This speech was given by Dr. Ludvig Hektoen at the memorial program given in honor of Dr. V. Koren.

"I am glad of this opportunity to say a few simple words in honor of the memory of Dr. Koren on behalf of the Luther College Club of Chicago. In common with all who came under his influence, we owe to him much more than I can hope to make clear; and, upon us Luther College students rests a special debt of gratitude. It is quite out of the question to attempt anything like an analysis or an estimation of the lifework of this great pioneer and leader. He was, as we know well, a man of unusual qualities, influence, and power, and a man whose name will live in honor and glory in the history of our church and of our people in this country. It is merely something of the general impression that he left on the students of Luther College, all of whom had come 2under his influence to a greater or lesser extent ever since the College was founded, and who must form the theme of my small effort. And, it seems to me that in the main the only safe guide to follow are may own recollections and impressions of him in this relation.

"In my day, he was a rather frequent visitor at the College, especially when there were important public gatherings at which he often spoke, always with great seriousness and deep effect. I believe that every student soon came to look on him as having a very special and deep interest in the institution, and as exercising, so it seemed to some of us, in a rather obscure and subtle way a definite advisory and even supervisory function over both the students and the faculty. How clearly one may recall the well-known, slender, graceful, and impressive figure; the keen and lively eyes; the fine, mobile features; the playful smile; the interesting little mannerisms; the invariable scrupulous neatness of his personal appearance; and the velvet vest which did not escape observation and comment. "Gamle Koren" [Old Koren] as we youngsters familiarly, 3but by no means and in no sense irreverently, called him among ourselves was a striking and noble figure fixed forever as a distinct and prominent feature in the scenes of Luther College life for nearly half a century. Brief though his visits were, and briefer still the occasional moments of personal contact, yet he exercised on us an everlasting and deep influence, the full value and meaning of which most students probably could not make clear even to themselves. Perhaps they could not understand [his influence] fully, until long after they had passed out of the College, and perchance had had the good fortune to come in contact with him again under widely different circumstances. In a large measure his influence was more or less indirect, coming to us through teachers and others who received impulses and inspiration from him, but I shall not enlarge upon this very significant phase of his relations with the students. It is his direct influence on us, his gifted, forceful, intellectual, yet deeply religious, personality that I wish to emphasize. The peculiar charm of that rare and genuine culture was not without its profound effect on us. His words carried unusual weight because they at once revealed a man 4holding the highest ideals and determined to continue his lofty purposes.

"'His eye was single and therefore his whole body was full of light.' His informal talks--especially his talks about his early experiences--deserve to be mentioned. Here he told of his school and student days in Norway, of the influences that acted upon him, of his resolve to 'go out into the world to work,' and of how he carried his resolution into effect during the first few years here. He described in vivid style and with touches of humor the long journey, the crossing of the Wisconsin River in a canoe with his wife amid drifting ice, and the crossing of the Mississippi at Prairie du Chien where he pulled his wife across on the ice in a buggy. He sketched their early days in the log huts of the pioneer Norwegian farmers, to whom he paid a very warm tribute, and the first toilsome efforts of the long pastorate that was to continue until he died. Fortunately, he has told this story again in print [Dr. V. Koren, Reminiscence of Youth, From My Early Days in America], 5and though it is merely a fragment of the story of his life, it makes a deep impression and will help to preserve his influence among us.

"Luther College men feel grateful beyond words for the great good of his influence and for his large contribution to the upbuilding and continuance of the best part of the College, namely, its spirit, out of which grew the ideals of life which its students carry away with them from its halls into the world."