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Death of a Remarkable Theo Alum

by Andrew D. Scrimgeour, Dean of Libraries Emeritus

March 19, 2026

With sadness, I share the news that John G. McEllhenney, T’59, died peacefully on March 7 after a period of failing health. He was 91 and living at the Cornwall Manor Retirement Community near Lancaster, PA.

Soon after my arrival on campus in 2000, Ken Rowe, the Methodist Librarian, said, “There is someone you should meet as soon as possible. He’s a good friend, a graduate of the Theological School, and a Methodist minister. He has written and taught extensively on Methodist history and polity, and he is also a thoughtful collector. He has expressed his intention to place his two most significant collections with Drew.”

Now he had my attention. “Tell me about them,” I said.

“They center on the works, correspondence, and ephemera of two poets—Robert Frost and R. S. Thomas, the Welsh poet. I’d like you to get to know him. It’s important that he feel a strong connection to Drew. Other institutions are also interested, and we want him to see this as the right home for his collections.”

Instinctively, I knew I had been given a serious commission.

Shortly after we were introduced, John invited me to his home in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania to see his collections. I was not prepared for what I saw. Over the years, I had seen many private collections. None had ever had their own room. None had a written guide and inventory. None were housed in archival, state-of-the-art Hollinger boxes.

Each grey, hinged box—some 30-40 of them—stood at attention as in a military formation. Each toe of the box, touching the exact edge of the shelf. No overhang. With a glance, I knew I was in the company of a serious, persnickety collector.

I soon learned that both John and Ken had been trained by Fred Maser, a well-known Methodist pastor, historian, and collector of Methodist and liturgical history. Happily, John’s two collections did come to Drew. They even included drafts of the book that catapulted John’s name into international recognition: A Masterwork of Doubting Belief: R. S. Thomas and His Poetry (2013). 

A Masterwork of Doubting Belief: R. S. Thomas and His Poetry (2013)

During the 2013 Tipple-Vosburg Lectures, the Theo School and the University Library hosted a reception to mark the publication of the book. A year earlier, John had given a memorable talk on campus, “Evolution of a Bookish Magpie.”

John was the keynote speaker at the first R. S. Thomas Festival in Aberdaron, Wales in 2014 and subsequently played a key role in founding the R. S. Thomas & M. E. Eldridge Society.

John knew that entrusting his treasurers to Drew would protect them and simultaneously make them available to generations of students, faculty, visiting scholars, and online searchers.

At a celebration of his 90th birthday, I happily reported to his family and friends that most recently his collections had been used by students, featured in several classes, taken to a senior living community for a presentation, and consulted online.

In the attached photograph, John is holding the proofs of his latest book, Standing on the Shoulders of Levi Zerr.  Zerr was the founder of Cornwall Manor. The proofs arrived on the evening before John died.

John McEllhenney January 2026

His memorial service will be Saturday, July 11, 11 a.m., at Zerr Chapel, Cornwall Manor.

As a Methodist minister, John understood what few collectors do: Entrusting collections to libraries is sacramental. For, as Frederick Buechner wrote, the “library is as holy a place as any temple is holy because through the words which are treasured in it, the Word itself becomes flesh again and again and dwells among us and within us, full of grace and truth.”

His legacy is secure.

https://www.debordsnyder.com/obituaries/john-mcellhenney

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