Florence Westrum spent the first twelve years of her life in Duluth, Minnesota. Her father was a Methodist minister and her mother was a musician who in 1927 purchased a grand piano with money earned from concerts she played. Those concerts often featured music by Chopin, which Florence grew to love. As her father nurtured her faith, her mother encouraged her music. The family moved to Minneapolis, where Florence graduated from high school, and later attended Hamline University. There she received a degree in music education, studying piano, organ, and voice. She had two brothers who sang well, and she was especially proud of her younger brother, Ron, who sang solos with the Hamline University choir. One solo was “Come Ye Blessed,” a piece based on an old hymn whose text has become Florence’s favorite Bible verse: “. . . Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” (Matt. 25:34, KJV)

While at Hamline, Florence played the organ at her father’s church. One Sunday, Edgar Westrum introduced himself to her after church. Their first date was to attend a play, followed by a visit to the ice cream parlor for a five-cent ice cream cone. And just recently Florence and Edgar celebrated their sixty-third wedding anniversary!

Edgar Westrum was one of five boys, born in Albert Lea, Minnesota, where his father owned an insurance agency and his mother worked as the agency secretary. Edgar worked for a time in the agency learning various business skills. He began college at Hamline University, and then transferred to the University of Minnesota’s Institute of Technology, where he graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry,. He later received a Ph.D. in thermodynamics from the University of California at Berkeley.

The Westrums moved to Ann Arbor when Edgar accepted a professorship at the University of Michigan, which he held for over fifty years. Edgar’s focus on chemistry and thermodynamics led him to write more than 500 scientific papers, books and research articles. He has made over 300 trips abroad to present papers or lecture courses. Florence has accompanied him often in recent years. He was secretary general of the Committee on Data for Science and Technology, an international scientific organization. In the early 1950s, Edgar was active in the University of Michigan Presbyterian Corporation. Presently Edgar is collaborating on a book, as yet untitled, with a former colleague explaining the thermodynamically glassy state.

During his travels, Edgar was fortunate to meet C. S. Lewis briefly, while he was in England working with a professor from the same university. He is fascinated with the way that Lewis was slowly converted to Christianity and has taught some classes on Lewis at Westminster. On another trip, Edgar met Albert Einstein.

The Westrum family (with their four children), were among the first attendees of Westminster Presbyterian Church in 1955 and 1956, and became charter members. Florence was asked by the first pastor, Rev. Richard Miller to become church pianist and organist. She happily accepted, and was a dependable and dedicated organist here for forty-one years. She organized and for eleven years directed the adult choir. Currently Florence plays the piano for her own pleasure. She loves to play bridge and read. Her “all time favorite” hymn is “The Church’s One Foundation;” she also likes “I Come to the Garden.” Florence and Edgar enjoy visits from their four children, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Edgar’s life was faith-oriented from the beginning, as he remembers the hymns of faith sung at Sunday night services more than seventy-five years ago. Words from a hymn, “Let the lower lights be burning, throw a gleam across the wave . . .” remind him of Christ, a beacon of light, and of lighthouses, which interest him. Edgar continues to enjoy large sailboats, photography, stamp collecting and his writing. His new garden this year was a huge success. Over the years Edgar has enjoyed working with the youth program and has taken part in youth retreats including many canoe outings in northern Michigan. Several years ago he taught Sunday school, and he has participated in some Westminster mission trips. The most significant Bible verse for Edgar is John 14:6–7: “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’”

Although the Westrums have slowed down a bit in recent years, they continue to love worship and activities at Westminster Church. Congratulations to charter members Edgar and Florence for your faithfulness and leadership these fifty years!

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