Date: March 11, 2022
The past is a complex place. Access to the past is hard. Clues are in documents – the minutes, a letter, a sermon – but one is never entirely sure. Yet understanding the past is essential to understanding the present. The past needs to be preserved so that we can understand the present.
Chris Pote has been a fabulous archivist. He is a detective of the past: he loves trying to sort out precisely what happened. Sometimes the answers are helpful to the case I would like to make; at other times, he explains that this or that is unlikely. He is a true archivist who is determined to examine the evidence available and determine what is likely or not likely. It is a quest for the “truth” of the past.
Chris Pote has been offered an exciting opportunity; today is his last day at VTS. He will be missed. In a season, when our historic bicentenary is to the fore, he has been interrogating the past of the Seminary – both the good and the bad. He will be moving to an important position – a chance to build the record of the past for a county. We are excited for him; we are grateful for everything he has done; and we wish him all the best into the future. Thank you Chris; enjoy the next stage; and please know you have done fabulous work for us at Virginia Theological Seminary.
The Very Rev. Ian S. Markham, Ph.D.
Dean and President