Alberta Bible College - The Pioneers

The Pioneers

In 1936, J. Merlin Hill of Oregon came to assist C. H. Phillips with teaching responsibilities. When Phillips moved to Toronto to begin a ministry with Keele Street Church of Christ just prior to the 1937-1938 year, Hill assumed the principalship while serving as minister with Tuxedo Park Church of Christ. In 1939, ABC’s first graduates, Roscoe E. Hollister and Lawrence E. Horney, received the Bachelor of Theology degree. E. G. Hansell, M.P. and several others assisted with teaching responsibilities. When the Hills returned to Oregon in 1941, Melvin Breakenridge, a recent graduate, was called to be ABC’s principal. Breakenridge was supported in teaching responsibilities by other recent ABC graduates and senior students until he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in spring, 1943. C. H. Phillips returned as principal, and served until he suffered a severe heart attack in April 1949. Roscoe Hollister acted as principal for the next year. Because of concerns about Phillips’s health, the trustees declined his returning. Instead, they called Melvin Breakenridge from his ministry in Summerside, P.E.I., now with a Master of Divinity from Butler School of Religion. Breakenridge served as principal for the next twelve years, reshaping the curriculum along the lines of liberal arts programs of the time. In January 1962, the college moved into its new campus at 599 Northmount Drive N.W. from temporary digs at Cambrian Heights Church of Christ, next door. Also in 1962, an administrative reorganization saw Breakenridge appointed academic dean, and E. G. Hansell (Member of Parliament, 1935-1958) was appointed ABC’s first “president.”