College of Nursing Award Recipients
Friends of the College of Nursing Award
WILLIAM A. KLUG, ENG '59, and
CAROL A. KLUG
Rubicon, Wis.
Bill and Carol Klug have been married for 51 years. Bill says Carol is the most influential person in his life, and Carol says Bill is the most influential person in her life. This dynamic duo has, in turn, influenced the lives of so many others.
In addition to nurturing and raising six children, the Klugs have been strong supporters of the Catholic church — Bill spent 10 years in the seminary — and the community. They also have a long-standing relationship with Marquette, where Bill earned his bachelor of science in engineering. But the Marquette connection doesn’t end there. After the Klugs tended to Bill’s dying aunt and attended the dedication of the VNA Zilber Family Hospice, they were moved to establish the College of Nursing’s Ann Rehberg End of Life Care Scholarship Fund, which trains nurses in palliative care. The Klugs also established the Klug Family Scholarship Fund in the College of Engineering and continue to support many other initiatives in it.
Neither Carol nor Bill received scholarship support when in college, but each realizes how costly higher education is.
“In the late 1950s, tuition was low, and I lived at home with my parents. Carol also commuted to Mount Mary College,” he says.
Professionally, Bill worked as a design engineer at Chrysler and as an advanced manufacturing engineer, vice president, executive vice president and head of international operations at Trane Co. Carol made a career of raising the couple’s children and caring for her grandchildren and others in need.
Today, the Klugs are enjoying their retirement and grandchildren and continue to seek ways to be the Marquette difference in their daily lives.
Fun fact: Bill’s most memorable Marquette classes were in calculus. Interestingly, he struggled through them — but claims he never had to use calculus in his career.
