The Sun Room of the Memorial Union was full of Elmer Klemke’s friends, relatives, colleagues and students as he told his life story Sunday afternoon.

Internationally known scholar, benefactor and author or editor of 22 books, Klemke, professor of philosophy, spoke about life, including his birth in St. Paul, Minn., and his views on how his life has been meaningful and worthwhile.

“My earliest memories consist of five areas: reading, music, nature, wondering and pain,” Klemke said.

As a child, Klemke recalled being very intrigued by the world’s aesthetics and the workings of nature. He also had a great appreciation for God.

“I was moved by the beauty of nature — the way ice formulates designs on windows, mountains, lakes and rainbows,” he said.

He was enthralled with baffling questions: “Does time go backward? … Was there a beginning? … Is there an end to space, and if there is, what lies beyond that?”

Klemke later learned that these questions were called philosophical problems.

“Why did I choose philosophy?” Klemke asked. “It chose me. This is about the only field where you can say it chose you. I was so enticed with the nature of problems.”

Klemke dealt with concrete problems as well as philosophical ones. He spent a lot of time in hospital beds due to a congenial digestive disorder and suffered more by the hand of his abusive father.

“I have few positive recollections at home. As a child, I found no warmth, kindness or love from my parents,” he said. “At the time I didn’t want to go to college. I really hated high school, and I thought it would be the same.”

It wasn’t until Klemke’s piano teacher persuaded him to attend Hamline University in St. Paul, Minn., that his ambition to learn and his love for education flourished.

“It was there I knew right way that I wanted to be a part of this,” Klemke said. “I knew I had to pursue teaching.”

Klemke received his bachelor’s degree in both philosophy and English and went on to graduate school at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.

Over the years he dropped out and went back, but in the meantime he volunteered for the Institute for Emotionally Disturbed Children.

“It was the hardest job I ever had,” he said. “I worked with children who were abused, neglected and not loved. I knew how they felt.”

Klemke transferred to Northwestern University in Chicago to complete graduate school. He was a full-time teacher at DePaul University in Chicago before becoming the philosophy department chairman at Roosevelt University in Chicago. In 1971, he arrived at Iowa State.

Klemke said at that time, he asked himself whether life was worth living.

“I found the strength and will to keep living, to enhance my life though my friends and students, but mainly though my students,” he said. “I believe that faculty and staff are here to serve the students. Anyone who doesn’t believe that shouldn’t be at the university. It was my work and my students who pulled me through.”

Klemke said he still has a contribution to make to the world — to strive to make it the best he can.

“As long as I can do that, I can affirm life is meaningful and worth living,” he said.