Alumni News
Matching gifts are twice as nice for Kenyon
Will your employer match your gift to Kenyon? Last year nearly two-thirds of alumni employed by a matching gift companies made a gift to the College. With their gift and its subsequent match, this small group of alumni accounted for nearly 20 percent of the Kenyon Fund total, with close to $250,000 coming from corporate matches. In some instances, gifts to Kenyon are matched at a ratio of three to one. Information about your company's matching gift program is available online by visiting http://gift.kenyon.edu. Click on "matching gifts" and search for key words in your company's name. You can also contact your human resources office for information. In addition to the obvious benefit to the College, matching gifts are added to your record to determine your giving-society listing in the annual-report issue of the Bulletin. If you have questions about having your gift to Kenyon matched by your employer, please contact Shawn Dailey in the Office of Alumni and Parent Programs at 740-427-5151 or daileys@kenyon.edu.
Oldest Living Alumnus Award established
William Hopple '24 places great store in common sense. When the state of Ohio allowed him to renew his driver's license at the age of ninety-six, he immediately sold his car. "I have no interest in driving a car in a state where guys like me are allowed to drive," he told his seventy-three-year-old son, Ed Hopple. Thinking like that has allowed Hopple at the age of one hundred to become Kenyon's oldest living alumnus.
Thanks to a generous donation from the Hopple family, Kenyon's oldest living alumnus will now be honored each year, receiving a plaque to mark the achievement. In addition, a permanent plaque will stay at the College with the names of all those to earn the distinction engraved on it.
The title was not officially acknowledged until Ed came across an issue of the Bulletin while visiting his father. It dawned on Ed that his dad probably held the position, and Ed called Russell Geiger, Kenyon's director of major gifts, with the idea of endowing an award to honor his father's achievement.
"We had never really thought too much about it," says Geiger. "But we looked into it, and sure enough, Bill Hopple is the oldest living alumnus and has been for about three years." Ed Hopple told Geiger he thought it would be nice to officially acknowledge his father and those to follow. Geiger agreed.
Born before the Wright brothers' first flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Hopple has been frugal and modest all of his life, but always generous with charities, family, and friends. "It takes character to buy a Chevy when you can afford a Cadillac,"says Hopple.
He learned to value saving and investment during the Great Depression. As he made his way up through the ranks to become chairman of the Stearns and Foster mattress company, Hopple invested in the stock market steadily. And as his hard work and investments paid off, Hopple contributed regularly to Kenyon and other nonprofit organizations. He believed giving back to the community simply made good sense and eschewed any fuss made about his good works.
Hopple currently resides in a two-bedroom apartment in an assisted-living facility near Cincinnati, Ohio. His first wife, Mary, died in 1954, and he recently lost his second wife, Janet, after forty-six years of marriage.
Gay and Lesbian Alumni Association plans October gathering
Kenyon's Gay and Lesbian Alumni Association (GALA) invites all gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered (GLBT) alumni to gather on campus October 11-12 for a fall reunion. The schedule of activities includes the dedication of Unity House, a new resource center for GLBT students, an oral-history and book project on alumni "coming out" stories, and academic, artistic, and social events initiated by students in honor of National Coming Out Day.
GALA will also hold meetings to create the structure and leadership of the organization and to plan for the 2004 reunion. All GLBT alumni are welcome. If you wish to learn more about GALA membership or the reunion, please contact Peter Gudaitis '88 or Brad Koogler '88 at gala@kenyon.edu. All personal information is kept confidential.
Kenyon alumni stay connected online
Kenyon's online alumni directory made its debut just over a year ago, and since that time more than four thousand alumni have become subscribers. If you're not one of them, what are you waiting for?
Kenyon Alumni Online offers you e-mail forwarding, a free lifelong service that allows you to have a permanent Kenyon account. This means you'll never have to notify your correspondents of yet another e-mail address.
The College's alumni Web pages also offer online bulletin boards, and the Office of Alumni and Parent Programs welcomes new topics for discussion. The bulletin boards allow you to communicate with other Kenyon alumni on a wide range of topics. Users can customize their account settings, including delivery and notification options. Registered directory users can check out the bulletin boards by logging in at http://alumni.kenyon.edu and clicking on "discussion groups." If you would like to suggest a new topic, please contact Lisa Schott, executive director of alumni and parent programs, at schottl@kenyon.edu or by calling 740-427-5148.
If you need help registering for the directory, please e-mail help@alumni.kenyon.edu.
Alumni Council President's Column
The Alumni Council meetings in September and February were energetic and productive. The Council members engaged in discussions and committee work with great enthusiasm, reflecting the positive tone that exists at Kenyon today. I would like to thank the members for their dedicated work on behalf of the College. It has been a privilege to serve with them. I am also pleased to report that 100 percent of the Council has either given or pledged to the Kenyon Fund for the current year.
Next year, R. Hutchins "Hutch" Hodgson, Jr. '61 will serve as president of the Alumni Council, with Scott R. Baker '94 as vice president. Joining the Alumni Council next fall will be newly elected members Jennifer A. Gundlach '93, Douglas G. Holbrook '72, John A. Horner '50, and Douglas S. Johnston '69. Elected as alumni to the Board of Trustees are Allen B. Ballard Jr. '52 and Betsy Upton Stover '73 H'95.
The admissions committee has devoted time this year to working with the admissions staff to build a strong pool of candidates for the College and to enhance the involvement of the alumni in this process. Under the umbrella of the regional associations, the committee is going to target a number of schools in the Midwest to build a strong relationship with the administration, faculty, and students to encourage prospective students to apply to the College.
The communications committee spent time this year discussing issues related to Web offerings and the volume, frequency, and nature of communications with alumni in general. Several of the committee's recommendations have been instituted, including a new e-mail policy whereby monthly statements of regional events are distributed only to the region involved. Streaming live video is now available online. Policy suggestions have also been offered with respect to Web-based discussion groups.
The student and young alumni relations committee is beginning a mentoring program entitled Beyond Senior Year. Intended to be a pilot project next year, the program will enlist ten volunteers who are five years out of Kenyon, recruited by members of the Council. They will serve as mentors to the seniors. The goal is to form a relationship to assist with the transition and preparation for life after college and to network about career and professional-school options. The committee has also been instrumental in working to increase the number of current students involved with Council activities through panel discussions and by inviting student leadership representatives to attend Council sessions.
--Mary Kay Karzas '75
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