McConnell Center Celebrates Dr. John E. Kleber's Retirement
By Kara Beth Poe
Louisville, Ky. (October 2, 2025)
After over 20 years of service , McConnell Center Senior Fellow Dr. John E. Kleber has announced his retirement.
Kleber, a lifelong Louisvillian, graduated summa cum laude from Bellarmine University and received both his master's degree and PhD in history from the University of Kentucky. In 1968, Kleber was hired to teach history at Morehead State University, where he remained for 27 years. In that time, he served as Director of the Academic Honors Program (1973-1988) and received the Outstanding Teacher Award (1982) and Distinguished Researcher Award (1993). Kleber has received many other accolades, including the Outstanding Kentuckian Award (1992) and the Catholic Alumni Award (2002), conferred by the Archdiocese of Louisville. He was appointed a Senior Fellow of the McConnell Center in 2005. Kleber is the editor of six books: The Public Papers of Lawrence W. Wetherby (University Press of Kentucky, 1983); The Kentucky Encyclopedia (University Press of Kentucky, 1992); The Encyclopedia of Louisville (University Press of Kentucky, 2001); A Home for Children: The History of Brooklawn (Montage Publishing, 2001); The New History of Shelby County, Kentucky (Harmony House Publishers, 2003); and Thomas D. Clark of Kentucky: An Uncommon Life in the Commonwealth (University Press of Kentucky, 2003).
Dr. Kleber has played a pivotal role at the McConnell Center over the years; leading student seminars, guiding freshman Scholars on their annual trip to Frankfort, working with Center staff to plan Scholars' annual fall retreats, and organizing "Kamping with Kleber" trips around the Commonwealth.
"John Kleber was the heart and the Kentucky mind of the McConnell Center," said McConnell Center Director Dr. Gary Gregg. "He loves McConnell Scholars unequivocally and inspires us all to love and appreciate our Commonwealth all the more."
Many McConnell Scholars, both current students and alumni, have reached out to express their gratitude to Dr. Kleber for his lasting impact. Ben Whitlock (Class of 2015) wrote, "Dr. Kleber possesses that rare gift of seeing limitless potential in others and nurturing it steadily - a gift that has transformed not just individual lives, but entire ways of understanding what education and mentorship can be." Seth Pinson (Class of 2027) said, "Dr. Kleber has undoubtedly been one of the most influential professors throughout my college career. I am grateful to have learned from him and grown not just as a leader, but as a Kentuckian." Grant Avis (Class of 2026) shared, " [Dr. Kleber] has taught us to cherish our history, heritage, and home...He has been and will continue to be our teacher, mentor, friend, and exemplar."
When asked to comment on his retirement, Dr. Kleber shared the following letter entitled, "Act Two."
The novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, "There are no second acts in American lives." I beg to differ. My life has not been confined to a "single trajectory," and there was a second act. Act One was the 27 years I spent as professor and dean at Morehead State University. Act Two was the 20 years I spent as Senior Fellow at the McConnell Center. Its script goes back 60 years when I met a young and ambitious Mitch McConnell, and 25 years when I did the same with a gentle giant, Paul Weber, who introduced me to Gary Gregg. And with that, the curtain rose on Act Two when on March 18, 2005, Dr. Gregg offered me an office and title with the McConnell Center for Political Leadership. I readily accepted.
When the curtain rang down on Act Two at the annual McConnell Center retreat at General Butler State Park on August 5, 2025, I can honestly say in many ways it was better than Act One. Ostensibly, my part was to see that Kentucky history was included in the curriculum. In time, this morphed into other roles, so that at the end I helped plan and conduct annual retreats, took freshman Scholars to Frankfort, conducted oral history, read Scholar applications and participated in incoming Scholars' interviews, taught classes, took camping trips and occasional excursions around the state, and assisted in programs such as the Henry Clay project.
What made this act better were the many other participants, each one a cast member playing a role that made my job easier and enjoyable, so that when the curtain descended, they were not only colleagues but friends. It began with Gary Gregg, who worked to develop a script for me to follow. He was an able director, and we never had a disagreement. I soon learned to listen and take advice from Sherry Allen, whose long tenure helped my performance with good advice. In time she became something of a mentor as well as a friend. So many other staff names come to mind who assisted me in numerous ways to act my part. They reflected Paul's admonishment to the Thessalonians, "Continue encouraging each other and building each other up."
However, there was a much larger cast so special that I found it difficult to take the last curtain call. Those were the Scholars! Years prior to that final curtain I was given a wonderful retirement party, but it did not take. I hung on, occasionally stepping from the wings back onto the stage to continue performing some of my parts. If the metaphor holds true, the Scholars were my audience, and I simply could not tear myself away, for I loved all of them past and present. With coming age, I thought it important for them to have an older figure with whom to interact. Some even called me grandfather, and I liked that. However, when I saw myself approaching great-grandfather, I knew it was time to exit stage right.
I believe life has potential for endless reinventions, and so now I face Act Three. In time that act will be played out but at present I sit and muse on Act Two. Shakespeare said, "the play's the thing." For Hamlet, the play was the way to reveal a truth. For me, the truth is found in the good wishes expressed by those at my retirement and the many notes and letter I have since received. They reveal how my performance had some positive benefits, even on those who had to suffer through a visit to the Dr. Thomas Walker house. If you don't know what that means, please don't ask! I prefer to remember a starry night on Larry Cox's farm, singing "Simple Gifts," placating the Thinker with doughnuts, sitting on a wall high above the Kentucky River, and discussing "The Education of a Wandering Man," or Jacksonian Democracy, or the Age of Aquarius. Thanks to Allie Rose Phillips, I have many of those memories preserved in photographs. But in truth it is I who have benefited much more because of my interaction with Gary, Sherry and Terry, the staff, and Scholars. You made my life so much better, and I have loved each and every minute I spent with you on that stage called the McConnell Center . It kept me young and maybe that was the vanity of an actor causing me to hold on. All that said, it now seems too little to say my profound thanks and love to you all, but I say it. And with that, the curtain is down. Act Two is over. The reviews are in. It was one heck of a run!