This year, Founder’s Day was celebrated in a most poignant way when Oliver ‘Ollie’ Lim [ACS (Barker Road) Class of 2005 & ACJC Class of 2007] visited Bishop William F. Oldham’s grave at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, Los Angeles. Below is Ollie’s account of his visit.

“As I had some time off my schedule as a graduate student at Claremont School of Theology, I decided to pay tribute to the late Bishop William Oldham this Founder’s Day. It was a pilgrimage of sorts as I journeyed from Claremont to Glendale 40 minutes away and worked my way to the grave with the help of directions from the cemetery reception and the internet.

Bishop Oldham was buried alongside his wife, Marie Augusta Oldham. The simplicity of his marker which read, “William Fitzjames Oldham, Christian World–Citizen”, is a testament to the man who founded a school in a Chinatown slum in Singapore 133 years ago – values in Christian simplicity and humbleness; no dates, no quotes, no eulogies.

I left flowers for the man and his wife and took a photo of their grave markers with a simple print out of an ACS logo to commemorate Founder’s Day. I wonder if Bishop Oldham knew how much he had become a mini-celebrity amongst the descendants of his first school children today in Singapore. I am sure he would be proud of the way his school turned out today with its contributions to the country and world for generations.

It was I who left being more inspired by the humbleness of the man, with hope that my own ministry would make even just a small marker to changing the world just as he had.”