FARLEY, Penelope Anne (Brouwer; Bresnahan) October 23, 1939—October 25, 2016

Pennelope Anne Brouwer of Hinsdale, IL was a member of our class, 1957-1959. She resided her freshman year in Mears Hall with Nancy Welch (Barnby) as her roommate and became an Amercian Studies major. She also was a member of the Future Teachers of America.

She left the College to be married to Richard Bresnahan (’59) on December 30, 1959. They subsequently had three children: Jeffrey Alan, Timothy Craig and Karen Marie.

After her divorce she married Norman J. Farley, who died a number of years ago.

Penny had various jobs in Blue Ridge Summit, PA; Hickory Hill, Hinsdale and Naperville, IL; Morriston, NJ; Marietta and Canton, GA; and Stillwarter, OK.

She died in Stillwater, OK and is survived by her three children.

Nancy (Welch) Barnby

 

Faunce-Zimmerman (Hass), Susan Vaughn—January 29, 1939-December 2, 2020

Susan Hass of Omaha, Nebraska joined our class with most of us in Fall 1957 and immediately became involved in college drama. That Fall, for example, she played the good angel in Christopher Marlowe’s “Doctor Faustus.” The following Spring, she had the role of Muriel McComber in Eugene O’Neill’s “Ah Wilderness” that prompted the S&B review to state she “was perfect. She was the right mixture of adolescent naivete and shrewdness.” She also became an active member of Grinnell Players and the National Collegiate Players and was elected to membership of Pi Epsilon Delta, an honorary society for participants in collegiate theater.

She somehow managed to find time her junior year in Loose Hall to serve on its student advisory board (Baffleboard). She majored in Speech and obtained her B.A. degree with the rest of our class on June 4, 1961.

Promptly thereafter she and Stephen Alden Faunce (’60) were married on campus in Herrick Chapel. The following Fall she obtained her first job, teaching junior-high speech and reading in Iowa City while Stephen was working for Procter & Gamble. The two of them later had two sons, Jeff and David Faunce.

After she and Stephen were divorced, Susan was a student at United Theological Seminary (“UTS”) of the Twin Cities, from which she obtained the Master of Divinity degree in 1986. Subsequently she was ordained as a pastor in the United Church of Christ (UCC).

While at UTS, she met and fell in love with a fellow student, James Zimmerman, and they were married on December 28, 1984 at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in St. Paul, Minnesota. Since they planned to be co-pastors, they decided it would be less confusing if they shared their last names.

The two of them then served in UCC churches in Iowa and Minnesota. Their longest such service was in the small northeastern Minnesota town of Biwabik at Community Church-Christ,, 1988-2004. Jim fondly remembers her sermon, “How Do You Want To Be Remembered?” and her love for the hymns “Amazing Grace,” “How Great Thou Art” and “Be Still My Soul.”

Susan also delightfully and diligently helped to renovate the church building in that town and later their Wisconsin lake cabin. She especially enjoyed spending time at that cabin, reading, baking and gardening.

During the last years of her life, Susan suffered from dementia, but died peacefully in her sleep. Memorial contributions in her memory may be made to the Minnesota-North Dakota Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association.

Susan is survived by her husband Jim; sons Jeff Faunce (Amy McClellan) and David Faunce (Renae); step-children James Zimmerman, Jr., Kelly Zimmerman, Shane Zimmerman (Keri) and Eric Zimmerman (Angie); numerous grandchildren; and brother Paul Hass (Grinnell ’59) (Jackie) and their family.

Duane W. Krohnke

 

Faulconer, Vernon Edward

June 4, 1939—August 7, 2015

Vernon Faulconer was a Grinnell College trustee for 19 years (1984-2003) and a life trustee for another 12 years (2003-2015) and regarded this service as one of his great pleasures. When he completed his trusteeship in 2003, the College awarded him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. (His recent photo is to the left.)

The development and construction of buildings on the Grinnell campus bear his imprint and financial support: the Bear Recreation and Athletic Center, the Noyce Science Center and the renovation of Mears Hall and ARH. Vernon and his wife, Amy Hamamoto Faulconer, ‘59 also have made significant financial contributions to the College’s annual fund (the Pioneer Fund).

The Bucksbaum Center for the Arts was especially important for Vernon. His 1999 letter to the board’s Committee on Fine Arts stated the Center’s “mandate should be to help enrich and support the exploration of art, theatre and music through a variety of formats, including performances, exhibits, lectures and workshops.” Key for Vernon and Amy was the creation of space in the Center for exhibition of the visual arts in the gallery now named in their honor.

Since the Faulconer Gallery’s opening in 1999, Vernon has partnered with Lesley Wright, its director, to build the venue and its collection. “The Faulconer” is now renowned as a home for exhibitions whose intelligence and sophistication exceed their modest dimensions: shows that have captivated and inspired countless students, faculty, staff, alumni, and visitors.

In a tribute, Wright said, “The chance to work with Vernon over all those years has been a great gift. Vernon was blessed with a mind that was quick, unpretentious, and curious. He was such a pleasure to talk with because ideas were, for him, very real treasures. He often downplayed his intelligence, but I never accepted his self-assessment. He was a very smart guy. When I learned that asking questions was one of his delights in experiencing art, it made perfect sense. Art, the oil and gas business, and travel were his life-long liberal arts education.”

Six weeks after Vernon’s death, the Faulconer Gallery opened the exhibition “Start by Asking Questions; Contemporary Art from the Faulconer and Rachofsky Collections,” (Sept. 16-Dec. 13, 2015). The exhibition featured world-class 20th and 21st-century artworks from The Warehouse, the Dallas, Texas collection Vernon and Amy built with their friends and collecting partners, Cindy and Howard Rachofsky, the four of whom

were recognized as among the world’s top 200 art collectors. In his own dedication for the exhibit, Vernon offered the following comments about his approach to art:

• “When I first began collecting art about 35 years ago, I was uncertain where to start. I hadn’t studied art, I didn’t understand contemporary art, and I wasn’t even sure what I wanted to collect. But I was intrigued and wanted to know more. I kept an open mind and tried to learn all I could about the works that I

liked, or that baffled me but had significance I couldn’t figure out Collecting

art for [Amy and me] starts with a personal passion to own wonderful objects, and to live with them over time. The experience of a work of art seen almost daily is very different from a one-time museum or gallery visit. With art on the walls in our homes and offices, we learn what we want to live with, what sparks new questions, and even what doesn’t hold our interest for very long. Art has opened our minds and our eyes.”

Other Texas art organizations also drew Vernon’s attention. He served on the boards of trustees for the Dallas Museum of Art and the Chinati Foundation, the latter of which operates a museum for large-scale pieces of contemporary art in Marfa, Texas.

Vernon’s generous philanthropy also included the Tyler (Texas) Junior College, where he created the Faulconer Academic Incentive Award for Minority Students, which he regarded as his proudest achievement. Another beneficiary was the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, which in 2008 received the couple’s $1 million gift to endow the Amy and Vernon E. Faulconer Distinguished Chair in Medical Science.

For this generosity Vernon was named the 1998 “Philanthropist of the Year” by the East Texas Community Foundation and the 2000 “Hearts and Hands Across Tyler” Kreelene Van Cleef Humanitarian Award while he and Amy were named Tyler’s Outstanding Citizens in 2005 with the T. B. Butler Award.

The primary source of wealth that made this generous philanthropy possible is a successful oil-and-gas business he started and operated for the last 45 years (n/k/a Vernon E. Faulconer, Inc.). It is an acquisition and production company that specializes in enhancing the production of marginal oil and gas wells. It does not drill. Over the years it has steadily grown to include operations in Texas and eight other southwestern states.

All of these accomplishments and wealth were unimaginable when Vern in 1957 left the family dairy farm near El Dorado, Kansas, to attend Grinnell College, sight-unseen, on the recommendation of his high school librarian. He remarked, “He had no idea of what the College would be like.”

Living in South Younker Hall, Vern was active in speech activities as a member of the College debate team and as an extemporaneous speaking contestant. (His photo from the 1959 Cyclone is to the right.) He later confessed he was not a good student and did not take advantage of what the College had to offer. I disagree. He and I met our first semester in the Freshman English course, and as we became friends, I saw Vern as a soft-spoken, serious, intelligent fellow student when we both were impressed, and somewhat intimidated, by Professor Norman Springer. During the next spring break he visited my parents and me at our home in Perry, Iowa. In more recent years Vern and I occasionally caught up with each other by emails and phone calls.

His true Grinnell accomplishment, however, was wooing and winning the heart of a fellow Grinnellian, Amy Hamamoto,’59, whom he married in December 1959. (Their more recent photograph is to the left.) He then dropped out of Grinnell on the advice of a friend who persuaded him that a college education was not necessary to be successful and on Vern’s recollection that all the wealthy people near his hometown seemed to be in the oil business.

To pursue this dream, Vern and Amy moved to the small Kansas town of Marion, where he was unable to find a job in an oil company. With the help of a small bank loan, he instead became an entrepreneur, buying and selling oil and gas leases and used drilling equipment. Four years later they moved their

family and the business to Wichita, until they relocated in 1970 to Tyler, Texas, 100 miles southeast of Dallas. There the business gradually improved and eventually became the previously described successful oil and gas business.

Vernon died on August 7, 2015, of a heart attack at Dallas’ Presbyterian Hospital after a gall bladder operation. He is survived by his wife Amy; their three children (Grant Albert Faulconer and his wife Catherine; Sara Jane Faulconer Sands; and Galen Arlen Faulconer and his wife Renee); nine grandchildren; a brother (Don Faulconer); and a sister (Gylaine Faulconer Zimmerman). The memorial service was at Tyler’s Marvin United Methodist Church, where Vernon was a member.

This obituary refers to his many “resume virtues” in David Brooks’ terminology. But “eulogy virtues” are there too: compassion, generosity, graciousness, humility, optimism, curiosity, inquisitiveness, intelligence and enthusiasm. As the College said on his passing, “Vernon Faulconer was an outsize presence in Grinnell’s recent history: warm, affectionate, generous, and visionary. A friend, colleague, and mentor to many, he will be sorely missed.” Amen.

Duane W. Krohnke

 

FAIRBANKS, Grant, Jr. (May 17, 1940—July 7, 2017)

Grant Fairbanks, after an outstanding record at University High School in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, added stellar academic accomplishments at Grinnell: freshmen (Hermits) and senior (Friars) men’s honorary societies; Phi Beta Kappa (1961); and B.A. with Honors in Physics (1961).

As a resident of South Younker Hall, he also enjoyed success on the College track and cross-country teams. He was the captain of the track team and one of the fastest runners on the cross-country team that in 1960 won the Midwest Conference Meet at Washington Park in Chicago. One of his classmates on the cross-country team, Dick Fisher, who became an accomplished astrophysicist at NASA, fondly recalls his many conversations our senior year with Grant, who exposed him to “numerous ideas from literature and history.”

Next was graduate school. In 1969 Grant received a PhD in biochemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology followed by 2½ years of post-doctoral research at Harvard University, where he began his highly acclaimed work with gel electrophoresis, including his invention of a method for fractionating membrane proteins in polyacrylamide gels, now commonly referred to as “Fairbanks Gels,” and a widely cited article on human red-blood cell membrane proteins.

Grant joined the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, where he ran a research laboratory for 20 years and received several awards for his work, including the American Cancer Society’s “Cancer Research Scholar” award, the Admiral Earl Award from the Worcester Engineering Society and the Grinnell College Alumni Award in 1974.

In 1991 he moved to the University of Massachusetts Medical School and Hospital, where he was Professor of Clinical Pathology and Director of Clinical Chemistry in the Hematology Laboratory until his retirement in 1999 due to progression of early-onset Parkinson’s disease that was first diagnosed in 1987.

In 1962 Grant married Ellen Wolz Kelly of Des Moines, a Grinnell graduate in 1963 and then a public school teacher and elementary school principal. They had two daughters, Katherine and Martha. Katherine, a Grinnell graduate in 1991, is a lawyer in Des Moines specializing in family law. Martha, a pediatrician in Chapel Hill, NC. In 2000 the marriage of Grant and Ellen was dissolved.

In 2003, after courting a former high school classmate, Mary (Heller) Rawcliffe, they were married and settled in California. One of their passions was genealogical research about the Fairbanks family, including Jonathan Fairbanks, who emigrated from England in 1633; and six brothers who fought in the Union Army in the Civil War, one of whom was Grant’s great-great grandfather. Grant was especially proud of Calvin Fairbanks, a Methodist pastor and abolitionist who freed 47 slaves, for which he served 17 years in prison.

Although his Parkinson’s disease limited his activities in later years, he continued to participate in his community, serving as president of a Parkinson’s Support Group and attending concerts in which his wife, Mary, a professional singer, performed. [Insert his recent photo on the right.]

Grant is survived by his loving wife, Mary Fairbanks; his brother, Lee McGee Fairbanks (Annie); his sister, Janet Fairbanks Thomas (Grinnell, 1964) (Dan); his daughters, Katherine Fairbanks Spencer Sargent (Grinnell, 1991) (Michael); and Dr. Martha Fairbanks Perry (Chad); six grandchildren; step-daughter, Christine (Stephen) Busch and their three sons; and his first wife, Ellen Wolz Kelly Smith.

Duane W. Krohnke

 

Erbach, Carol Lynne Autman (September 20, 1939-January 13, 2017)

Lynne from Friends High School in Wilmington, Delaware and Green Mountain College in Poultney, Vermont joined our class in the fall of 1959 and was graduated with us in June 1961. She majored in Speech, was a model for Mademoiselle and participated in the Uncle Sam’s Club, Field Hockey and Young Democrats. She lived in Loose Hall and served on its governing board (Baffleboard). Later she said, “Grinnell expanded my horizon and intellectual pursuits. I am deeply grateful!!”

Her interest in the theater was sparked by acting in the Grinnell College Players’ production of Strindberg’s 19^th century play, “Miss Julie.” Her role was Kristin, the cook in a Swedish manor house where Miss Julie (Barbara Hansen Malinauskas ’63), the daughter of the Count, flirts with Jean (Alvah Stanley, ’62), the manservant to the Count and Kristin’s fiancé.

This theater interest was furthered by Lynne’s study in the Theater Department

of Indiana University, which granted her a M.A. in 1964 with her thesis, ”A Study of Creative Drama

Techniques for Children with Delayed Language,” which was published for use as a college reference. IU also awarded her the “Best Actress and Outstanding Contribution” designation.

Thereafter Lynne had an active career in the theater. She acted with the USO in Europe (the farmer’s daughter in “The Pursuit of Happiness”) and Houston’s Alley Theater (1961-63) and served as Artistic Director of The Children’s Theater Association of Baltimore (1963-68) and as Special Advisor to the Maryland Arts Council for children’s theater. From 1968 through 1971 Lynne was Co-Producer, Business Manager and Fund Raiser for Off-Broadway productions, including the popular musical “Dames at Sea” starring Bernadette Peters.

From 1971 through 1991, she was Director, Talent Relations for the Educational Broadcasting Corporation, WNET/PBS in New York City. There she negotiated a $6 million underwriting grant to fund the “Great Performances” series for PBS and WNET/PBS’ acquisition of exclusive television rights for many popular series, including “Nature” and “Theater in America.” She also negotiated production agreements with writers and other professionals and labor contracts with various unions.

In 1992 Lynne formed her own company, Creative Business Consultants, where she engaged in lecturing, teaching and consulting for the Oxford University Press, Miles Educational Films and others.

These accomplishments earned her entries in “Who’s Who in America” and “Who’s Who of American Women” and to an “Outstanding Alumnae” award from her alma mater, The Friends School.

In 1984 Lynne married Paul A. Erbach, and in 1999 they moved to her native Wilmington to be close to her aged mother. Lynne is survived by Paul; brothers, David M. Autman and Stephen G. Autman; nieces, Sabra Horvat, Dawn Autman and Lisa Dolph; as well as three grandnieces, Elizabeth Hill and Mackenzi and Madison Semans.

Duane W. Krohnke

 

Enyeart, Curtis Warren (01/15/1940–07/27/2009).

Curt Enyert from Tenafly, New Jersey received his Grinnell B.A. in history in 1961. He was in the Band one year and lived in South Younker Hall. Colombia School of Law was the next stop on his journey; he received its LLB degree in 1965.

Curt then embarked on a 33-year legal career. From 1965 to 1972 he was an associate with the Wall Street law firm of Breed Abbott & Morgan, where he specialized in antitrust law. He continued that specialty as corporate counsel for Volvo North America (1972-74) and Caterpillar, Inc. (1974-98). The memorial resolution in his honor by the Peoria (Illinois) County Bar Association said he “was always friendly and helpful and willing to serve as a mentor.” A younger attorney recalled that when he sought advice, Curt “would lean back in his chair, take a few puffs on his pipe while pondering the issue and then lean forward to engage in an intellectual discussion of the issue.” Sometimes the younger lawyer would have to ask, “Well, Curt, can we do it or not?”

Curt was an avid sailor and enjoyed singing and tennis.

He was survived by Melissa Miller Enyeart (Grinnell, ’63), his wife of 46 years, and their sons David and Timothy (Grinnell, ’92).

 

Ellett, Emerson W.

Emerson Ellett from Denver, Colorado spent his freshman year at Grinnell

College and then transferred to Denver’s University of Colorado, where he is assumed to have graduated with a B.A. in 1961. He continued to live in Denver until 1971 when he moved to Philadelphia, PA and then later to Ocean, NJ.

Emerson was active in the Libertarian Party of New Jersey, which supports liberty, the foundation of justice and a prosperous U.S. In 2000 and 2003 he was the Party’s unsuccessful candidate for the New Jersey Senate. In 2001 he was elected as the Party’s Secretary and in 2018 he was a member of that state’s delegation to its national convention. He also apparently wrote the following letter that was published in the Party’s newsletter:

• Open Letter to [State] Senator Vin Gopal (Oct. 2022). ‘The country is plagued with time-serving professional politicians. You can’t do much about President Joe Biden (48 years in office) nor Monmouth county’s own bi-partisan “election hogs”—Cong. Chris Smith (42 years) and Cong. Frank Pallone (36 years plus time in the NJ Senate)—but you can introduce term-limit legislation for state, county, and local offices here in New Jersey. Also, you can help by announcing that you will not seek a third term. “Two terms only” will restore the principle of the citizen legislator that the country was founded on and needs so badly today.” (New Jersey Libertarian (Fall 2022)

Emerson’s mother, Elizabeth Valeria Pullen Ellett, who died in June 2006, was married to Emerson’s father, Emerson Skinner Ellett, who preceded her in death. Their daughter (and Emerson W.’s sister) was Mary Ellett Stern of Allenspark, Colorado, who has been unreachable.

Further information about Emerson Ellett, including the dates of his birth and death, have not been obtained. (Anyone who has any additional information, should advise the Grinnell Alumni Office.)

Duane W. Krohnke (author)

 

Jeffrey Neil Easterson (October 5, 1937—January 20, 2020)

Jeff Easterson from suburban Washington, D.C. spent 1955-56 at the College and 1957-58 at American University in his hometown before joining our class, 1958-61 and obtaining his Grinnell B.A. in Philosophy in January 1961. He resided in Gates Hall for his years with our class. (His college photo is on the left.)

After graduating from Grinnell and (except for graduate school at American University, 1968-70), Jeff moved to Europe for the rest of his life. In Germany’s Berlin he did graduate work in philosophy at Freie Universität, which was recommended by Grinnell’s Professor Paul Kuntz. Jeff also

helped refugees from East Germany gain entry into and resettle in West Germany both before and after the Berlin Wall was built. He also lived in Italy and France.

While he lived in Europe, Jeff worked in European theatre festivals, 1965-1980; at European pubs and restaurants, 1968-1976; managed European bridge clubs and as a member of the executive committee of the German bridge federation from 1985 until 2000. He obtained an international license as a bridge tournament director and worked at various national, world and European bridge championships.

Another of his European activities was the theater. Because of his beard and thus resembling an ancient Teuton (German tribesman) he was commissioned to play the role of a such a tribesman in a play and his trilingualism led him into editing and writing theater bulletins. One result of this activity led to his discovery and love of the Palermo (Italy) puppet theater (Opra di Pupi) and his moving for a while to Palermo.

The highlight of his life happened in Berlin in 1984, when he met and fell in love with Jadwiga (“Jaga”) Beran, and in 1989 they were married and became inseparable until his death. As she said, “He was extremely hardworking, whether he was working in theater, doing translations or overseeing bridge tournaments. He has always put in 100%. His enthusiasm and passion for whatever he was doing was contagious.” Moreover, “wherever we lived, our doors were always open for friends and our house was filled with

guests. Jeff had extraordinary mathematical abilities, he loved classical music, literature, theater, bridge, and above all – he loved people. Jeff was the most kind, loving and intelligent person I’ve ever met in my life, and I love him very much.” (Above is a photo of the two of them.)

Jaga also recalls that Jeff often talked about his time at Grinnell and said that the best thing that Grinnell gave him (apart from the basics of philosophy) were friends with whom he kept in contact all his life and that it was one of the best colleges in the U.S., which caused him to recommend it to his sister, Elizabeth Easterson Jones (Grinnell, ’68).

Jeff died on January 20, 2020, in Perpignan, France. He is survived by wife Jadwiga Beran-Easterson, sister Elizabeth Easterson Jones and brother-in-law Edward E. Jones (Grinnell, ’65).

(Duane W. Krohnke, author)

 

Drew, William Robert (“Bill”) (Oct. 6, 1939—Aug. 20, 2023)

Bill Drew from the small town of DeWitt, Iowa near the Mississippi River joined our class with most of us In August 1957 for our freshmen year and obtained his B.A. in Economics with the class in June 1961.

As he recalled for our 2016 reunion, “the Grinnell experience was one that had a tremendous impact on me” even though he “struggled with no high school foreign language, no advanced prep courses, no qual-out capability. In those days of Sputnik, many of us thought we should be engineers. A year and a half of physics, ending in nuclear, convinced me to switch to econ and business, although there wasn’t much ‘business’ in the curriculum by the time I started. Accounting had just been dropped as too ‘practical’ for our liberal arts studies.”

“There were many, many good times [at the College], including life at Dibble [Hall], all men on our side of the tracks, women visitors on Sunday (one foot on the floor)—you know the drill. Also waited tables at Cowles [Hall] (was it $.60 per hour?)”

As a trumpet player in high school, Bill continued that interest at Grinnell by helping organize a Dixieland band during freshmen orientation to entertain the new students and a year later by participating in one of the college jazz bands organized by Herbie Hancock. He also played the trumpet with the Grinnell Orchestra and Collegium Musicum. Our junior year Bill was the editor of the 1960 Cyclone annual, a member of the Board of Publications and vice-president-secretary of the local chapter of Sigma Delta Chi (the professional journalism fraternity for men) as well as secretary of Dibble Hall. That junior year he was a member of the varsity track team although he later confessed, “I wasn’t cut out to battle running three miles when I hadn’t run for four years.”

“As a heathen, or at least a big-time doubter on entry to Grinnell, I stumbled on a couple of ideas that guided my life:”

1. “The simple statement (must have been exposed to this from Paul Kuntz or Neal Klausner) that one definition of God is ‘that than which there can be no greater.’ It is more than just the wording (which still grabs me today), it is the simplicity of the concept. Of course you can embellish the concept, but it seems a pretty sturdy start.”
2. “The other subtle impact on this heathen was a ‘Demonstration Mass’ in ARH celebrated by a local priest and the seven or so Catholic students at Grinnell.. . . There was indeed a subtle impact of this Mass which I didn’t act on for another 8 or

10 years [when he joined the Roman Catholic Church]. And the conservatism that I now hold dear sets me apart somewhat from the very liberal spirit of Grinnell.”

“After Grinnell, I spent two years getting an MBA at Emory University in Atlanta, then stints as a sales/marketer with Nestle [in Wisconsin], Nabisco, Beatrice Foods, Graber” followed by 18 years “promoting and branding Wisconsin cheese” as VP, Marketing Services for the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board. After retiring from that Board in 2018, Bill was a part-time residential real estate salesman for several years.

During that initial time in Wisconsin, Bill met and fell in love with Madeline Ann Jones, a Kindergarten teacher in that state’s town of Neenah and they were married June 17, 1967, in that state. After moving to Cambridge, MA for a job with Nabisco, their sons Stephen and James were born in 1969 and 1972. And in 1981 they adopted five-year-old Susan from South Korea.

In the summer of 2023, Bill was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of bile duct cancer (cholangiocarcinoma) and three months later he died from that disease. He is survived by wife Madeline, their three children and seven grandchildren. Bill was memorialized at a Mass at Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Parish in Madison, Wisconsin.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Lawrence C. Drew and Mary Myers Drew, both of whom were Grinnellians (classes of ’26 and ’27), as well as his sister Sarah Kane.

Duane W. Krohnke (author)

 

Draegert, David Allison (06/19/1940 – 04/14/1999).

Dave Draegert lived all his early years in What Cheer, Iowa. He was the son of Carl G. and Lois V. Draegert, who often visited Grinnell’s campus where Lois had started her college education. His sister, Cindy (Cynthia Anne (Draegert) Simpson) also graduated from Grinnell (1956) and helped Dave see Grinnell as the place to be. Dave entered as a freshman in 1957 and lived in North Younker Hall, where he served as social chair, house council representative and, in 1960-61, as house president and member of the Council of House Presidents. He received his B.A. degree in Physics and was a member of Sigma Xi and Pi Mu Epsilon, National Math Honor Societies. He published numerous articles in the Journal of the Optical Society of America, The IEEE Journal and other scientific publications.

Dave obtained advanced degrees in Physics from Kansas State University (M.S., 1964 and Ph.D., 1967) where he held graduate and post-doctoral fellowships. Dave worked in research for Bell Telephone Laboratories where he obtained several patents. He then worked at AIRCO,Inc. /BOC and became a registered Patent Agent and Patent Attorney, earning his LLB from Seton Hall University in 1977. He was Patent Counsel for BOC until his death in 1999. Dave was instrumental in the establishment of the Inventors Hall of Fame, now located at the U.S. Patent Office in Washington, D.C. He also was on the Board of the New Jersey Intellectual Property and Patent Law Association and served as President of that organization for two years. Dave also served on numerous civic and church committees and worked tirelessly to contribute in positive ways where ever he was.

On June 4, 1961, the date of their Grinnell commencement, Dave married Margaret Elizabeth (Peggy) Ware in Herrick Chapel, a good place to start a very special life together. They have two daughters who live in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

By Peggy Ware Draegert