Wheaton College Alumni Magazine Winter 2015 | Page 23

Right before Christmas

truth, whether reporting news or hosting Up For Debate. That commitment
flows directly from my relationship to Christ, who is the Truth.”
Whether involved in politics, education, or new and traditional methods
of news gathering and reporting, the following alumni share a common
faith. Learn how that faith influences the stories they tell, the work they
do—and ultimately the messages and information that influence society.

photo by eric draper, Courtesy of the george w. bush presidential
library and museum

in 2002, a young boy fell into the frozen Merrimack River and drowned,
along with three other boys who braved thin ice in an effort to save
him. When this tragedy struck, Taylor Armerding ’70, son of Wheaton’s
fifth president, Dr. Hudson T. Armerding ’41, was working as a regular
columnist for the Eagle-Tribune in his town of Lawrence, Massachusetts.
For their rapid and thorough reporting of the incident, Armerding and
Left, President
George W. Bush
the staff at the Eagle-Tribune won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news,
prepares a speech
and then passed the cash prize of $7,500 to the grieving families.
with Michael
“We felt good about the work we did, but we were humbled that the
Gerson ’86 in
the Oval Office
community opened up to us,” Armerding says, noting that he entered into
on December 16,
the most intimate and painful time t