MVNU honors two alumni with dedications

MOUNT VERNON, Ohio — Two selected Mount Vernon Nazarene University alumni were honored during Homecoming Festivities. Mary Beth Bird (’84) and Melissa (Prater) Rex (’99) were both remembered in separate dedications on Saturday.

MARY BETH BIRD DEDICATION

Jetter 133, commonly known as the Round Room, was dedicated the Mary Beth Bird Classroom for Innovative Learning. Bird passed away on March 4, 2022, at the age of 60, and left a major portion of her estate to the University.

A Knox County native and graduate of Fredericktown High School, Bird was awarded her baccalaureate degree from MVNU in 1984. She went on to earn an MBA and celebrated a 30-year career with Defense Finance Accounting Service as a database administrator.

The gift reflects her positive experience as a student, her appreciation of the opportunities her education afforded her, and her desire to support others in their pursuit of Christian higher education.

Bird’s donation will help fund five different academic programs in the field of nursing, psychology, social work, programming for students with intellectual disabilities, and will also the enhancement of the computer science and engineering programs.

“This is a generational gift,” said MVNU President Dr. Carson Castleman. “Her gift will not only benefit MVNU students, but those who our students will care for and minister to throughout their lives. She has left a legacy that will last a very long time. We are forever grateful for what she’s done and what will happen because of her gift. I believe the best is yet to come.”

MELISSA (PRATER) REX DEDICATION

The R.R. Hodges Chapel/Auditorium is a place of solace for many. For 1999 alumnus Melissa (Prater) Rex, it was that and so much more. Rex, who passed away Sept. 24, 2011 after a long, courageous battle with Lymphoma, was honored on Saturday with a plaque that was hung in the Chapel lobby.

Rex left a mark on everyone she interacted with. She was the wife of Doug Rex (’99) and mother to Caleb, Lauren and Audrey. She, along with her sisters Michelle Arnold (’91) and Jennifer Burgy (’98), called MVNU home.

“This campus was so much a home away from home for us,” Burgy said. “I always said one of our favorite times in life was when we three girls were here together. Missy and I as students, and Michelle working in admissions at that time. … We sisters were best friends back then. We treasured those family times, like, even before we knew we needed to.

“Missy was always wanting to look for the big picture, like what’s been written on the plaque. … She always went beyond and looked at the big picture of what was happening. … She kept that same attitude of seeing that big picture of trusting God’s plan when, when it got hard to see past her own situation. She wrote this blog post that said, ‘We see a color, where on its own it may not be that beautiful — one part of our life story, one situation — but looking at it all together, it all becomes something much greater than we could have imagined.’”

Rex never lost sight of her creator — despite her ups and downs — and this quote memorializes her on the plaque, reading, “In our college chapel, I use to sit and look around at the beautiful and enormous stain-glass windows. I like to believe that is what my life is like. While I sometimes see just one speck of it — perhaps one color that is not even attractive by itself — Jesus knows there is so much more than that. He sees it all — the magnificent beauty and wholeness that He longs for me to experience. Friends, whether on this earth or in Heaven, I know I will be healed. I would like for it to be here, but no one can take that truth away from me. I love it — I love knowing that even when I feel a rug of hope has pulled out from under me, Jesus is still holding me.”

For more about MVNU Homecoming, visit http://mvnu.edu/homecoming/.