Chuck & Mary Ann Knepfle

Chuck Knepfle, Elder Class of 1964, and his wife Mary Ann devoted their lives to Catholic education. Elder colleague and retired Latin and French teacher Roger Rosen described Chuck’s teaching career at Elder in the following way: “In 1969 Chuck Knepfle entered the teaching profession like a shot out of a cannon.  Armed with math and education degrees, log tables, slide rules, and a passion for learning and teaching, Chuck set out to make a differential – and a difference.”  Mary Ann also realized the importance of Catholic education through her dedicated work as Librarian at Elder and together this husband-and-wife team made an everlasting impact on the lives of so many young panthers.  

Roger added in his 2009 Pride article upon Chuck’s retirement, that Chuck knew how to bring math to life for his students. Over and above the math part of what Chuck did for Elder, Roger also commented that “He believed in the 1960s brand of truth and goodness that he heard John Denver and Peter, Paul, and Mary sing about.  And the wonderful thing is – he made you believe in it, too!”

In the fall of 2021, a group of Chuck’s former students decided that one long tenured/now retired teacher was missing from the list of those Elder faculty/staff members having a scholarship in their name.  Subsequently gifts were made to create a scholarship to honor the Knepfle team that contributed greatly to the past, present and future success of Elder’s mission for a combined 50+ years.