Congratulations to Waldorf alumnus Sydney Beasley, who has just earned an M.D. from Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science medical school and matched into the Emergency Medicine program at Madigan Army Medical Center, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. Upon graduation, Sydney assumes the rank of Captain in the U.S. Army, and has stated that Washington was her first choice.

 

~Story reshared from Facebook

Thoughts About Waldorf in Celebrating Its Centennial, October 2003, As I Remember It

I’ve always loved Waldorf. Seventy-five years ago, I was present at Waldorf’s 25th Anniversary. It was Odvin Hagen’s first year. He sang “Silver Threads Among the Gold,” as only he could sing it. I think he could almost be heard out at Pilot Knob…ALMOST!

I was at Waldorf from the fall of 1937 until August 1940, when I married a student, Irwin Hyland, Radcliffe, Iowa, in the college chapel. My first year at Waldorf, I was a Business major and because of my clerical experience, I was promoted immediately to the second-year level of the program. I then worked at the college until my marriage to “Irv.” Myrtle Rendahl and Muggie Hagen had a bridal shower for me. We then moved to St. Paul where “Irv” was a student at Luther Seminary and I worked at the former ELC national headquarters downtown Minneapolis. We served parishes in South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa. We were at Rock Creek Lutheran Church, rural Osage, Iowa, when Irv died as a 45-year-old pastor, Sept., 1959. Shortly thereafter, I moved the family to Forest City where I was able to work as parish secretary at Immanuel Lutheran for the next two years. In 1962, President Sig Fauske asked if I would be interested in being the manager of Waldorf’s bookstore. I said, “Yes, I’d love that.” So, I was manager of the bookstore for 12 years until my retirement and subsequent marriage to Hugh Drentlaw of Northfield, Minn. My years at Waldorf were wonderful years: I could never think of any place that I’d rather be!

While I was at Waldorf as a student, I committed to memory a couple of things that I’d like to share with you. The first is a description of a true friend. I had many during my years at Waldorf. I feel it’s typical of Waldorf students and alumni to be genuine friends:

“Oh, the joy, the inexpressible joy, of feeling safe with someone, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all out, chaff and grain together—knowing that a faithful hand will take and sift them: keep what is worth keeping, and, with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away."

The second one is this:

Once in my childhood days, long gone and dead, I watched a supper table being spread by busy hands, and eagerly i said, wishing to help, “Please, may I bring the bread?” A kind voice said, “Are your hands clean?"

Oft now, when I see the multitudes unfed, waiting, hungry for the living bread, I ask, “Please, may I bring the bread?” A kind voice says, even as a voice once said, “Are your hands clean?” I only bow my head.

Waldorf has had many great people on its faculty/staff roster. God has truly blessed Waldorf! I’ve known some great Presidents: J.L. Rendahl, Sidney Rand, Sig Faust, Paul Mork, Bill Hamm and the current president, Tom Jolivette. (I hope he stays for many more years!)

Holding several basketball records at Waldorf, she went on to coach women’s basketball.  In 2024, she became the first women’s head coach at Andover High School, her alma mater and where she still holds several records.

 

Betty shared her love for Waldorf in the 2013 Waldorf Magazine.  “It was always my dream to attend Waldorf and be a member of the Waldorf Choir. My dream came true, and  I established a planned gift with the Waldorf Foundation with the hope that my gift will enable students to fulfill their dreams of a Waldorf education as well.”  Betty’s dream came true and she established a perpetual scholarship, the Betty (Nyus) Gollnik 1949 Memorial Endowed Scholarship. 

 

“I established a planned gift for the Waldorf Foundation because I am passionate about Waldorf and its mission and wanted to support something that is important to me and my wife. At the same time, a planned gift allowed us to make a larger gift than we thought was possible.”

 

Andrew Jermeland 2013

“Professors Joe Wilkins and Suzanne Falk-Yi impacted me deeply, as they invested time to work with me as an individual. It was great to be in an environment where people cared about me.” He found his way back to Waldorf and joined the staff within a year of graduation. “I love working with our Waldorf students. Watching their confidence grow is so gratifying. Waldorf has changed my life in so many positive ways, and I will be forever grateful. I love Waldorf.” 

 

 

Going to a liberal arts school gave me a broader education and the analytical and critical thinking skills that I have been able to apply to all aspects of my life. These skills have become even more relevant in today’s workforce. There were courses that were required that, at the time, I didn’t understand why we needed to take them. In hindsight, these courses helped shape who I am and I became a more well-rounded person.  Attending Waldorf and having professors believe in me and truly care about my education and my future, gave me the confidence to believe in myself and to trust that I have the qualities and abilities to be success in whatever career I pursued.