E. LaVerne Epp completed his primary and secondary education at Henderson Community School, Henderson, Neb., and enrolled at Bethel College in 1968.

A history major at Bethel, he participated in choral ensembles and other musical activities. He was the recipient of the 1972 Thresher Award for History and Social Science and graduated with honors that year. During the following year, he worked for Bethel as an admissions counselor and as a member of the development staff.

In 1976 Epp earned a law degree at the University of Nebraska College of Law at Lincoln. For 10 years he was a partner in the Adrian and Epp, P.A., law firm in Newton, Kan. He also served as Hesston Municipal Court judge and taught several classes at Hesston College, Hesston, Kan.

He was secretary and general counsel for Retirement Management Company, based in Lawrence, Kan., from 1986 to 1993. He served as president of the company from 1993 until last year.

Epp was a member of the Bethel College Board of Directors. He also chaired the Kansas Governor’s Council on Aging and served on boards for Mennonite Health Services, Schowalter Villa, Prairie View Mental Health Center, Kidron-Bethel Retirement Services, Meadowlark Homestead, Mid-Kansas Symphony Orchestra and Kansas Brass.

He is married to Marilyn (Crabb) Epp, a 1972 Bethel College graduate. They have three children—Tyler, Paul and Susan.

A different kind of leadership

By Carla Reimer ’84

E. LaVerne Epp has no qualms about admitting that he believes in the importance of success. He doesn’t mind being known as someone who takes calculated risks, either. And, he’ll tell you his passion for learning is a defining force in his life. These qualities define leadership, he said in an interview the week before his inauguration as the 12th president of Bethel College.

It was as a student at Bethel during the late 1960s and early 1970s that Epp said he learned some critical lessons about what it means to be a leader, thanks to the relationships he had with professors Keith Sprunger, Alvin Beachy and David Suderman.

“I recall rehearsing for a junior vocal recital in Dr. Suderman’s studio. I was having some difficulty overcoming those pre-recital jitters. He told me to forget about the mechanics of singing and, instead, imagine myself ‘communicating with the audience.’ He called it capturing their attention: ‘Think of yourself as leading this audience.’ For me that was a powerful lesson about the importance of imagination in developing leadership skills. I’ve never forgotten it.”

His participation in a range of extracurricular activities also broadened his understanding of leadership. “One of the best experiences I had as a student was singing in a men’s quartet that represented Bethel College in communities across the country and in church constituencies,” he said. “I remember sitting in D.C. Wedel’s office and talking with him about our upcoming two-week tour on West Coast. I asked him, ‘Who is going to be our chaperone?’ And he replied that we, the students, would be responsible for chaperoning ourselves.

“The message was: We have confidence in you. We know you are going to represent the college well. It is time for you to step forward and take some leadership. It was a terrific experience.”

Yet, said Epp, what really makes Bethel’s approach to learning distinctive is the faith
component. “I think we’re more distinguished not by what we do, but how we do it—how we influence and are influenced by people in our daily lives.

“The college’s commitment to providing an education that cultivates lifelong learners means our graduates have a willingness to listen, a willingness to be challenged and a willingness to be persuaded—that takes courage, that takes a deep grounding, that takes faith.”

This openness to another’s views and beliefs means students from a variety of religious backgrounds—Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish—can feel comfortable developing their faith at Bethel, he said.

“The point is that the college recognizes that you can’t rip faith apart from learning: You don’t have a spiritual life and then you have all these other parts of your life. It’s connected,” said Epp, recalling how he first learned this “concept of oneness, where you can’t have separate rules for behavior in your work life, family life and spiritual life,” as a student in Alvin Beachy’s Basic Issues of Faith and Life class.

Epp, who served on the Bethel Board of Directors from 1996-2001, said he had never thought that he would one day be the college president. However, after selling the Retirement Management Company, the business he started in Lawrence, Kan., in 1986, “the timing seemed right” for this new challenge.

After several months in his position as president, he thinks his primary role “is to marshal the resources that are available, inspire people to express their ideas and, then, find ways to
implement the ideas that are most executable.”

The fact that Bethel is a small college located in the heart of the Kansas prairies is an asset, he said. “I think there is a connection between the landscape, our geography and the kind of people we are. For example, you go to Flint Hills and it doesn’t feel majestic; it isn’t awe-inspiring. But, you can stand on one of those hills and look out for quite a distance before you see the trees. You can feel the wind out there, the grass is up to your knees and you’re grounded—sturdy, solid,
confident.

“The imagery makes so much sense to what we do here at Bethel. ... Our graduates are successful because they have the ability and passion to see the world, and the desire to change it.”