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Kauffman, Melva G. (1917-2003)
Newton Kansan obituary: 2003 Oct 7 p. 2; 2003 Oct 8 p. 2; 2003 Oct 9 p. 2
Birth date: 1917 Sep 25
Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2003 Nov 3 p. 7
text of obituary:
HESSTON, Kan. — Melva Kauffman, a Hesston College professor for more than 30 years, died Oct. 7 at Showalter [sic Schowalter] Villa. She was 86.
Kauffman taught English, education and other courses. Her students remember her as an assertive and dynamic teacher who cared about them and the learning process.
Teaching people to think was important to her. According to her philosophy of education, teaching is not telling. It is questioning, motivating, arousing questions and getting interactions. it stimulates the learner to discover solutions.
She was strongly influenced to become a teacher by her grandfather, T. M. Erb, who helped found Hesston College. She retired in 1977.
Melva attended Hesston Academy and graduated from Hesston College in 1939. She began teaching in a rural elementary school near Hesston. After graduating from Goshen (Ind.) College in 1944 with a bachelor's degree in English, she began teaching English, education, composition, literature and speech classes at Hesston. She also taught part time at Goshen, Bluffton (Ohio) College and Bethel College in North Newton.
She received a master's degree in English and education from the University of Wisconsin in 1947 and a doctorate in 1962 from Columbia University in New York.
A highlight of her career came when Columbia and the USAID program asked her to go to Afghanistan as a language arts specialist. There she helped a team of Afghans write reading textbooks.
Kauffman wrote Sunday school curriculum and articles for church publications. For many years she edited newsletters for Hesston Mennonite Church and Schowalter Villa.
She was born Sept. 25, 1917, to James and Mabel Erb Kauffman. Her father died when she was 16. She lived with and cared for her mother most of her life.
She is survived by two brothers, Daniel and Robert. She was preceded in death by a sister, Lois.
A memorial service was held at Hesston Mennonite Church.
