Note: Tim Neufeld grew up in Bluffton and now lives in Goshen, Indiana.
What grade were you in when you moved to Bluffton?
I was in fourth. Mr. Kooker was my teacher. Before coming to Bluffton my family lived in Belgium Congo. I attended first, second and third grades there. I spoke English and a little Lingala dialect. I think the first person I remember in Bluffton was Miss Meredith Stepleton, the elementary principal.
So, you've travelled across Africa. What countries have you visited?
Belgium Congo, Brazzaville-Congo, Kenya, Nigeria - my wife and I lived there three years after we were married - and Toga. I've also been to Holland and Switzerland.
What kind of a view of the world does that give you?
My patriotism is more about helping any country in the world. I'm patriotic for any county that I'm in so long as I can help it become a better humane country.
What was it like growing up in a family where your father was president of Bluffton College?
He wasn't president until I was in college. Prior to that he was academic dean. It really didn't seem to be an issue. Home was sort of home. We focused on things around home.
Where are you today?
I work for Everence, that's formerly Mennonite Mutual Aid in Goshen, Indiana. I've worked there for 24 years. I am the LAN administrator. That stands for Local Area Network administrator.
Does that mean you know how to hack into computer networks?
No. That's not my specialty. I work with the computer's internal parts not the external parts.
What was your major at Bluffton College?
Physics and mathematics. I took a Fortran class at Bluffton. Sam Wagner was the professor. I later worked with him in the computer lab. That's the short version of how I ended up working with computers. I graduated from Bluffton High School in 1974. I could have graduated from Bluffton College in 1978, but I went back to obtain my teaching certificate, so I graduated in 1979. When my wife and I moved to Nigeria, on a Mennonite Central Committee VS assignment, I taught science and math in a Nigerian boarding school. We were the only white people within miles.
When we came back to the United States I visited Norm Sprunger at Mennonite Mutual Aid and he encouraged me to at least apply for a job there. I did and was hired and have been there since. I should mention that after we returned from Nigeria I worked three weeks with Don Snyder's Excavating Co.
What is your wife doing?
She teaches pre-school at Eighth Street Mennonite Church in Goshen. We have one son, Kurt, now 23. He was born in Nigeria.
Who is the most famous person you ever met?
This is a strange story, but when our family lived in the Congo, Mobutu, then dictator, ran over our dog when I was a kid. There was a motorcade with motorcycles and Mobutu's limo. The limo hit the dog. He never stopped.
What eventually became of Mobutu?
I think he was overthrown.
Let's go back to your life in Nigeria for a moment. Describe the area where you lived?
It was two hours south of a city named Jos. We lived in a small village called Tuwan Kivwir (sp?) which means "close to" Kivwir. It probably had 150 to 200 residents. The school had 200 pupils. They came from the surrounding area. Where we lived was in the savanna where it was very hot and very dry. There we experienced Sahara winds, called harmitan, the winds that blew across the Sahara desert. After blowing for one hour, you could write your name on a table in the sand. There were crocodiles living in a small waterhole about 300 yards from our house.
Who did you take to the Bluffton High School prom?
I don't think I attended the prom.
Where are your sisters living?
Carolyn lives in Pandora. Cynthia lives in Topeka, Kansas. Iris lives in Findlay and Francene lives in Columbus.
