That moment in time when you were at your best or worst, your happiest or your saddest, the moment when you saw clearly the direction you were headed, or the moment that touched your heart: these were the moments at Heidelberg that are etched in you mind.
He was unusual. He clearly saw the world in a different way, but he gave me an amazing gift. The class was Freshman English, and I was overwhelmed. Do you remember the theme of our Freshman year? As I recall it was “justice” and in the summer before we arrived on campus we received a stack of books which included Crime and Punishment, MacLeish’s play “J B” ,the Book of Job, and Melville’s Billy Bud, Sailor. The discussion and the essays for that required English class were based on these books.
The instructor I had was Frank Klapp, Jr. His father worked in administration at Heidelberg and he must have left before we graduated. I have no idea where he went.
His teaching style was stream of consciousness. He would start each class with a question that seemed a quarter turn away from anywhere real……..
a style which left him open to a lot of criticism by a lot of people. He demanded that we write and write and write. Communicating coherent thoughts on paper and then in the pulpit has been my life.
That strange man who asked me one day from out of the blue whether I had ever considered airplanes, challenged me, stretched my brain and changed my life. I am grateful!
Submitted by Ron Patterson
OH THE STUDYING!!!!!!
Heidelberg '71 