John and Vera Borchert Thut Scholarship

Although his primary interest has always been music, John Thut graduated from CC in 1923 with a degree in biology. He said it was not fully “acceptable” at that time to pursue music as a career.

However, John had worked at the college as a part-time music faculty member while he was still a senior. After he graduated, he taught science, history and music at a Freeman, S.D. high school for a year. He then spent three years teaching voice at Bethel College in Kansas.

In 1936 John realized his musical ,ambitions and graduated from the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago with a master’s degree in music.

During World War II John served under MCC from 1944-46 on a loan basis to the YMCA war prisoners aid in England and Belgium. In 1946 he married Vera Borchert, whom he had met during his time at the American Conservatory. Vera was a piano teacher at the conservatory at that time.

John and Vera moved to Creeley, Colorado, where they both taught at the Colorado State College of Education (now the University of Northern Colorado). They finally settled in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where they taught at Augsburg College until their respective retirements in 1966 and 1967. However, John continued to teach two more years at the University of Wisconsin, River Falls, until 1968, followed by five more years of teaching at the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis. He stopped teaching in 1973, 51 years after he began his career. Vera had also remained active after retirement, teaching privately at home until her death in 1979.

After Vera’s death, John moved to Green Hills retirement home in West Liberty, Ohio, where his brother also lived.

John, a member of the Minnesota Music Teachers Association as well as its state president from 1958 to 1961, was closely involved in the National Association of Teachers of Singing since the organization’s founding, and he is still one of its few chartered members. Besides his long-standing membership, John was also an officer of the association from 1950-69, serving the last six years as national secretary.

The establishment of the John and Vera Borchert Thut Scholarship fund is an expression of the couple’s joy for music and encouragement for capable students who share that dedication.