SU honors founder on 115th death anniversary
Alumni Update May 5 – 11, 2025
Silliman University (SU) commemorated the 115th death anniversary of its founder, Dr. Horace Brinsmade Silliman, with a memorial service and floral offering held on May 2, 2025, at his bust located on the Silliman Hall grounds.
The guest speaker for the occasion was missionary worker Carlton “Cobbie” J. Palm of the Presbyterian Church (USA), who delivered a heartfelt reflection entitled “A Seed Was Planted.” His message honored Dr. Silliman’s legacy and impact of his vision on generations of Sillimanians.
Carlton “Cobbie” J. Palm, Presbyterian USA Missionary Worker
A Seed was Planted
1 Corinthians 3:6-9
It is with a humble heart that I stand before you this early Friday morning to remember and honor one among the outstanding and distinguished individuals of Presbyterian Church USA, and a blessing to Silliman University, whose 115th death anniversary we are commemorating today.
A seed was planted by Horace B. Silliman and in the care of subsequent American and Filipino stewards, Silliman University came to be. From the planting thru the nurturing of over 123 years, Silliman University has blossomed into a global academic powerhouse! As we were taught many years ago, you can’t spell SUCCESS without SU!
It is a testimony to the possibility that an individual’s contribution of generosity toward a dream can bloom into a story of unimaginable success!
In the Presbyterian Church USA, the legacy of Horace B Silliman is not found in the stature he attained through several successful business ventures that established him as a wealthy man in Cahoes, New York. His wealth was not among America’s wealthiest, but his wealth was enough to give him high stature in his small city of Cohoes, New York.
The city of Cohoes in the late 1800s, when Horace B Silliman was a young entrepreneur, became a center for spinning cotton into cloth. Horace B Silliman emerged as one of the principal suppliers for the cotton spinning machine industry and made strategic investments. He was also involved in supplying water to the city of Cohoes, NY.
These businesses were enough for him to attain his wealth and move him to privilege and comfort and to be able to choose between “do I share and care? Or do I hold and be cold? A question we all come to face in life.
In all the writings I could find about Horace B Silliman, it became clear as day that his legacy in the Presbyterian Church USA is not what he accumulated nor what he earned! It is what he gave away! I can summarize it by saying, he is respected for what he earned and accumulated, but he is honored and remembered throughout the world for what he gave away.
All these points me in the direction of character. How does one learn to share over choosing to hold?
As I prepared for today’s message, I spent time reading about his life and, in the process, discovered a few interesting nuggets from childhood to adulthood.
First, the Orange Nugget:
Upon receiving an award at Hamilton College*, he tells this story that I will paraphrase.
In New York where Horace B. Silliman was raised as a child, oranges do not grow. It is too cold for oranges to grow in New York. But each Christmas oranges arrived at the Silliman house. Baskets of oranges ordered by his mother Clarissa. This was a rare and special treat that Horace remembers as a child.
At Christmas time, Clarissa, his mother, would invite the children of their Church into their home, and ask Horace, who wanted to keep the rare and special oranges for himself, to distribute and share the oranges to the other children. Horace recalls how difficult it was to want something so much, and then to have to give it away. This happened year after year.
The story is told to highlight the importance of role models and teachers.
And that sharing must be practiced. As you practice, year after year, it soon becomes part of who you are!
Horace B. Silliman declares this is where it all began for him! The example of models and the practice of sharing, years after year.
Second, the Church Nugget:
It was not an accident that Horace B. Silliman in 1899 would travel from Cohoes, NY., down to New York City with a proposal of $10,000.00. It was no accident that he drove past the office of the Department of Education. It was no accident that he drove past the office of the local High School. He could have given the proposal of $10,000,00 there or anywhere!
But he travelled on and walked into the office of the Presbyterian Church Board of Foreign Mission. That decision changed the destiny of Dumaguete City and many of our lives. That decision was because Horace B Silliman was deeply faithful to the church.
The reports recall that he had very strong convictions about his proposal. The seed he wanted to plant was a school on Philippine soil, and he was in that office because he wanted it to be nurtured by the church.
This tells me that he understood his role was to plant the seed—knowing that others would be called to water it and nurture it to life.
And from his vantage point, from his perspective, he believed it was the church that could fulfill his vision. He understood that skills alone are not enough in this world. Knowledge without values will not create the graduates he envisioned.
Therefore, it was through the church that we began with just 15 students. It was through the church that the new Silliman Institute was a merger of value formation with skill production. This must always be understood as the unique niche of Silliman University. The merging of faith values with skills development. Horace B Silliman stands as the architect of this merger.
Finally, the Invisibility Nugget;
It is recorded that the Presbyterian Church gave regular reports to Horace B. Silliman. He was aware that a school had begun on the shoreline of a small town named Dumaguete. But when encouraged to travel and visit the new school, to be welcomed, to be acknowledged, to be honored in Dumaguete, his answer was always, “It will not be necessary.”
Travel at the time was long, but not difficult. There were no airplanes, no airport lines and airport crowds. Travel was by steamship, a relaxing 15 to 20 days from New York City. Lounging, sleeping, eating, reading, on a steam ship. A doable trip for a retired 80-year-old. But his answer was always, “It will not be necessary.”
His death came in 1910, at the age of 84 years old. It is a sad thought that he never had the opportunity to see even the beginnings of Silliman University. The seed he planted would always and forever remain invisible to him. And he, the Planter, will always and forever remain invisible to Dumaguete.
“It will not be necessary”
A few words that speak volumes about this generous human being.
It speaks of TRUST –
A trust in the hands of those who have assumed care over the planted seed. Those of us here today who have labored for Silliman University and the cloud of laborers that have come before us.
It speaks of HUMILITY –
The humility not to demand the credit for its success. It is not my success, it is not your success, it is our success!
It speaks of FAITH –
The faith to know in the heart that when you remain close to God, sight unseen, God will make a way for the seeds that we plant and the dreams that we make to blossom into success.
VIA VERITAS VITA Forever. SILLIMAN UNIVERSITY Forever – AMEN
Carlton Cobbie J. Palm, May 2, 2025
*Paraphrased from a speech accessed through the Hamilton College Archives.
