Year you graduated from Bluffton High School?

1969

You moved to the Bluffton school district from Cory-Rawson. What grade was that? Was it difficult to change schools?

We moved in the summer of 1965 after my brother graduated from C-R and just before my freshman year. It was kind of scary moving away from my C-R friends, but being in the band introduced me to lots of kids pretty fast. In my recollection, I believe I blended in right away. My classmates may remember it differently though.

Do you have any good stories about any high school teachers?

One of my favorite teachers was Mrs. Weaver in Latin. If anyone could make learning Latin fun and interesting, she could and did. I loved how methodical the language was. It was a sort of puzzle to figure out the declensions and the conjugations.

Can't believe I still remember those words. I have fond memories of both Mr. Bowden (history) and Mr. Blausey (band).

What bus did you ride on and who was your driver?

I rode bus number 12 which my dad, Kenneth Krautter, drove. That had its good points and bad. I wasn't the first one on the bus in the morning, but I was the last one off in the afternoon. I'd usually help him clean the trash out of the bus every day.

What car did you take your driver's test in?

It was a maroon 1962 Pontiac Tempest. I thought it was such a sporty car. I passed the test on the first try which I think was due to the fact that I had been driving tractors and a truck in the fields for years. I took driver's ed when I was a senior. Most of the other students in the class were juniors. In those days you didn't need to take driver's ed before getting your driver's license.

So I already had my license when I took driver's ed and I remember the teacher asking me if I wanted to practice parallel parking with the class or to skip it and just go home. I skipped it.

After BHS where did you go to college?

How about beyond a bachelor's degree? I got a BS in Education at Bowling Green State University with a major in library science and a minor in French.

Sadly, I never did learn to speak French. Then I received a Master's in Education with a major in Educational Technology and a Ph.D. in Higher Education, both at The University of Toledo.

What are you doing presently?

For the past 4 years I've been the Associate Dean of University Libraries at The University of Toledo. I've been at the University for 22 years all of which were spent in either the library at the (now closed) Community and Technical College or at the main campus library.

As Associate Dean I supervise all of the public services of the libraries, including reference, instruction, circulation, interlibrary loan, digital initiatives, and the college libraries.

What did you do before you started in current position?

I was the Libraries' Assistant Dean at UT for several years. For two years before that I co-chaired the University's North Central accreditation process. Previous to that I was Director of the Learning Resource Center at UT's Community and Technical College.

Immediately out of college I was Director of the Library at Northwest Technical College (now Northwest State Community College) in Archbold, where my first task was to reshelve all the library books in left to right order. The previous director, of Oriental heritage, had shelved them right to left.

What was it like attending your recent high school class reunion?

The reunion brought together many people who hadn't seen each other since we graduated. We toured the Ricky Matter Center and the high school. Some of us had a hard time envisioning what the high school had looked like when we were there because of the renovations that have been done. The biology room brought back memories even though we no longer smelled formaldehyde.

And the office was familiar for some because they worked there and for others because we had sat on the bench waiting to be called into the principal's office. It was fun trying to remember where our lockers were. Some people had a vague memory of the general vicinity while others, incredibly, remembered the number and exact location.

Read any good books lately?

I'm now reading Charles Dickens' Bleak House -- first of all because I never did and second because I think it's time I read some of the classics that I skipped over when I was younger. I usually tend toward mysteries.

Where do you live? Tell us about your family.

I've lived in Bowling Green with my husband, Tom for nearly 10 years. We've been married almost 37 years. Earlier in our marriage we lived in Defiance and Toledo.

We met at Bowling Green State University thanks to you, Fred. We were all students there. I knew you from high school and Tom knew you from your family ties. You encouraged both of us to call the other. Apparently you thought we would make a good match. Tom did call me and the rest is history as they say.

So, thank you, Fred, for introducing us. Tom has some deep Bluffton area roots. His mother, Magdalene Oyer Suter, grew up in Bluffton and his father, Charles Suter, grew up outside of Pandora. They both graduated from Bluffton College.

Tom has a number of cousins in Bluffton (including you, Fred) and we always spend Thanksgiving with Bob and Bill Suter and their families. This get-together has been an annual celebration for more than 60 years.

We have two wonderful sons. Andy lives in Toledo with his wife, Katie, and 3 and 1/2 year old son, Angus (best grandson in the world). Our younger son, Michael, lives and works in the Cincinnati area.