Irvin and Dorcas Yoder Kauffman Scholarship

One of the concerns of a private, church-related institution like Goshen College are the escalating costs of tuition and fees that have made it difficult to compete with publicly-supported universities for capable students.

Irvin and Dorcas Yoder Kauffman, however, are doing their part to help Goshen meet its enrollment goals. The West Liberty, Ohio, couple has established a scholarship fund for GC students from their area who have financial need. A charitable trust arrangement, set up with The Mennonite Foundation, will create the Kauffman Scholarship.

Their generous financial gift is the latest example of a relationship between the Kauffmans and Goshen College which has been nourished a long time. Dorcas first became acquainted with the college in 1924, when she enrolled in a summer session. That was the first term GC had reopened its doors, having been closed in 1923 due to conflict among its Mennonite church constituency. Dorcas remembers that the enrollment that summer was· small: “Five of us girls from West Liberty had Kulp Hall to ourselves. (At mealtime) we just pushed two tables together in the dining hall,” she said.

As was the requirement in those days, a summer’s worth of college study was all Dorcas needed to receive her teaching credentials. She returned to Goshen for four more summer sessions and a winter term to take additional courses.

In contrast to Dorcas, Irvin obtained most of his skills and education by working at various farm-related jobs in West Liberty, beginning in’early youth. But life was not all work: one day he “saw Dorcas over the fence,” and began a relationship that resulted in their marriage in 1929.

Eventually, the Kauffmans settled on a farm of their own, where they raised four children (three of whom attended Goshen College) and Dorcas continued her teaching.

Now retired, the Kauffmans lead rich lives, filled with many interests. Irvin tinkers with a 1926 Model T Ford and a 1933 Franklin. They spend the winters in Carlsbad, New Mexico, where they are active members of a horticulture club and enjoy traveling in the southwest. A special interest has been their contacts with a group of Old Colony Mennonites, which has resettled in Texas after leaving Mexico several years ago. And they continue their close relationship with family and Goshen College by visiting their daughter Mary, who is married to GC biology professor Stan Grove. The Groves’ two daughters are current students at the college.

While the Kauffmans have been Associates of the college for many years, Irvin spoke of their decision to contribute even more by establishing the scholarship fund: “Our home church (Bethel Mennonite) has always been interested in what went on at the college. And we’ve also been interested because of family connections. We feel good that we can help students who couldn’t afford it on their own to attend Goshen. I think a college education is not really an education unless it’s a Christian one.”

“There seems to be a high level of spiritual interest at the college,” Dorcas added.