He Was F.D.N

[Gregory Matthews]

Miriam & Kenneth wood, HIS INITIALS WERE F.D.N:  A LIFE STORY OF ELDER F.D. NICHOL.  Review & Herald, 1967, 256 pages.

Probably, many of our younger members will have no knowledge of who F.D. Nichol was and  of the place that he held in the SDA denomination.  He wrote some 19 books.  He served for decades on the editorial staff of the REVIEW.  The American Medical Association purchased thousands, for distribution, copies of an article that he wrote exposing a fraudulent cancer cure.  His book, THE MIDNIGHT CRY, set the historical standard, in its time, for the history of the Millerite movement. In his time, he probably did more than anyone else to positively impact on the SDA church than anyone had previously accomplished, outside of the early leaders in the SDA church.

In recent times, his works have been replaced by more current works by historians and others.

Yet, I would be forced to call him a "slave driver" in regard to expectations that he placed upon the people whom he supervised.  Yet, they loved and supported him.

 

If you have a chance,(probably not) to obtain this ancient book, do so and read it.

 

 

 

Edited May 3, 2015 by Gregory Matthews

[Jeannieb43]

I'm sure I'm one of the few here who actually knew Elder F. D. Nichol.  (Although I can't claim he actually knew me personally.)  
When I was an earliteen my family lived in Takoma Park, Maryland, about a mile from the General Conference headquarters.   My parents, both being alumni of Pacific Union College, used to go the PUC alumni gatherings there.  It turned out that my dad was elected president of the PUC alumni chapter, and Elder F. D. Nichol was the outgoing president of the group who turned over the gavel to my dad at one of the meetings. Since Elder Nichol was editor of the Review at the time, and the Review and Herald Publishing Assn. office was adjacent to the General Conference office building, the PUC chapter meetings were often held on the lawn of the Review and Herald building.  

Elder Nichol was very clever in his speech, and I recall he said some very complimentary and clever things in his speech when introducing my dad.  That always stayed with me.

[Stan]

We could use more people like him today.