the people in this nation were occupied in a single industry – agriculture. By the time Williamson left home to start a business of his own and to have a life of his own, 80% of the nation was built around the industry of agriculture. It was the mainstay of the economy. But Mr. Williamson was a man who saw the future and he saw that agriculture wasn’t going to be the future for this country.
“Williamson entered the world of business and he went into merchantillism and merchandising. Everything he earned, he took a significant portion of that money and invested it in the future.”
“Pretty soon, God gave Mr. Williamson enough mental acuity in terms of entrepreneurial and investment capacity that he became a wealthy man. You need to keep in the back of your mind Mr. Williamson’s entrepreneurial spirit, look to the future, and decide where the future is going and then be there to meet it and profit from it.”
The next trait he spoke of was mentorship and that John Wanamaker saw him as his most important mentor. Wanamaker invented the concept of the department store and he got the idea for that from Williamson which allowed him to be successful.
“You see, Mr. Williamson did not keep the good ideas to himself, he lifted up men all along his life just as he is today lifting up you students and will continue to do so with you as alumni.”
Next, he spoke of philanthropy. He said that Williamson donated the ten acres of land that the University of Pennsylvania was built on, though many do not know that today.
“Philanthropy was a great part of Mr. Williamson’s life and it’s a charge to you students and alumni as well.”
The next trait he spoke of was unifier. “Williamson College of the Trades was the first single-donor private institution that had no racial inferences in the standard for admissions. You could go to virtually any other private school founded by an individual and every one of them started with racial specifications in admissions. When Mr. Williamson saw young men he didn’t see color, he saw potential. He was a unifier of extraordinary importance. That changed the course of education in the state of Pennsylvania.”
The fifth trait is evangelism. “In his own way, Mr. Williamson was an evangelist because he stipulated the importance of biblical concept to the institution.” Mr. Williamson wanted the students to go to church on Sunday and he wanted everyone to be able to go to a church they felt comfortable in. And, he wanted biblical principals to form the framework, the boundaries of everything that happened here.
“He didn’t care which trades were taught here, but when it came to religious instruction, morals, character, biblical values, the Board of Trustees and the deed of trust were assigned that responsibility. It was the most important single element.”
The last trait Reid spoke of was frugality and money management. He told of an incident in which Mr. Williamson, one of the wealthiest men in the country, needed a new belt, thought they were too expensive, and instead of buying one, used a rope as a belt because it was cheaper.
“When Mr. Williamson wrote the deed of trust, he prohibited the Board of Trustees from including marble in any of the buildings here because he thought marble in a building used as an architectural detail, suggested to the person who looked at it that success could be defined by things, expensive things. Mr. Williamson never defined success by the accumulation of things. Frugality was important to him and it allowed him to accumulate an estate that when it was probated in the city of Philadelphia, it was the largest single estate of a single person in the history of the entire Commonwealth. And, that was after his act as a philanthropist.”
Reid said that frugality and money management are important and that all you need to do to accumulate wealth is to simply save a portion of your earnings.
He said that when Williamson Men graduate they join a brotherhood and that brings an additional burden because they have also joined a community. “You’ve got to be active to keep that community alive and that’s the truth for Williamson because there’s only one group of people who can keep the legacy of Mr. Williamson alive and that’s you fellows.
“If Mr. Williamson’s legacy is not remembered, if the behavior that he tried to teach you from his own life isn’t perpetuated in your life, the community dies. You hold Mr. Williamson’s legacy in your hands and your lives. The thousands of students who have graduated ahead of you have done their part. Mr. Williamson lives in your community. He lives in your family because of your life and it’s a burden you take on.”
Reid closed by reading the fifth chapter of Proverbs and then said, “Even if it’s simply a subconscious gesture within your life, every morning you owe Mr. Williamson the responsibility to say ‘What can I do today to further his legacy, to protect his legacy, to spread the importance of his legacy, and to live like a Williamson Man?’ ”
At the conclusion of his remarks, President Michael Rounds gave him a Williamson commemorative box with a picture of Rowan Hall on it.
In his introduction of Reid, Rounds said “Paul Reid and his wife Cheryl have demonstrated a level of commitment and dedication to Williamson that is not only inspiring, but has been transformational. It is almost impossible to overstate how much Paul and Cheryl have done for Williamson over the past 30 years.
“Dr. Reid served as president here for 13 years, from 1996 to 2009. From the beginning he worked tirelessly to instill discipline, pride, and character development into our educational culture and make us proud to use the term Williamson Man.”
He told the story of Reid’s decision to postpone his retirement for several years at the request of the Board of Trustees because they felt that Henry Rowan was close to making a significant gift to Williamson and Reid’s friendship with him could play a significant role in making that happen. He agreed to stay and Rowan ended up donating $5 million in a challenge grant which led to Rowan and Gerry Lenfest each donating $20 million. This gift nearly doubled the size of Williamson’s endowment at the time, putting the school on the most stable financial footing since Isaiah Williamson established the school.
“He also recognized the importance of adding the word college to our name and was instrumental in starting the initiative to have the Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades change its name to better reflect what it had become. We became Williamson College of the Trades in 2015 and we have him to thank for that.
“He also was instrumental in selecting Williamson’s five core values of faith, integrity, diligence, excellence, and service.”
Reid grew up in Missouri and New Mexico and earned a bachelor of business administration degree in finance at New Mexico State University, and a master in business administration degree in organizational behavior/management and Ph.D. in educational studies at the Ohio State University.
Before serving Williamson, he served our country 27 years in the Air Force, retiring as a colonel. His last position was as president of the Community College of the Air Force at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama, the largest community college system in the country. He began as a logistician and progressed to the staff officer level in four different logistics career areas. He taught leadership at the Air Force’s graduate school and was selected to attend the prestigious National Defense University where he was selected to serve under the Air Force Chief of Staff as his academic chair.
Since his retirement, he has continued to serve Williamson on the Chaplaincy Program Advisory Committee and the Audit Committee, and as a generous donor.
Reid’s wife Cheryl, Williamson’s former first lady, was also dedicated, passionate, and committed to Williamson. She worked tirelessly to make campus life more comfortable for the students, taught students flower arranging, and hosted numerous events in their home, to name only a few of her contributions. One of her biggest accomplishments was developing the Student Clothes Closet from a handful of clothes in a closet, to its present spacious accommodation full of clothing.
In his welcoming remarks, Rounds said “Founder’s Day is a great tradition. We gather tonight to remember and say thank you to Isaiah Williamson for his vision in establishing and resourcing this amazing school. Although he did not live to see his school built we know that he would be pleased with the number of lives his school has blessed since it first began educating and training young men in 1890.
Founder’s Day opened with welcoming remarks from Dr. Michelle Williams, vice president of Academic Affairs/CAO, who said “This evening we are gathered together to celebrate the life and legacy of Mr. Isaiah Williamson, our great founder, who had faith and integrity and who operated with diligence, excellence, and in service to envision an institution that would support the development, growth, and success of young men. This institution has been honoring the intentions and vision of Mr. Williamson by ensuring that all of our students have the opportunity to learn, to grow, and to be successful each and every day.”
Next came the presentation of the Sons of the American Revolution’s (SAR) William J. Yearsley 4W1 Outstanding Citizenship Award by Larry Magdy, president of the Philadelphia-Continental Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution, to Isaac Johnson 2W7, a Construction Technology-Masonry junior. With Magdy was Steve Kopsick, an aide to the SAR president and Power Plant Technology Instructor, wearing a colonial military uniform.
This award is presented to a junior who has shown outstanding citizenship and the qualities of industry, self-discipline, personal integrity, reliability, and contributions above the call of duty. He also must have a GPA of 3.25 or higher and have fewer than 28 disciplinary points.
This was followed by the Student Tribute by Chase Thompson 2W6, senior class president, who said, “It’s an honor to pay tribute to our founder Isaiah Vansant Williamson. Mr. Williamson’s vision was not only to strengthen the future of the trades, but also to shape young men of character. Men prepared to succeed both in their chosen field and in everyday life. Our scholarships provide opportunities to help mold us into men of integrity, equipped with the skills needed to thrive in our careers and professional lives.”
Next, Chris Moran 9W9, president of the Williamson Association of Alumni, gave the Alumni Tribute, saying “It’s a pleasure and an honor to be here today on behalf of the Williamson Association of Alumni. Williamson is a special and unique place. There is no other place like it. We are all part of the Williamson team, whether you’re a student, alumnus, board member, faculty, staff, or actively engaged through the community. We’re all here to support the vision that Isaiah Williamson had.”
Trustee John DiNome, speaking on behalf of the Board of Trustees, said “I’m honored to stand here as a representative of the Board of Trustees as we give thanks for Isaiah Vansant Williamson. He was a man of faith and talent and he dedicated both his life and his wealth to lifting up the man and boy next to him as far as he could reach.
“He helped people he never met and knew he would never meet. The mission of the school today is as pure and simple as it was in 1888. He helped young men who have a desire to better themselves but may not have the money or opportunity to do so, place them in an environment that feels like family, surround them with people who genuinely care about them, teach them a mechanical trade, provide them with moral and religious training, and then stand back and watch what happens. And, we all know what happens. Gentlemen, each and every day of your1,000-day journey, you slowly grow into Williamson Men.”
He then presented the C.W. Schrenk 4W9 Young Alumnus Award to John Van Schaick 1W1, an assistant operations manager of training at PSE&G, and the Isaiah V. Williamson Award to the late trustee Larry Turner, a board member from 2003-2025 who passed away in April 2025. His plaque was accepted by his son Nicholas.
DiNome closed his remarks by announcing that the board has created the Larry L. Turner Leadership Award to be given annually at Commencement to a senior chosen by majority vote of the senior class for best exhibiting the qualities that made Turner the man he was – integrity, determination, resilience, and service to others. It will be presented for the first time by the board’s chairman on May 21.
Mark Specht 7W7, chaplain, opened the program with the invocation and closed it with the benediction. The Artisans, led by Sherre Gaertner, led the singing of the alma mater. The evening began with dinner in the dining room provided by Tim Burbage, director of food services, and his staff.
