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A BJA Profile -
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William (Bill) Kintigh was born in 1914 and reared in Detroit, Michigan. He attended Hillsdale College and Wayne State University, each for a year, but he was looking for a Christian college to continue his education. In 1937 a friend heard Dr. Jones Sr. preach and planned to enroll in the fall. He encouraged Bill, who knew nothing about the school, to consider BJC. On a Monday Bill mailed a letter to BJC expressing his interest, asked for information and an application. That Friday he received the information and an acceptance letter. A few weeks later, he and his friend drove to the BJC campus in Cleveland, Tennessee.
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Bill enrolled as a Religion major. Eunice Hutto, dean of the college, was seeking to develop a minor in mathematics. In 1941 Bill was the second BJC student to graduate with a minor in math. While in school, he dated Anne England, who earned an elementary school teaching certificate (a 2 year program) and returned to her native Georgia and began teaching.
Within a week of receiving his diploma, Bill was drafted and reported to boot camp. He was expecting the typical short term of military service, but because the U.S. entered World War II, he spent four-and-a-half years as a Chaplain’s Assistant. While originally stationed in Texas, he made frequent trips to visit Anne in Georgia. Later he would say that to cut down on travel expenses, he asked Anne to marry him. He also claimed that one of the perks of being married was a $50. per month raise in pay.
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Kintigh 1949
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In the summer of 1945, he was sent to the front lines in Europe. As Bill went overseas he sent Anne back to BJC to complete an undergraduate degree. However, within a month he was wounded as a bomb detonated near his convoy. He described the injury saying, “Shrapnel got me and messed up my insides.” After surgery he was sent back to the US for recovery and rehabilitation. No longer considered fit for combat, he was discharged. Eventually he was awarded the Purple Heart,
In January of 1946, the Kintighs were in Cleveland. Anne continued work on her degree and Bill was enrolled in education courses. Bob Jones Sr. called him to his office and offered him a faculty position teaching math at BJA. Thinking he would teach for one year, while Anne finished her degree, he accepted. He taught Bible, physics and math during BJA’s last year in Cleveland. He was asked to continue on the faculty as the school moved to Greenville, and he accepted.
Bill claims to have taught every math course BJA offered at least once during his teaching carrier. While teaching at BJA, he earned a master’s degree in math education from Appalachian State Teachers College and became the head of BJA’s mathematics department.
He used an above-the-chalkboard, oversized slide rule to teach students how to use the “handheld computer” of their day. Using an oversized compass, protractor and yard stick, he demonstrated how to solve geometric problems on the chalkboard while watching the students with a mirror he mounted in the corner of his classroom. As the overhead projector entered the classroom, those educational tools became obsolete. Although Bill could repair any overhead projector, he did not feel completely comfortable using them in the classroom. Calculators were beginning to enter classroom use. Although he used them, teaching a class to use them was another matter. In 1974, at age 60, Bill decided it was time for him to leave the classroom. |
"What a patient, gentle man! I learned from him the importance of loving and caring for each of my students. He also taught me to take students from where they are to as far as they can go. - A 1952 student teacher 
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The first Academian (1978) was dedicated to Bill Kintigh. He was always willing to participate in student organized fun. Comic roles in Academy Party faculty skits and his willingness to discover oil in the Lost and Found along with his smile and gentle jokes made him a "favorite faculty member" for many students.
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His service to BJA was far from over. He served another 20 years as the Academy’s Media Coordinator. He shepherded projectors, record players, and other devices between various teachers and classrooms. He taught many teachers how to thread film projectors and set up tape recorders. Known as “the man who could fix anything,” he kept BJAs audio visuals working even as they became more and more technical. In the summer he cleaned lockers, changed their combinations and made sure all the audio-visual equipment was in working order. He installed electrical outlets and switches for added convenience and safety. He could do just about anything the Academy needed doing, and what he couldn’t do, he coordinated others in doing.
One of his duties was manning BJA’s Lost and Found. The 10¢ per-item-claimed supplied the capital needed for Bill to purchase academic luxuries not in the school’s budget. BJA’s first calculator (functions: add, subtract, multiply, and divide, with results printed on paper tape) and a second-hand photocopier (an early model that burned images on special paper which became illegible after a couple of years) were but two of the items Lost and Found funds purchased for BJA.
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Lost & Found was open in the morning before classes and Bill Kintigh was always there.
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Bill served BJA for 48 years. But even after his formal retirement in 1994, he donated his time and energy to BJA. He and Anne lived on back campus, and until he no longer could get to the Quadrangle, he would stop by to tend to some need at BJA. In 2002, at the age of 88, he died on the campus where he had invested his life.
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The Keeper of the Clocks - “After seeing the notice of Mr. Kintigh's death, I thought back on something that happened during my first few years at the Academy. At the time Mr. Kintigh was using a crutch and evidently in pain as he walked but as far as I know, never missed a day in his responsibilities . . . .
One Saturday I came to my office to do some catch up and I saw Mr. Kintigh in the hall pushing an overhead cart (where he kept much of his tools) with a small two-step ladder attached. With one hand he was pushing the cart, the other maneuvering with his crutch. I asked what he was doing and he told me he was setting all the classroom clocks [the time change was that week-end] . . . and putting new batteries in them.
That day he changed all the Academy and Junior High clocks that probably numbered close to thirty. In the past I never gave it a second thought as to who changed the clocks twice a year, but it was always done.
When I finished my work, I decided to see how Mr. Kintigh was managing. Without being seen, I watched as he took great pains to set-up the stepladder; then while balancing with his crutch, he climbed the ladder and removed the clock. He slowly came down the ladder and proceeded to insert a new battery and re-set the clock. I asked if I could help, but he said no. I stayed and watched as he went back up the ladder, hung the clock and came back down. Again, I insisted that I help, and again, he said he could handle it. All told, I think he spent ten minutes for that one clock.
When I think of that day, I can't help but think of Dr. Bob Sr.’s illustration that the most important light is not the chandelier [in the parlor, but the night light at the end of the hall]. Mr. Kintigh was a valuable light in the Academy. I will miss him.” - A BJA principal.
One Saturday I came to my office to do some catch up and I saw Mr. Kintigh in the hall pushing an overhead cart (where he kept much of his tools) with a small two-step ladder attached. With one hand he was pushing the cart, the other maneuvering with his crutch. I asked what he was doing and he told me he was setting all the classroom clocks [the time change was that week-end] . . . and putting new batteries in them.
That day he changed all the Academy and Junior High clocks that probably numbered close to thirty. In the past I never gave it a second thought as to who changed the clocks twice a year, but it was always done.
When I finished my work, I decided to see how Mr. Kintigh was managing. Without being seen, I watched as he took great pains to set-up the stepladder; then while balancing with his crutch, he climbed the ladder and removed the clock. He slowly came down the ladder and proceeded to insert a new battery and re-set the clock. I asked if I could help, but he said no. I stayed and watched as he went back up the ladder, hung the clock and came back down. Again, I insisted that I help, and again, he said he could handle it. All told, I think he spent ten minutes for that one clock.
When I think of that day, I can't help but think of Dr. Bob Sr.’s illustration that the most important light is not the chandelier [in the parlor, but the night light at the end of the hall]. Mr. Kintigh was a valuable light in the Academy. I will miss him.” - A BJA principal.
