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Twin brothers David A. Wiebe (center) and Paul D. Wiebe, (right) receive the Alumni Merit Award from Tabor College President Jules Glanzer (left) during homecoming festivities earlier this month. |
Twin brothers David A. Wiebe and Paul D. Wiebe received the Alumni Merit Award from Tabor College during homecoming festivities this past weekend.
The Alumni Merit Award is given each year to Tabor College graduates who bring honor and distinction to the school.
In presenting the award, Tabor President Jules Glanzer said, ?As their mother would say, ?Twins may be double the trouble, but they also bring double the joy.??
The twins grew up in India, the sons of John A. and Viola Wiebe, who were missionaries from the Carson Mennonite Brethren Church, namesake of the Carson Center for Mission Service and Global Education at Tabor College.
?How appropriate that tonight we honor David and Paul Wiebe for their lives of mission, service and global education,? Glanzer said. ?Interestingly, when I contacted each of them about this award, both of them immediately responded by saying, ?You need to give this award to my brother.??
David A. Wiebe graduated from Tabor in 1960 with a bachelor?s degree in chemistry and biology. He graduated from KU Medical School in 1964. Following that, he did an internship and a year of general surgery training at Gorgas Hospital in the Panama Canal Zone.
He and his family then went to India for two years through the Mennonite Brethren missions agency. He later practiced general medicine in Colorado for two years, then took orthopedic training at Gorgas Hospital.
He began a practice in 1973 as an orthopedic surgeon with a sub-specialty in hand surgery in Kearney, Neb., retiring in 2007.
He took frequent overseas short-term medical assignments to train surgeons in developing countries and mission hospitals in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Congo and Uganda.
He serves on several boards, including the Tabor College Board of Directors.
He and wife Lorma (Kroeker) have three children and five grandchildren.
Paul D. Wiebe attended Tabor College from 1956-1960, graduating with a bachelor?s in mathematics. After graduation, he was a high school teacher at Eden Christian College in Ontario, Canada, from 1960-61.
After his marriage to Donna Beth Kliewer in 1961, he became an administrator at El Faro School in Mission, Texas, for a year. In 1962, the couple were blessed as parents to twins.
Paul D. Wiebe served as a part-time minister to two churches near Valley Falls while attending graduate school at the University of Kansas, where he earned his doctorate in sociology in 1969.
From 1966-1987 he held various university and college positions and was involved in research, writing and consulting in conjunction with universities, colleges and programs in the United States, India, Malaysia and East Africa.
From 1987-2001, he served as head of the Kodaikanal International School in India.
Paul and Donna reside in Coralville, Iowa. He is involved with various writing projects and serves as an adjunct professor to Tabor College and Mennonite Brethren Centenary Bible College in Shamshabad, India.
