Rooted in Hesston, growing through generations - The Mininger family legacy

Hesston College’s story is shaped by generations of students, families and faculty whose connections to the college stretch across decades. The Mininger family legacy spans nearly a century, reflecting this legacy quite clearly.

In his own words, Jim Mininger Ac61 reflects on the ways Hesston College shaped his family across three generations.

Paul Mininger Ac25, 1928 - his father
Mary (Erb) Ac24, 1926 Mininger - his mother
Grace (Mininger) Ac53 Bartel - his sister
Jim Mininger Ac61 - self
JD Mininger ’95 - his son
Matt Mininger ’96 - his son

My Family and Hesston College
by Jim Mininger Ac61

In the 1920s, both my mother and father attended Hesston College. My mother took part in the relationship with the LaJunta nursing program and received her RN. Her experience of music at Hesston instilled a love of singing and playing the piano. The home in which I grew up had much singing, a reed organ that my mother played daily and an “hi-fi” set on which classical music dominated.

A little research in the HC archives would show that my father received five different diplomas from Hesston College. Included were a high school diploma, a two-year degree, a three-year Bible degree, a four-year teaching degree and an advanced Bible degree. Although Paul Mininger went on to a Lutheran Seminary in Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in Religious Education, it is fair to say that his Hesston College years rooted firm in him a devotion to the Mennonite Church and its educational institutions and thus, set the direction of his life.

When my sister Grace was 16, she left Goshen and spent her junior and senior year of high school at Hesston Academy. Her boyfriend and future husband, Herm Weaver, came with her. She made friends at Hesston that she stayed in touch with throughout her life.

I followed in my eight-years older’s footsteps by attending Hesston Academy for my junior and senior year in high school. Little did I know that I and my several classmates would be faculty and staff members in our adult lives.

When I was finishing graduate school and beginning to think about universities where I might teach, I said several times that “I would go anywhere except Kansas.” Fateful words! Virginia and I spent 21 years at Hesston College. Virginia taught voice in the music department and took part often as a soloist in Hesston music productions. I taught history and served as academic dean for 17 of those years. I also spent two and a half years as interim president.

During our 21 years at Hesston, we had two sons who later attended Hesston College. Thirty years after they graduated, their adult friends include many friends, not just from Hesston, Kansas, but also from Hesston College. Our elder son, JD, now a university president in Bulgaria, has frequently said that considering that he attended Hesston College (A.A.), Goshen College (B.A.) and University of Minnesota (Ph.D.), the most formative classes in his shaping his character and his concept of education took place in some of his Hesston College classes. He would reference Jim Yoder’s Astronomy course, Marion Bontrager’s Biblical Literature and his father’s infamous Foundies IV. That is quite a tribute to this little college on the prairie!