July 31 Today in OPC History

On this date in 1995, Ali Knudsen retired as secretary for the Committee on Christian Education. Part of her work was done as the production assistant for New Horizons, and after her retirement she continued to serve as proofreader for the magazine for many years. She handled the bookkeeping of the Committee for many years, and helped to put it on a sound financial footing.

Ali retired a few months after the retirement of her husband, Prof. Robert D. Knudsen of Westminster Theological Seminary. Unfortunately, their retirement plans were cut short by Bob’s death in 2000, following a stroke the year before. Bob had met Ali (Mulder) while he was pursuing doctoral work at the Free University of Amsterdam. They married on February 13, 1951, and had four boys: Donald, Timothy (deceased), Richard, and Steven.

Ali began her service as Christian Education secretary on January 15, 1980, having been hired by the new general secretary, Roger Schmurr. She continued on when Tom Tyson became general secretary in 1989 (after Ed Kellogg, Roger’s father-in-law, served as interim general secretary for a few months).

Ali died and went to be with the Lord on March 25, 2016.

Editor’s note: Today’s entry was written by Dr. James Scott, Ali’s co-worker in the Christian Education department.

Picture: Ali Knudsen and Roger Schmurr in the mid-1980s.