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| Walter Utt’s Leaves Another
Legacy—in Print
by Mike Mennard
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 It’s
difficult for those who did not attend Pacific Union College between
1938 and 1985 to understand the colossal esteem PUC alumni have
for Dr. Walter C. Utt. Hundreds of PUC graduates can hardly remember
their “PUC days” without a fond memory of Dr. Utt. He
was, it would seem, more than a just a history professor. He was
a legend.
In 1985, a few days before his 64th birthday, Walter Utt died. His
untimely death was sad for a number of reasons. First, many incoming
students lost the opportunity to enjoy his quick wit and riveting
“conversational lectures” in the classroom. Second,
as best-selling author and PUC alumnus Joe Wheeler said, “A
little bit of myself died” the day Dr. Utt died. Most of Utt’s
students would probably agree with that. And third, Dr. Utt’s
primary research was never fully completed.
He had set out to write the first authoritative biography of Claude
Brousson, 1647-1698, a revolutionary preacher and Huguenot lawyer
when it was a terrifying time to be either. Louis XIV’s absolutist
state made it illegal to preach Protestantism in France, yet Brousson
did. As a result, he was martyred.
Dr. Utt’s extensive research went well beyond one man’s
life and included military and diplomatic developments in other
parts of Europe. The manuscript he left behind was enormous—more
than 900 pages. At the time of his death, he was revising the manuscript
for publication.
Students of Dr. Utt established an endowment to honor their former
teacher. Officially recognized by PUC’s Board in 1988, the
endowment raised money to create an endowed professorship in Dr.
Utt’s honor and to find a way to complete his last book. In
1999, the Utt Endowment invited Brian E. Strayer, a specialist in
French history at Andrews University, to revise and complete Dr.
Utt’s manuscript. Strayer’s primary task was to cut
the manuscript down to a more readable size—252 pages. He
also supplemented the research of Dr. Utt, and this past February
their joint efforts produced a new hardcover biography, The
Bellicose Dove.
Their finished product is a fascinating look at an extraordinary
martyr. Using fresh archival research conducted in Geneva, Paris,
London, Holland, and Switzerland, Utt and Strayer provide an enthralling
look at Brousson’s relationship with his wife and children,
his preaching style, as well as his interrogation, torture, and
execution in Montpellier in November 1698.
For PUC alumni, the release of The Bellicose Dove is reason
to celebrate. At long last, the scholarly legacy of a Dr. Walter
Utt, a man so many PUC alumni regard as a mentor, is available to
the general public. The book is available through Sussex Academic
Press or the Pacific Union College Bookstore at (707) 965-7117.
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