Lasting Ties: Keeping up with the Joneses

This feature story originally appeared in the Fall/Winter 2025 issue of The Bulletin.

by Eric Bradley, head librarian of Mennonite Historical Library

In 1939, a new health care center opened on campus. Built as an annex to the north end of Kulp Hall, this six-bed facility included a laboratory, consultation room and examination room.

Dr. H. Clair Amstutz ’33 served as College Physician along with his duties as a professor in the Department of Biology and Health, and Marian (Kauffman) Jones ’41 and Wade Jones ’41 served as College Nurses.

Marian, a 1930 graduate of La Junta (Colo.) Mennonite School of Nursing, came to Goshen College along with her husband Wade to complete their bachelor’s degrees. Along with their nursing roles, Marian taught physical education courses and Wade participated in the Adelphian Literary Society. For one semester in their tenure, The Record featured a funnies column attributed (correctly or not) to the Joneses called “Keeping up with the Joneses,” which playfully poked at the couple as well as others on campus.

Together, Wade and Marian played a hand in the newly formed Nurses’ Club, where registered nurses who were students at GC, along with Mennonite RNs in the community, could connect with one another and promote interest in public health across campus. Six students of the class of 1941 came into college as nurses. The Nurses’ Club included graduates of La Junta (CO), Mennonite School of Nursing and Goshen Hospital’s Laura A. Kindig School of Nursing.

After graduation, the Joneses returned to Colorado, then after the conclusion of World War II worked in Maryland, Kansas and California with the Mental Health Services Committee of Mennonite Central Committee.

Indeed, it was a challenge to keep up with the Joneses.