Arnold & Alda Hildebrand
2026 Oktoberfest Parade Marshalls – by Kim Fritzemeier
As a farm kid in Stafford County, Arnold Hildebrand grew up outside. During the summers and after school, he and his brothers worked alongside their parents, Herman and Lucile Hildebrand, in the familiar cycle of planting, cultivation and harvest. All the while, the Kansas sky stretched like a blue canvas overhead, the horizon uninterrupted by mountains or valleys.
While the view may have been somewhat different, Alda grew up on a Grade A dairy farm in Johnson County, Kansas. Back then, Johnson County still had big cities, but that wasn’t Alda’s world. Her daily routine included farm tasks like milking by hand before racing off to a two-room schoolhouse – and later – graduating from Basehor High School in 1953 at the age of 16. In January 1954, she departed for Kansas State University where she majored in elementary education.
Those two farm kids from different parts of the state met as students at K-State. Now, the Stafford Oktoberfest committee has named them parade marshals for the 37th annual parade, which begins at 11 AM, Saturday, October 3, 2026, down Stafford’s Main Street. Their selection reflects their long-standing commitment to Arnold’s hometown and their home together for the past 50 years.
After Arnold graduated from Stafford High School in 1953, he enrolled that fall in K- State’s mechanical engineering department. And the sky he had watched from the tractor seat suddenly offered new possibilities in the new field of aerospace engineering.
“A history teacher in high school made one comment I’ll never forget,” Arnold said. “When we were seniors, he told us that 5 years from now, most of us would have no idea where we’d be or what we would be doing. That was 100 percent true for me. We didn’t even hear of rockets back then.”
Despite that, Arnold was on the ground floor of the space program that culminated with sending astronauts into space and eventually to the moon. As Arnold graduated, Russia launched Sputnik and the space race began. Upon graduation from K-State, Arnold was hired by the Army Ballistic Agency (which ultimately became NASA). The U.S. put the Redstone Rocket into orbit just two or three days before Arnold and Alda arrived in Huntsville, Alabama, for his first job out of college at the Marshall Space Flight Center.
“Huntsville was where the rocket boosters were built that put the man on the moon,” Arnold said. Of course, like most new employees, he worked his way up. His first NASA job was in packaging and handling. But space pioneer Werner von Braun and his team continued working to advance the U.S.’s space race efforts. After a couple of years, Arnold was transferred to the testing department, where he helped test rocket engines and stages for 18 years, working on the Saturn, Apollo and Space Shuttle programs. He received an Award of Achievement from Dr. Werner von Braun in 1969.
Arnold had a front-row seat to history being made. He saw three different presidents – Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon – visit the NASA facilities during his tenure. Senators and representatives were commonplace visitors as the space race continued.
Their family grew while in Alabama, adding son Stan and daughter Glenna. In 1968, the whole family went to Florida for one of the launches. While Alda and the children watched with other observers, Arnold got to watch from the vertical assembly building at Cape Canaveral, where he could feel and hear the thrust of the rocket engines as the rocket lifted skyward.
Arnold had grown up where the tallest building was the grain elevator at Stafford, equivalent to about 10 to 12 stories. But on the launch pad, the rocket towered 44 stories tall. It was quite a sight for a farm boy from Kansas, he recalls.
But it was those Kansas “skyscrapers” that eventually led them back to farm in the Sunflower State in 1976, 50 years ago this year. Arnold and Alda packed up the family and returned to Arnold’s roots – literally and figuratively. Arnold’s dad was retiring, so he bought out his part of the business and began working with his two brothers – Norman and Gordon – forming the Hildebrand Brothers.
Both Arnold’s and Alda’s parents had demonstrated the importance of involvement in their community, a lesson that both had taken to heart as they built their new married lives in Alabama. And that didn’t change when they moved back to Stafford. Their deep commitment to Stafford and Stafford County is a primary reason for their selection as the Grand Marshals of the Oktoberfest parade.
There has been no shortage of opportunities to volunteer. And Arnold wasn’t the only “pioneer” in the family. Alda was elected as the first woman to serve on the Stafford City Council in 1986.
“After reading the minutes of the meetings, I thought that maybe I could do something to make things better,” Alda said. She and fellow council member Rodney Roush committed to attending all the Kansas Municipalities meetings. Their efforts eventually led to Stafford adopting a pay scale for its employees. Her service in city government catapulted her involvement with the Stafford PRIDE program, as well as some work with Stafford Main Street. The brick Welcome to Stafford sign just off U.S. Highway 50 was just one of the beautification efforts she helped make possible. Alda also served on the South Central Kansas Tourism board during her tenure.
She had plenty of opportunities to look for ways to improve Stafford as she worked for the Stafford Post Office for 16 years as a clerk or carrier, walking the short route when needed and seeing Stafford up close and personal.
In the early years of Oktoberfest, both Arnold and Alda helped with set-up and clean-up. During Stafford’s Centennial in 1985, they helped with several aspects of the celebration, including the gun fight, square dance and parade. During the Christmas season for several years, they helped plan and execute the Christmas Wonderland decorations and activities downtown. Their efforts joined others in the community to help in the first efforts to bring the Ritz Theater back as a centerpiece to downtown Stafford.
As Circles was formed to help local families, both Alda and Arnold volunteered. Alda still organizes the meals when their church is responsible for the dinner served prior to weekly classes. Both have served as “friends” (mentors) for families involved in the program, which is now known as Core. Alda often shares her culinary skills with Core, creating goodies for the organization’s bake sales and crafting homemade pies for the annual Core fundraisers.
Arnold served on the board of directors for the Farmers National Bank for 20 years. He was a past Stafford County committee member for the Farm Service Agency. He was a member of the Stafford Development Corp., which brought Duckwall’s to town, as well as a member of Stafford Enterprises, which was connected with the Stafford Mercantile. He was a past board member of the Stafford USD 349 Foundation. He also served as a member and president of the Stafford Optimist Club.
Alda has used her expert seamstress skills to create 23 Quilts of Valor for military veterans. In total, she estimates she’s made more than 200 quilts, many going to family members, but also shared with others. She also constructed 200 or so children’s dresses that have gone overseas for mission projects in Haiti, Mexico, Tanzania and Peru.
She shared her love of music with aspiring musicians, teaching piano lessons to several Stafford youth. She also played the piano for her own church and others.
The Calvary Baptist Church has been a centerpiece to their lives. Both have held positions on numerous church committees, worked with the Awana program and helped with mission trips. Their faith also inspired their involvement in the Passion Play, which was presented annually during the Lenten season in a pasture south of Zenith for many years.
Children have always been part of the Hildebrands’ service to the community. They hosted five foreign exchange students, encouraging them to call them Gram and Papa and making them feel like part of the family and community. At age 89, Alda still helps with The Well for middle school students through their church. Alda puts in plenty of bleacher time at school sporting events, supporting the Trojans at home games. Throughout the years, several high school students have spent their summers on the Hildebrands’ farm, learning about hard work … and also eating plenty of good food from Alda’s kitchen.
In 2010, the Hildebrands were chosen as one of six Kansas Master Farm Families – a program sponsored by K-State Extension and Kansas Farmer magazine – for their leadership in agriculture and their community.
But they are most proud of their family, including their two children, Stan and Glenna, their six grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
Congratulations to Arnold and Alda!