When Dr. A.K. Anderson ’90 was searching for a place to pursue his master’s degree, he turned to Dr. William W. “Bill” Mount Jr. for help.
“Bill offered me advice that has stuck with me for nearly four decades, both literally and metaphorically,” says Anderson, professor of religion. “He said, ‘Let’s say there’s some distant location you want to go to, and you end up staying closer to home. Even if you end up being happy, some part of you will always wonder what that other place would have been like.’”
Anderson ended up following in Mount’s footsteps, earning his master’s of divinity from Yale University.
Mount, the Albert C. Outler Professor of Religion emeritus, died at his home in Spartanburg, S.C., on Jan. 15. He was 88.
Mount joined the Wofford faculty in 1977 and retired in 2003. He taught Greek and German as well as religion.
The Rev. Dr. Ron Robinson ’78, Wofford’s Perkins-Prothro Chaplain and Professor of Religion, took one of Mount’s classes the first year he taught at the college. He says he knew Wofford had hired someone special when he noticed that the New Testament Mount used in class was the Greek version.
“His language skills were outstanding, and his intellect was keen,” says Robinson. “His wry smile was coupled with a sense of humor that peppered his lectures and his personal interactions. Smart and funny made for a wonderful combination.”
Anderson took Greek with Mount for six semesters. By the end, Anderson was the only student left in class, and they met in Mount’s office. One day, they were reading Euripides’ Bacchae and came upon a passage that Mount didn’t understand.
Mount stopped and began poring over a grammar book and dictionary. This went on for several minutes, until he figured out the passage.
“He could have easily brushed over the item,” Anderson says. “This provided for me an ideal image of the love and pursuit of knowledge. Bill was a wonderful combination of utter brilliance and intellectual humility.”