Ruth (Steider) ’74 and Jack Yoder ’74
article by Rachel (Schlegel) ’05 McMaster
he Hesston Experience is something nearly every alum speaks about when reflecting on their time at Hesston College. As clear as the experience is to each person who lived it, it can also be a difficult thing to define as the specifics are often deeply personal stories about transformation, discovering purpose and belonging.
Contributing to the continuation of the Hesston Experience for others is often an attraction for alumni donors who want to invest in the future of the institution that helped shape their careers and lives.
“Just as important as learning my trade, my Hesston Experience was an education of myself,” says Jack Yoder ’74, who along with his wife, Ruth (Steider) ’74, participates in the GEM (Giving Every Month) program.
For the Yoders, Hesston College was the start that propelled the next five decades of their personal and professional lives. Both studied professions in which they served until retirement — Jack as a mechanic and Ruth as a registered nurse — not to mention meeting one another and raising a family of four children, each of whom also attended Hesston College, and three of whom met their spouses at Hesston.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Yoders identify relationships as one of the hallmarks of what the Hesston Experience means to them.
“Hesston gave me friends and mentors who encouraged me in my studies and in my personal and spiritual life,” J. Yoder explains.
“It’s amazing how some of those relationships have endured 50 years,” adds R. Yoder. “Even when we haven’t connected for many years, we have the shared experience of growing together at Hesston College that brings us back to one another.”
The Yoders maintained a connection with the college after their own time there, but are now rediscovering it as it is today, having recently moved to Hesston to be closer to their children and grandchildren after spending the last 50 years in Nebraska.
“Of course it’s a different place than it was when we were students here, but that’s to be expected as the world is a different place,” J. Yoder says. “What we perceive, though, is that the things that really matter are still here and going strong. It’s Jesus-focused, and personal connections are still a vital part of what Hesston College is.”
That steadfastness of mission is what inspires the Yoders to give regularly through the GEM program.
“Hesston College has meant so much to our family, and we’re happy to be able to give back so others can have the Hesston Experience as well,” says R. Yoder.
“Hesston prepared me for real life by showing me firsthand what my profession was like,” Kliewer shares. “I’ve learned that not all nursing programs offer the kind of exposure to and hands-on practice with nursing skills that Hesston College is known for. That level of preparedness paired with the way they develop critical thinking has been invaluable to me in my career.”
Kliewer took his skills and expertise all across the country as a traveling nurse before settling into a permanent position in a California emergency room where he appreciates the state mandated nurse-to-patient ratios and breaks, among other practices. After welcoming a daughter in 2022, he and his wife decided they wanted her to grow up near grandparents in Kansas, so Kliewer commutes to work in California, working six days in a row before returning home for an eight-day reprieve.