Klinger Kueter still laughs about the day she ran for Mayor of Westfield. By then, she was already known around town as the piano teacher with the bustling home studio, the woman who managed a blended family of six children during the turbulence of the Vietnam War era, and the energetic community organizer who always seemed to be starting something new. But politics surprised people. “I was the first woman to run,” Klinger Kueter said proudly. She earned 41 percent of the vote, an extraordinary showing at the time, that helped pave the way for political change in a town that had not elected a Democrat in decades. For Klinger Kueter, however, Westfield was never simply a place to live. It was the community where she built her life, her career and, ultimately, her legacy. Her Westfield story began in the late 1950s, when she was a young music teacher living with two fellow teachers in Westfield while teaching in Berkeley Heights. An unexpected newspaper photograph changed everything. A student had snapped a picture of her promoting a fundraiser concert for the Berkeley Heights music department. The image appeared in the local paper, where it caught the attention of New York concert pianist Paul Kueter. “He called and invited me to a concert,” she recalled. The two married in 1961, and Klinger Kueter found herself, at just 22 years old, stepping into an instant family with four stepchildren. “I guess that was love,” she said with a laugh.
After her first child was born in 1963, Klinger Kueter transformed the third floor of her Westfield home into a piano studio complete with skylights. Over the decades, the studio expanded into five teaching spaces, employed several instructors and welcomed generations of local students. “People tell me it must have been thousands of students,” she said modestly. Students came for piano lessons, while younger children and parents attended early childhood music classes downstairs. Though she officially retired only weeks ago, her influence continues through the many Westfield families she taught across more than six decades.
What stands out most in conversation with Klinger Kueter is her fearlessness. During the Vietnam War era, her stepchildren drew her into activism at a time when many women, especially mothers in suburban communities, were expected to remain quiet. She became involved in local demonstrations and community organizing efforts alongside young people in town. “There were children who wanted to march and protest,” she said. “No parents would come through.” One of her stepchildren volunteered her immediately. “Ask my stepmother,” Klinger Kueter recalled them saying. “She’ll do it.” She became more than a chaperone. During one protest in downtown Westfield, she was even taken to the police station after supervising local teenagers during a demonstration. Looking back, she now tells the story with humor and amazement at how much both the town and the country have changed.
Despite personal hardships, including a difficult divorce during a time when divorce carried significant stigma, Klinger Kueter stayed in Westfield and continued building her life independently. She credits much of her resilience to lessons learned from her adoptive parents in Warren Township, where civic involvement was deeply valued. “I learned the importance of involvement,” she said. “Coming up with new things to make the community work better.” That spirit shaped nearly everything she touched. Whether teaching music, mentoring students, organizing families or entering local politics, Klinger Kueter consistently pushed beyond what was expected of women of her generation.
Today, at 88, she still speaks warmly about the town that embraced her decades ago. “Westfield was just perfect,” she said. “I found that I was very much accepted.” In many ways, Carolyn Klinger Kueter helped shape the Westfield that welcomed her right back.
