Our History

The deadly coup d’etat of 1980 negatively impacted Ricks Institute administration’s ability to sustain the institution as financial support for day-to-day operations was abruptly and significantly curtail from the following sponsors:

• The premature death of the greatest advocate of Ricks Institute, Dr. William R. Tolbert Jr, then, president of the Republic of Liberia and former president of the Baptist World Alliance, left a void in the financial subsidy Ricks Institute had enjoyed from LBMEC and the Liberian government.
• Finance, staff, and teachers provided by the South Baptist Convention dating back to the mid sixties, dwindled.
• The change in the overall economic condition of Liberia made it impossible for parents to afford the tuition, room and board required for their children to remain students at Ricks Institute.

Out of the cry from the school’s administration to alumni to assist in alleviating the plight of their alma mater, the following attempts were made by concerned alumni groups to jump start an alumni association: 

• In 1987, a letter writing campaign targeted at two hundred and fifty alumni was undertaken by the Minnesota group, Canmu Dennis (Class ’78) and Joan Toweh (Class ’79), to explore the possibility of a reunion. 
• That same year, Miss Jonathan Minor (Class ’63), then serving as the principal of Ricks Institute, and Rev. Charles Jones (Class ’76), traveled to the Unites States as emissaries of the Liberia Baptist Missionary and Education Convention (LBMEC), to solicit support from Baptist churches and conventions as well as alumni and friends of Ricks Institute.  R. Napoleon Outland (Class ’78) who hosted Miss Minor during part of her stay in the United States, accompanied her to a church service in New Jersey, where Rev. Jones was the guest preacher.   The message inspired Napoleon such that he committed right there to spearhead an alumni focused fund raising to address immediate needs at Ricks Institute.  Immediately upon his return to Boston, Massachusetts, Napoleon contacted Watchen Harris Bruce (Class ’77)  and Christine Harris Idiokitas (Class ’70) and other alumni in the Boston metropolitan area to raise the much needed funds to purchase and ship the priority list of commodities requested by Miss Minor. 
• Per the success of the first initiative undertaken for their alma mater, the Bostonians felt emboldened to take the lead in organizing the first of its kind alumni reunion.
• In 1988, Dave Dixon (Class ’70), after visiting Ricks Institute during his vacation in Liberia, and seeing the devastating plight of the school, invited a few of his fellow alumni, upon his return to his home in Natick, Massachusetts, to devise a rescue plan for his alma mater.

In 1988, the Massachusetts and Minnesota alumni groups agreed to synchronize their efforts and thus a face-to-face exploratory meeting was held in Boston, Massachusetts.  The attendees were: Christine Harris Idiokitas, Eliza Weeks, Watchen Harris Bruce, Canmu Dennis, Dave L. Dixon, and Napoleon Outland.  It is noteworthy to mention that even today, (2021), five (5) of those original six persons; Christine Harris Idiokitas, Watchen Harris Bruce, Dave Dixon, Canmu Dennis, and Napoleon Outland have been continuously and consistently active with the association over the past thirty-two (32) years. Fate would not allow Eliza Weeks to be among that number because she passed on to glory during 2020.

What did that historic meeting accomplish?

• We resolved that we should form an alumni association.
• We resolved that we should target 1989 Labor Day weekend for the initial assembling of alumni to formalize the association and socialize.
• We resolved that we needed to appeal to more alumni and raise funds so we could broaden the base of the initial committee.
• We resolved that we needed to establish a leadership team.

At that meeting, Dave Dixon was appointed as the Chairman of the Organizing Committee with Napoleon Outland as his Vice Chairman. Christine Harris Idiokitas was appointed as Secretary with Watchen Harris Bruce was elected as Treasurer and Canmu Dennis was appointed Parliamentarian.  Within a few weeks, the committee grew to include the following alumni and friends: Kedrick White (Class ’80), Bill White (former student), Mazu Cooper (Class ’71), Malvina Cooper (Class ’79), Vivien Jones (Class ’79), Nathaniel Sayon (Class ’78), Thelma Garnett (Class ’78), Ciatta Victor (former student), Martha Moore (Class ’80), and Oso Smith (friend).

Faced with the plight of not having money to fund a reunion, the committee devised innovated ways and means to raise the $8,000 budget to host first reunion.  They organized and hosted paid socials in their homes and still had to dig deep and donated personal funds to close the budget short fall.  With these contributions in hand, we were able to pay for all the expenses of the first reunion including; airfares for Mr. and Mrs. Oody from California, car rental and hotel accommodation for them, rental of a cruise ship for a cruise around the Boston Harbor, hall rental at Northeastern University for the reunion activities, sports facility, drinks and food, etc.  We held weekly planning meetings, rotating from one member home to the next each week from the first meeting in March 1989 until the last in late August 1989.

After many tireless months of dedicated efforts, finally as the Labor Day weekend of 1989 rolled around it was time to put the efforts of the planning committee into action.  We saw the arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Oody at the Worcester, MA airport. They were met and escorted to their hotel by the Chairman Dixon, who had not seen them in 19 years.  Former students from all areas of America began to converge upon Northeastern University in Boston. It was the dawning of a new day for Ricks Institute.  The first ever Liberian school reunion began with a lot of pomp and circumstance. 

Chairman Dixon introduced the occasion and welcomed Mr. and Mrs. Oody, and all the many alumni, former faculty and friends of Ricks Institute that had converged upon Boston for the dawning of this new historic day.  During the ceremonies, Mr. Oody delivered a heart warming and encouraging keynote speech before we moved into the business session with the first item being the ratification of the draft constitution that the Planning Committee had prepared.  Upon a two-thirds vote of those present, the constitution was ratified and, as we sang the school ode, this ushered into existence the organization that is known today as the Ricks Institute Alumni Association USA, Inc.

With the birth of a new organization, elections of the first core of officers were held. Upon a motion by Timotheous Weeks, duly seconded by Nehemiah F. Dixon Jr., all the interim officers were elected by acclamation to retain their respective positions for another year.  After a very successful three days of historic beginnings, on Labor Day, Monday morning, after an all night farewell party at the home of the newly elected National Vice Chairman, Napoleon Outland, those that had come to be a part of this historic occasion departed Boston leaving behind an infant Ricks Institute Alumni Association to be nurtured by the new cadre of officers whom they had elected.