Knopp, Cathy S. Theatrical Scholarship Fund

Donor Fund Story:

Cathy Knopp was born on a dairy farm in Eastern Ohio and raised in the Mennonite Church. She grew up with a brother and a sister. Her brother stayed on the family farm in Ohio, but Cathy had a bit of a wandering soul, so she decided to go to the flatlands of Indiana and attend Goshen College. She graduated from Goshen College in 1974 and made some lifetime friends there. In 1986, she graduated from Indiana University Fort Wayne Campus receiving her Master’s degree in Education.

Cathy spent a couple of years in Stratford Canada doing mission work for the church and working for a halfway house for teenagers in Stratford. It was during this time that her love of theatre and Shakespeare solidified.

Cathy was a loyal person and she always supported her church, her college, and the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. After her time in Stratford, she started teaching at Central Noble High School and taught there for 30 years. She was a member of the Indiana State Teachers Association, received recognition in Who’s Who of American Teachers in the United States, was a repeat winner of the “Teach to Reach Award”, and received many awards throughout her career in teaching.

Although she never got married, she used her mothering instinct on student after student over the years. She firmly believed in accepting every student for who they were and loving them for it. Cathy got her students to memorize Robert Frost’s “The Road Less Traveled” because it not only spoke to her, but it was also indicative of her life.

From politics to her classroom, Cathy’s life was infused by her religious background. She used her Christian beliefs to determine how to treat all those around her. Tony Howell, a fellow teacher at Central Noble, says, “…I have never in my life met anyone who tried so hard, or so consistently lived their life according to their religion.” Most Sundays, she would travel back to Goshen to attend College Mennonite Church, that she went to while she attended college.

Howell and Cathy started the Theater Program at Central Noble together. Cathy had always wanted to do this, but thought that she lacked the training. However, she introduced Howell and students to the Shakespeare Festival, and it was not uncommon for her to take three or four community members on different trips aimed at the different desires of each group.