In recognition of her more than 75 years of volunteerism in local, state and national organizations, Eden Theological Seminary bestowed an honorary doctorate degree on 91-year-old Norma Klemme, Union.
“I was so overwhelmed,” Klemme said. “I couldn’t believe they chose me, Norma Klemme.”
The honorary doctorate of humane letters was presented during the St. Louis-based seminary’s 173rd Commencement Ceremony on Friday, May 19. The school specifically commended Klemme for her “bold discipleship, for her work in food security, and environmental justice through the years.”
“We are so grateful for her example and her ministry, and we’re very pleased to be able to honor her in this way and to lift her up as an example for others,” said Eden Theological Seminary Vice President for Advancement and Communication Mary Schaller Blaufuss. The doctorate of humane letters is reserved for those who have contributed to society as a whole and within his or her community. Eden Theological Seminary honors one person each year with the degree.
Klemme’s faith-based volunteerism stems from her confirmation in 1946.
“I call it my Damascus road,” she said, referring to when Jesus restored Paul’s sight after being blinded. “I opened my eyes to the church and what the church stands for.”
Since then, Klemme has made it her mission to serve God and others.
That mission almost included enrolling at Eden Theological Seminary, but at that time, it was unconventional for women to become pastors.
“I felt called to service in the church,” she said. “But at that time, women were not accepted (as pastors) in churches, even the UCC, (United Church of Christ) that is a very progressive church, it took us a while to accept that.”
When she met her now-husband, Armin, Norma was the president of the youth council at the Zion United Church of Christ in St. Joseph, and Armin had just begun his ministry at the church in Amazonia. She said she felt that they could accomplish many things together.
Over the decades, in addition to being an elementary school teacher for 18 years, Klemme worked with youth and women organizations, taught Sunday School, and served as a delegate for the Missouri Mid-South Conference of UCC.
After serving communities in St. Joseph, Sedalia, Hermann and Jefferson City, the couple retired, and moved to Union in 1990. But retirement didn’t slow Klemme down.
She joined the “Neighbors United Undoing Racism,” helping inform the public about injustice, and started the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity, an organization that provided 12 houses in Franklin County before it dissolved in 2021.
To address a need within the community, Norma and Armin Klemme helped develop the first food pantry in Union, and she played a major role in organizing functions in the Franklin County Chapter of Church Women United, and still does to this day. She is also the leader of the Green Team, which provides information about climate change and ways to reduce it, at her church, Zion United Church of Christ, in Union.
“A person doesn’t join all these things because you think you’ll be awarded for it,” she said. “You just feel it’s important to be a part of this, because we have got to be a part of the answer or we’re going to be a part of the question.”
As an active member of Church World Service, Klemme began hosting a yearly fundraiser in 1991 called the “Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty (CROP) Hunger Walk,” a nationwide movement which strives to combat hunger and poverty around the world that she still walks in yearly. For the “CROP Hunger Walk,” participants collect donations, and then walk at least a mile on the day of the fundraiser.
In 2012, when Klemme turned 80, she pledged to walk a mile every day for 80 days for the “CROP Hunger Walk.”
“When I turned 80, I thought, I need to do something, and I didn’t want to jump out of an airplane, President (George H.W.) Bush did that,” she said.
Her goal was to raise $8,000, and the community responded by donating $19,000.
She made the same pledge when she turned 90 in 2022, walking a mile every day for 90 days, but also set aside part of the funds to be donated to Eden Theological Seminary, which was where Armin, his father, and his grandfather were all ordained.
Norma helped organize and raise money for the “CROP Hunger Walk” every year for over 30 years. The only time she missed the fundraiser was when she broke her leg in 2019.
Schaller Blaufuss said Eden commended Klemme for her creativity when fundraising for her 80th and 90th birthdays.
“At Eden we have been doing our honorary degrees related to our curriculum goals and how those get embodied,” Schaller Blaufuss said, “and so those curriculum goals are theological imagination, spiritual and vocational formation and social transformation. And so for Eden, that doctor of humane letters helps to embody those goals we have for our students and our programming.”
Before the commencement ceremony, the seminary faculty had a surprise for Norma and Armin Klemme, as the seminary, with the help of their four children — Esther, Elizabeth, Paul, and Phillip — had started a scholarship in their names. As of Friday, May 19, 2023 people had contributed to the scholarship, bringing the total to $12,500. Schaller Blaufuss said as of this week, the scholarship is open to public donations so that other friends and churches can honor the couple.
Next school year, a student from the seminary can apply to receive $500 from the Rev. Armin and Norma Klemme scholarship.
