Saturday evening - 83 of us met for dinner at Indiana Tech, our former campus. This included 14 members and spouses of the class of 1955, and three of the four surviving faculty members: Walt Schoedel, Gene Nissen, and Herb Nuechterlein (at the last minute Bob Busse wasn't able to come due to a medical problem.

In January of 1945 I entered Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, where the seminarians were on an accelerated program during the years of WWII. My vicarage year was non-traditional. I attended Washington University, where I earned an MA in Greek in 1948. After graduating from the Seminary in 1949, I did another year of graduate work at the University of Chicago.

President Herbert Bredemeier offered me an instructor’s position in 1950. In December of that year I married Particia A. Bonnet. 1950 until the College closed its doors in 1957 were some of the most enjoyable years of my professional and personal life.

I accepted an Associate Professor’s position at Concordia Senior College, but because only part of the faculty was needed when CSC opened in the Fall of 1957, I was able to accept a Fulbright position to teach English as a foreign language at Anatolia College in Thessalonica, Greece for the 1957-1958 academic year. I then rejoined the CSC staff in September of 1958 and taught classes until my sabbatical in 1961, when I moved to Michigan to begin work for my graduate degree at the University of Michigan. In order to complete coursework for my doctorate, I resigned from the CSC faculty. Graduate work resulted in a second Master’s degree, but I did not write a dissertation. My status remained ABD [“all but dissertation”].

In 1963 I joined the faculty of Concordia Lutheran Junior College in Ann Arbor, where I was Associate Professor of Classsical Languages and head of the Department of Languages. In February of 1967 I was dismissed from the school re matters pertaining to social dancing. Less than 2 hours after my termination, I was offered a position in the Department of Classical Studies at the University of Michigan.

After three years of teaching duties I became a full-time administrator in the counseling offices of the University’s College of Literature, Science and the Arts, the largest undergraduate unit of the University’s 18 schools and colleges. In 1975 I was named an Assistant Dean in charge of the Office of Academic Advising and by the time I retired in 1995 I was leader of a staff of ca. 65 full and part-time staff who provided the academic advising and monitored the degree progress of some 16,000 students.

During my 28 years at the University of Michigan I also did some teaching Biblical Greek to undergraduate and graduate students, and classical Latin (Vergil’s Aeneid) to undergrads. Throughout my years at the University, I was a pulpit assistant a various area Lutheran churches, for several years serving an inner-city Detroit church, affiliated with the English District of the LC-MS. In the early ‘70s I remained with the congregation when it joined the AELC and, later, the ELCA.

My wife and I were parents of 7 children – 5 biological and 2 adopted. Beth (Elizabeth) was born in 1954 and some of the students at Concordia Junior College were her babysitters. Beth became a correspondent – from the Wall Street Journal to bureau chief for Newsweek in Central America, where she was a war correspondent for three years, to ABC, where she worked for Peter Jennings for 12 years. When ABC downsized its staff, she joined CNN and was a regular correspondent for the Aaron Brown program. After that program ended, she joined PBC Nova for a short time and has since become an independent correspondent. She is currently writing a book at the request of Simon and Shuster (a book on knives, due for publication in 2007). Our second daughter, Mary, was born in 1956, when I was teaching Biblical Greek during the summer session of Concordia College, Milwaukee, WI. Mary went on to earn her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan’s College of Engineering and her MA degree from Cranfield University in England. She is a mechanical engineer and runs her own computer business. Daughter #3, Anna, was born in 1959, and, as some of you may recall, was featured in the December, 1959, issue of “The Ladies Home Journal”. She is also a graduate of the University of Michigan and later became a health and fitness instructor, while perfecting her language skills in French, Spanish and Japanese. She and her husband lived in Tokyo for several years and make their home today in London.

Our 4th child, Jim, was also born in Ft. Wayne and is a graduate of the University of Michigan, where he earned his doctorate in organ performance from the School of Music. Today he is head of the Humanities Department of Schoolcraft Community College, teaches part-time at the University of Michigan’s Dearborn Campus, and is head of the Music Program of Ann Arbor’s First Congregational Church. Eva, daughter #4 and child #5, became a principal ballerina with the Royal Swedish Ballet in Stockholm, retiring there after 20 years of dancing.

Two adopted sons, Jon and Stephen, bring the number of children to 7. After graduating from high school, Jon worked in Jacksonville, FL. He died in 1966 when he was only 31. Stephen is also a high school graduate and currently works in the Ann Arbor area for a General Motors dealership.

I retired from the University in 1995. My wife’s health was gradually deteriorating and in August of 1997 she passed away. We had been married for 46+ years. At that point I agreed to do some part-time interim work for the SE Michigan Synod of the ELCA. This pastoral work was very rewarding.

For the past several years I have done some serious genealogy work on my family – researching my Norwegian background on my mother’s side, and Danish/German/Frisian roots on my father’s side. I am currently working on the biography of my father.

After getting my Bachelor of Music degree, I was drafted into the Army and qualified as Band Director of the 9th Infantry in Mississippi and Europe (Battle of the Bulge). Upon a safe return in 1945, I finished my Masters and Ph.D at Ann Arbor. Taught instrumental music in Grosse Pointe, Michigan for five years.

Was lured into the Mo. Synod system as director of music at Concordia Jr. College and Concordia Sr. College, 1951-1976.. Those were wonderful years! Stayed in Fort Wayne after the Sr. College closed to teach part-time at Indiana Purdue Extension and continued my 45 years as minister of music at Emmanuel Lutheran, as well as being music critic for the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel.

In 1971 I accepted a call to Concordia Lutheran Church in Kirkwood, Missouri where I served for 20 years. Once again the Lord blessed our ministry in moving from a membership mentality to a discipleship mentality.

In the early ‘90s I had the privilege to serve as the Executive Director of the LCMS Great Commission Convocation in Minneapolis, Minn.

Since becoming Pastor Emeritus of Concordia, Kirkwood, I also remain active as Director of Church Relations for Lutheran Senior Services in Missouri and Illinois, as an advisor for the Association of Lutheran Older Adults, and as area representative for Wheat Ridge Ministries. My wife Lee and I are active in seminars and workshops on Older Adult Ministries and I edit a quarterly newsletter “Engaging the Aging.”

With my first wife Barbara I had seven children. She died in 1995. I remarried to Lee Henline of Ft. Wayne and together we have 11 children, 27 grandchildren, and 3 great grandchildren.

I was born in Fort Wayne and attended both Concordia High School and Junior College, graduating in 1948 from the college. That summer I attended Concordia Teachers College, River Forest (now Concordia University) to take crash courses for teaching. Upon finishing the classes, East St. Louis was the next stop where I taught for two years in a one-room school. In the summer of 1950, Dr. Bredemeier asked me to teach piano at the Junior College, and I stayed until the closing of the school in 1957. During that time I was teaching piano, of course, also at times conducting the freshman Girls’ Glee Club and the Male Chorus, and often accompanying various choir rehearsals. Marilyn and I were married shortly after your class graduated in 1956, which means we also celebrated 50 years. We lived on the campus for that last year in the home previously occupied by the Sohns. We left Fort Wayne for new adventures at Concordia Teachers College.

During the summer of 1956, my Bachelor of Music degree was granted from Indiana University. As soon as we were settled in Illinois, I began to work on an advanced degree in piano at Northwestern School of Music, which was granted in 1960. In 1964 our family moved for one year to Indiana University to begin work on a doctorate. All was done on that degree except to write a dissertation, much like Gene Nissen. Teaching piano, being chairman of the piano department, chairing the Cultural Activities Committee, being coordinator of appearances of college groups off-campus, co-authoring five books for the Keyboard Theory Program as well as revising the course on World Music occupied my time at during my teaching days at Concordia. In addition, during that time, as well as the time in Fort Wayne, 50 recitals were performed as well as playing concerti by Bach, Mozart, and Stravinsky with colleagues, and accompanying many student performances.

While teaching and working on another recital, everything came to a sudden halt in January 1991 when I suffered a severe stroke paralyzing my right side. I managed to continue to teach piano until March of 1993, when I retired. Going into rehab for six weeks afforded me the ability of walking again with a brace and using a cane and being able to use the arm and hand to some extent. Several years later I had to have quintuple by-pass surgery and came through that very well. The Lord has been good to me.

Because I have some use of my right side, I have been able to have a hobby of tatting using directions or making my own creations. Several large pieces have been commissioned over the years. It takes a while, but it gets done.

Three children were born to us—our son, who was the last faculty child to be born on the old campus, and two daughters. We have five grandsons and one step-granddaughter. We enjoy retirement. We have one regret—we were not able to join all of you for the big celebration because of illness. We got to Fort Wayne at least, but that was all.

I was born in Fort Wayne and attended both Concordia High School and Junior College, graduating in 1948 from the college. That summer I attended Concordia Teachers College, River Forest (now Concordia University) to take crash courses for teaching. Upon finishing the classes, East St. Louis was the next stop where I taught for two years in a one-room school. In the summer of 1950, Dr. Bredemeier asked me to teach piano at the Junior College, and I stayed until the closing of the school in 1957. During that time I was teaching piano, of course, also at times conducting the freshman Girls’ Glee Club and the Male Chorus, and often accompanying various choir rehearsals. Marilyn and I were married shortly after your class graduated in 1956, which means we also celebrated 50 years. We lived on the campus for that last year in the home previously occupied by the Sohns. We left Fort Wayne for new adventures at Concordia Teachers College.

During the summer of 1956, my Bachelor of Music degree was granted from Indiana University. As soon as we were settled in Illinois, I began to work on an advanced degree in piano at Northwestern School of Music, which was granted in 1960. In 1964 our family moved for one year to Indiana University to begin work on a doctorate. All was done on that degree except to write a dissertation, much like Gene Nissen. Teaching piano, being chairman of the piano department, chairing the Cultural Activities Committee, being coordinator of appearances of college groups off-campus, co-authoring five books for the Keyboard Theory Program as well as revising the course on World Music occupied my time at during my teaching days at Concordia. In addition, during that time, as well as the time in Fort Wayne, 50 recitals were performed as well as playing concerti by Bach, Mozart, and Stravinsky with colleagues, and accompanying many student performances.

While teaching and working on another recital, everything came to a sudden halt in January 1991 when I suffered a severe stroke paralyzing my right side. I managed to continue to teach piano until March of 1993, when I retired. Going into rehab for six weeks afforded me the ability of walking again with a brace and using a cane and being able to use the arm and hand to some extent. Several years later I had to have quintuple by-pass surgery and came through that very well. The Lord has been good to me.

Because I have some use of my right side, I have been able to have a hobby of tatting using directions or making my own creations. Several large pieces have been commissioned over the years. It takes a while, but it gets done.