Summary: A Calvin College professor will honor former president and longtime
friend, the late Dr. William Spoelhof, at this year’s Commencement by donning
the regalia Spoelhof wore for more than six decades of ceremonies.
This year's Commencement ceremony: the first in the new Van Noord Arena, will
also be the first one in more than six decades without the college's respected
and dear friend. Dr. Spoelhof, whose roots at Calvin date back to 1927, died in
December of 2008 at the age of 98.
On Saturday, May 23 in honor of the late Dr. Spoelhof, his dear friend
chemistry professor Larry Louters will wear the academic robe and hood Dr.
Spoelhof wore to many ceremonies dating back to 1946.
Louters and his wife Mary Jo became close with Dr. Spoelhof over the past 15
years, taking him to breakfast every Saturday morning and attending church with
him on Sundays. Louters says he is honored that Dr. Spoelhof gave him his robe
before he died and says he will wear it with mixed emotions:
"I will wear the regalia with joy knowing he would be honored to have me, or
for that matter, any other faculty member wear his regalia. He would see it as
continuing the story of Calvin College, carry Calvin's legacy forward with new
people ... And I will wear his regalia with sadness, because I miss my
friend."
Dick Harms, director of the archives at Calvin and another dear friend of Dr.
Spoelhof, will also wear one of Spoelhof's hoods to Saturday's ceremony to
honor him.
To learn more about Dr. Spoelhof's legacy, see:
http://www.calvin.edu/admin/president/spoelhof/
For information regarding this year's commencement, see:
http://www.calvin.edu/commencement/
Contact Darlene Meyering at 616-540-9131
Received on Thu May 21 08:50:27 2009
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