A Gift to the PLTS Scholarship Fund

By Gary Andeen

Dick and Jo Kuhn met in the late 1920s when they were children in Sunday School at St. John’s Lutheran Church on the west side of Columbus, Ohio. Both of their families were active church members.

Dick was five years older than Jo and her father wouldn’t allow her to date until she was 15, so when she was “old enough” Dick asked her out for her first date. Jo always said she knew Dick was “the one” right away. Jo’s father also wouldn’t allow her to marry until she was 20, so six weeks after her 20th birthday, she and Dick were married, in 1944.

She and Dick bought his uncle’s farm which adjoined Dick’s father’s farm. Eventually all the acreage would be theirs. They began married life in the farm house where they lived until retirement. Jo’s parents hadn’t really wanted her to be a farm wife – something she knew nothing about. But she embraced learning the skills of her new life. Dick and Jo’s daughters, Carol and Janet, grew up as full-fledged farm girls.

The family continued to worship at St. John’s until in 1959 a mission congregation was formed closer to the farm. Dick and Jo and their daughters became charter members of Resurrection Lutheran Church in Hilliard, Ohio. It was their second church home and there would be only one more – Peace Lutheran in Peoria, Arizona, where they joined when they moved to Sun City in 1989, the congregation where recent board chair, Bishop Steve Talmage served, and where the current pastor is PLTS grad, Rev. Al Cassel.

Having been surrounded by suburban development, in 1984 they auctioned the farm acreage and implements, continuing to live in the farmhouse for another six years while they spent winters with friends in Sun City.

The story of Dick and Jo’s life is not unique, but it is emblematic of lives of stewardship on every level. They farmed, they raised their girls, they were devoted church members and active in their farming community. Jo taught Sunday School and VBS, she was on the Altar Guild.  Dick was on the property committee and church council for many years. In addition, Jo mentored 4H groups and Dick was active in civic and farming organizations too numerous to list. In Arizona they helped collate bulletins and were passionate about Bible study groups.

They loved to play cards with their friends, some of whom they followed from Ohio to Sun City. Everyone was welcomed in their homes, wherever they lived. They enjoyed the blessing of seeing their grandchildren grow to adulthood. In retirement they traveled at least twice a year in a small RV to visit their children in Southern California and in Beaverton, bringing energy and warmth and love with them on every visit. By the end of their lives they had camped and traveled through all fifty states.

Several years ago, at a Rural Life Sunday church service, Jo offered that the most rewarding part of being a farm wife was when the back door opened any time of the day and a familiar voice called out, “Hello Ma, how’s my partner?” Sixty-eight years of marriage ended when Dick passed away in 2012; Jo joined him in 2017. As part of their estate plans, they included PLTS. Their gift will go into the General Endowed Scholarship fund, to benefit students for many years to come. Blessed be the memory of these two servants of God.