Concordia University - Portland Yearbook (Portland, OR)

Text from Pages 1 - 38 of the 1943 volume:

Cke 1 ortland A 1943 N- ; --- ‘ . . - : ■ ■ ' ' . % . DEDICATION To the pastors and teach- ers of the Oregon and Y ashington District — many of them sons of Concordia — in whose hearts the needs of this school . find a ready place, who have spoken for it in season, and whose lifework is the full fruition of Con- cordia’s purposes, the Class of 1943 dedicates this Yearbook, 25 J c Tc oteu ot a As this little greeting pulls the latch- strings, it makes bold to believe that it will not be an unwanted guest in the homes of Concordia ' s patrons. To the friends, who have offered their prayers for the school and have freely given it of their substance but -whose acquaintance is limited by the powers of imagination, this booklet may serve to bridge a part of the intruding distance. To the Alumni, whose lives are of the essence of the traditions of their Alma Mater, and whose heartstrings are attuned to the voices of Concordia, this message %vill give occasion to pause and to cast a longing, lingering look in the direction of the firs and pines and cedars, which still whisper tales of long ago and still waft their warm welcome. It is a far cry from the Kuempel residence on Morris Street and the basement of old Trinity church on Graham and Williams - the first dormitory and ad- ministration building of Concordia - to the present building and seven acre aampus on Holman Street, This is a wholesome thought to ponder while the pro- cession of Synod’s educational institutions passes by, with Portland’s entry bringing up the rear. It is the last in line and justly so; its building can not lay claim to a more favored place. But it is keeping step with the procession, and its head is high. Only those who are intimately associated with the school know the full story of the struggle which it had to fight for its existence. For some reason which we do not know now but which will be revealed when the Lord’s whole pattern is finished, Concordia’s history may be epitomized in the words of Nehemiah, The builders, every one had his sword girded by his side, and so builded, This struggle against untoward circumstances is of the very warp and woof of Concor- dia’s life. The school stands like an oak on the high slopes of Mount Hood; it has defied the blasts and sent its roots far down into the soil. Progress generally came slowly and the hard way. This school was not the beneficiary of the full- handed liberality of the middle twenties when new buildings were erected at nearly all of Synod’s in- stitutions, Yet — let the alumnus of twenty-five years ago stroll through the building and tell his story. The old furnaces which devoured the fuel and loft the building cold are gone, and a modern oil burner heats every nook and cranny during the most severe east wind; the old, crowded library, which also had to relinquish spaco for the Principal ' s office, on the south side has boen transferred to a larger room on the north si do while both the Prin- cipal and the Dean enjoy the luxury of an office on the first floor; the third floor, once the gymnasium and later the dormitory (through whose ceiling snow drifted upon the beds), has been ceiled and painted and otherwise modernized! the old kitchen, the dospair of several faithful stewards, has boen transformed into a workshop that would do credit to a first-class hotel. 3 j. Progress has also marked the administration of the school. The overburdened Principal has been re- lieved of much of the administrative work by the new Dean, whose coming has also made possible a disposition of the teaching load which no longer will make eastern professors gasp. It needs to be stated gratefully that while these changes were in the making, the Board of Control was backed by the full cooperation of Synod’s officials and the District’s pastors and congregations. The school is ready and xirilling to serve. Present indications point to the largest new enrollment in the history of the institution. To this new enrollment the Board of Control and the Faculty look forward as an earnest of a brighter day. And into the calm joy of that thought there is woven a promise. As God will give grace and strength, this school will not fail to face the stern trust which the students, the parents, and the church impose upon those who undertake to shape a life during those crossroad years that can not be lived again. Concordia is marching, and its faoe is to the future. . u a ii w mm The love of the graduates for their old school - whether these graduates be pastors or teachers or laymen - is always a cherished token to an educational institution Name a school whose alumni have become lukewarm; there you have named a school that has c ceased to function Some time ago one of Concordia 1 s teachers had the privilege of preaching to a congre- gation whose roster is sprinkled with the names of former Concordia students He can still feel those handshakes; those little chats were pleasure un- alloyed It seemed as if the one or the other meant to say, ”1 know, I must have been a pain in the neck for you How I mangled some of those lines in Ovid l” And it may well be that the alumnus understood v hat the teacher felt, n Yes, I must have been a pain in the neck for you too, old boy That man Ovid does have an unearthly number of new vocables tf Despite much that he may have forgotten, he was now an ener- getic member of his congregation, and that hearty handshake attested to the fact that he still loved Concordia And that matters much A reliable record of the present homes of all the A_lumni is not available The following are at present serving as pastors or teachers in this District: Oregon : Pastors and professors: E H. Becker, R C Fenning, H Gieseke, F E Janssen, W B Maier, C F. Nitz, G. Reule, F. Riess, A A. Schmidt, J C R Schmidt, M Stuebe, W. Sylwester, C Wildermuth t Teachers: E. Dobberfuhl, W. Mohr Washington ; Pastors: E. Buettner, A Lautenschlager, J P Maier, 0 H. Moeller, R. C. Muhly, R. W Rimbach, J. Westendorf, L. Wester- •kamp, 0 Winterstein Teachers: K Sylwester, A. Zehe Waho: Pastors: H A. Kahle, E. F. Muhly, G. E. Nitz H C. Schulze. Teacher: G Westerkamp BOARD OF CONTROL The Board of Control is the synodical agency which exercises supervision over our school It comes into being in the following manner. At the meeting of the delegates of the District preceding the Convention of the General Body a slate of candidates is drawn up, from which Synod chooses one pastor and three laymen. The President of Synod and the Pres- ident of the District are ex officio members of this body. Until a few years ago Synod granted the Districts who are primarily being served by a synodical institution wide latitude in fixing the number of men who are to serve on the Board of Control, Thus for many years our local Board was constituted of two pastors, one teacher, and two laymen in addition to the ex officio members. The names of five members stand out: Pastor J, A, Rimbach, Pastor H, H. Koppelmann, Mr, R, Kuhnau, Mr, A, B, Kuempel, and Mr, E. F. Balgemann. Three of these perennial members, the Pastors Rimbach and Koppelmann and Mr, Kuempel have gone to their reward, Mr, E, F, Balgemann, that sturdy old friend of Con- cordia, has served uninterruptedly since 1912, (While it lies beyond the province of this essay on the Board of Control, the reader will pardon the question: Would it not be in keeping with the Lord’s Remember 1” if the District would commission some one to set down the life story of these men whoso names bulk so large in the history of our beloved Oregon and Washington District?) At present the Board of Control consists of the follow- ing men: Mr, E, F, Balgemann, Chairman; Pastor E, Eichmann, Secretary; Mr, Paul Neils, Mr, George Udy, To these men, who so lavishly give of their lovo, time, and talents, the student body herewith expresses its hearty thanks. professors: F. faculty Sylwester, K. Loren , C . Nit , E. Brandt Back Row: Center: F ron t : G. W. P. A. T. undergraduates Ke� pff, K. sor. hl, • LUR.. • MidU ' ' S ‘T D. Ho,t„ � • Sylwester, Beckmeyer . Lut , E. Zagel. Haevi scher , Collier, V. Messerl i , FACULTY F. W : J S YL WESTER, M A. A.MM-MNT Studied. a-tj -.Concordia College.,.. S,t. Paul, Minnesota;. Concordia College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri; University of Oregon. Served the Church at; Concordia Academy, Portland, Oregon Subjects: Religion, Latin, History, Mathematics, Sciences, Music. £. H, MAN D T Studied at: Concordia College, Pt. Wayne, Indiana; Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri; University of Oregon Served the Church at: Vancouver, British Columbia; Everett, Washington; Concordia Academy, Portland, Oregon Subjects: English, Greek, Latin, History. K, LOMNt Studied at: (Joncorjlia, College,. Ft Wayne; Indiana; Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri; University of Oregon Served the Church at: Alice Tp., Ontario; Cove, Mary- land; Pittsburgh Pennsylvania; Farmington, Michigan; Concordia Academy, Portland; Oregon. Subjects: German, Biology Latin, History. C. F. Nrfz Studied ati Concordia Academy, Portland, Oregon} Con- cordia College, Ft. Yfayne; Indiana; Concordia Seminary; St Louis, Missouri. Swerved the Church at: Aberdeen, Idaho} SCheffiin, Oregon; Klamath Fails, Oregon} Concordia Academy, Portland, Ore Subjects: Religion, Latin, Greek. CLA ,r r r r O A fS A JL J J J J .M .9.AA Gerhard F. Kempff, Dutch --Spokane, Washington Edward J. Lutz —Buhl, Idaho Robert E. Sorsdahl,”Wang — Auburn, Washington 5 OM O R ES Paul M. Simon Robert A. Sylwester Ronald N. Zagel, ’ ' Pete” -Eugene, Oregon -Portland, Oregon -Twin Falls, Idaho tMAJiM IA Th, Beckmeyer, Beck” Donald Collier Duane F. Gerdes John Haevischer, ”Jawn Donald Hoefs, ’’Mole Walter Linke, T. inlr Victor Messerli Alfred Sylwester -Snohomish, Wash, t • -Hood River, Oregon -Greenleaf, Idaho -Portland, Oregon -Woodland, Washington -Corvallis, Oregon -Sandy, Oregon -Portland, Oregon Age; 17 A ge : 16 Ago: 17 Age: 14 Age: 16 Ago: 16 Ago: 14 Age: 15 Age: 15 Age: 17 Age: 15 Age: 15 Age: 14 Age: 15 i ■ ' 4 _ ::; c f GRADUATES CLASS MOTTO NISI DOMINUS, FRUSTRA (Without the Lord all is in vain) ROY BECKMANN Meet a Cornhusker who heeded Hor ace Greeley ' s Go West, young man, go west t and finally landed in Ore- gon after stopovers in Colorado and Washington. For Roy the mountains of Colorado are still higher than those of the coast. Unfortunately the World Almanac gives Mt, Elbert 23 feet advantage over Mt Rainier. The answer that this must be a printer ' s mistake smells like an alibi - moreover, Simon maintains that printers make no mistakes - and that ' s worse than an alibi. He did four years of high school work at Flagler) Colorado, and enrolled at Concordia last fall to meet the Latin and Greek writers before entering Sti John ' s College at Winfield this fall. Physical culture is his hobby and his motto: Count that day lost whose low descending sun Views from thy hand no strong man act Well done Roy did more thinking than speaking - and perhaps he had something there MORR-IS BECKMEYER Morris is the proud owner of the one -cylinder campus Lincoln which scatters the traffic and picks up stray nails. To see him glide along with condescend- ing look on his face while the green-eyod Freshmen dream of public ownership makes one wonder whether American democracy is as democratic as it pretends to be . And then there is the airplane motor and a super bomber which somehow refuse to collaborate. Hobby: mechanics} anti-hobby: Greek; chief pain in the neck; to maintain a dictatorship in a room that believed in liberty, equality, and fraternity. Activities: Baseball, staff of WHERE ROLLS THE OREGON . It may be the navy for Morris w DONALD BRANDT As Don came home from town for the first time about eighteen years ago, ho opened his eyes as he was passing the College in his mother’s arms, pointed at it and said Da 1 That was interpreted by his parents to moan that he wanted to study for the ministry, and so it became unanimous. While it was difficult for him to understand why ho had to study from 6:45 to 9:00 whon he was not quartered in the building, those seem to have been the hours. Hobbies: Airplanes, stamps and stamps. He loves to poster his father with a question as to the whereabouts of some undiscovered island in tho Pacific the imprint of which he deciphered on some newly acquired stamp. It is rumored that his father (in sheer reprisal) asks him about some equally undiscovered forms in Creek. ' Taint fair l Activities: Baseball, basketball, staff of WHERE ROLLS THE OREGON . Don plans to enter Ft. Wayne this fall. PAUL FRANK Paul is another lad who is not present in the College when the boll rings for study periods, and it has oven been rumored that he was not at home when he was called by telephone between 6:45 and 9 00 As this rumor has not been substantiated, it ought not to bo repeated During his Freshman year, Paul was struck by an auto- mobile while delivering the JOURNAL (Paul says that tho OREGONIAN should be suppressed), and was hospitalized for a long time He still insists that his fractured leg hurt less than the assignments which some profess- ors managed to smuggle into the hospital As he has no witnesses for this charge, he ought to drop it Paul has tried out more different seats during his stay at Concordia than any other member of his class, and the unsatisfactory part of the matter is that his views do not agree with those of his teachers on this subject, and that he usually lands in the very last seat he would have chosen activities : Baseball, basketball, staff of WHERE ROLLS THE OREGON . Beginning with this fall, his address will be Ft Wayne. ROBERT KRAFT When Robert 1 s parents moved from Corvallis, Oregon to Renton, Washington some time ago, he faced one of, the, major problems in the life of a patriotic student. To a student, his home state tops the list, and some other states, particularly the surrounding dries J ought to be annexed by Ethiopia or some othet barbarous common- wealth So it happens that some crow has to be eaten if there is an enforced shift of allegiance But whether his parents move to Washington or to some other stated Oregon State still retains his loyalty; after all Oregon Stated Beavers beat Duke, so what? And when it comes to arguing, the subject of this sketch is a four letter mani and what f s more, when he argues, the major premise and the minor premise and the conclusion arc willing to stand up to be measured Four years ago, his vital statistics, in part, reads Height, 5 ft 2 in; weight, 108 lbs Now it is 6- ft 1 in. and 175 lbs Any comment that he is asked to make about any personal responsibility for the raise of the board he brushes aside with the explanation that it is due to his Swiss ancestry and hard work How he does love football. When he tears down tho field with the football under his arm, his trail is marked by Collier, Messerli, and other 100 lb stalwarts littering the campus. He is planning to enter the ministry Activities i Basketball, football, student body president. OMAR SOMMER Hero is a lad who could join Beckmann in telling of Nebraska s beautiful scenery if there were such a thing Omar was born near Seward, and the atmosphere of our synodical institutions got into his nostrils at an early date, v hen the lure of the west gripped the members of the Sommer family, they by -pass e d Nebraska and came directly to Washington At present, Winlock is the met- ropolis that gets free advertizing. Omar joined the graduating class in his Sophomore year after he had finished one year of high school at his home. He is preparing for the ministry Activities: Basketball (captain), baseball. Row: 1943 a«. � • Sorsdahl , t , t - M. Beckmeyer, s mmer . ? ' • V“,a. •• ••• V. ,Ti. � • I Back Bow: 1943 BASKETBALL TEAM O. Sommer A sylweste , R G. Kempt R. Kraft, Zagel . p prank, a Life would be drab existence to a group of buoyant, robust youths if no opportunity were afforded for the mind to relax When after a strenuous day in the class- room a boy takes a glove and shags some flies, he is doing something which will fit him to do more efficient work during his preparation period in the evening and in lessons the following day The mind needs such a safety valve Basketball and baseball have been the favorite sports at Concordia in recent years For various reasons basketball is the more popular of the two With a small student body it is easier to get the necessary five players than to organize a team of nine players It is also less difficult to schedule games w ith teams from, the city, with many school teams operating Baseball has nonetheless held its ground in fact, seems to be more popular than it was a few years ago The dia- mond is adequate. Zion Church of Portland and individual members of the same congregation havo been very generous in providing the students with the needed equipment. At present Concordia has no tennis court There is no lack of space, and it is probable that a court will be laid out as soon as wire netting can again be bought For some time during the past year some students whiled away their leisure hours at ping-pong As no room of sufficient size was available for this game, the players were permitted to commandeer the library during certain hours. The following students earned their letters in the two major sports. Basketball; 0 Sommer; P« Frank; R. Kraft; Kempff; R. Zagel. Baseball; E. Lutz; P Frank; D. Brandt; 0. Sommer; M. Beckmeyer; R Sorsdahl; G Kempff; P. Simon; R Zagel a number of students were persuaded to try their hand at chess this year • It was a pleasure to see three boards operating -at the same time in the library at times. A tew boys have become quite adept at this fine game 1 f J THE COMMISSARY The liberality of the congregations of the Oregon and Washington District has for years been the delight of the stewards . Down in the basement there is a room with an assortment of canned fruit and vegetables upon which the addresses of hundreds of homes in our District could be written The congregations on the Portland territory - and terri- tory is to be understood in an expansive sense - have always considered our school 1 s larder as an outlet for their firstfruits Only one consideration moves us to refrain from being specific and naming the congregations: the fear that an equally deserving congregation may re- main unnamed This circle of contributing congregations has steadily widened. And last fall something happened that did some- thing to our faint hearts that were distressed by the mounting cost of food and the ,! five loaves and two fishes which the students paid as board. At a meeting of Idaho laymen the matter of the difficulties of the commissary had been discussed. What those Idaho laymen, backed by their pastors, did is a classic example of concerted action. It came to a head one evening early in December when a member of our Nampa congregation backed an eight-ton truck up to the basement door. Loaded to the gunwales with - lo e from Idaho. That man had risen at midnight and, accompanied by his wife, had driven right through to Portland, and when he arrived here, he was so happy that he dispatched those sacks of beans and potatoes off the truck as if they wore sacks of feathers l Somewhere among sacks and cartons were two crates of celery given without so liciting by - a Japanese truck gardener, aid Mr. --- (he pledged the writer not to publish his name) said with a broad smile that there will be more coming this fall 1 LADIES COLLEGE DAY Several years ago Pastor R. W. Rimbach, then at Longview, Washington, concoivod the idea that there was latent in- terest in Concordia going to waste in our District. In order to harness some of this interest, he issued a call to the ladies of the neighboring congregations that they assmcble on the campus on a given day and learn to know tiieir school. The enthusiasm with which the ladies re- sponded was an object lesson. Since that year Ladies College Day has been an institution. Many of the improve- ments which have made life at the school moro pleasant stem from the enthusiasm and generosity of this group, rom new furniture in the hospital to the power motor on the campus there is a long list of articles which were provided with funds collected by ohese Marthas of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. The graduates of 1943, wish to pay their tri- bute to this organization and a fellow Alumnus, Pastor Rimbach. •; A