Oldest Living Alumnus Dedicates Eight Decades to Preaching, Writing
By Austin Grothe ’18
June 29, 2018
JBU celebrated Grandparents’ Day on Sept. 13 with over 276 grandparents attending. But the oldest person on campus that day wasn’t the grandfather of a current student, it was JBU’s oldest living alumnus Dr. Millard Box.
Born in 1916, Box was called into the ministry at the age of 15 and was ordained as a minister at 18.
“He was kind of like a circuit riding preacher for a little while,” said Box’s daughter Judi Trimble who accompanied him on his visit to JBU. “There were three or four little churches in the area, and so he would preach at one one week and then preach at another one the next week.”
Box eventually enrolled at JBU at age 30 and received a bachelor’s degree in English in 1948. He then continued his ministry — pastoring, evangelizing and writing.
His September visit to JBU came after a weekend of preaching at Trimble’s church in Carthage, Missouri. It was the first time Box had been back on campus since his graduation.
Box spoke with President Pollard and John Brown III and was introduced to the students during chapel.
Pollard said that after chapel Box remarked, “The place looks different, but the spirit is the same.”
Box has written three books including “The Power of the Older Christian,” which outlines his beliefs that older Christians should be looked to for godly wisdom, and that ministry is not something that you can retire from.
Still spreading the love of Christ to this day, Box certainly practices what he preaches.
