IOWA Magazine | 12-11-2020

In Memory Winter 2020

12 minute read
A tribute to Hawkeyes gone but not forgotten.

1930s

Phyllis Wassam Kelso (39BA) of Coralville on May 2, 2020. Daniel Kramer (39BSC) of Clinton, Iowa, on May 4, 2020.

1940s

Eleanor Droll Anker (40BSC) of Niceville, Florida, on May 19, 2020. Newell Crockett (42BSC) of Newtown, Pennsylvania, on April 25, 2020. Margaret Walk Durst (46BA) of Des Moines on Jan. 14, 2020. Edwin Hicklin (46BA, 48JD) of Wapello, Iowa, on April 11, 2020. Charlene Nichols Hixon (44BA) of Nichols, Iowa, on April 26, 2020. Dorothy Schulze Johnson (47BA) of Cedar Rapids on March 9, 2020. Patricia Miller Key (46BM) of Milwaukee on Feb. 12, 2020. Elizabeth Ford Lamb (47BA) of Anderson, South Carolina, on May 11, 2020. Isabelle Mansour (42MS, 42DI) of Lake Village, Arkansas, on May 2, 2020. Frances Nesheim Markham (49BA) of Cedar Rapids on April 26, 2020. Barbara Jipson Matt (49BA) of Bettendorf, Iowa, on May 9, 2020. John Pagin (49BA, 54MA) of Howe, Indiana, on July 5, 2020. Dorothy Campbell Sadler (47GN) of Correctionville, Iowa, on March 25, 2020. Jean Bryant Schissel (42BA) of Milford, Iowa, on April 5, 2020. Corena Synhorst SerVaas (46BA) of Indianapolis on March 6, 2020. P. Donald Teefy (49BSC) of Richfield, Minnesota, on Feb. 8, 2020. Thomas Turner (48DDS) of DeValls Bluff, Arkansas, on May 13, 2020. Mark Wegener (48BSME) of Burlington, Iowa, on May 6, 2020. D. Adolph Williams (44BA, 47MS) of Clearwater, Florida, on April 16, 2020.

1950s

Constance Hamilton Athanas (53BA) of Durham, North Carolina, on April 27, 2020. Wayne Barnes (58DDS) of Sioux City, Iowa, on May 24, 2020. Dorothy Schaefer Buddenhagen (55BA) of Waukegan, Illinois, on April 11, 2020. Carol Hansen Bunn (54BSN) of Saratoga, California, on March 6, 2020. Philip Cady (50BSPE) of Longboat Key, Florida, on Feb. 5, 2020. Nancy Elliott Cech (59BA) of Waukee, Iowa, on April 19, 2020. Donald Cross (58BA) of Lexington, Kentucky, on Feb. 2, 2020. Helen Pittas D'Amico (52BA) of Akron, Ohio, on April 14, 2020. Marvin Dworzak (58BSC) of Westminster, California, on April 24, 2020. Carol Sutton Edwards (50BA) of Des Moines on May 11, 2020. Clint Edwards (50BA, 51MS) of Dacula, Georgia, on April 24, 2020. L. Milton Erickson (55MA) of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, on April 26, 2020. Marcia Massier Feltes (57BA) of Bettendorf, Iowa, on April 25, 2020. Luther Forde (51MS) of Minneapolis on May 19, 2020. James Gannon (51BA, 53MD) of Rogers, Arkansas, on March 18, 2020. James Gillman Jr. (53BSP) of Alexandria, Virginia, on May 8, 2020. Dorothy Koivun Hammes (51BA) of St. Charles, Missouri, on April 29, 2020. Patricia Button Hawbaker (55DH) of Waukee, Iowa, on May 19, 2020. Leila Presson Hopkins (52MS, 52DI) of Lynchburg, Virginia, on March 10, 2020. James Houser (56BSC) of Belmond, Iowa, on May 4, 2020. Richard Hradek (56BSME, 58MS) of Bettendorf, Iowa, on March 3, 2020. Robert Hudgens Jr. (50BSP) of Davenport, Iowa, on May 12, 2020. Charles Keller (59BM) of Champaign, Illinois, on April 17, 2020. F. G. "Jerry" Van Kirk (56BA) of Santa Ana, California, on Feb. 2, 2020. Milt Kopecky (56BA, 58BSME) of Corona Del Mar, California, on May 17, 2020. Kenneth Lane Jr. (50BA) of Sand Springs, Oklahoma, on May 14, 2020. Herbert Martin (52BSC) of Kansas City, Missouri, on Feb. 4, 2020. Norma Muegge McNay (59BSN) of Quincy, Illinois, on Jan. 11, 2020. Gary Meyer (58BSC) of Madison, Wisconsin, on May 14, 2020. Robert Mezey (59BA) of Bowie, Maryland, on April 25, 2020. James Munson (50BA) of Prospect, Kentucky, on Feb. 5, 2020. Connie McNamara Murray (55BA) of Davenport, Iowa, on Feb. 8, 2020. Lynn Naibert (58BA, 60MA) of San Diego on April 20, 2020. Peggy Whitehill Ostrem (50BA, 72MA) of Elgin, Illinois, on Feb. 24, 2020. Roy Overton (54MD) of West Des Moines on Feb. 16, 2020. Max Pock (58JD) of Virginia Beach, Virginia, on Feb. 8, 2020. Judy Schroeder Price (54GN) of Tacoma, Washington, on April 29, 2020. C. Kenard Roberts (51BSC, 58BSME) of Basking Ridge, New Jersey, on May 19, 2020. Edward Roman (57MA) of Prescott, Arizona, on Feb. 12, 2020. Janet Ashton Ross (58BA) of Seattle on Feb. 3, 2020. Charles Rumsey (51BA, 52MA) of Stevens Point, Wisconsin, on April 28, 2020. Charles Sheehy (50BSC) of Cedar Rapids on May 26, 2020. Donald Sherk (58BA, 60MA, 63PhD) of Rockville, Maryland, on April 27, 2020. Rodney Shkolnick (53BA, 55JD) of Urbandale, Iowa, on July 29, 2020. Robert Shupe (59DDS) of Yakima, Washington, on April 28, 2020. Jack Simpson (50BSC) of Sac City, Iowa, on March 4, 2020. Gene Slack (52BA) of North Newton, Kansas, on March 4, 2020. Harry Snyder (52DDS) of Fort Worth, Texas, on Jan. 18, 2020. Harrison Solliday (59BA) of Paullina, Iowa, on May 4, 2020. Jack Squire (52BA) of Raleigh, North Carolina, on Jan. 26, 2020. Alvin Stewart (58BA) of Johnston, Iowa, on April 28, 2020. Vern Thudium (51BSPh, 56MS) of Bradenton, Florida, on March 25, 2020. Robert Tiemens (58MA, 62PhD) of Colorado Springs, Colorado, on March 30, 2020. Daniel Toubes (59BA, 62MD, 64R, 70MS) of Leawood, Kansas, on July 15, 2020. Peter Vagenas (59MA) of Newark, Delaware, on Feb. 11, 2020. Joseph Warnell (54MS, 55PhD) of Lincoln, Delaware, on Feb. 25, 2020. Carol Boudreaux Williams (51BA) of Waterloo, Iowa, on April 22, 2020. LaVerne Ziegler (58MA) of Carbon Cliff, Illinois, on May 15, 2020.


Robert Luther "Lute" Olson

Robert Luther 'Lute' Olson

Before building a national powerhouse at Arizona, Olson ushered in a new era of success for the Iowa men's basketball program in the 1970s and '80s.

In nine memorable seasons leading the Hawkeyes, Olson's teams were 168-90 overall and qualified for the NCAA Tournament each of the coach's final five years. The high point came in 1980, when the Hawkeyes—headlined by Ronnie Lester (81BGS)—made a thrilling run to the Final Four. During his tenure, Olson helped lead the effort to build Carver-Hawkeye Arena, which opened during the 1982-83 season—his final year at Iowa.

"I have a lot of great memories from Iowa; it was a fun time," said Olson during a 2015 reunion with his former players in Iowa City. "My time here was special."

Before succeeding Dick Schultz at Iowa in 1974, the North Dakota native spent 13 seasons as a high school coach in Minnesota and California, four years at Long Beach City College, and a season at Long Beach State, where he posted a 24-2 record. He inherited a Hawkeye team that had suffered through fourstraight losing seasons.

Like at Iowa, Olson transformed an Arizona program that had won just four games the previous year into one of the nation's premier programs. In 24 seasons in Tucson, Olson's Wildcats made the NCAA Tournament 23 times, including four Final Four trips and a national championship in 1997.

Olson was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002 and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006 and was re-inducted in 2019. He also received the Naismith Award for Outstanding Contribution to Men's College Basketball in 2013.

Olson died Aug. 27, 2020, at age 85. His legacy lives on through the Lute Olson National Player of the Year Award, which has been awarded annually since 2010, and he's memorialized with a bronze statue outside of Arizona's McKale Memorial Center. Olson was inducted into the UI Athletics Hall of Fame in 2000.


1960s

L. Lynn Albrecht (64BS, 72MA) of Johnston, Iowa, on March 17, 2020. E. Moore Anderson (67MA, 75MFA) of Anthony, Kansas, on May 10, 2020. April Bingham Ashby (62BA) of Franklin, North Carolina, on April 26, 2020. Richard Benesh Jr. (67MA, 69PhD) of Brodhead, Wisconsin, on March 17, 2020. Rex Bentzinger (67BBA) of Redmond, Washington, on May 3, 2020. Barbara Bower (68BA) of Yorktown, Virginia, on April 17, 2020. Ronald Calgaard (61MA, 63PhD) of San Antonio on April 10, 2020. Philip Carter (68BS) of Robins, Iowa, on April 29, 2020. Robert Casey (63BBA) of Cedar Rapids on April 29, 2020. Elizabeth Rosenthal Colloton (64BSN) of Chicago on March 31, 2020. David Daniels (63MFA, 63PhD) of Waterford, Michigan, on April 24, 2020. Kathleen Conboy Dougherty (63BA) of Red Wing, Minnesota, on April 15, 2020. Marilyn Whalen Failor (64MA) of Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Feb. 5, 2020. Theodore Fritz (64MS, 67PhD) of Santa Fe, New Mexico, in May 2020. Darryl Fritze (68MS) of Whitehall, Pennsylvania, on April 27, 2020. William Fry Jr. (60BSME) of Kingston, Washington, on April 26, 2020. William George (61MA, 62MFA, 71PhD) of San Jose, California, on March 11, 2020. Mary Lange Hajek (60BSN) of Rockford, Illinois, on Feb. 14, 2020. Elmont Hollingsworth (61BSME) of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, on Feb. 5, 2020. Richard Lee Jacobsen (67BA) of Green Valley, Arizona, on April 18, 2020. James Krambeck (61BA) of West Des Moines on May 16, 2020. Arlene Rickert Lahann (68BA, 81MA) of Clinton, Iowa, on March 12, 2020. Lorenz Lutherer (64MS) of Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Feb. 5, 2020. Anna Dale Armsbury McClaskey (60BA) of Fairport, New York, on Feb. 20, 2020. Gary McNee (63MA) of Littleton, Colorado, on Feb. 14, 2020. Wayne Medlang (64MA) of Cedar Rapids on May 10, 2020. Jo Lynne Brown Meskimen (68BA) of Henderson, Nevada, on Feb. 23, 2020. David Miller (60BA) of Scottsdale, Arizona, on May 9, 2020. Daniel Murphy (66BS, 70MD) of Cedar Falls, Iowa, on April 14, 2020. Michael Nugent (66BBA) of Dallas on April 5, 2020. Richard Palmer (63MA, 65PhD) of Williamsburg, Virginia, on March 15, 2020. Charles Pettit (67BBA, 72JD) of Iowa City on March 3, 2020. Patricia Schimberg Pigott (62BA) of Des Moines on Jan. 17, 2020. Dennis Rohrs (62PhD) of Whitewater, Wisconsin, on April 28, 2020. W. Robert Schmidt (69MA, 70EdS, 70PhD) of Ottumwa, Iowa, on May 5, 2020. Linda Walter Segebart (67BA) of Champaign, Illinois, on Jan. 18, 2020. Howard Shey (68PhD) of Milwaukee on May 19, 2020. John Steffensen (67BA) of Tampa, Florida, on Aug. 17, 2019. E. Scott Tucker (68PhD) of Liberty, South Carolina, on May 6, 2020. Carol Miller Van Aernam (62BA, 62DH) of Indianola, Iowa, on May 20, 2020. Marlin "Mike" Vanden Bosch (69MA, 73PhD) of Sioux Center, Iowa, on April 7, 2020. Ida Djerf Wade (60BSN, 81MA) of Cedar Rapids on March 9, 2020. Marilyn Moeller Will (62MA) of Coralville on May 15, 2020. Catherine Williams Williams (65MA) of Des Moines on May 20, 2020.

1970s

Asad Asadi (75BSME, 76MS, 87MS) of Bettendorf, Iowa, on May 8, 2020. Susan Baskett (72BA) of Belle Plaine, Iowa, on March 3, 2020. Betty Vennum Batterman (71BSN, 72MA) of Iowa City on April 26, 2020. Sandra Bauchmoyer (74PhD) of Bixby, Oklahoma, on Feb. 16, 2020. Richard Cannon (78BS) of Newton, Iowa, on May 8, 2020. Karel Chandler Cline (78BA) of West Liberty, Iowa, on May 12, 2020. Neil Cross (73BA) of Urbandale, Iowa, on May 9, 2020. Robert Denison (71BA) of Schofield, Wisconsin, on April 27, 2020. Steven Dittrich (74BA, 77JD) of Waukee, Iowa, on May 17, 2020. Joyce Frank Eland (71BSN) of Solon, Iowa, on May 18, 2020. David Flodin (76MA) of Mesa, Arizona, on May 7, 2020. Daniel Hagarty (79BGS) of Cedar Falls, Iowa, on May 11, 2020. William Halpern (72PhD) of Pensacola, Florida, on Feb. 10, 2020. James A. Headley (72MS, 75PhD) of St. Louis on March 24, 2020. Carolyn Burke Heath (75BS) of Colville, Washington, on Jan. 12, 2020. John Kintzinger (79BS, 09PhD) of Iowa City on March 25, 2020. Jane Haman Knopick (72BSN) of Iowa City on Feb. 29, 2020. Edward Lightcap (76BBA) of Beaverton, Oregon, on Feb. 8, 2020. Harry Luchman (71BA) of Le Claire, Iowa, on April 30, 2020. Martha Milani (71MA, 82PhD) of Iowa City on April 4, 2020. Ann Jansen Pedersen (79BS) of West Liberty, Iowa, on April 12, 2020. Robert Peeples (72BGS) of Davenport, Iowa, on Feb. 7, 2020. Nolan Porterfield (70PhD) of Bowling Green, Kentucky, on May 18, 2020. Ronald Shannon (77JD) of Sequim, Washington, on April 27, 2020. Zay Smith (73MA) of Chicago on May 11, 2020. Paul Stamler Jr. (70BS) of Muscatine, Iowa, on May 21, 2020. Alberta Wenndt Thien (72BS) of Tipton, Iowa, on May 18, 2020. Sidney Thomas (76BA) of Iowa City on May 7, 2020. Dennis Thorsen (74BM) of St. Peter, Minnesota, on May 21, 2020. Paul Thurston (74JD, 75PhD) of Savoy, Illinois, on April 30, 2020. Margaret Johnson Tue (70BA) of Garner, Iowa, on April 12, 2020.

1980s

Valarie Nuzum Campbell (88MD) of Pleasant Hill, Iowa, on May 8, 2020. Robert Flanders (88BSE) of Delhi, Iowa, on May 6, 2020. Joyce Kofron Gerleman (89MA, 03PhD) of Swisher, Iowa, on April 6, 2020. Tao Guo (87MS) of Rockford, Illinois, on Feb. 4, 2020. Jane Heiar (89BSN) of Solon, Iowa, on Feb. 13, 2020. Herbert Musser (83BBA) of Fairfax, Iowa, on May 6, 2020. Edith Varnum Nekola (80MA) of Cedar Rapids on May 16, 2020. Rose Perino (81MA) of Sterling, Illinois, on Feb. 26, 2020. Trent Stowater (88BBA) of Marcus, Iowa, on April 29, 2020. Carol Weber Williams (87BA) of Iowa City on March 3, 2020. Wendy Daebelliehn Wilson (80BS) of Maryland Heights, Missouri, on April 18, 2020.


Laura Caldwell (89BA)

Laura Caldwell (89BA)

A lawyer, author, and founding director of Life After Innocence, Caldwell was a champion for the wrongly convicted.

The Woodstock, Illinois, native was a communication studies major and member of the pom squad at Iowa before attending the Loyola University Chicago School of Law. She became a partner at a Chicago law firm specializing in medical malpractice defense and entertainment, and later joined the faculty at Loyola.

In 2002, Caldwell published her first novel, Burning the Map, a fictionalized account of her trip to Europe with friends after she passed the bar exam. Caldwell would go on to write 14 more books, shifting from women's literature to thrillers, including a series of mysteries starring a Chicago-based attorney and private investigator named Izzy McNeil. Her books have been published in 25 countries and translated into more than 13 languages.

Caldwell founded Life After Innocence, a nonprofit organization based at Loyola, to help wrongfully convicted individuals or other innocent persons affected by the criminal justice system re-enter society and reclaim their lives. The program was inspired by a case in which she helped win the release of a 19-year-old client who sat in a Cook County holding cell for nearly six years without a trial. That case also led to Caldwell's first nonfiction book, Long Way Home: A Young Man Lost and the Two Women Who Found Him.

Caldwell died March 3, 2020, after a long battle with breast cancer. She was 52.


1990s

Kevin Canney (94BSE) of Cedar Rapids on April 11, 2020. Darryl Nishimura (93PhD) of Coralville on March 19, 2020. John Phillips (99PhD) of Coventry, Connecticut, on May 15, 2020. Kaia Nelson Wilkinson (96MA) of Lenexa, Kansas, on March 26, 2020.

2000s

Heather Asman Allen (02BS) of Ames, Iowa, on March 7, 2020. Brian Miller (01MA, 13PhD) of Alexandria, Virginia, on April 13, 2020. Lauren Rice (03BA) of Des Moines on April 5, 2020.

2010s

Brian Jungen (12BA) of Coralville on May 22, 2020. Laura Mueldener (16BA, 19MA) of Philadelphia on March 24, 2020. Stephen Schultz (10BA) of North Liberty, Iowa, on March 24, 2020.

faculty & friends

Carolyn Stewart Dyer of Iowa City on Sept. 6, 2020.

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