3
April 2014
Dialogue with a Director (Continued from Previous)
resources department of a family-owned Missouri supermarket chain.
The company let me write my own job description, and among my
achievements were the creation of school/business partnerships,
lobbying for national welfare- to- work reform, and chairing a local
committee that aided temporary assistance recipients.
usual tour of duty.
When I retired from that job, Shirley and I decided to build on our
Kiawah lot. We knew we could not afford two homes and we loved
Kiawah enough to make it our permanent residence. Shirley, a teacher,
was still under contract when our home was ready for occupancy in
early 2004. So I purchased a few furnishing and necessities with her
approval by mail and phone, and moved in.
LK: Yes, it was difficult. We wanted to keep our house, and Shirley
was teaching. She visited me a few times, and I was able to fly
home occasionally on leave. Shirley grew up in Minnesota. We met
in college. After graduation, we spent a year apart because she was
offered a teaching job in Santa Barbara, California, near where her
brother lived, while I accepted a teaching offer back in St. Louis.
We communicated long distance for a year by phone and mail. I
became a little concerned when she began dating a bit - including
one date with an Olympic athlete, whose picture appeared in Sports
Illustrated. After a year, I proposed, she accepted, and we made St.
Louis our home.
Digest: What moved you to pursue a career in education?
LK: I grew up in St. Louis and was planning to join the Marines after
graduating from high school. At the time, my family didn’t have the
money for college. During my senior year, an anonymous donor offered
me college tuition, room and board in exchange for my working during
the summer in a warehouse. It was late in the admissions process, but
my baseball coach had connections, and got me into the University of
Wisconsin-Stout, a technical and teacher training school. I was the first
in my family to attend and finish college.
In high school, I was a three-sport athlete and wasn’t always focused
on academics as much as on girls and sports, but in college, I didn’t
miss a class and concentrated on my studies. I felt a responsibility
to my donor - who I later learned was the parent of a high school
opponent in all three sports, who appreciated my sportsmanship and
character. I majored in industrial education, which my high school
baseball coach had taught, and in which I had interest and success.
I was a pitcher on the college baseball team, made the all-star team
while playing semi-pro during the summer