Wieder, Joan (November 28, 1939—August 23, 2023)

From Kew Gardens, NY, Joan obtained a B.A. degree in anthropology/sociology from Grinnell College in June 1961. She lived in Haines and Loose Halls. She then attended Vanderbilt University School of Law, where she was on the Business Staff of the Vanderbilt Law Review and where she obtained her LL.B. degree in 1964.

Her legal career started in Washington, D.C. with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission and at least four years with the U.S.

Interstate Commerce Commission. At the latter she was in charge of a series of investigations into the entire railroad-rate structure. She then relocated to San Francisco, California for a 40-year career with the National Labor Relations Board as an Administrative Law Judge hearing cases throughout the Western states.

Joan had many interests and passions in life. She became an Expert Marksman as a Richmond Rod and Gun Club member and participated in several competitions. She also traveled the world for many years, often on safari and scuba diving expeditions, furthering her great appreciation of nature and the outdoors.

Joan loved animals and was particularly fond of the Miniature Schnauzer breed. She was an active member of the Miniature Schnauzer Club of Northern California for over 30 years and served as the Club’s Parliamentarian. In her later years, she was a big supporter of breed rescue. Locally, she served on the Dangerous Dog Committee in her community.

After retiring in 2001, Joan enjoyed many years of classes at the College of Marin, painting and sculpting, including photo editing, art, filmmaking, adaptive PE, and yoga.

Duane W. Krohnke (author)

Around 2010 she served as a member of the District Modernization Committee of the College of Marin in California.

Duane W. Krohnke

4/28/20

 

Olive Kemp Whitley

(November 26, 1939-February 24, 2019)

Born in Maywood, Illinois, Olive attended Grinnell College for two years before transferring to Southern Illinois University where she followed her passion for education and ensuring that all children had an opportunity to learn in a way that allowed them to reach their full potential. She graduated with a BA in Education and went on to earn an MA in Special Education from the University of Illinois in 1968. Olive taught Kindergarten, Special Education and had a focus on educating the hearing impaired.

She married George Whitley 12/14/68. She died February 24, 2019.

Nancy Schmulbach Maly ’61

 

White, Mary Lou (Wenger; Risser) March 8, 1939—December 16, 2017

Mary Lou Wenger from the northwestern Illinois town of Sterling was an active member of our class, graduating in 1961 with a degree in English. Her interests included the Board of Religion, YWCA, the Women’s Recreation Association, and Women’s Honor G athletic club for her participation in swimming. Student government also benefited from her service as a member of the Mears Hall Baffleboard, 1959-60, and then President of Cleveland Hall, 1960-61. She was a candidate for Homecoming Queen and Cyclone Queen.

Our class mate, Susan Barnhart Clayton, met Mary Lou the first week of our freshman year and the two became great friends and roommates for three of our four years at the College. Susan says, “It is a friendship that has spanned the last 60 years, different life paths, and many moves. I ended up in California and she in Oklahoma but we talked often, laughed a lot, and visited as much as we could. We often looked back on who we were in June of 1961 and how we thought our lives would unfold. In reminiscing over the last 55 years we always got a big chuckle over the joys and absurdities of how life really played out. It was great to have a friend who remembered when life was just beginning to unfold. I keep looking forward to our next call and sharing our holiday tales. I miss her and the friendship that spanned so many years and life changes.”

Immediately after our graduation, Mary Lou and classmate Paul G. Risser were married in her home town of Sterling. They then moved to Bar Harbor, Maine and Madison, Wisconsin where she taught in elementary schools while he pursued graduate education. Later they lived in Norman, Oklahoma. The two of them were parents of three sons: David Kiefer Risser, Mark Gillan Risser and Stephen Paul Risser. Subsequently Mary Lou and Paul were divorced.

In Norman, Mary Lou was active in the community as a kind and generous woman whose life revolved around her family and friends. Supporting her church and community was also of great importance to her. She was a longtime member of First Christian Church of Norman, and was involved in the Junior League of Norman, PEO, and the Assistance League. Mary Lou was a social butterfly, and could always be counted on for a luncheon, a game of bridge, or bunko with her group. She loved to travel and was an avid Oklahoma City Thunder (men’s professional basketball team) and Oklahoma University fan.

In 1973, Mary Lou married Kenneth White of Norman, who was a life insurance salesman. Her sons said he was the best step-father they could have asked for. He was caring, loving, funny, and engaged. Unfortunately he passed away in 1991.

Mary Lou is survived by her three sons, their spouses, nine grandchildren, sister Jane Wenger of Norman, Oklahoma and two nieces and their families.

Duane W. Krohnke

 

Patton, William Bradford (“Bill”) (February 12, 1939 –April 5, 2016)

Bill Patton from Mason City, Iowa became a beloved and valuable member of our class. Residing in South Younker Hall, Bill lettered in wrestling, track and cross-county and was a member of Honor G. Described by a coach as “small, tough and wiry,” Bill wrestled in the 130-pound category and was captain of the team his senior year when he received the John Teget Most Valuable Wrestler award. He received the B.A. degree in biology in June 1961. Bill treasured the small-college experience, saying he would have been lost as a student and athlete at a much larger school.

After graduating from Grinnell, he decided to abandon his plan to become a physician and instead entered the insurance business as an agent in his hometown. That was interrupted by three-and-a half-years of active duty (1962-1965) with the U.S. Navy as Communications Officer and Assistant Operations Officer in the Western Pacific. For this service Bill was awarded the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, the National Defense Service Medal and the Vietnam Service Medal.

Bill then began a distinguished career in the U.S. Naval Reserve. In 1978, for example, he was in command of a Reserve telecommunications station in Greece and successfully developed a plan to integrate his reserve unit into an active-duty counterpart demonstrating that the “One Navy Total Force” concept worked. Bill retired as a Captain, USNR.

After his naval active duty, he returned to the insurance business, this time for several years in Des Moines with Aetna Life and Casualty as a senior claims representative. He then joined a Des Moines electrical products distributor, Stitzell Electric Supply Company, where he became a vice president, director and shareholder.

After his early retirement, Bill was able to “enjoy the other things in life—family, grandkids, sports activities, and travel.” His sports activities included being a timer for the Drake Relays for over 20 years and an avid University of Iowa (“Hawkeye”) sports fan. He also was an elder and active member of Covenant Presbyterian Church of West Des Moines as well as the Downtown Rotary Club. He said, “Grinnell provided me with an education, skills, and ability to continue to learn to accomplish the things that I have.”

Bill died April 5, 2016, at UnityPoint Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines. He is survived by his wife of 40 years, Sally Montgomery Patton; sons Scott (Angie) and David (LeAnn); step-son Shawn (Brenda) Shearer; step-daughter Heidi Koch, 15 grandchildren and a former wife, Mary Lou Beach Patton Fitch. Duane W. Krohnke

 

John Clark Wassom, November 13, 1939–July 26, 2011

John Wassom from the town of Grinnell graduated in June 1961 with a B.A. in Economics. His father, Samuel J. Wassom, was the manager of the Grinnell College Book Store while we the Class of 1961 were there. John lived at home and worked in the College mailroom during college. Later he was known to express pride in being a Grinnell College graduate.

After Grinnell, John went to Indiana University where he earned M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Economics in 1963 and 1971 respectively.

He was an Assistant Professor of Finance at the University of Florida from 1966 through 1971.

John then joined the faculty at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green as an Assistant Professor of Economics. In 1978 he was promoted to Professor and Head of the WKU Economics Department, a position he held until 2003. John, however, did not retire. Instead he became a Professor and Special Assistant to the Dean of WKU’s Gordon Ford College of Business, a position he held until 2005. Then he became Chair of the Business Division of WKU’s Community College, a position he held until his death.

John’s publications include two books: The Relevance of the Common Carrier Concept to the Contemporary American Transport System (U. Indiana, 1970) and Newtruck: Directory of Motor Carrier Data (co-author, Dr. Dan St. Clair).

John loved horticulture and gardening and his dogs.

But his true love was his wife of 50 years, Sharon Ferneau Wassom also of Grinnell, his son and daughter-in-law, Greg Wassom and Melissa Chase Wassom, and two grandsons. John also was survived by two sisters, two brothers-in-law and several nieces and nephews.

A scholarship has been established in his honor at WKU: The John C. Wassom Memorial Scholarship Fund, c/o College Heights Foundation, 1906 College Heights Blvd., P.O. Box 41016, Bowling Green, KY 42101.

 

Valentine, Susan (October 19, 1940—September 7, 2023)

Susan Valentine, known by all as Suzy, arrived at Grinnell College in the fall of 1961, immediately establishing her place among the pioneering women who lived in Mears Hall during the first year it was temporarily re-born as a women’s residence hall. New students had to wear Grinnell beanies that year, so tall Suzy was an obvious new presence on campus.

It is fitting that Suzy’s only club affiliation during her two years at Grinnell was the International Relations Club. Home in New Jersey during the summer of her sophomore year, Suzy met Nelson Small Schmitt, a Brazilian whom she eventually married. She withdrew from Grinnell, and attended the University of Pennsylvania, studying psychology before marrying Schmitt in July of 1961 and moving with him to Sao Paulo.

Suzy formed a strong interest in gardening during her 32 years in Sao Paulo, where she gardened at her own home, and did volunteer work for various environmental causes. The Schmitt’s three sons were born in Brazil during the 1960’s; all three were to attend college in the United States. After a divorce, Suzy returned to the United States, settling in Florida where, she noted, all of her activities dealt “with the natural world.”

The gardening interest continued as Suzy became president and founder of “Grow Foundation,” and worked with a new partner, Mel Bartholomew, in Alpine, Utah, where together they had a business, Square Foot Gardening. From there Suzy lived in other locales, always focusing on her interest in nature.

Suzy died of cancer on September 7, 2023, in Bonita Springs, Florida.

Nancy Welch Barnby (author)

 

Turnbull, Rosemary (“Rosie”) (Hibbard) (Pomeroy) (01/09/1941–10/15/1997). At age 16, Rosemary Hibbard from Westtown, Pennsylvania enrolled at Grinnell in 1957 and after one year transferred to Simmons College in Boston and then Ryder University in New Jersey where she received a B.A. in 1962. She also obtained a M.S.L.S. degree in library science from Drexel University in 1971.

Rosemary spent 25 years as a school library director in New Hampshire. She was a longtime member of Delta Gamma International, an honorary society for librarians, the Quakers, the New Hampshire Alliance for the Mentally Ill and PEO.

In 1960 she married Rev. George Robinson Pomeroy, and after their 1988 divorce, she married William Turnbull. In 1997, after a long illness, Rosemary died in her home. She was survived by her husband William, two children (Marion L. Pomeroy and Bradbury S. Pomeroy), two stepchildren and her father.

 

Trepka, Robert Dale (12/16/1938—07/18/1993). Bob Trepka was born in a sod-brick house on a Nebraska farm. He attended a one-room school until ninth grade. Because his parents wanted him to have a better secondary education, he boarded with a Crete, Nebraska family during his high school years. But even in Crete there were limited course offerings and only 55 in his graduating class. Bob had to supplement his education with correspondence courses. In spite of this, he was a National Merit Finalist and was awarded a full scholarship to Grinnell.

Bob lived in South Younker and was member of the Hall House Council, 1960-61. He played the trumpet in the Grinnell College band and was active in the Math Club. He was elected to Friars, the senior men’s honorary society, and Honor G, the men’s honorary athletic club. The New York Times on March 22, 1961 published a photo of Bob with five other Phi Beta Kappa members of the Grinnell track team above the caption, “On your mark, get set, think.”

Bob majored in chemistry and spent two summers in Grinnell doing NSF research (and corn de-tasseling). He was awarded the Chemistry Alumni prize.

A week after graduation from Grinnell, Bob married classmate Judy Anderson. The couple immediately set off for California; UCLA had awarded Bob a graduate fellowship. In 1963-1964, Bob was research assistant to Professor Donald J. Cram, winner of the 1987 Nobel Prize in chemistry. In December 1964, Bob completed his PhD and received a NATO postdoctoral fellowship to do research at the University of Munich, Germany.

When Bob returned to the United States, he began work at the 3M Company in St. Paul, Minnesota. He spent five years in Central Research, before joining the Photo Products Division. This position involved spending a year at the 3M laboratories in Harlowe, England and Ferrania, Italy.

At the age of 38, Bob was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. During the next 16 years, he experienced remission and recurrence as the disease moved from one area of his body to another. Bob continued to work productively during this time missing only a few weeks for surgeries and treatments. After a valiant struggle, he died at the age of 54.

Bob and Judy have three children who all graduated from Grinnell: Mary Jo ’86, Jim ’89, and Carolyn ’92. By Judith Anderson Trepka

 

Thacher, Carol Louise (July 28, 1939—March 15, 2014)

“Thach” to those who knew her well, Carol Thacher cut a vibrant figure on the Grinnell College campus. Tall and willowy, a blond who was both brainy and vivacious, she embraced with zest her years at Grinnell and, indeed, all seventy-four of her years on this earth. Well-rounded as a Grinnell student — and that’s an understatement — Carol was Mortar Board and baffleboard, cheerleader and Women’s Honor ‘G.’ She earned a B.A. in Psychology at Grinnell, and also garnered an Iowa elementary teaching credential during those four college years.

From Grinnell, Carol ventured to the east coast to accept a teaching position in Connecticut, but after a year returned to the Midwest, where she taught 5th grade for eleven years in the Minneapolis area. She also married (George Skluzacek) and gave birth to a daughter, Marta. During those same years, Carol earned a Master’s Degree in Educational Psychology at the University of Minnesota.

At Grinnell, Carol had always taken advantage of the opportunities before her. And as a young adult, that “can do” attitude somehow propelled her into the study of law. Receiving her J.D. degree in 1978 from William Mitchell College of Law, Carol began a 30-year career, working with three Minneapolis law firms — two in which she was a partner. As Carol whimsically remarked at our 50th reunion dinner, “It actually turned out to be an advantage to be a lawyer who knew how to talk to fifth graders.” She finally retired (sort of) in 2011. She continued to be involved in various committees and kept close track of her lawyer friends, but was happy to have “time off” to pursue her many interests. She loved spending time with her grandchildren.

In 1984 Carol remarried, partnering with fellow lawyer Steven Ross. Steve was an avid biker, and in her love and admiration for him, Carol approached a new challenge in her usual manner: “Biking? Never have tried it, but why not?” Thus, she and Steve biked often –together, with friends, near home, and far away. When Steve died after a valiant battle with melanoma in 2001, Carol faced life with courage and perseverance although she admitted that it was often difficult.

Because of her great sense of humor and ability to express herself well in any situation (indeed, teachers and lawyers alike can spontaneously pour forth on any occasion), our Class of 1961 reunion committee wisely tapped Carol to be the MC for our 50th Reunion Dinner. In an after-dinner talk which was both poignant and funny, Carol recalled life at Grinnell during our era: Saturday classes, the M & St. L railroad, Saga Foods, pinning serenades, typewriters, one-phone-per-floor in the women’s residence halls (on Loose 2nd where Carol lived for three years, that translated to a 40:1 ratio, girls-to-phone, unimaginable today). She also pinpointed some of her own special memories. She laughed at her own cheerleading faux pas, calling out, “First-and-ten, do it again,” at a Pioneer football game when, in fact, the other team had possession of the ball. And do you gals (now that’s a word which Thach would have used!) remember that during our junior year Carol had the responsibility of initiating the singing of grace each evening in the Quad dining room? She recalls one time when the dinner gong threw her off key and she began to sing at much too high a pitch, thus turning the dining hall denizens into “a bunch of giggling, shrieking chipmunks.” Did Carol have the ability to laugh at herself? Oh, yes, she did, always . . . always.

The Twin Cities newspapers included this bit in their obituary about our Grinnell classmate: “Carol was a loving mother, daughter, grandmother, wife, sister and dear friend. She was a connoisseur of relationships, which she tended with love, care and attention. Carol was a wise and charming woman, expressive and clever. She was a creative problem-solver throughout her life, but finally faced a challenge she could not overcome. Four months before she died Carol was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer which had metastasized to her brain. She fought this disease with her characteristic practical determination until she determined that the usual victory was not to be hers. Her exit from our lives was just the way she would have wanted it — on her own terms.”

Carol Thacher proposed the following toast during the denouement of her delightful presentation at our 50th reunion dinner: “To old friends — those with us now, those who couldn’t make it, and those who are no longer with us. And to our younger selves — their activities, their plans, their promise. May we always remember with gratitude their part in making us who we are today.” Yes, Thach, and those of us fortunate to have been your friend, at Grinnell or in the years that followed, truly know that you were one of a kind.

Nancy Welch Barnby & Judy Mahle Lutter

 

IN MEMORIAM: CAROL THACHER July 28, 1939 – March 15, 2015

Carol Thacher was born in Long Beach, California, the oldest child of a U.S Navy captain and a teacher. She lived in several states throughout her childhood and adolescence as the family traveled with the Navy, eventually settling in Minnesota.

She died in March 2015, just four months after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of lung cancer. Preceded in death by her father, Robert Thacher, and her husband, Steven Ross, she left behind her mother, three sisters, a brother, her loving daughter and step-daughter, four grandchildren, and countless friends and admirers.

Carol had two careers in her lifetime – teacher and attorney – and did both professions a great credit with her wise, thoughtful counsel. The quality that made her such a trusted lawyer had already been developing for years during her time as a 5th grade teacher at Highlands School in Edina. Carol often described herself as a problem-solver. She could draw a map of downtown Minneapolis with startling precision, explain complicated ideas in straightforward terms, and mediate even the most acrimonious disputes. She was brilliant and charismatic, loved and trusted by students, colleagues, clients, family and friends.

A graduate of Iowa’s Grinnell College who earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology, Carol taught for 11 years before deciding she was ready for a new challenge. After she left the classroom, Carol earned a master’s degree in educational psychology from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and took some time off to be with her infant daughter, born at the end of 1972. Within a couple of years, Carol realized she was suited more for a professional life than a domestic one and started classes at William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, graduating in 1978.

Carol’s business law career spanned three decades and three law firms, one of them with her own name. She began her career with Robins, Davis, and Lyons (now Robins Kaplan) and became one of their first women partners. She then struck out on her own for several years before joining Gray Plant Mooty for the last few years of her career, both as an attorney and a mentor to new attorneys.

Carol also generously donated her time and talent to several organizations during her lifetime, most notably the boards for the Sister Kenny Foundation, Abbott Northwestern Hospital, and Creatives for Causes, a nonprofit founded by her sister, Sue Crolick.

Carol was a warm, affectionate, and charismatic woman, known for solving virtually any kind of problem. She loved bridge and movies with her friends, reading to her grandchildren, and spending time with her daughters. She laughed easily and worked hard. We miss her so much.

— Marta Carol Drew, Carol’s daughter