'We need more Cleve Klopfensteins in the world': Beloved former Peoria teacher dies
Cleve Klopfenstein, a retired Peoria teacher and military veteran who died July 23, will be remembered as a supportive mentor and a dedicated man of faith by those whose lives he touched.
"He didn't thump his Bible all the time," his daughter, Crystal Wettstein, recalled, "but he preached it in his life."
Klopfenstein was born in 1947 and graduated from Gridley High School before attending Illinois State University. Shortly after graduating from college, he was drafted into the United States Army. Motivated by his Christian faith, he signed up as a conscientious objector. Serving as a clerk in Vietnam, he avoided the worst of the violence.
In his later career as an educator, Klopfenstein made his time in Vietnam a teachable moment. When students questioned the usefulness of a particular lesson, he would tell them about how his own education had unexpectedly kept him safe in a war zone.
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"His mom made him take typing in high school, and back then no boys took typing," Wettstein said. "And it was his ability to type that got him a job as a clerk. Otherwise, he could have been a medic, or all kinds of things where he could have been killed."
Klopfenstein married his wife, Kathleen, in 1972, and the pair went on to have two children, Crystal and Aaron.
Career in education
He began his teaching career at Peoria High School, where he met longtime friend and colleague Dave Obergfel. He left the field of education to work in commodities trading at Heinold Commodities, but returned to teaching after Obergfel – then the principal at the fledgling Peoria Alternative High School – recruited him.
At the Alternative High School, which served many students who had struggled in other educational environments, Obergfel watched his friend provide compassionate and constructive mentorship.
"In the situations when he needed to be patient, he could do that. When he needed to be a listener, he could do that," Obergfel recalled.
Klopfenstein retired in 2005, and thereafter occupied himself with volunteer work, family time, fishing and arrowhead collecting. He found links to his religious faith even in his personal hobbies.
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"Arrowhead hunting (and finding) can be a spiritual experience in itself," Klopfenstein wrote in a letter to a family friend. "I find hunting arrowheads an excellent chance to pray, meditate and commune with God."
Klopfenstein was a fastidious chronicler of personal and family history, meticulously recording details of his grandchildren's lives and creating ornate photo collages that adorned the walls of his home.
An unexpected loss, but a legacy of care
On July 22, Cleve and Kathleen Klopfenstein gathered with their children and grandchildren at the family's lake house at Santa Fe Lake near Chillicothe to celebrate the couple's 50th wedding anniversary.
The following morning, Klopfenstein dove off of a dock into the water, as he had countless times before, but this time he never resurfaced.
Doctors later determined that he had likely suffered a heart attack while in the water.
Klopfenstein had led a healthy and active life up to the end, and his death came as a shock to his family.
"How many 75-year-olds would dive headfirst off of the dock?" Wettstein said.
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Klopfenstein left a legacy of care – not just among the family he treasured, but also among the many students he supported through their troubled adolescent years. The day before his death, Klopfenstein happened to run into Allison Carmack, a former student of his who attended Peoria Alternative High School from 2000 to 2002 who now runs a florist shop in Chillicothe.
"One of the many important people that helped (pave) my way to having a business of my own. He showed (love) and believed in his students," she captioned a photo of the two of them posted to Facebook. "We need more Cleve Klopfensteins in the world."
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Retired Peoria teacher, dedicated mentor Cleve Klopfenstein dies at 75
