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Longtime Concordia Nebraska supporters Paul H. and Mary Ann Koehler donate Steinway grand piano to music program

by Hope Nelson

Seward, NE (01/27/2025) — Paul H. and Mary Ann Koehler are longtime supporters of Concordia Nebraska. Paul, who graduated from Concordia High School with its final class in 1972, has been part of the Concordia community for 60 years. He and his wife, Mary Ann, both graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's (UNL) College of Business.

The Koehlers have always been drawn to providing financial support to Christ-centered education focusing on ethical practice and teaching the Gospel. In 2021, they provided Concordia Nebraska's business departmentwith the largest endowment gift in the history of the university at $2.5 million. In 2024, however, they extended their support to the music department by donating a Steinway grand piano, helping the university take another step in its journey toward becoming an all-Steinway school.

Paul's family moved to Seward in 1965 when his father, Vernon Koehler, was called to serve as a professor at the then-Concordia Teachers' College. Paul was just eleven when he began to attend St. John Lutheran School and take music lessons at Concordia. He practiced his harpsichord, piano and organ skills with Professors Bill Galen and Edmund Martens - the latter serving as the director of the acclaimed University A Cappella Choir for over two decades.

"I had access to all the instruments on campus, with my father being a professor," Koehler said. "My grade school teachers at the time found out that I was [taking lessons], and they asked me to accompany the students in my class in church." One such instrument was a harpsichord on which he played an arrangement of "Away in the Manger" at a Christmas concert.

In 2023, Senior Director of Development and Engagement Scott Seevers gave the Koehlers a tour of the newly-renovated Borland Center for Music and Theatre, where Paul saw the harpsichord that he'd played at St. John in his childhood. He recalled that his late mother, Elizabeth Koehler, had started him on piano lessons in St. Louis, Mo. when he was five years old.

After further discussion regarding the Steinway initiative, the Koehlers decided to gift Concordia Nebraska's music department a new Steinway grand piano in Elizabeth's honor. In November 2024, Dr. Kurt von Kampen, Dr. Elizabeth Grimpo, Vice President of Institutional Advancement Derek Engelbart and the Koehlers visited the Steinway factory in New York City, where Grimpo selected a piano.

"I realized what a difference it made, to have those music lessons when I was young. I wanted to do something to recognize my mother's contribution to that - getting me to take piano lessons from the beginning," Koehler said.

Paul's father passed away unexpectedly in 1967, and Paul stopped playing and taking music lessons at Concordia. However, he credits his music experiences early in life with influencing his later career aspirations. As a certified public accountant (CPA), he works with numbers and mathematics as well as business concepts.

"Music is math; music is numbers," he said. "I guess that influenced my ultimate decision to become a CPA as a profession - which I still practice now!"

It is also his profession that keeps him connected to the university's business department, where he occasionally visits classes to speak and offer students guidance regarding their future careers and aspirations in the realms of auditing and accounting. The Steinway is the Koehlers' first donation to the music department, but this is far from their first time supporting the university, having been generous supporters of its business department for several years.

"We believe in excellence in education," Koehler said. "In this case, of course, we want to give students the opportunity to perform on an excellent instrument...We certainly want students to be able not only to appreciate music more, but to have an opportunity to perform in an excellent environment."

He added that the people at Concordia Nebraska are what make the university a unique place for him and his wife to support.

"It's the unique individuals who teach and administer at Concordia Nebraska that we feel close to and enjoy supporting," he said.

The Koehlers' donated Steinway grand piano was featured in a recital that took place on December 18, 2024. Today, the piano is housed in the Borland Center for Music and Theatre, where it is available for student use and various performances.

About Concordia University, Nebraska

Concordia University, Nebraska, founded in 1894, is a fully accredited, coeducational university of The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod located in Seward, Nebraska, which currently serves more than 1,700 students. Concordia offers more than 100 undergraduate, graduate and professional programs in an excellent academic and Christ-centered community that equips men and women for lives of learning, service and leadership in the church and world. For more information, visit cune.edu.

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