Lloyd and Evelyn Hostetler Scholarship Fund

The physical education department has come a long way since Lloyd and Evelyn Hostetler attended Goshen College in the 1930s. At that time there wasn’t even a male faculty member to lead the men’s physical education classes, so a student was hired each year to take charge. Although intramurals and contests between the four campus literary societies were the closest thing to interscholastic competition, students found a number of ways to relax and exercise outside of physical e classes. Lloyd and Evelyn participated in a variety of sports at Goshen, as well as in other informal recreational activitie1 “We used to take a lot of long walks down by the mill race,” Evelyn recalled recently.

But the Hostetlers’ interest in athletics and their concern for physical fitness neither began nor ended during their years at Goshen. Lloyd played basketball and baseball at Middlebury High School, and two years after graduating from Goshen in 1935, went to Ball State University to receive his training in physical education. What followed was his marriage to Evelyn, whom he had met at Goshen, in 1940, and over thirty years of teaching physical education and coaching a number of sports in several Indiana schools. He retired in 1975.

Evelyn who had played basketball for her high school team in Ohio before coming to Goshen, taught elementary school for many years after college. Although she didn’t teach physical education, she did manage to get a taste of coaching. “The girls’ basketball team went on a sit down strike once because they didn’t like their coach,” she explained, “and they persuaded me to take over for a year.”

Doing things together has also added to Lloyd and Evelyn’s enjoyment of exercising. As far back as their days at Goshen, Lloyd remembers refereeing while Evelyn played basketball. They raised their three children on the farm on C.R. 19 outside of Goshen that they purchased in 1949. Farming provided the family with many opportunities to do things together.

Since their retirement, they have had even more time to enjoy such activities together as bicycling, bowling, golfing and walking. Although someone else now works the farm for them, Lloyd still does a lot of the mowing an repairs himself. Also, the Hostetlers have more time for community activities. Lloyd has been a “red coat” volunteer at Goshen General Hospital, has canvassed for CROP and has been president of the Orange Acres Mobile Home Park Men’s Association. Both of them are members of the Elkhart County Retired Teachers Association.

The Hostetlers maintain a broad philosophy of fitness and believe the benefits one obtains from exercise are far from purely physical. “If the body is healthy, the mind can be healthy as well,’ Lloyd explained. They have been long term members of the College Mennonite Church and have been active in church neighborhood group activities. They also have a keen interest in early American design, and have re modeled their home into a beautiful landmark furnished with family heirlooms and antiques.

In establishing this scholarship, Lloyd and Evelyn cited only one steadfast rule in their otherwise broad philosophy of fitness:

consistency. “It is much easier for a person with agility and skill to keep exercising and playing sports after the formal education is over,” said Lloyd. “And agility and skill are developed through physical education.’ Thanks to their generosity and commitment to fitness, future physical education students will be further encouraged to pursue similar ideals.