November 25, 2024

Claire Kondig

Eisenhower, the Boy From Kansas

Club Treasurer Claire will tell the story of how Dwight David Eisenhower grew from boyhood in Abiline, Kansas, to manhood at West Point. Her presentation will include a survey of how he rose through the ranks between World War I and World War II to become the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe and, in 1952, the President of the United States. Claire says that her talk is not a hagiography but, rather, will focus on Eisenhower’s background, interests, lessons learned, people and forces that shaped him, and how, throughout his life, he remained at heart “the boy from Abilene.”

Presenter

Long-serving Club Treasurer Claire Ward Kondig moved to Frederick in 1965 following graduation from Mount Union College, Ohio, where she majored in History and English. Claire took her Master’s Degree from Hood College and studied educational administration at the University of Maryland.

During her 40-year career with Frederick County Public Schools, she taught English at West Frederick Junior High School and Brunswick Middle School, then climbed the ranks as Administrative Intern at Gov. Thomas Johnson High School, Assistant Principal at Thurmont Middle School, Principal there for 17 years, then as Secondary Coordinator of Hood College's Professional Development School Program.

Claire is a member of the Frederick Art Club, League of Women Voters, Torch Club of Frederick and the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Frederick. An avid reader, she is active in three book clubs. She and her husband John have been married for 57 years and have one son.