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Stucky’s papers second-largest personal collection in archives

David A. Haury ’73, former Mennonite Library and Archives director and current MLA volunteer, completed a detailed listing for the roughly 200,000 (divided into over 900 folders) of Harley J. Stucky’s papers donated by Stucky’s son Frank ’71 to the MLA in 2010.

Stucky’s papers document his leadership in church, historical and academic organizations, and will provide insights for researchers studying a wide variety of topics.

After graduating from Moundridge High School (1937) and Bethel College (1941), Stucky obtained graduate degrees from the Garrett Biblical Institute (BD, 1944) and Northwestern University (Ph.D., 1949). He taught history and political science at Bethel from 1949 through 1959, and his papers provide an inside view of life at Bethel during this period. Many of Stucky’s lecture notes and most exams have survived. Perhaps most unique are the hundreds of student papers he retained, and the list of their names in the finding aid make interesting reading as do many of the papers, wrote John Thiesen ’82, archivist and co-director of libraries, MLA. After stints at Bethany College, Tabor College and Central State University in Edmond, Stucky worked as the academic vice president of Friends University until 1972.1

While he was a student and then a teacher, Stucky also was involved in the work of the church, being a leader of the Western District Conference Christian Endeavor and later a member of the Social Concerns Committee of the General Conference Board of Christian Service. His academic and church service overlapped as he was a prolific author and speaker at conferences on topics such as nuclear disarmament, conscientious objection and universal military training. His correspondence and notes from meetings provide documentation unlikely found elsewhere.

Stucky perhaps is best known for his role in the Mennonite Centennial and Wheat Centennial in 1974. He directed and provided much of the energy for both events. Thousands participated in the Mennonite Festival at Century II in Wichita and attended the drama and Mennonite Men’s concert at the Kansas State Fair, but many more picked up literature and learned about the Mennonite migration and Turkey Red Wheat through the trailer and float that visited dozens of county fairs and parades that summer.

For more information on this topic, visit the Bethel College website.

Class reunions scheduled for Fall Fest Saturday

Eight classes will have reunions during the Saturday, Oct. 10, Fall Fest on campus. Alumni in classes “one-up and one-down” are invited, too. (For example, classes of 1999 and 2001 are welcome at the 2000 reunion.)

The following classes will meet from 10-11:30 a.m. Oct. 10 at the following locations:

  • 1990 (25 years). Mabee Atrium, James A. Will Family Academic Center
  • 1995 (20 years). Lounge, Mantz Library
  • 2000 (15 years). West hall, third floor of James A. Will Family Academic Center
  • 2005 (10 years). Lounge, Haury Hall

The following classes will meet from 2:30-4 p.m. on Oct. 10:

  • 1970 (45 years). Lounge, Mantz Library
  • 1975 (40 years). Mabee Atrium, James A. Will Family Academic Center
  • 1980 (35 years). West hall, third floor of James A. Will Family Academic Center
  • 1985 (30 years). Lounge, Haury Hall

There will be fellowship and refreshments, with chairs provided to form a circle or circles for visiting, if desired. Watch the mail for more information.

Fall Fest is Thursday, Oct. 8, through Sunday, Oct. 11. Most events take place Saturday, Oct. 10, on campus.

Corporation meeting slated for Sept. 25

The annual Bethel College Corporation meeting is atr 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 25, in the Luyken Fine Arts Center.

Agenda items include State of the College report, corporation business and closing remarks.

Those who have given $100 or more to Bethel during their lifetimes are eligible to vote in the corporation election. For more information, contact the Advancement Office, Bethel College, 300 E. 27th St., North Newton, KS 67117 or email (clbeth@bethelks.edu) by Wednesday, Sept.23.

Bethel College reaches $1.5 million donation goal

The college’s fiscal year came to a close on June 30, and the Advancement team wishes to announce the college reached its $1.5 million donation goal.

“I would like to thank everyone who donated to Bethel College during the 2014-15 year to reach our goal,” said Pam Tieszen, vice president of Institutional Advancement. “We are pleased we reached this amount. I’d also like to invite everyone to support students through the Bethel College Fund.”

Unrestricted gifts — those not designated for a specific program or cause — go to the Bethel College Fund, which provides necessary support for scholarships, academic programs, faculty development, campus landscaping, technology upgrades and many more aspects that benefit our students. Gifts to the annual fund also help the college respond to various unexpected needs and opportunities as they arise.

To donate, go to the Bethel College website or mail a gift to Development Office, Bethel College, 300 E. 27th St., North Newton, KS 67117.

Play golf for Bethel in September

Alumni and friends of Bethel are invited to play in the 25th-annual Fall Thresher Golf Classic on Saturday, Sept. 19, at Sand Creek Station Golf Course in Newton.

The tournament is a fundraiser through the Alumni Association, supporting student-centered activities and events, such as a Student Alumni Association Holiday Feast, Young Alumnus Award convocation and the popular Mudslam Volleyball Tournament.

It also supports the broader work of the association through the Alumni Council and Office of Alumni Relations, which seek to connect alumni to the college and with each other through events on and off campus, communication, and other projects and activities.

More information will be available soon at the Bethel College website, or contact the alumni office at 316-284-5251.

All golfers are welcome.

Kauffman Museum hosting fall trip to Kansas City

Join friends and members of Kauffman Museum on a bus trip to the Kansas City area to hear a live TEDxTalk, visit the new IKEA-Merriam store and view the traveling Smithsonian exhibit Hometown Teams.

The non-profit organization TEDxWyandotte (technology, entertainment and design) will present “Breaking Through,” bringing together diverse individuals to speak on barriers that divide us in six short presentations.

“Breaking Through” presenters include Kauffman Museum director Annette LeZotte, speaking on the museum’s recent “Sorting Out Race” exhibit, a Vietnamese storyteller, a former NFL cheerleader, a musician playing the Chinese pipa, and an artist. For more information, visit the TEDx website.

In conjunction with Bethel and Kauffman Museum’s 2015-16 role as a Smithsonian partner site, the tour will stop to view the Smithsonian traveling exhibit “Hometown Teams” in Perry. Before heading home, participants will have a chance to browse and have lunch at Swedish design retailer IKEA known for its innovative products, Swedish meatballs and yummy salmon.

A last, bonus stop will be a tour of the Shawnee Indian Mission State Historic Site. Travel on a comfortable motor coach, overnight lodging at a national chain, all fees, generous snacks and all but one meal are included in the fee for the two-day tour -- $275 for museum members and $290 for non-members. For more information or to register, contact Andi Schmidt Andres at asa@bethelks.edu or 316-283-1612.

Interterm China trip still seeking those who wish to travel

During the 2016 January interterm, Bethel College is offering a cross-cultural learning experience with a trip to China.

The instructor is Chris Westover, director of instrumental music, and the focus will be on arts and music.

Those attending, whether a community member or student, will visit Bejing, Xi’an, Shanghai and Suzhou, and will see the Central Academy of Drama, National Centre of the Performing Arts, Forbidden City, Tian’anmen Square, Great Wall, 798 Art Zone and Terra Cotta Warriors Museum.

The estimated cost, which includes airfare, transportation, lodging, lunches/dinners, fees and tickets, is $3,900 for Bethel students and $4,300 for non-students/community members.

For more information, contact Westover at 316-284-5264 or cwestover@bethelks.edu. The deadline is late August.

Mennonite witness leads to lasting change in mental-health care

Aaron Barnhart’s long interest in American pacifism led him to explore Civilian Public Service, an alternative service program operated during World War II, and its effects on the present day.

Barnhart, a former journalist and a freelance writer from Kansas City, Missouri, was on the Bethel College campus July 19 to present “From Resisters to Reformers: How Kansas Mennonites Changed Mental Health Care” to what he called “the most Mennonite audience [I’ve had] for this talk.”

Barnhart has been giving the presentation during the last year as part of the Kansas Humanities Council’s Speakers Bureau. He came to Bethel’s Kauffman Museum for its periodic Sunday-Afternoon-at-the-Museum series and was greeted by a full house and then some in the museum auditorium.

Although his religious heritage is “Dunkard” (Church of the Brethren), Barnhart says he grew up essentially unchurched until, at about age 17, he embraced pacifism and began reading the work of Mennonite theologian John Howard Yoder.

That led him eventually to Reba Place, a Mennonite congregation and intentional community in Evanston, Illinois. For the past decade, Barnhart and his wife, Diane Eickhoff, have been members of Rainbow Mennonite Church in Kansas City, Kansas.

Mennonites were woefully unprepared for the United States’ entry into World War I in 1918. In Kansas, many were recent immigrants who still spoke German in their homes and churches, and had come to North America because they had lost the right to conscientious objector status in Russia.

For more of this article, visit the Bethel College website.

Performing arts series to feature artists from around the world

A mélange of world-class musical talent, genres and sounds will headline Hesston-Bethel Performing Arts’ 34th season.

The jazz ensemble Hot Club of San Francisco open the 2015-16 year Oct. 24 in Krehbiel Auditorium in Bethel College’s Luyken Fine Arts Center.

In the Hot Club tradition of Django Reinhardt, the group’s “Cinema Viviant” program features vintage silent films accompanied by live gypsy swing.

“Cinema Viviant” celebrates the imagination and innovation of early filmmakers Ladislaw Starewicz, who pioneered stop-action animation, and Charley Bowers, who combined animation with live action in the 1920s.

HBPA will join the holiday spirit with Cherish the Ladies, a long-running, Grammy-nominated, Irish-American group, Dec. 3 at Hesston Mennonite Church on the Hesston College campus.

The ensemble will present “A Celtic Christmas” with their trademark enthusiasm and humor combined with traditional Irish music and step dancing.

For more of this article, visit the Bethel College website.

New members join Alumni Council for 2015–16

The following alumni have agreed to serve on the Bethel College Alumni Association Council through 2018:

  • Scott Erb ’86 , Newton
  • Tammy (Stucky) Fast ’80, Moundridge
  • Carla Stucky ’85, Moundridge
  • Cameron Voth ’12 , North Newton
  • Garrett Whorton ’07, Newton

They join the following council members, who also will serve during the 2015–16 academic year:

  • Sonia Barrera ’11, Newton
  • Greg Bartel ’78, Newton
  • Beverly Baumgartner ’94, Newton
  • Linda (Koehn) Buller ’70, Wichita
  • Kathy (Friesen) Campbell ’79, North Newton
  • Debbie (Regier) Claassen ’85, Whitewater
  • Nate Dick ’83, Newton
  • Evan Fast ’10, Hesston
  • Jeanette (Rinner) Grantstein ’75, Wichita
  • Sarah (Duffy) Hershberger ’03, Newton
  • Ted Krehbiel ’89, Hesston
  • Kyle Kroeker ’13, Hutchinson
  • Delbert Peters ’75, Hillsboro
  • Kathy (Kaufman) Preheim ’89, Peabody
  • Nate Regier ’90, Newton
  • Byron Rupp ’93, Andover
  • Monica Schmidt ’11, Newton
  • Christy Schunn-Sebes ’92, North Newton
  • David Weaver ’85, Hesston

“This group plays a valuable role,” said Dave Linscheid ’75, director of alumni relations. “They give advice to alumni office staff, represent alumni when decisions are made, advocate alumni interests, listen to alumni, and promote the college and its causes.”

If interested in joining, contact Linscheid at 316-284-5252 or .

Bookstore to adopt new name of Thresher Shop

During the past few years, much has changed in Bethel College’s Thresher Bookstore. One is the movement of textbook sales from brick-and-mortar to online storefronts. While still being a source for Bethel merchandise, office supplies and other college necessities, the bookstore has been lacking in one certain category: books.

As the business continues to adapt to constant change in the market, so must its title. Starting in 2015-16, Thresher Bookstore/Bethel College Bookstore will be known as the Thresher Shop. It still will provide all the services it has offered in the past, and will continue to sell publications authored by community members and Bethel professors, students and alumni. This name change reflects more accurately what the store provides and sells, as well as communicates better to those new to the Bethel campus.

The Thresher Shop is in Schultz Student Center, open 9 a.m.- 3 p.m. weekdays CST until Monday, Aug. 10, when normal hours, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. CST weekdays, resume.