KFWW - Rudolph Fuchs 1930-1946

In 1930 Rudi began teaching at North Texas State Teachers College in Denton, specializing in weaving. At that time he began a partnership with Kenneth Willis Hunt, a fellow instructor. A few blocks from the college campus they shared a home called Kendolph Terrace, where they had an art studio. In the summer of 1938 Rudi traveled to Europe where he studied in Paris for several weeks. In August he went to England, where he took a two-weeks’ course in the School of Handweaving at Sussex. He then traveled in Germany and Sweden, studying the great weaving industry in the latter country. He returned to Denton in September.

In 1941 Kenneth and Rudi built a modern rammed earth studio. Kendolph Terrace and the new studio are long gone, but the name lives on. The street where they lived is called Kendolph Drive. The site of their home is now a McDonald’s and an IHOP restaurant stands on the site of the studio. Many pictures of Ken and Rudi and Kendolph Terrace can be found here.

The outbreak of World War II interrupted Rudi’s teaching at NTSTC. Both he and Kenneth served in the military during the war. Because of his family background and his fluency in German, he worked as a translator. Rudi was basically a very shy person, but his skill at the piano always drew a host of new friends around him. He was popular wherever he went.

I was born during the War, in December 1942. My parents received Christmas cards from both Rudi and Kenneth. When a nurse entered my mother’s room at the hospital requesting a name to put on the birth certificate, my mother reached into her purse and drew out a card: Kenneth Willis Hunt. Thus, I became Kenneth Willis Fuchs. One of my greatest treasures is a letter he wrote to me when I was a year old.