Wheaton College Alumni Magazine Winter 2015 | Page 35

a word with alumni

In late August, at the end of my first day as your new

Alumni Relations
Vice President for Advancement
and Alumni Relations
Kirk Farney M.A. ’98
Director of Alumni and
Parent Relations
Cindra Stackhouse Taetzsch ’82

Alumni Association
President
Kurt D. Tillman ’78
President-Elect
Paul T. Klobucher ’96
Past President
Christopher A. Jahns ’82
Executive Director
Cindra Stackhouse Taetzsch ’82
Professor Emeritus
LeRoy H. Pfund ’49
Alumni Trustee Representatives
Kurt D. Tillman ’78
Paul T. Klobucher ’96
Christopher A. Jahns ’82
Board of Directors Serving
through 2015
John Biedebach ’89
Jessica Min Chang ’12
Kirstin Skytte Lindquist ’87
Tiffany Staples ’06
Board of Directors Serving
through 2016
Joelle Meyer Herskind ’91
David McDowell ’68
Donna Peterson Nielsen ’93
Susannah Schwarcz ’00
Hythem Shadid ’79
Renae Schauer Smith ’91
Barbara Ruesche Scotchmer Winter ’60

vice president for advancement and alumni relations, I sat at my desk
in the Billy Graham Center and looked up the hill at Blanchard Hall.
While I was a bit overwhelmed by the pace of the day and the realization
of how much I needed to learn, I reflected on what a wonderful place
this is, and on all the special people who have walked those hallowed
Blanchard halls.
I felt incredibly blessed to step into a broader role in the life of Wheaton
College at this opportunistic, yet challenging time. But mostly
I felt blessed as I recalled the academic rigor, spiritual vitality, and engaged
Vice President for
community I experienced several years ago as a graduate student here.
Advancement
As I reflected on my experience in Wheaton’s theological studies
and Alumni Relations
department, I was reminded of an individual I’ve stumbled upon during
Kirk Farney M.A. ’98
my more recent dissertation research with Dr. Mark Noll ’68: DanishAmerican immigrant William Knudsen, who became the president of
General Motors in 1937.
During a New York auto show, the Lutheran pastor who had married Knudsen and
his wife many years before stopped by the Chevrolet exhibit to greet him. Knudsen, who
had not seen the minister in many years, was delighted to greet him, because he felt he
had “underpaid” him for his past matrimonial services, and wished to pay him back “with
interest.” The GM executive then told a colleague to show the cleric and his wife around
to “let them pick out whatever Chevrolet model they want, and deliver it to them wherever
they want it.” Notwithstanding the stunned pastor’s protestations, the Reverend and Mrs.
Kleist soon had a shiny new car in their driveway.
Knudsen had been grateful, no doubt, for the pastoral care of his minister at the time
of his wedding, but over the years, as he enjoyed the ever-increasing blessings of marriage,
he had come to treasure that relationship at a deeper level. That is how I feel about my
Wheaton education, and why I consider it such an honor to serve in this new capacity as I
endeavor to