If you’ve ever attended an art show at the gallery that bears her name, stepped foot inside one of the many buildings on campus she helped to finance, or benefited from her endowed scholarship fund, you’re likely already familiar with the name Dr. Margaret Martin Gehman. What you might be less familiar with is the legacy of generosity and selfless service she embodied at 91����Ƶ.

Gehman received a two-year degree from 91����Ƶ in 1942 and joined the faculty in 1944; she taught art and physical education classes until her retirement in 1987. The professor emerita taught a watercolor class through 1996 and served regularly as a volunteer on campus and with other local organizations. She was among 91����Ƶ’s most generous philanthropists, establishing an endowed scholarship fund as well as program endowments for athletics, the humanities and special buildings on campus. In 2005, she became the first recipient of the eponymous “91����Ƶ Philanthropist of the Year” award. She died in August 2019 at age 97. 

Nearly a half-dozen years after her passing, Gehman’s boundless generosity continues to flourish and shape lives at 91����Ƶ. A recent $400,000 gift from her estate will bolster the Margaret Martin Gehman Endowed Scholarship Fund, which provides general financial aid to undergraduate students. The gift increases the endowment fund to more than $500,000, which is expected to generate about $25,000 in direct financial aid each year.

While the fund previously supported one to two students each year, it can now benefit at least five students annually, according to Kirk Shisler ’81, vice president for advancement. “Margaret loved 91����Ƶ,” he said. “She maintained continuous loyalty and appreciation for the students, alumni, many of whom remained her friends, and the strong sense of community she enjoyed throughout her many years here.”

As one example of her love for 91����Ƶ, look no further than the time she donated her beloved 1967 blue Volkswagen Beetle in 2010 to support student scholarships. “91����Ƶ has been good to me over the years, and this is another way I can express my appreciation,” she said in an article about the donation. 

Shisler said the latest gift from her estate brings Gehman’s total contributions to 91����Ƶ to just under $2 million. “This puts an exclamation point on her many decades of support,” he said.

In a 2012 article celebrating her 90th birthday, Gehman credited her parents with “teaching the value of a lifestyle of simplicity and generosity.” “The Lord … has blessed me with the ability to serve and the opportunity to share with others,” she said. 

For much of her time at 91����Ƶ, Gehman was affectionately known as “Speedy.” A student had bestowed the nickname on her, not only for introducing the game of speedball to campus but also for her energy, athleticism, and swiftness. “She would dash across campus between classes,” Shisler said. “She would practically run from one place to another.”

Even in her later years, the speed never left her. Braydon Hoover ’11, MAOL ’21, vice president for enrollment and long-time advancement professional at 91����Ƶ, recalled watching his wife, Heidi Hoover ’10, escort Gehman to the art gallery named after her. “I will never forget the image of ‘Speedy,’ at 94 years old, taking off down the hallway with my dear spouse having to jog to keep up with her, walker and all,” he said. Hoover, like many on 91����Ƶ’s advancement team, also knew the longtime donor by another name: “Saint Margaret.”

One lesser-known detail about “Saint Margaret” was her love for lending money to people and organizations in need. On several occasions, Shisler said, she loaned money to 91����Ƶ to fund certain projects. “Sometimes, she would turn around and forgive those loans, converting them into outright gifts,” he added.

The fleet-footed philanthropist was a trailblazer, ahead of her time in many ways, as her nickname might suggest. She was among the first women graduates of 91����Ƶ to earn a doctorate, receiving hers in art education from George Peabody College (now part of Vanderbilt University) in 1962. Despite her plain dress and head covering, which may have given the impression that she was conservative, Gehman “flowed with the times,” according to Shisler. “Her loyalty to 91����Ƶ never wavered, even through periods of change and various cultural headwinds,” he said.

91����Ƶ President Dr. Susan Schultz Huxman described Gehman as “one of the most interesting, engaging, joyful and nonconformist” donors she’s ever met. Former 91����Ƶ President Dr. Loren Swartzendruber has praised Gehman for her “incredible gift for frugality and generosity, a rare blend that you do not typically find.”

It was this frugality that became the stuff of legend. Today, those on campus who were lucky enough to have known her exchange stories of her resourcefulness and ingenuity with a smile. Gehman was known to keep her lights off as long as possible to save electricity. In the evenings, as the sunlight faded, passersby could spot her silhouette in the window, leaning toward the nearest streetlamp with a book in her hands to get enough light for reading. 

Your generous support helps students pursue a quality college education without financial barriers. Join us for the 9th annual Lov91����Ƶ Giving Day and contribute to the scholarships that empower future 91����Ƶ students. Together, we can help write 91����Ƶ’s next chapter. 

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It’s hard for Kaleb Wyse ’10 to pinpoint exactly what drew him to 91����Ƶ.

Sure, he had plenty of connections to the school. His older sister and two cousins are 91����Ƶ alumni. A graduate of Iowa Mennonite School (now known as Hillcrest Academy), Wyse said he isn’t sure what it was about 91����Ƶ. He just liked it more than the other schools he visited.

“I felt more at home at 91����Ƶ than anywhere else,” he said. “It just felt like the right campus for me.”

Wyse is a content creator who shares delicious recipes, gardening tips and home decor projects with more than a million followers through his , and various social media platforms, all under the “Wyse Guide” handle. The culinary entrepreneur majored in accounting and business administration at 91����Ƶ, where he gained the skills needed to build his brand. It’s also where he met his business partner and college friend, Joel Kratzer ’10.

The two 91����Ƶ grads launched their passion project in 2012. They maintained the website as a “night and weekend thing,” Wyse said, while working regular jobs. 91����Ƶ seven years into their venture, the site started to take off. Wyse said he shifted in his approach, serving up more authentic content with stories personal to his life. “Then, when COVID hit,” he added, “everyone was looking for help with gardening, preserving, and cooking or baking at home.” Wyse and Kratzer began working on the site full time in 2021. Today, their multimedia company is comprised of a team of six.

Wyse said his time at 91����Ƶ taught him to be more open and honest with others. He pointed to his intercultural program, a three-week voyage to Greece and Turkey led by Dr. Linford Stutzman ’84, SEM ’90, as a pivotal experience. Packed into close quarters with other students he didn’t know well, Wyse found that the trip offered him a crash course in forming new connections. “That trip is something I think about a lot,” he said. 

91����Ƶ’s small class sizes helped him thrive as a student. “I could walk into my professors’ offices and talk to them instead of a teaching assistant,” Wyse said. “I’m someone who needs personal connection and having that at 91����Ƶ really supported me. I didn’t feel like I was just a number.”

Another advantage of attending 91����Ƶ is the wealth of scholarships accessible to students. Wyse received the Horace & Elizabeth Longacre Business Scholarship during his four years as a Royal. He remembers writing thank-you cards to the Longacre family and feeling a personal connection to them through the award, which is named in honor of a philanthropic couple from southeastern Pennsylvania who were staunch supporters of 91����Ƶ. 

“The fact that someone believed it was important for me to receive a good education at a great school was both impactful and humbling,” Wyse said.

His debut cookbook, There’s Always Room at the Table, is now a New York Times’ bestseller. The collection of recipes and stories was published by HarperCollins earlier this month and is at online retailers.

This isn’t the first time 91����Ƶ News has covered his exploits. Wyse landed a one-day cohosting gig on The Rachael Ray Show in 2015. In 2021, he returned to campus during 91����Ƶ Homecoming and Family Weekend as a featured speaker for the annual TenTalks event.

Wyse is the fourth generation to live on his family farm in southeast Iowa. Follow him at:

Your generous support helps students pursue a quality college education without financial barriers. Join us for the 9th annual Lov91����Ƶ Giving Day and contribute to the scholarships that empower future 91����Ƶ students. Together, we can help write 91����Ƶ’s next chapter. 

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Trina Trotter Nussbaum ’00, MA ’17 will never forget the first time she saw the view from the Campus Center balcony. Standing on the balcony overlooking the Front Lawn and gazing east toward the Blue Ridge Mountains, the then-first-year student recalled telling a friend: “I don’t know what I’m going to study, but I know this is where I need to be. This is my place.”

“All it took was one look at those mountains, and they seemed to tell me, ‘You belong here,’” Trotter Nussbaum said. 

That was nearly 30 years ago. Today, Trotter Nussbaum is the new director of the Center for Interfaith Engagement, a position she’s held since Jan. 1. She still feels that same sense of belonging at 91����Ƶ and works to ensure others on campus feel it too. Through her role at CIE, she celebrates and supports students, faculty and staff from a wide range of faith traditions and backgrounds. 

It was a long road that led her to 91����Ƶ. After graduating from high school in North Lima, Ohio, Trotter Nussbaum, who was raised Mennonite, moved to Pittsburgh and completed travel agency school. She gradually learned that it wasn’t the career for her. Returning home to Ohio, she ran into a childhood friend about to graduate from 91����Ƶ who told her, “You should give 91����Ƶ a try.” It was just the push she needed. 

Trotter Nussbaum arrived on campus in the fall of 1995 as a 22-year-old first-year English major. She was older than the others in her Northlawn dorm, but she saw that as a blessing. “It helped me settle down and figure out what I wanted to do.”

That turned out to be theater. Trotter Nussbaum credits 91����Ƶ’s theater program with recognizing her strengths as a performer and teaching her invaluable listening and improv skills. During the second semester of her junior year, she added a psychology major. Though it delayed her graduation by another year, she said it ended up being one of the best decisions she ever made. “I might not be acting or counseling right now, but I draw on those skills every day,” Trotter Nussbaum said. She graduated in 2000 with bachelor’s degrees in theater and psychology, along with a minor in justice, peace and conflict studies. She said professors in her justice and theology classes challenged her faith with love and grace, ultimately strengthening it and shaping her into the faith-based peacebuilder she is today.

After a decade spent working at nonprofits and government agencies, Trotter Nussbaum returned to 91����Ƶ in 2013 as associate director of CIE. Fueled by formative experiences during a 1998 intercultural trip to Ireland and Northern Ireland, she began pursuing a master’s degree in conflict transformation at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. It took her another five years to complete the two-year program while working at CIE and raising two children. In 2017, she earned her MA.

Ever the lifelong learner, Trotter Nussbaum continues to seek out further education. She’s working toward earning MDiv equivalency so that she can enroll in the new Doctor of Ministry program at Eastern Mennonite Seminary. 

Over the years, she’s received numerous scholarships as a student. She said those scholarships, as well as 91����Ƶ’s tuition benefits for employees, made it possible for her to continue her studies. “I love how 91����Ƶ encourages its employees to take the classes they want to take,” she said. “The ability to take classes, even one at a time, for almost free is such a blessing.”

Trotter Nussbaum and her husband, Brian Nussbaum ’00, live in Harrisonburg with their two children. Her brother, Travis Trotter ’99, serves as university registrar for 91����Ƶ.

Your generous support helps students like Trotter Nussbaum pursue a quality college education without financial barriers. Join us for the 9th annual Lov91����Ƶ Giving Day and contribute to the scholarships that empower future 91����Ƶ students. Together, we can help write 91����Ƶ’s next chapter.

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Makinto has pretty much done it all. The Liberian-German musician, storyteller, educator, worship leader, Mennonite pastor, activist—honestly, there are too many descriptors for him to name here—has played piano for Pope John Paul II at the Vatican and for Nelson Mandela in Germany. He’s traveled the world extensively, performing at venues such as Madison Square Garden in New York, the Sydney Opera House in Australia, and for a crowd of 200,000 at Brazil’s largest soccer stadium. His humanitarian work in Africa and recognition as an international recording artist earned him the title of Goodwill Ambassador for Peace and Development for an of the United Nations. 

Just about the only thing he hasn’t done is attend a four-year college. He simply never had time for it during his four decades as a global performer. Thanks to the flexibility of 91����Ƶ’s online and hybrid courses as well as the generosity of donors through the seminary scholarship, can now check that item off his list. 

The single-named polymath is a second-semester graduate student at Eastern Mennonite Seminary, pursuing a master’s degree in Christian leadership. His wife, Mukarabe, first pulled him into the orbit of 91����Ƶ, enrolling at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at the start of last year. 

“It would be impossible for us to finance two degrees if it weren’t for the largesse of the donors through the seminary scholarship,” Makinto said. “We’re very grateful for that.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, he earned a two-year associate’s degree. Along with his 15 years as a pastor, he had enough equivalent experience to enroll at the seminary. “It’s great that I’m able to participate in a master’s program based not just on academic history but also on life history,” he said.

One of his earliest impressions of 91����Ƶ came during a visit to campus in November 2023 for the annual Music Gala Concert. Makinto, the featured performer of the night, put on a dazzling show as he played the djembe, kalimba, flute and piano. That evening, after touring the campus and meeting a great number of people, Makinto said he and his wife “resonated really well with 91����Ƶ.”

“We felt at home here,” said Makinto. “Everyone felt like family.”

The couple, who immigrated to the U.S. in 1999, lead , a nonprofit dedicated to giving hope and restoring dignity to Burundian refugees and equipping them to participate in the transformation of African communities. The word “Amahoro” comes from the Kirundi (Burundian) expression for peace that conveys blessings, well-being and fullness of life. The organization is a Conference-Related Ministry of Mosaic Mennonite Conference.

Makinto said that he’s working on bringing an initiative called “Amahoro Drumming for Peace” to 91����Ƶ. The program would bring people from diverse backgrounds together to make music and reflect on community.

He said that he’s excited to become part of 91����Ƶ’s global network of partners and alumni to contribute to and collaborate on peace initiatives. “We can build something together,” he said.

Makinto and Mukarabe live in Harrisonburg with their son Joël, the youngest of their six children. Makinto can often be found at Martin Chapel on Tuesday mornings leading worship music with a bright smile and joyful spirit. He will perform as a guest artist at Love, Joy & Peace: A Choral Celebration! on Friday, March 14, at Lehman Auditorium. The concert will bring together three choirs and showcase a piano collaboration between Makinto and Dr. David Berry, director of the music program at 91����Ƶ. 

Your generous support helps students like Makinto pursue a quality college education without financial barriers. Join us for the 9th annual Lov91����Ƶ Giving Day and contribute to the scholarships that empower future 91����Ƶ students. Together, we can help write 91����Ƶ’s next chapter. 

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Olivia Beiler ’23 got an early start in nursing.

At an age when most kids dread the sight of needles, the eight-year-old from Chester County in Southeastern Pennsylvania was giving out flu shots. Every year around Thanksgiving, her grandfather, the late Dr. John Rutt ’59, would immunize their whole family and offer his arm to her for practice.

“Whenever he would give me a flu shot, I would give him one, too,” she said. “It became a yearly tradition.”

Beiler, now a registered nurse at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center’s Pauley Heart Center, is following in the footsteps of her beloved grandfather. At the Richmond-based hospital, she cares for patients with a wide range of cardiovascular concerns, from those recovering from heart transplant surgery to those with arrhythmias.

She said 91����Ƶ’s nationally-accredited nursing program, aided by its small class sizes, prepared her well by giving her experience in all kinds of clinical settings, including in an OB/GYN unit, an operating room, and alongside a nurse anesthetist in a dentist’s office. That’s something that isn’t done at many larger nursing schools.

“91����Ƶ’s amazing nursing program encouraged us to immerse ourselves in our experiences and do as much as we could,” Beiler said. “91����Ƶ boosted my confidence in working with patients and helped me to understand the different roles within nursing.”

Last summer, at the end of her first year on the job, Beiler was recognized for her commitment to care with the New Grad of the Year Award for Nursing Excellence, voted on by the nurses and care techs in her unit. “That was a huge honor,” she said. “It was very affirming in the work I’m doing.”

Before arriving on campus in 2019, Beiler knew all about 91����Ƶ. In addition to her grandfather, her grandmother, Rebecca Hartzler Rutt ’59 (a niece of the library’s namesake, Sadie Hartzler), graduated from Eastern Mennonite. But, having grown up Mennonite and attending Lancaster Mennonite School, her mind was set on studying elsewhere. “I’m going to do something different,” she recalled thinking.

Ultimately, 91����Ƶ’s nursing program proved too promising to ignore. She had been searching for a school with smaller class sizes and hands-on experience that wasn’t ultra-competitive like some other programs. “I knew how amazing the program was,” she said. “It felt like the right decision, and once I made that choice, I felt at peace, knowing 91����Ƶ was 100 percent where I was supposed to be.”

Beiler said that receiving the 91����Ƶ Academic Achievement Scholarship also helped seal her decision to come to 91����Ƶ. It’s scholarships like this one and the financial aid packages given to 100 percent of undergraduate 91����Ƶ students that empower them to pursue a quality college education without financial barriers. “Being able to go to a university where you’re able to get that financial support right off the bat allows you to be more integrated in your program and definitely helps with some of that financial stress,” Beiler said.

Recently, she has taken a nursing student under her wing through VCU’s preceptorship program. She said she’s excited to teach her student all the lessons she learned as a young RN and share her passion for nursing. “I’ve always been someone who loves to care for people,” she said.

Your generous support helps students like Beiler pursue a quality college education without financial barriers. Join us for the 9th annual Lov91����Ƶ Giving Day and contribute to the scholarships that empower future 91����Ƶ students. Together, we can help write 91����Ƶ’s next chapter.

Read the previous profiles in our A Royal Tale series:

As a native of Waterloo, Ontario, 91����Ƶ sophomore Willem Hedrick ’27 often hears the same question: “Why would you choose to attend a university in the U.S. when tuition is so much cheaper in Canada?” people ask him. 

The answer is that 91����Ƶ isn’t just any university. Its unparalleled emphasis on academic excellence, peace & justice, and active faith was the unique blend of values that Hedrick was looking for in a school. 91����Ƶ’s robust Visual and Communication Arts (VACA) department, its small class sizes and personalized approach to hands-on learning, its strong sense of community—not to mention its top-flight disc golf team—made 91����Ƶ more than just a place for him to continue his learning; it was the only place.

“91����Ƶ was the only school I applied to,” said Hedrick, who is majoring in digital media with a minor in marketing. “I didn’t look anywhere else.”

From a young age, Hedrick discovered a way to combine his love of video games with a passion for making videos. The 11-year-old would record himself playing Minecraft on his computer and upload the videos to YouTube. He still does that, but now on a much grander scale. Today, his channel boasts more than eight million subscribers (for reference, the YouTube channel for the Red Hot Chili Peppers has 8.1 million subscribers), which is part of the 15 million followers who watch his content across various platforms. 

Hedrick said his digital media classes at 91����Ƶ have taught him new skills, including how to shoot documentary films, record better audio, and use proper lighting techniques. Last semester, through a weekend workshop at 91����Ƶ, he became a certified commercial drone pilot. It’s something, he said, he’s wanted to do “for the longest time.”

“Being in a classroom, having a professor there to give me feedback, and having projects to hold me accountable has been so helpful,” he said.

Outside of the classroom, Hedrick found a sense of belonging on the disc golf course. He was a member of last year’s squad that competed at nationals and will return with the team to Rock Hill, South Carolina, this year as it competes at the 2025 College Disc Golf National Championship in April.

Hedrick, who was raised Mennonite, had considered taking a gap year after graduating from high school (Rockway Mennonite Collegiate) to devote more time to his video projects. It wasn’t until his parents, 91����Ƶ grads Tim and Janice ’94, suggested he take a look at their alma mater that he thought seriously about higher education. 91����Ƶ awarded him the President’s Scholarship, which has significantly helped bring his college costs down. It’s not quite to the same level as the cost of college in Canada, but it’s close enough.

“It definitely made my decision to come here much easier,” Hedrick said about his scholarships. (He is also a VACA scholarship recipient.)

Your generous support helps students like Hedrick pursue a quality college education without financial barriers. Join us for the 9th annual Lov91����Ƶ Giving Day and contribute to the scholarships that empower future 91����Ƶ students. Together, we can help write 91����Ƶ’s next chapter.