Written by Stephanie Rodriguez. Media by Riley Hannula.
This week’s campus profile focuses on the thoughts of President and First Lady Filby. The following contains questions that the Papyrus asked and a summary of the Filbys’ responses.
Because Mrs. Filby is Irish, people assume that she drinks tea all of the time. However, she just began drinking tea a few months ago and is trying a variety of flavors. So far her favorite is peach blossom white tea that she purchased from the London Tea Room, a British café, in St. Louis.
Mrs. Filby mentioned that making an exceptional cup of tea depends on the type of tea one wants to drink. For example, if making black tea the water needs to boil to 200 degrees Fahrenheit, but if it’s white tea, then it boils to 180 degrees.
After the water is boiled, a small amount is poured into a teapot and swirled around until warm. Then, the water is poured out and the rest of the boiling water is added to the teapot with the desired tea bags or leaves and sits for three to five minutes.
President Filby loves PG Tips black tea and comments that even when tea is made the same way, it can taste different after eating various foods, such as spicy, before drinking tea.
President Filby: One Red Paperclip by Kyle MacDonald
Mrs. Filby: The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
Currently taking Dr. Wayman’s Pauline Epistles course along with a few online classes, Mrs. Filby said she would choose theology because she enjoys learning about Christianity from different perspectives.
President Filby said Digital Media because “it’s amazing how someone can see things, structure it and tell a story through this field of study.”
President Filby stated, “I know English, American, Australian and Canadian. I can’t do the accents but I can certainly understand.”
Mrs. Filby’s next language is Italian and she’s studied several languages including Spanish, Latin, French and Russian. She comments, “When you learn a new language you enter a new world. For example, Russian is very hard because it has a completely different alphabet. The grammar is incredibly complicated.”
The Filbys said they would,
1. Visit Mrs. Filby’s favorite coffee shop, Insomnia.
2. Visit Mrs. Filby’s alma mater, Trinity College, which is where President Filby worked before coming to the United States.
3. Walk down Grafton Street in Dublin, Ireland.
4. Go to the beach. The Filbys lived next to a stony beach and enjoyed walking, praying and smelling the fresh air from the sea.
5. Reconnect with people they’ve known for years.
Mrs. Filby stated that people raised in a Western culture think “I am the center of my world,” but when immersed in other cultures, the Filbys believe people learn more about themselves. They comment that the life people live is taken for granted until they witness other cultures. Mrs. Filby believes it’s important for Greenville College to bring students from other areas of the world. She also believes it’s important to learn about the cultures of various students so there isn’t a disconnect between the college and students.
In their free time, President and First Lady Filby enjoy going on walks in downtown St. Charles. They enjoy sitting in coffee shops, viewing boutique shops and going out for dinner. It also delights them to see European movies because it reminds them of home.
President Filby enjoys a variety of British detective shows.
Mrs. Filby enjoys watching “Modern Family,” “The Middle” and “Frasier.” However, her favorite shows are “Downton Abbey” and “Gilmore Girls.”
Machu Picchu, Peru and New Zealand are two countries Mrs. Filby would like to visit.
President Filby said he would love to vacation in Melbourne, Australia.
Both have visited Paris separately, but they would love to vacation there together.
The Filbys added, “We are in love. A lifetime of love is possible because it’s a gift from God and it gets better with time. It’s wonderful to wait for the one person and is possible in today’s age.”
