By Kate Prahlad, Daily News-Record

Albert N. Keim was remembered Tuesday by his family and friends as a fierce intellectual, an unassuming man and a doting grandfather.

At a memorial service at Park View Mennonite Church, a packed house listened to tributes that celebrated his academic work and his love of his family.

Melody Keim, daughter of Albert N. Keim, remembers her father: ‘Most of all, my father was a storyteller. And it never surprised us that he loved history. After all, what is history but storytelling on a grand scale?’ (Photo courtesy of Daily News-Record)

Keim, 72, died Friday at the University of Virginia Medical Center of complications following a liver transplant. He retired from ²ÝÝ®ÉçÇø in 2000 after 35 years of teaching. He also served as academic dean of the school from 1977 to 1984.

The former history professor is survived by his wife, Kathy Fisher, his daughter, Melody Keim, two grandsons and seven siblings.

Family and friends said he filled many roles with enthusiasm and a wise outlook on life.

"Al Keim was loved by all of us as a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle, teacher, mentor, colleague and friend," said Barbara Moyer Lehman, a pastor at the church.

A Love of History

Keim earned his bachelor’s in history from EMU in 1963. He continued his education at the University of Virginia with a master’s, and then earned his Ph.D. in history from Ohio State University.

He wrote a biography of Harold S. Bender, a professor of theology and author of "The Anabaptist Vision," a short essay aimed at Anabaptists and Mennonites. Keim also wrote "The CPS Story," and was one of only two authors to have two books listed in "The Essential Anabaptist-Mennonite History Reading List."

"Most of all, my father was a storyteller," said Melody Keim. "And it never surprised us that he loved history. After all, what is history but storytelling on a grand scale?"

John Lapp, Keim’s history teacher at EMU in the 1960s, said he grieves for Keim and for his unfinished work.

"His singular concern was to help us remember," Lapp said. "He had a wonderful gift of being neither simple, superficial or idealistic."

A Love Of Family

A doting grandfather, Keim enjoyed time with his two grandsons, Jeremy and Jonathan – and enjoyed talking about them, too.

"I think anyone that took classes with him after [his grandsons’ births] knew all about them," said Melody Keim.

He liked to talk tractors and farming with his grandsons, she said.

The oldest of nine children, Keim grew up in an Amish household in Hartville, Ohio. As a young man, he left the Amish community to pursue "intellectual development," Melody Keim said.

He began attending EMU, where he met his first wife, Leanna, while they were both students. Leanna Keim died in 1998.

In 2000, Keim married Fisher, and during their first year of marriage, they lived in Saudi Arabia, where Fisher had taught English.

A Love Of Service

Keim also served in Europe as a Mennonite Central Committee Pax volunteer in post-war relief efforts from 1956 to 1958. There, he built villages for Mennonite refugees from the Soviet Union and Poland, his daughter said.

He was instrumental in the creation of the Valley Brethren Mennonite Heritage Center, where he served as the first director in 2001-02 and was a board member from 2000 until his death.

He will be remembered by the community for his "quiet demeanor," "remarkable intellect" and his sense of humor, said James Bomberger, who gave a tribute at the memorial service Tuesday.

"Al spent his life on a journey of discovery, and not just self-discovery," said Phil Kniss, Park View Mennonite’s pastor. "He was on a larger mission for all of humanity."

Albert N. (Al) Keim, 72, professor emeritus of history at EMU, died June 27, 2008 at University of Virginia Medical Center. He had a successful liver transplant in 2007, but his health had declined in recent months.

Dr. Keim joined the EMU history department faculty in 1965 and retired in 2000. He was appointed vice-president for academic affairs/dean at EMU July 1, 1977 and served in that role seven years.

“Al Keim introduced his students to historical and political issues by having them read books which motivated them to think analytically. He was known for his half-sheet five-question quizzes and insightful commentaries on whatever issue was being studied,” said long-time faculty colleague Gerald R. Brunk, professor emeritus of history.

“As academic dean Al both envisioned and brought to reality the Global Village curriculum which has given many students life-changing experiences in other cultures,” Dr. Brunk said. “He devoted himself to making EMU a quality Christian liberal arts institution and sought to enable the faculty to excel in their teaching. The legacy he has left will continue to enrich us all.”

Amish Background

The Hartville, Ohio, native grew up in an Amish home and attended Amish parochial schools. He received a BA degree from EMU in 1963, an MA from the University of Virginia in 1965 and a PhD from Ohio State University in 1971. His doctoral work focused on the late John Foster Dulles, Secretary of State during the Eisenhower administration, and Dulles’ ties with the Federal Council of Churches, an ecumenical organization that sought to influence American foreign policy.

In 1972, Keim received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to study the 20th Century Christian Socialism movement – particularly the Fellowship of Socialist Christians, an organization created in 1930 by theologians Reinhold Niebuhr and Paul Tillich.

The following year Keim received a grant to edit a volume of essays dealing with the Amish and compulsory education, based in part on the US Supreme Court’s ruling that compulsory school attendance for Amish children beyond the eighth grade is an “unequal restraint” on their religious freedom.

His book, “Compulsory Education and the Amish: The Right Not to Be Modern,” was released in 1975 by Beacon Press of Boston, Mass. He also wrote “The Politics of Conscience: the Historic Peace Churches and War, 1917-1955” (Herald Press, 1988) and “The CPS Story” (Good Books, 1990), a history of alternate service programs during World War II.

Herald Press also published Keim’s major biography, “Harold S. Bender, 1897-1962,” in 1998. Dr. Bender was a prominent professor of theology at Goshen College and Goshen Biblical Seminary, founder of the “Mennonite Quarterly Review” and author of “The Anabaptist Vision,” a 1944 landmark essay that reexamined the Mennonite Church during the troubling years of World War II.

Led First Cross-cultural

In 1972-73, Keim led EMU’s first semester-length cross-cultural seminar in Europe, which paved the way for cross-cultural education becoming a graduation requirement in 1982-83.

“Al was my professor when I was an EMU history major in the early ’70s,” said Steve C. Shenk of Harrisonburg. “My wife Karen and I were part of the three-month seminar that he led. Al was my hero.

“Then, 30 years later, I became executive director of Valley Brethren-Mennonite Heritage Center – my first history job after all this time,” Shenk added. “My close mentor and co-worker turned out to be Al Keim. Retired from EMU by now, he was a founding board member and tireless volunteer. He was still my hero.”

Keim married Leanna Yoder Keim on Aug. 27, 1960. She died Oct. 19, 1998. In 2000, he married Kathy Fisher, who survives. Keim wrote a series of reflective articles during 2000-2001 for the Harrisonburg Daily News-Record while he and Kathy lived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, their first year of marriage.

Also surviving are a daughter, Melody Ann Keim, Lancaster, Pa., two grandsons, and seven siblings.

He was a member of Park View Mennonite Church, where memorial services are scheduled for 10 a.m., Tuesday, July 1, with interment at Lindale Mennonite Church cemetery.

Memorial gifts may be made to the Valley Brethren/Mennonite Heritage Center, PO Box 1563, Harrisonburg VA 22803 or to Mennonite Central Committee, PO Box 500, Akron, PA 17501.

Two experts in Anabaptist studies have collaborated on the first scholarly examination of pacifism during the Civil War.

“Mennonites, Amish and the American Civil War,” by James O. Lehman of Harrisonburg and Steven M. Nolt of Goshen, Ind., describes the various strategies used by the sectarian religious groups in responding to the North-South conflict and the effects of war on these communities.

Lehman is librarian emeritus at EMU, archivist for Virginia Mennonite Conference and the author of nine congregational histories and a book on 20th century Mennonite revivalism.

Steven M. Nolt, professor of history at Goshen (Ind.) College and coauthor of two books on Amish faith and life

Nolt is professor of history at Goshen (Ind.) College and coauthor of two books on Amish faith and life, both published by Johns Hopkins University Press.

Bloodiest War in American History

Integrating the most recent Civil War scholarship with little-known primary sources and new information from Pennsylvania and Virginia to Illinois and Iowa, Lehman and Nolt provide a definitive account of the Anabaptist experience during the bloodiest war in American history with 620,000 dead and over a million maimed and wounded.

The authors focus on moral dilemmas Mennonites and Amish faced that that tested the very core of their faith: How to oppose both slavery and the war to end it? How to remain outside the conflict without entering the American mainstream to secure legal conscientious objector status.

The book serves as a good reminder that not all churches immersed themselves in super-charged patriotism for either the Confederacy or the Union.

“The book is an easy read, with lots of arresting stories of faith under test,” said Albert N. Keim, professor emeritus of history at EMU. “Its amazingly thorough research makes the book convincing. After reading it, I was convinced I had just acquired an accurate understanding of my forbears response to the Civil War,” he added.

The 376-page hardback book, published by Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, is available for $39.95 at leading bookstores and at www.amazon.com.

G. Irvin (“G.I.”) Lehman, professor emeritus of Old Testament at EMU.

That was one of many tributes paid to G. Irvin (“G.I.”) Lehman at a recognition and retirement dinner held in his honor May 1, 1980 at EMU.

Dr. Lehman died Monday, Aug. 27, at Oak Lea Nursing Home in Harrisonburg, Va. He was 92.

Lehman, a professor emeritus of Old Testament at EMU, taught at the former Eastern Mennonite School, 1940-41, and rejoined the EMU Bible and religion department in 1952, teaching Old Testament courses there until 1976. In 1965, he was also named to the Eastern Mennonite Seminary faculty and later taught there full time until retirement.

“G. Irvin was famous for delivering many pithy one-liners in class, one of which was, ‘He (or she!) who throws mud always loses ground.’ Great advice for future pastors!” said EMU President Loren Swartzendruber.

“Dr. Lehman was one of my favorite college profs,” said Jim Bishop, public information officer at EMU. “He brought what I perceived as dusty Old Testament text and characters to life even as he brightened that dingy basement classroom where he held forth in the old administration building.

“I’ll never forget him saying, ‘Before you act, consider first your motives and the consequences,'” Bishop added.

A native of Lancaster, Pa., Lehman was a 1935 graduate of Eastern Mennonite School. He completed his undergraduate studies at Elizabethtown (PA) College and earned a BD degree at Eastern Baptist Seminary, an STM from Hartford Theological Foundation and MA and PhD degrees from New York University.

Lehman began his educational career as a teacher in the Pennsylvania public school system in 1935. His extensive service overseas included directing a medical relief unit in Nazareth, Ethiopia; and teaching English at American University, Beirut, Lebanon; and at Anatolia College, Salonika, Greece.

He led numerous study tours and seminars in the Middle East over the years and lectured widely on his experiences there.

Lehman served on an editorial committee in the preparation of the “New International Bible,” a modern English translation sponsored by the New York International Bible Society.

He was a member of many national and and international learned societies and served as president of the National Association of Professors of Hebrew.

Locally, he served many years as chairman or a board member of the Harrisonburg Salvation Army. He was a member of Park View Mennonite Church.

He was proceeded in death by his wives, Edith Vanderploeg Lehman and Verna Yeager Lehman. Surviving are three sons, George Nathan, Peter Daniel and Timothy Joseph Lehman; a daughter, Eunice L. Kerbs; two sisters and four grandchildren.

Funeral services were held Sept. 1 at Park View Mennonite Church, with burial in Weavers Church cemetery west of Harrisonburg.

Memorial contributions may be sent to Mennonite Central Committee, PO Box 500, Akron, PA 17501.