“Wesleyan gave so much to us and continues to today! Many of our closest friendships began there. Our successful careers were built on the foundation of our education at Wesleyan. We continue to meet and find common bonds with alumni of all generations from KWC – And now, our son is beginning his adult life walking those same halls.
“We give an unrestricted donation, so the monies can be used where deemed best at the time. They may just be paying for chocolate chip cookies!”
About Ed:
After considering a career in the Air Force, Ed chose to enroll at KWC after graduating from Daviess County High School in 1989. He was able to commute from home and follow in the footsteps of his dad, Howard Krahwinkel ’60. Ed majored in what was then known as computer science (now information technology) with a minor in accounting, and he graduated with B.S. in 1993.
He spent two years working as a staff member for the College in computer networking under Wayne Rogers before moving to Nashville, Tenn., to join Mail/Ship Technology as a sales/service associate. In 1998, he made a career move to law enforcement and held several positions in service to the Owensboro Police Department before retiring as lieutenant of Criminal Investigations in 2017. During this time, he earned a master of public administration from WKU and graduated from the FBI National Academy for police officers.
In 2018, his education and experience came full circle to his current career as a financial advisor with Edward Jones.
About Jodi:
Jodi Parks knew the KWC’s outstanding reputation for science and chose the College after an informal campus tour when she felt right at home in the small campus environment. After three years at KWC, she was accepted to Southern College of Optometry and earned her doctorate in 1996.
Ed and Jodi met in the spring of their freshman year after a men’s basketball game Ed attended with his Sigma Nu brothers wearing full-face purple paint! She likes to think it was love at first sight! They married in 1996 and are the proud parents of Owen (KWC ‘23) and Avery (age 15).
More from Jodi:
“Memories of our years at KWC are priceless! It’s where we met and fell in love and where we grew up. It’s where we learned to live independently with an extended family of friends and classmates and about how we learned to rely on these new networks.
“We were both active in Greek life (Kappa Delta and Sigma Nu). We both held off-campus jobs. I spent hours with my science cohorts on the second floor of the Administration Building with chemistry at one end, biology at the other and physics in the middle. Ed and I took physics together under Dean Ray Purdom.
“Dr. Purdom had to miss several class sessions, and I failed a test miserably (and when I say ‘fail,’ I mean it wasn’t an A). It shook me that I might not get into optometry school because of this crazy situation.
I’m not sure how I ended up in the Registrar’s office in tears, but Scott Kramer soothed my bruised ego and walked me down the hall to President Paul Hartman. He offered me chocolate chip cookies (Don’t they make everyone feel better?) and asked to see my homework.
President Hartmann made copies of all my work and sent me to my dorm. He proceeded to fax everything to Dr. Purdom, who was out of town. Dr. Purdom called my room and talked me through several problems until I felt better. It all seems ridiculous now – in fact it makes me tear up – but where else would so many teachers and administrators show such compassion and interest in my educational success?”