1985
Herbert P. Lansdale, Jr.

After serving in the Army during WWI, Herbert Lansdale earned his undergraduate and Master’s degrees from Oberlin College and completed additional graduate studies at Clark University while serving as Educational Director of the Worcester (MA) YMCA. He accepted an assignment as the General Secretary of the YMCA in Saloniki, Greece in 1925 and two years later was selected as the National Secretary of the YMCAs of Greece, a post he held until 1939. For two years, Lansdale served as the U.S. State Department Director of the Division of Relief and Welfare of the American Mission for Aid to Greece. He returned to the United States as the General Secretary of the Rochester (NY) YMCA where he remained until 1952. Lansdale was appointed Executive Secretary of the International Committee of the YMCA of the United States and Canada, and served from 1957 to 1964 as General Secretary of the National Council.

1985
Paul Moyer Limbert

Paul Limbert is among the most notable YMCA professionals of the Twentieth Century, influencing the YMCA Movement at the local, national and international levels. He earned divinity degrees from both Eastern and Union Theological Seminaries and completed his doctorate in 1929 at Columbia University. After serving as an Army first lieutenant during WWI, he became the physical director at Camp Upton, New York. Limbert held faculty positions at Franklin and Marshall College and Columbia University and was a faculty adviser to the Student YMCA. For six years, beginning in 1946, he was the President of Springfield College, and in 1953 was named the Secretary General of the World Alliance of YMCAs. After retiring from the World Alliance, he accepted the appointment as the Executive Director of the YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly in North Carolina. Limbert authored several books, including Christian Emphasis in YMCA Programs, College Teaching and Christian Values, Living a Century and New Perspective for the YMCA. He was recognized with the Legion of Honor award from France, the L.K. Hall Citation from the Association of Professional Directors and with honorary doctorates from both Springfield and American International Colleges.

1986
Joel E. Nystrom

Joel Nystrom began his relationship with the YMCA as a student leader at Iowa State University. After completing his undergraduate degree in 1925, he joined the staff of the West Side Branch of the YMCA of Greater New York as the Fellowship Secretary. In 1930, after earning his graduate degree from Columbia University and his subsequent ordination as a Methodist minister, he was appointed the Religious Education Director at West Side and later served at the Intercollegiate Branch. For ten years, beginning in 1940, Nystrom worked in Uruguay, first as Director of the YMCA College, and then as Director of the International YMCA Camp. Beginning in 1952, Nystrom served as the Director of Development and later Director of the International Committee of YMCA of the USA. He retired in 1968.

1986
J. Edward Sproul

J. Edward Sproul began his work in 1916 as an Assistant Secretary for Religious Activities at the Newark (NJ) YMCA. During WWI he became a Program Secretary with an Army YMCA unit. After the War, he returned to the YMCA as Assistant State Secretary in New Jersey, and in 1921 became the Executive Secretary of the Ridgewood (NJ) YMCA. Sproul served on the 1925 YMCA Constitutional Convention, charged with formulating the constitution of the National Council. Two years later, he joined the staff of the program section of the newly-formed National Council. After receiving his Master’s degree in Humanics from Springfield College in 1936, he became the Executive of the Program and Research Division, and later was the Secretary of the Committee on Public Affairs on the national staff.

1987
Wilhelmina M. Aveling

When Wilhelmina Aveling began her twenty-eight year career, the first woman to serve on the Metropolitan staff of the Chicago YMCA, the involvement of women and girls in the YMCA was minimal. With an undergraduate degree from Wheaton College and a graduate degree from Northwestern University in Personnel and Guidance, she recruited qualified females as staff for local branches and provided training for a variety of programs. Aveling was responsible for the development of the family YMCA concept, a model that was replicated across the United States and Canada. Her weight loss programs gained worldwide recognition and her “Danish Gymnastics” program led to the development of modern aerobic dance.

1987
Ray E. Johns

Ray Johns began his YMCA career with the Michigan YMCA and served as the Hi-Y Secretary in Chicago. During WWII he provided leadership to the newly-organized USO. After the war he became the General Executive of the Greater Boston YMCA. Johns served on numerous boards of agencies that focused on youth, including the Director of the Massachusetts Committee for Children and Youth. He was the author of five books on social agency administration and organizational change and lectured at many graduate schools of social work. He traveled extensively, visiting schools all over the world from the most remote primitive huts to the most advanced educational centers. In the 1970s, Johns returned to full-time teaching at the University of New Hampshire.