Kauffman, Clara Fricke (1909-2006)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2006 Feb 20 p. 8

Birth date: 1909 Jan 28

text of obituary:

CLARA KAUFFMAN

Clara Kauffman, 97, of Hesston, Kan., died Feb. 8, 2006, at Newton Medical Center. She was born Jan. 28, 1909, to Charles and Anna (Dietrich) Fricke in Chicago.

She married Milo Kauffman on Oct. 3, 1931, in Chicago.

She was a homemaker and a member of Hesston Mennonite Church.

Survivors include a son, Milo F. Kauffman Jr. and his wife, Carolyn, of Newton; seven daughters, Marilyn Miller and her husband, Maurice, of Boulder, Colo., Joy Sears and her husband, Merle, of Tiskilwa, Ill., Evelyn Shellenberger and her husband, Wally, of Paoli, Ind., Gloria Yoder and her husband, Levi, of Lovington, Ill., Bonnie Sowers and her husband, Floyd, of Hesston, Phyllis Hysong and her husband, John, of Phoenix, Ariz., and Betty Kauffman Schmidt and her husband, Clinton, of Littleton, Colo.; a brother, Elmer Fricke of McMinnville, Ore.; a sister, Evelyn Millbern of Springfield, Mo.; 28 grandchildren and 36 great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Milo, in 1988; three sons, Glen, Charles and David; four brothers; a sister; and a grandson, Michael Miller.

Services will be held at Hesston Mennonite Church. Burial will be in Eastlawn Cemetery.

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2006 Feb 27 p. 7

text of obituary:

Hesston president's wife remembered for life of giving

Kauffman, partner in leadership and generosity, dies at 97

By Phil Richard

Hesston College

HESSTON, Kan. — Clara Kauffman, who played an important supportive role during her husband's presidency at Hesston college, died Feb. 8 at Newton Medical Center. She was 97.

"She felt she was a partner with Dad," said Bonnie Sowers, a daughter and director of the college's nursing program and associate dean. "The nine children in our family took a lot of time and work, but Mom felt that her role of maintaining a strong home was important so Dad could do his work for the college."

Milo Kauffman, who died in 1988, was Hesston's president from 1932-51. He and Clara (Fricke) were married in 1931 in Chicago, where Clara grew upo. The next year, he accepted a call to be Hesston's second president.

Their legacy of giving to the college extended far beyond the year's of Milo's presidency.

In 1984, during the college's 75th anniversary celebration, 59 quilts in a quilt auction brought $65,000 for a student aid scholarship fund names in honor of the Kauffmans. The fund had been established a year earlier by family and friends.

"Her heart was in the student aid scholarship fund," Sowers said. "It was important to her to give students the opportunity to attend Hesston college.

Last October, during the 50-year reunion of the class of 1955, which included Marilyn Miller of Boulder, Colo., one of the Kauffman's six daughters, a class gift of $4,630 was raised for the Milo and Clara Kauffman Scholarship Fund.

The fund has grown to about $155,000. this school year, the fund provided $7,600 in scholarships to Hesston students.

John Sharp, a Hesston history professor who is doing research for the college's centennial in 2009-10 and a centennial history book, said Clara Kauffman was a straightforward, spicy and a take-charge woman.

"You never had to wonder what she thought," he said. "You knew what she thought, even if she disagreed with yo. But you also knew she always loved you."

Sharp said Clara was generous.

"She was always giving," he said. "Her specialty was the kitchen. She made great meals for everybody and anybody."

College students, faculty, staff and friends often joined the Kauffmans for Sunday dinners.

The Kauffmans were generous with money. Sharp said Milo once "was required to go to Wichita to show receipts to the IRS, since the IRS didn't think one man at his income level could give that much money. It's remarkable how they lived and survived. It wasn't easy."

Sharp said the Kauffmans experienced three painful events. One was the stillborn birth of their first child, Glen. Another was the death of son Charles during his last year of medical school. The third, according to Sharp, "was the late pregnancy with David, who was born with Down syndrome and died as a toddler."

Many remember Clara Kauffman's humor. Loren Swartzendruber, Hesston's president from 1993-2003, recalled interviewing her during the dedication in 2000 of renovations to Kauffman Court, a men's residence hall names for the Kauffmans.

"At one point, I commented on how many children they had and how challenging that must have been," he said. "Later, I asked, "Do I understand that when Milo was president, he would often leave town shortly after commencement and not return until opening weekend, raising funds, preaching and recruiting students?"

"'Yes,' she said, 'He did that many years.' Then she added something like, 'Thank goodness he was gone all summer. Who knows know many more children we might have had?' That brought the house down!"

Swartendruber also remembers story Kauffman told about her husband interviewing a prospective faculty member.

She asked, "What are you going to tell the person when he or she hears about the low salary?"

He responded,"I'll just ell them they have to be dedicated and consecrated." She replied, "Well then, I guess when I go to buy groceries, I'll just tell them I'm paying in dedication and consecration."

Survivors include a son and six daughters, a brother, a sister, 28 grandchildren and 38 great-grandchildren.

Services were held Feb. 11 at Hesston Mennonite Church.