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Ironically, I'm heading for Honolulu in the morning (July 28). . . my first visit since '94, and Ann WAS to be a big part of it. On 7/7 Ann & I were still exchanging messages about a party she wanted to have on her deck (where else?) with some of my old professors . . . and then the surprising and devastating news on the 9th . . . Imagine my chicken skin on 7/14 when an email popped up from "Ann Keppel" (subject: happy birthday to you). You see, my birthday was 7/8 and I didn't hear from her that day (we usually exchanged birthday greetings since hers was 6/26). When I finally got the nerve to open what I feared might be some supernatural "belated" birthday greeting from "beyond," it turned out to be merely Bob Potter using Ann's computer to get ahold of me by replying to MY recent birthday greeting to Ann. Wierd. But I guess you just had to be there! Here's my story: The first time I brought my father with me to an Educational Foundations Department potluck in Wist Hall, he was extremely nervous to be meeting all of the faculty members&emdash;he just had never really spent any time with college-professor-Ph.D.-types. During the potluck he spent a lot of the time apparently comfortably conversing with Ann, leading to his later comment, "She is so nice. You can just talk normal with her. Your professors are just like real people." I'm so grateful to the entire Ed Foundations faculty that I worked with as a student back in the 1980's. I'm still can't believe that I was so lucky to discover such a wonderful and talented group of caring scholars. I've never worked so hard in my life&emdash;and had such a great time doing it! I don't mean to slight my other profesors by focusing on Ann right now, but my relationship with her did become very special. Ann was a favorite professor throughout my many many delightful years of graduate school at UH-Manoa, and she became a much-cherished friend. She served as Chair of my doctoral committee, and since she actually retired a couple of years before I got around to finishing my dissertation, I will always have the distinct honor of being her last doctoral student! It's hard to put a finger on what it really was about her, but something about Ann always inspired me to do my very best. Even now as I'm writing this, I am aware of some sort of deep-seated anxiety that she'll be reading this carefully and writing comments all over it! God, I used to live for one of her quickly scribbled "Aha!" comments, because I knew then that I had developed a good idea or connection (plus most of her other comments usually required such a major investment of deciphering time and energy!). Over the years I've received many handwritten letters from Ann, and it's always fun to share them with my wife and friends to see who can actually read them! I also enjoyed trying to catch a occasional glimpse of her handwritten lecture notes, and was frequently amazed that they could form the basis of such coherent and lively presentations! She could really make me squirm when she fixed me with that no-nonsense glare of hers. But I'd get her back eventually, because I could usually side-track her planned lectures with a couple of well-placed questions&emdash;something I felt compelled to do on occasion when sorely unprepared for a particular seminar! Ann was an incredible fountain of historical information and her typically casual presentation style would often belie the scholarship behind it. She was always active as a student of history herself&emdash;perpetually on the lookout for new insights. At one point when she was doing a little house cleaning/reorganizing, she brought out a couple of shoeboxes completely packed with notes and snippets of information on topics of particular interest to her. She said that the contents of each box were the beginning of articles and books she contemplated writing. I once tried to get her to offer a "shoebox seminar" in which each student would get one of her boxes/topics to work on and help get her closer to publishing, but the truth is that her love of and dedication to teaching was always her highest priority. She was one of the last of a special breed of professors that could make academia a career without today's pressure to publish . . . and I'm so happy to have had the rare opportunity to sit at the feet of this great teacher. Ann's wonderful home might better deserve the name "Wist Annex" than the building so-named. It was such a perfect extension of her and she was so generous to include so many of us in her personal life up on the hill. The photo that was posted of the gathering at her house after the memorial service seemed so natural and perfect . . . where else would one go when in need of care and perspective? Ann was so important to me personally. The first date I had with my future wife, Joy, included a salmon barbeque up at Ann's&emdash;and she was still pointing this fact out several years later at our wedding. She was there for me when I lost each of my parents. I looked forward to every opportunity to rendezvous with during her many visits to the Northwest in recent years&emdash;sometimes hanging out on our deck in Steilacoom (where she would harvest flowers from all the neighbors' gardens and whip up a new head lei), and sometimes on the Washington or Oregon Coast or up in Seattle (where she was always visiting or traveling with yet another of her many friends). When I finally decided that I was going into the business of making and selling cookies (at this point I usually defensively ask "What would YOU do with a doctorate in Educational Foundations?"), Ann was quick to become my first investor, and I'm happy to say she got her investment back plus interest! Ann was always there for me&emdash;as I know she was for so many of her friends and colleagues. Over the years the delightful hand-written notes became a barrage of quick emails. It was great to be informed of her numerous activities and house guests, as well as to receive her sharp commentary on national and world events. The pain she felt when individuals and/or society let her down! After I finished my program, she religiously addressed my mail to DR. Yoder . . . yet she was always "just" Ann. What a lady. Donald A. Yoder |
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