Volume 4, Number 6 - Winter 1971
Dr. Rullkeotter, Drury Instructor and Author Dies
Springfield, Mo. Republican, April 6, 1919
MEMBER OF THE FACULTY FOR MORE THAN 20 YEARS
KNOWN AFFECTIONATELY AS "DR. BILLY" — WROTE SEVERAL BOOKS.
Dr. William Rullkoetter for nearly 20 years one of the most popular instructors of the Drury College faculty, known widely for his writings on social science as well as his instruction work in that subject, died yesterday afternoon at his home, 1205. Benton Ave. Dr. Rullkoetter has been in ill health for more than six years and for the last four or five years had been confined to his bed.
Dr. Rullkoetter known affectionately as "Dr. Billy" to thousands of students and friends, was called to the chair of history at Drury College in 1896 and remained a member of the faculty until 1913 when ill health forced him to resign. His work did not cease however with his retirement from active teaching, for while confined to his room and for the most part to his bed, he dictated a Medieval History, a New Interpretation of Wilhelm Tell, a Treatise on Faust, Impressions from Heine, and several other treatises of note.
The funeral will be held from the family residence at 9:45 o’clock Monday morning. The services will be conducted by the Rev. Seth H. Buell. The body will be shipped to Spencer, Ohio for burial. The following former students under Dr. Rullkoetter’s instructions will serve as pallbearers: Paul O’Day, Louis Rep, Judge Alfred Page, Sam M. Wear, Robert Wagstaff and Nels E. Anderson.
Dr. Rullkoetter in a remarkable way took hold upon those whom he instructed and influenced their lives mightily.
Insert: S. J. Vaughn writing for the American School Board Journal of Milwaukee has given the following sketch of Dr. Rullkoetter’s life:
"His great motives were contagious and his fine philosophy of life became the dominant note in the lives of his students. A prominent business man said a short time ago--'I had the good fortune to have some great teachers in college and university, but somehow what Dr. Billy said stays with me. He gave me a method of thinking. He enabled me to see myself in vital and significant relationships which while they seem to remove the emphasis from the individual, they nevertheless by the very fact of socializing him, make him vastly more important. I find myself thinking his thoughts and gauging my theories and my conduct by his philosophy."
Dr. Rullkoetter was born June 26, 1864 in Oberbauerschaft Kreis Lubecke, Westfalen, Germany. Of this he says: "The first fortunate event of my life was my birth; fortunate because it happened on Sunday and Sunday children are children of fortune. Most fortunate are those born during divine service in the morning from 10 to 12, for they can have visions and foretell the future. I have had visions, but the future has always remained a matter of faith and hope all because I was born somewhere in the afternoon of that long summer day."
The father and mother were of peasant laboring class, hence the son could hardly have hoped to go beyond the village school which he completed with such brillancy that he was urged to continue his education. Refusing to be educated by charity, as he puts it, he went to work as a day laborer.
At the age of 18, young Rullkoetter came to this country and began to work as a farm laborer. After working five years in Ohio and Nebraska at from $12 to $18 per month and saving $900, he decided to enter the freshman year of the Academy of Hastings Nebraska College. Of this be says: "Since I had not been inside of a schoolhouse for 8 years and never inside of an English school, it was a struggle in the dark; but gradually there came intermittent rays of light and finally daybreak."
At the age of 27 therefore he completed the academy and entered Hastings College, where he remained to the completion of the junior year, taking high rank in all of his work. Entering the University of Chicago, he graduated in 1893. His thesis on ‘The Position of Women Among the Early Germans’ was published and became an authoritative work on this interesting phase of German history. Having received a Fellowship in History, he did post-graduate work for two years, and in the fall of 1896 was called to the Chair of History at Drury College. By work during the summer quarters Mr. Rullkoetter received the
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reward of his ambition the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in 1899. He was married the same year.
While at the University of Chicago, Dr. R. was an earnest student and ardent admirer of the great historian, Von Hoist. Following his own inclinations and under this inspiration, his mind naturally turned to the great social, political and moral problems of the day in the light of an exhaustive knowledge of history and economics. In his capacity as one of the leaders of thought in municipal affairs, he was persistent and unyielding in his opposition to petty politics and corporate greed.
Many years ago I heard him say repeatedly, ‘The next quarter of a century must face and solve the problem of industrialism. The forces of education and society must take cognizance of the conditions, problems and hideous wrongs which the growth of monoploized industry has forced upon the helpless and dependent. It will probably be settled by those forces bringing about an orderly, readjusting evolution: if not in this manner then by a bloodletting revolution.’
Dr. R. was the first man I ever heard use the term ‘social consciousness’. His was the first influence on me personally, looking toward education for efficiency, freedom and happiness of those who must toil with their hands. His words rang in our ears, ‘It must come and it is the business of the men and women of the next quarter century to bring it about’. In the light of what has taken place along these lines in recent years, these words seem almost prophetic.
In the matter of social consciousness he has lived and still lives far in advance of his day. His life every day exemplifies his fine philosophy and broad and kindly service and the ‘fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man.
"While this remarkable man has been connected with Drury college, he has been offered more lucrative positions, always declining them in the love for the college and in the belief that in this field he could give his best service."
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