von fange remembers

Hi Karl, Your Dad and my Dad were both profs at Seward long ago. Once, in the summer of 1954, they went out into the country by Seward and did some watercolors. Your Dad gave this watercolor to my Dad and I thought you might like to see it. My Dad died last week (9/15/15) and I received this painting.  Paul von Fange  (email Sept. 24, 2015

Watercolor by Reinhold P. Marxhausen, 1954

Double click to enlarge

My dad's name is Erich A. von Fange. He was a prof at Seward about 1945-1950. He'd return to Seward during the summer on occasion and that's probably when he hooked up with your dad that summer. I was born in Seward in 1949 but we moved to San Francisco in 1950!  Paul von Fange (email Oct. 02, 2015)

Faculty photo from 1949 Golden Embers yearbook for Concordia University, page 14. See cover, next.

Coach von Fange with his high school team, page 60, Golden Embers yearbook (above).
 

Concordia campus drawn by the yearbook art editor Dorothy Brommer, sister to artist Gerald Brommer, page 101. She did all the line drawings in the 1949 Golden Embers. Ms. Brommer was with the class of 1952.

Here is the only reference I found referring to Prof. Brandhorst among my father's written recollections:

   “During the years I served as high school counselor, it was inevitable that I had to mete out disciplinary actions now and then to the more adventurous students under my care. There was a paradise of trees in the valley between the gym and athletic field and the pet project of Prof. Brandhorst, the biology professor. So from time to time I assigned students to weed and hoe among the trees on Saturday mornings. I was very trusting. Many years later at one of our reunions at Concordia, former students confessed to me that after breakfast they would pick up tools from the shop, park them in the shelter belt and then buzz off to the highway and hitchhike to Lincoln for a carefree day there. Late afternoons after hitchhiking back they picked up their tools and returned them to the shop. By hindsight, I think I should have organized this whole thing differently.”      

Note that the "paradise of trees in the valley between the gym and athletic field" is shown on Brommer's map simply as "Shelter Belt." (map is used here to highlight Fange's story)

Faculty member Carl T. Brandhorst, page 12, and his caption, next.

 

My father made three references to H. A. Koenig among his written recollections.

   “In the summer of 1948 I was living at the museum and art gallery home of Prof. Koenig, a great experience in itself, while he was away for much of the summer."

    "Prof. Henry Koenig, English and literature, became a favorite teacher and friend. In the summer of 1948 he trusted me to live in his home while he spent the time in Massachusetts visiting friends and relatives."

     "Toward the end of this Junior year (1943) our class threw a party for our faculty. None in our class planned to return for the senior year. Our relationships were much like a very dear family, since our class was small and the faculty also few in number. In one skit I lectured on the Mona Lisa, imitating the mannerisms and pet clichés of Prof. Henry Koenig, complete with a bald-headed wig. I had previously made a horrible painting of a cross-eyed Mona Lisa. The skit was a smash hit for both faculty and students.”

Faculty member Henry A. Koenig, page 12, and his caption, next

Note that Koenig's house was north of Brommer Hall on Dorothy's map, detail shown here.

Here is my father's written recollection of Marxhausen:

"6/12/54  During our 5 years in San Francisco, the summer of 1954 was our one journey back to the Midwest to see family and friends: Seward NE, Boone and Blairstown IA, and Concordia MO - 5,000 miles in our faithful tan '46 Plymouth. It was an incredibly hot summer, we remember. This was many years before our first auto with air conditioning.

I met Artist Reinhold Marxhausen at Concordia, Seward, instantly hit it off with him, and we soon went out painting together several times. While we were doing a painting of an old barn out in the country, an angry farm wife stormed out to tell us to beat it. Marx gave me an original watercolor painting after one of our jaunts. I still treasure it today."

Faculty member Reinhold P. Marxhausen, page 15, and his caption from 1954 Golden Embers yearbook.

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Brandhorst story and Koenig references courtesy email Oct. 04, 2015 Paul von Fange.
Marxhausen reference courtesy of email Oct.02, 2015 Paul von Fange Golden Embers photos courtesy of Reinhold Marxhausen Estate.