May 20, 2000
President John Pfeiffer’s commencement address (entitled “With All Your Might,” based on Ecclesiastes 9:10; see page of this issue) struck the keynote for the entire repertoire of our school’s closing events.
On Friday’s “Class Day” the usual awards were bestowed on those who had done their mightiest in sports, extra-curriculars, and academics.
Then the students turned their hands to a video skit reflecting their love and admiration for retiring Prof. Clifford Kuehne. It was well done. Nor did the gratuitous “Kuehne marching/whistling Band” (a gang of armless billboards) flinch from using “all your might” in their loosely coordinated stomping ballet. It was hilarious!
The event’s spring concert marched forward vigorously with student band renditions: though lacking a bass instrument for the concert, the Strings ensemble was undaunted. And the student choirs topped the evening’s emotional and spiritual banquet “with hearts and hands and voices.”
Saturday morning, clear and mild, saw the grand procession continue. With unabashed vigor we joined in the unfamiliar Trinity processional hymn: “Dear Heav’nly Father, God of Love.”
President Pfeiffer took in hand the Word of God, and we were held captive. The graduates fell in confidently to receive their diplomas (two seminary graduates, five college grads, and twenty-five high school seniors).
Then for the Board of Regents, Rev. Vance Fossum presented a memorial plaque, a money gift, and a hearty tribute to retiree Prof. Kuehne. Prof. Kuehne responded with a short address that left many of us with a lump in the throat. The text is printed on p. of this issue for the benefit of those who could not attend–or wish to hear it again.
As I saw it from my mid-section seat, this set of closing events at ILC rates five stars, for one and all participated mightily with hearts and hands and voices. Amen!
–Paul R. Koch, Reporter