A frequent speaker at the Learning in Retirement Program, Gaede-Penner, who grew up on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska, will tell the story of her second-grade teacher, Anna Bortel, who accompanied her father, Dr. Elmer Gaede, on a medical and educational mission to serve the Nunamiut Eskimos in Alaska in 1959.

Gaede-Penner’s parents, Dr. Elmer Gaede and Ruby Leppke, grew up on Marion County farms and attended Tabor College. After earning his medical degree, Elmer and Ruby went to Alaska to serve the natives, where he flew his own airplane to remote Alaskan villages.

Gaede-Penner’s “Prescription for Adventure” book series are non-fiction books that depict life in Alaska, including “Bush Pilot Doctor”, “Finding Home in Alaska”, and “Anna – Alaska Frontier Teacher.” The author’s web site, www.prescriptionforadventure.com, contains additional resources such as curriculum, discussion guides, and current adventures.

An alumna of Tabor College, Gaede-Penner holds a Master’s degree in Counseling from Denver Seminary, Denver, Colo. She has two married children, daughter Nicole Penner Clark, and son, Aaron. She lives in Parker, Colo.

Sharp, who lives in Hesston, Kan. and teaches history at Hesston College, will tell the story of Henry and Suzanna Heatwole Brunk Cooprider, who arrived in Marion County in 1873. He will be accompanied by Herb Zook, a retired professor from Fort Hays State University and a direct descendant of Brunk.

“Many of us have been intrigued by the large headstone in the little cemetery between Hillsboro and Marion that reads ‘BRUNK’ in very large letters,” said Connie Isaac, Coordinator of the Learning in Retirement Program. “The tragedy behind that headstone is only part of their story. We will be particularly blessed to have John Sharp share their story with us.”

Sharp edited a collection of 28 stories of interesting people called, “Gathering at the Hearth.” More recently, Sharp was chosen to write the history of Hesston College for the celebration of its Centennial. The commemorative book is titled, “A School on the Prairie: A Centennial History of Hesston College, 1909-2009.” He also is active in leading tour groups to historical sites in Europe and Central Asia.

Sharp was raised in Central Pennsylvania and received his undergraduate education at Hesston College and Goshen College, Goshen, Ind. His post graduate work was done at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Ind. For 10 years he was director of the Mennonite Church USA Historical Committee and Archives, based in Goshen, Indiana.

The public is welcome to attend all Learning in Retirement programs. Fees are $3 per session or $15 per semester ($28 per couple). Registration and discount cards for lunch in the cafeteria will be available at the door during the half hour before the meeting. For more information, contact Connie Isaac, coordinator at (620) 947-5964, or conniei@tabor.edu.

Dr. James Yoder

Yoder, of Hesston, Kan., will also discuss his most recent book, The Lone Tree, set in Florence and rural Moundridge, Kan. during 1874 and 1875.

Learning in Retirement Programs will be presented on Mondays in the Wohlgemuth Music Education Center. Each session begins at 9:45 a.m. and ends about an hour later, allowing time to join friends in the college cafeteria for an early lunch (at special discount).

Registration is open during the 30 minutes before each session. A semester membership fee of $15 for individuals and $28 per couple is charged. Others may choose to pay $3 per session at the door. For more information: contact Connie Isaac at (620) 947-5964 or email conniei@tabor.edu.

“I’m really looking forward to every session this spring,” said program director Connie Isaac. “Each speaker and musician is actually quite different and, hopefully, will meet audience needs in varying ways. I thank the Lord for blessing us with capable speakers and musicians who are willing to commit to all that’s involved in being on the spring schedule.”

In the first of nine programs scheduled for the spring semester, Dr. James Yoder of Hesston, Kan. will illustrate how his life experience leads into story writing and storytelling in a program titled, “Agonizing and Laughing with an Author,” beginning at 9:45 a.m. Monday, Feb. 22, in the Wohlgemuth Music Education Center. Yoder will also discuss his most recent book, The Lone Tree, set in Florence and rural Moundridge, Kan. during 1874 and 1875.

According to Issac, the popularity of the Learning in Retirement Program is at an all-time high. A record number of people attended Learning in Retirement programs this past fall.

“Though most of the audience participants have come from Marion County, it’s been particularly exciting to see people come from Sedgwick, Harvey, Reno, and Dickinson counties,even from as far away as Topeka,” Isaac added.

Learning in Retirement Programs will be presented on Mondays in the Wohlgemuth Music Education Center. Each session begins at 9:45 a.m. and ends about an hour later, allowing time to join friends in the college cafeteria for an early lunch (at special discount).

Registration is open during the 30 minutes before each session. A semester membership fee of $15 for individuals and $28 per couple is charged. Others may choose to pay $3 per session at the door.

For more information: contact Connie Isaac at (620) 947-5964 or email conniei@tabor.edu.

2010 Spring Semester Series

February 22
Agonizing and Laughing with an Author
Dr. James Yoder, Hesston, will illustrate how his life experience leads into story writing and story telling. He will feature his most recent book, “The Lone Tree,” set in Florence and rural Moundridge, Kansas during 1874 and 1875.

March 1
The Gravestone on Old Highway 56
Hesston College instructor in history, John Sharp, will tell the amazing story of Henry and Suzanna Heatwole Brunk Cooprider. Henry was buried 8 days after arrival in Marion County, 1873. Sharp will be accompanied by Herb Zook, a direct descendant of Brunk.

March 8
Last Frontier School Teacher
In 1959, Anna Bortel accompanied Elmer Gaede on a medical and educational mission to the Nunamiut Eskimos in Alaska. Subsequently, Anna became the first permanent teacher for these last nomads. Hear Naomi Gaede-Penner tell Bortel’s amazing story.

March 15 Campus Visit Day, No Meeting

March 22
How Great Thou Art
Dave Deutschendorf, bass vocalist from Newton, and Joann Nickel, pianist and photographer from Goessel, will share their talents with us. Their hymns, gospel songs and photo images are sure to touch the heart.

March 29
Men of Song
A chorus of twenty men, conducted by Elvera Voth, North Newton, will perform a concert of sacred and secular selections. In recent years, Voth founded the Arts in Prison program at Lansing Correctional Facility.

April 5
Share Our Adventure: From Cape Town to Dubai
Denver resident Lowell Ratzlaff, known for his videography, will take us along to enjoy the exquisite beauty, the native culture, and the wildlife of South Africa. The tour concludes with the world’s tallest building in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

April 12
Adjusting to Changes in Retirement
Verla Dick, LCMFT, LSCSW, Topeka, will lead a discussion with participants regarding the many changes retirees face in what is to be the “golden years.” Hopefully, we can share, laugh and encourage one another.

April 19
Following God and Defending the Law
Tabor College Board Chairman, Lyndon Vix, Wichita, will share interesting experiences from his 25 years practicing law. Lyndon works primarily with civil cases and has chosen to talk about the integration of his faith and vocation.

April 26
History of Joint Replacement: How You Got What You Have
Retired Orthopedic surgeon, Dr. David Wiebe, Kearney Nebraska, plans to show and tell how medicine has progressed in an area that becomes increasingly important as we get older—our joints.

The Pierces, who live in Pocasset, Mass., will share a travelogue of historic sites they’ve visited in proximity to their home on Cape Cod, including the Mayflower, Plymouth Plantation, and others.

Doris (Balzer) Pierce was raised in Inman, Kan., the daughter of Dave and Margaret Balzer. After attending Grace Bible Institute, she transferred to Tabor College where she earned the Bachelor of Music Education degree in 1963. She married Tabor graduate Ron Funk of Reedley Calif. They taught music in Omaha, Neb., and raised two daughters, Julie and Jenelle, who were older teens at the time of Ron’s death.

Doris taught elementary, junior high and high school vocal music at a Christian School in Omaha for many years. Providentialy, a niece of Gordon Pierce taught with Doris and it was through the niece that she met the man who would take her from the midwest to the historic east coast.

Gordon’s paternal lineage in Massachusetts dates back to the 1600’s. His maternal side came to America in the Irish Imigration of the 1800’s.  He attended Gordon College, married his college sweetheart, raised three children, and worked in public education in the same town for 40 years.  His first wife died in 1991.

Doris and Gordon have been married for 10 years and live in the beautiful Cape Cod village of Pocasset, Mass., an hour away from Boston.  Their “blended” family includes 5 children and 11 grandchildren.

Of her husband Doris says, “He says he doesn’t talk funny, but Kansans will pick up that he does have a strange accent.  One thing he does love is sharing the stories of the foundations of our wonderful land.”

The public is welcome to celebrate Thanksgiving with this special session (non-member fee, $3). Registration and discount cards for lunch in the cafeteria will be available at the door during the half hour before the meeting. For more information, contact Connie Isaac, 620-947-5964 or Tabor College.

While on sabbatical last spring, Ratzlaff traveled to Cowley County and conducted interviews with men and women who were part of the area’s historically-significant black communities. Her research focused on life experiences of those were lived in southeast Kansas during the 1930s, 40s, and 50s.

“Rich stories of people’s experiences will be so easily lost if not captured, preserved and retold,” Ratzlaff said. “There’s so much to learn about an overlooked history from those who lived it.”

The goals of Ratzlaff’s ongoing research include preserving those stories by publishing a book, collecting photos for an exhibit at the Cherokee Strip Land Rush Museum, and writing an academic paper about the role of the Kansas City Call and the Black Dispatch newspapers, distributed in these communities during the 1930s to 1950s. Her co-researcher on the project is Heather Ferguson, executive director of the Cherokee Strip Museum in Arkansas City.

A 1974 graduate of Tabor College, Ratzlaff earned her master’s degree in communication at Wichita State University in 1994 and received her doctorate in mass communication from the University of Florida in 2001, where her dissertation focused on the black newspapers of Kansas published from 1878 to 1900.

Ratzlaff has been teaching communication courses at Tabor since 1997 and in recent years been active as a presenter on the Kansas Humanities Speakers Bureau. She serves on the advisory board of the Hillsboro Museums and is active in several professional organizations, including American Journalism Historians Association and Association of Educators in Journalism and Mass Communication.  Prior to teaching at Tabor, Ratzlaff worked more than 15 years as a community minister with World Impact, an urban mission organization, in Wichita.

The public is welcome to attend this session for $3. Registration and discount cards for lunch in the cafeteria will be available at the door during the half hour before the meeting. For more information, contact Connie Isaac, coordinator, 947-5964, or conniei@tabor.edu

Goering, who lives in North Newton, Kan., has traveled to China nearly every year since 1980 in his work for the World Bank, and more recently as a tour guide. His deep understanding of China’s past and present will be apparent in his presentation, which he will illustrate with visuals and anecdotes.

From his roots on a wheat and dairy farm near Pretty Prairie, Kan., Goering would grow up to make a significant impact on the world of agriculture. Two of his early positions were as an Administrator of a Peace Corps project in Guatemala, and then as a staff economist for the Council of Economic Advisers, in the Executive Office of the White House.

From 1966-1974, Goering was an agricultural policy adviser with the Harvard University Development Advisory Service, providing advice to the Malaysian and Ethiopian governments. He spent most of his career with the World Bank, from 1974-1995, including a resident mission in Beijing during which he fell in love with China. His most recent position was Director of International Programs for World Vision Relief and Development, in Washington, D.C.

Goering received his bachelors degree from Kansas State University, and earned his masters and doctoral degrees from Michigan State University. He is married to the former Shirley Suderman, a Hillsboro native. They have five children.

The public is welcome to attend all Learning in Retirement programs. Fees are $3 per session for non-members. Registration and discount cards for lunch in the cafeteria will be available at the door during the half hour before the meeting. For more information, contact Connie Isaac, coordinator at 620-947-3121, 947-5964, or conniei@tabor.edu.

Klaassen, a 1958 graduate of Tabor College who lives in Platteville, Wis., has written several family histories about his ancestors and will illustrate his how-to presentation with personal experiences.

Using a database system called GRANDMA (Genealogical Registry and Database of Mennonite Ancestry) for which he has made numerous factual contributions, Klaassen compiled a history book for three sets of his great-grandparents (Klaassen, Jantzen, Friesen), with the book on his fourth set of great-grandparents (Buschman) now in process. He also has taken several Mennonite Historical Tours, including two trips to Ukraine and one each to Poland and the Netherlands, where his ancestors lived. His grandparents were all part of the Hillsboro community for a significant portion of their lives.

Klaassen retired in May 2000 after 36 years at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, where he taught chemistry and biochemistry and served in a variety of administrative posts, including Director of the Medical Technology Program, Associate Dean of Student Affairs and Director of Experiential Education, Assistant Chancellor for University Advancement, and Executive Director of the UW-Platteville Foundation. He received his doctorate in biochemistry from Kansas State University in 1965.

Among a variety of honors and awards, Klaassen received two major awards: The Underkofler Excellence in Teaching Award, in 1995, sponsored by the University of Wisconsin System, and, the Distinguished Service Award for his significant service to the University, in 2007, sponsored by the UW-Platteville Foundation.

Klaassen is a native of Weatherford, Okla., and is married to Sharon (Jost) Klaassen, a Hillsboro native whom he met while he was a freshman at Tabor and she was a high school senior and church pianist at Gnadenau KMB Church, near Hillsboro. They have two sons living in Illinois, one son living in Louisiana, and five grandchildren.

The public is welcome to attend all Learning in Retirement programs. Fees are $3 per session or $15 per semester ($28 per couple). Registration and discount cards for lunch in the cafeteria will be available at the door during the half hour before the meeting. For more information, contact Connie Isaac, coordinator at 620-947-3121, 947-5964, or conniei@tabor.edu.

Note: Because of the presentation on Friday, Oct. 9, there will be no Learning in Retirement Program on Monday, Oct. 12.