Dierking, Glenn D. (06/08/1939–10/29/2007)

Glenn Dierking was at Grinnell College for two years, living in Clark Hall. He appeared in the play “The Cave Dwellers” and was a member of the Young Republicans. His daughter recalled hearing stories about his playing clarinet with Herbie Hancock at the College.

Glenn was a natural-born salesman, working over the years for the Fuller Brush Company, Top Value Trading Stamps, Equitable Life Insurance, Sears, and Haverty’s. His feeling was that selling was easy as long as you believed in your product.

He married Grinnell classmate Patricia McClary in 1960. They had two daughters; their son, an Army Sergeant, was killed in the first Iraq war in 1991. The family settled in Lakewood, NY, where Glenn was active in Boy Scouts, sports, music, and art with his children as they were growing up. He took his family camping for a week every summer, where hiking and fishing were always on the agenda. Glenn was a member of the local Rotary Club during his time in New York.

After a 1991 divorce, Glenn settled in Sarasota, FL where he met and married Lou Ann Slavin. He enjoyed landscaping in the Florida sun and he especially loved spending time with his grandchildren.

 

Lyle E. Brumley (May 19, 1939—December 17, 2019)

Lyle from Ottumwa, Iowa started his Grinnell years with his classmates in the fall of 1957. In June 1961 he was awarded the

B.A. degree in Biology. He was an active resident of Cowles Hall and served as a class officer his junior year.

With his great tenor voice, he was a member of the College Choir and the Scarleteers, the male vocal octet (sometimes called the “double barbershop quartet”), which enjoyed singing at events on campus and giving concerts in nearby small towns. He also was a member of a male choral ensemble that went on an Iowa-Illinois-Missouri tour in March 1959. Many remember his great smile and friendly manner.

In the fall of 1959 he called Barbara Treat ’63 and said he had seen her serving food at the Cowles Dining Room and invited her to go to the Cowles house party. She could not go, but instead invited him to go with her to the James Hall party a few

weeks later. Lyle accepted. They had a great time and soon started a serious dating relationship. After she graduated from Grinnell, they were married in August 1963.

After college, Lyle pursued medical education, earning a M.A. degree in anatomy in 1963 from the University of Illinois College of Medicine and afterwards teaching biology at Loyola University in Chicago, 1963-64. He then went to the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine, obtaining his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree in 1968 while squeezing in time at that institution as an assistant instructor of veterinary medicine.

For 50 years Lyle was a small animal, private practice veterinarian in the Chicago area and his home town of Ottumwa. He also was active in various professional groups, including serving as president of the Illinois Academy of Veterinary Medicine and as chief of staff of the Illinois Animal Welfare League.

Music continued to be important to Lyle and Barbara, who also had been in the Grinnell Choir, as they were longtime members of a church choir. One of the last events Lyle attended was a concert by one of their grandchildren’s high school choir.

Most important for Lyle and Barbara was their family. They have three children: Janet Brumley Abramson, Diane Brumley Marty (Grinnell, 1992), and David Brumley along with sons-in-law Scott Abramson and Kirk Marty (Grinnell, 1990), daughter-in-law Alison Brumley and 12 grandchildren, all of whom survive him.

 

Brodt, Stephen Jon (January 23, 1939—October 24, 2020)

Stephen Brodt from Sibley, Iowa, after a year at Dakota Wesleyan University, joined our class in the Fall of 1958. He was a resident of Smith Hall and a member of the College golf team, serving as co-captain his senior year and having a reputation as “a prodigious long-ball hitter.” As a Sociology and Anthropology major, Stephen obtained his Grinnell B.A. in June 1961.

During his Grinnell years he dated and fell in love with Barbara J. Scanlon (’62), and they were married on June 16, 1962 in Glen Ellyn, IL.

For his graduate education, Stephen started at the University of Chicago School of Business before going to the University of Iowa, where he studied Sociology, worked as a teaching assistant and obtained the M.A. degree in 1964 and the Ph.D.

in 1973. While in Iowa City, he also was an abstractor for the Journal of Marriage and the Family.

In the Summer of 1967 he and Barbara moved to Muncie, Indiana, where he became an Assistant Professor at Ball State University’s Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology. A year later he was promoted to Associate Professor and later to Professor and eventually to Department Chair. His focus was criminal justice and was a co-author of a major study of murders and suicides in intimate relationships. His students loved him for his sense of humor and showing them such classic crime movies as “The Godfather” and “Goodfellas.”

Golf continued to be a lifelong passion for Stephen, who was famous at Ball State for bringing a golf club into faculty meetings and practicing his putts (without a ball).

Stephen and Barbara loved their four sons—Tom, Sndy Charlie and Alex—as seen in his coaching them in baseball or basketball or golf and watching their games. Their eldest, Tom, had serious medical problems, and Stephen often drove Tom to Indianapolis for the best medical care before he died in 2018.

Stephen and Barbara were active members of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Muncie. Stephen is survived by his wife Barbara, their three sons and five grandchildren.

Duane W. Krohnke

 

BRIGGS, Donald Robert (1/5/40–10/25/07). Don Briggs from Albia, Iowa, attended Grinnell for his first two years of college, 1957-59, where he lived in Gates Hall. He completed his undergraduate education at Drake University with a B.A. in Education in 1961. In 1965 he obtained a M.A. in Library Science from the University of Illinois.

In the 1960s Briggs taught English at a Des Moines high school and an Episcopalian mission in Liberia. He also worked as a librarian at the

University of Illinois. During this decade he confronted his alcohol abuse through AA and for the rest of his life was active in AA, helping many people with their sobriety.

In the 1970s Don lived in Los Angeles where he nurtured his love for theater and opera. In 1975 he was diagnosed with testicular cancer, but after experimental treatments, he recovered. He wrote a play based on his fight with cancer and alcoholism; entitled Phil & Mac, the play was produced by the Los Angeles Actors Theatre and won the Hollywood Drama-Logue Award for Writing in 1983.

In 1980 he moved to San Francisco where he preferred to be known as “Bob” and presumably came out of the closet as a gay man. He worked as a records manager for the Labat-Anderson information management firm. He studied Buddhism and counseled AIDS patients and their loved ones through the Shanti Foundation for Peace. He also wrote the libretto for the opera Least of My Children, which told the story of a mother caring for her son dying of AIDS. Premiered in May of 1989 in San Francisco, it was described as the first opera to deal explicitly with the AIDS epidemic.

In 1990 Labat-Anderson transferred Bob to Philadelphia, and he worked with the firm until 1997. He then began work as a librarian for the Philadelphia Free Library, which he continued until 2006. At the Library, he was “well-loved and respected;” he had “vision and warm enthusiasm.” He also joined the Philadelphia Artist Conference Network and began creating paintings and collages. Grief counseling for groups in the gay community was a major volunteer activity.

In 2000 Bob entered into a life partnership with Brian Arcarese, who was still with Bob when he died in 2007 of Myelodysplastic Syndromes, a bone-marrow cancer. (Gayle Ronan Sims, A renaissance man who turned around his troubled youth, Philadelphia Inquirer (Nov. 18, 2007).)

 

Boeker, Karl Edward (10/13/1939–02/26/1968). Karl Boeker from Davenport, Iowa received his B.A. degree in history from Grinnell in June 1961. He had an excellent academic record: Honors in History and Phi Beta Kappa. He was a resident of South Younker Hall, but apparently was not involved in any campus activities. Karl died in 1968 after a lengthy illness.

 

Beveridge, Thomas Frank (July 9, 1939—October 12, 2014)

As Tom said in our 50^th reunion booklet, “Time carried me from [Middletown] Connecticut to [Grinnell] Iowa at the age of eighteen.” Living in Smith Hall and playing the clarinet in the band, Tom majored in English and later acknowledged that “Grinnell had broken me open (not always a comfortable process) and introduced me to a much richer, more diverse world.”

Tom fondly recalls one of our professors saying that although he disagreed with Tom’s conclusions in a paper, he appreciated the way in which Tom had presented his argument. “That may have been the first time in my life that an authority figure complimented me for having the integrity to say what I thought, and say it well, rather than just spouting a ‘right’ answer.”

Tom went on to Drew University Theological School to obtain a M. Div. degree in 1965. Later he earned a Master of Arts in Counseling from the University of St. Joseph, and a Doctor of Ministry in Psychology and Clinical Studies from Andover Newton Theological School.

After ordination as a Methodist Church deacon in 1964, Tom served as a Methodist pastor for the next eleven years (1965-1975) in his native Connecticut and New York and again in 1977-1982. He also was a Resident Chaplain at Hartford Hospital (1975-1977) and spent many years in pastoral counseling in Connecticut (1982-1993).

Since 2006, he served as an Ecumenical Associate at Christ Church Cathedral of The Episcopal Church in Hartford, Connecticut. There he was active in its Church Street Eats ministry that serves the homeless and others in need and was a leader in the Cathedral’s healing ministry and Adult Christian Formation. Tom was a member of the Order of Saint Luke, a religious order whose calling is to liturgical/sacramental scholarship, teaching and practice. For several years, he served the Order as its first Pastoral Care Officer.

Here is Tom’s photograph from this year’s Palm Sunday in his vestments, including the scapular of The Order of St Luke that symbolized his vocation as an ordained minister and his commitment to the Order’s Rule of Life and Service. The tall buildings in the background speak of the connection Tom made between his service at the altar and his service to the people of the city, particularly those living on the margins. Also note his using a cane that allowed him to continue his ministry in spite of extreme back pain.

In his essay for our 50^th reunion booklet, Tom said that he had spent much of his life on the boundaries of the world, including those between the arts and sciences, liturgy and life, psychology and religion, ecumenical and interfaith dialogues, encountering other ethnicities and cultures, being involved with issues of war and peace, advocating for justice in access to healthcare and standing in the ever-widening gulf between wealth and poverty. In all of this, “respect among people of differing thoughts, commitments, and experiences is one of my core values.”

This theme was echoed in Tom’s sermon for our 50^th reunion, “Boundaries: Bridges to Wisdom. which drew upon Jesus’ words in John 4:24: “God is spirit, [therefore], those who worship God must worship in spirit and truth.” According to Tom, Jesus invites us into His experience of boundaries. He was in a place he was not supposed to be, talking to someone he is not supposed to be associating with—a Samaritan woman in the heart of Samaria. Responding to her question, Jesus said the place (Jerusalem or Mount Gerazim) for worshipping God was not important. “God is spirit, [therefore] those who worship God must worship in spirit and truth. Spirit is unpredictable. Truth is “something so deep and so important that you know you’ve always known it,” like all people share one common humanity.

Spirit and truth, Tom continued, “work together to unmask the falsehoods of our world. They expose the lies that say that boundaries of nation, religion, race, class, gender, sexual orientation—any such boundaries—are something to be fought over. They re-mind us that differences between people in lifestyles, cultures, thought and worship are expressions of God’s creation in us, not grounds for fear, suspicion, hatred and violence.”

Tom is survived by his wife Amy (Anderson) Beveridge, whom he met at Drew University, their son, Thomas Andrew Beveridge, his sister Lois Czachorowski (Philip) and their three children.

His memorial service was at the Christ Church Cathedral on October 18^th. The service bulletin said, “”A devout and dedicated pastor, tom used his special gifts in helping others on their spiritual journeys, and was able to reach out to many in personal and meaningful ways and especially to those who asked for healing. He had a passion for ecumenical and interfaith ministries, and will be deeply missed by all who were privileged to know him.”

Our classmate, Ginger Hoff Stolztenberg, was there in the nearly full cathedral to watch the family enter with 28 robed participants, including two bishops, priests, a vicar and deacons. Seven people shared their memories of Tom, including the Bishop of Connecticut.

Barbour, Richard Elwood (“Dick”) (October 1, 1938–July 28, 2016)

Dick Barbour from Des Moines was an active member of our class. He was President of the Young Democrats and participated in speech contests and activities. On the football team he was a guard and punter; his senior year he was named All Midwest Conference Honorable Mention. Dick also was a pole-vaulter and javelin-thrower on the track team. Obviously, he was a member of the Men’s Honor G athletic letter-winners club. He obtained a B.A. degree in history in 1961 with our class.

The respect of his Clark Hall mates was shown by his being elected its President and thus a member of the Council of House Presidents (CofHP). I fondly recall that at the 1961 Student Council Nominating Convention Dick rose to say I had done much for Grinnell “by filling the Student Council presidency and filling it well.” Dick also served as Off Campus Social Chair.

Immediately after graduating from the College Dick joined the U.S. Navy and went to, and graduated from, Officers’ Candidate School at the U.S. Nava War College. He then embarked on a 28-year naval career that included tours at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; Norfolk, VA; the Pentagon; and Seoul, Korea as well as service as Commander of a River Patrol Squadron in Vietnam. He received many awards during his naval career, including the Navy Achievement Medal, the Air Medal, the Navy Commendation Medal and the Legion of Merit.

Following his retirement from the Navy, he worked for 19 more years for defense contractors in the Washington, D.C. area, most recently for General Dynamics. He also enjoyed international travel and golf.

Dick was afflicted with Parkinson’s disease for many years before his death on July 28, 2016. A memorial service was held at a later date at Fort Myer Chapel followed by interment at Arlington National Cemetery.

He was survived by his wife of 53 years, Dolores Ann Raposa Barbour, their sons, Dr. Scott Alan Barbour (Alyssa), Mark Elwood Barbour

(Tammy), and Glen Richard Barbour; granddaughters, Haley, Katelyn, Sydney and Sienna; as well as his sister, Marion Sefren.

(Duane W. Krohnke, author)

 

Arntzen, Barbara Lynn (Butterfield) (July 21, 1939—August 27, 2015). From Joliet, Illinois, Barbara Butterfield attended Grinnell for two and a half years (1957-60) before transferring to Illinois State Normal University, where she obtained a B.A. in English in 1962.

In high school and at Illinois State, she was active in choir and Madrigals, and also served as an accompanist and vocalist in church services and weddings. She had an early career as a reading and English teacher at the elementary and junior high levels in the Troy School District, as well as coaching volleyball and cheerleading.

After marrying John David (“Jack”) Arntzen in 1969, her artistic skills returned to the forefront as she became very involved in costume design for many local dance and high school productions, created bridal headpieces and wedding cakes, and eventually found a special niche in collage, working and exhibiting through Collage Collective and the Midwest Collage Society. She was also a long-time volunteer for the Naperville Public Library, making deliveries for homebound patrons.

Barbara is survived by her son, Karl, daughter Kristi (Ray DeBruler), stepsons Cole (Sandra), Steven (Diana), and Michael; brother Alan (Sherry) Butterfield; nieces and nephews Amy (Carl) Elliott, Russell Butterfield, Tom (Susan) Hewitt, Jeff (Naomi) Hewitt, and Dana Haselton; and her dearly treasured 10 grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Jack, and her stepson Timothy.

Duane W. Krohnke

 

Arends, David Anthony “Tony” (11/26/1939—01/18/2014)

Tony Arends from Elmhurst, Illinois attended Grinnell for three years, 1957-1960, and lived in Gates Hall; in his freshman year he was a member of Air Force ROTC. He left Grinnell to serve in the Army Intelligence and Security Agency, finishing with a Top Secret and Cryptographic Security Clearance. In 1963 he returned to education at Elmhurst College, which awarded him a B.A. degree in 1964. Later he obtained a business law degree from Blackstone School of Law. Tony also had a business career. He was the

Controller of Foremost McKesson, Inc., a conglomerate, and in1974 he started an accounting, auditing and tax service business in Toledo, Iowa.

Tony was married (Linda), but they were divorced many years ago. In 1987 Tony suffered a serious stroke and since 1999 had been confined to bed or a wheel chair with limited ability to engage in conversation at the Iowa Veterans Home in Marshalltown, Iowa. He still enjoyed watching movies, reading books and playing chess. He died at the Veterans Home.

He is survived by five cousins: Robert Arends of Apache Junction AZ, Tim Arends of Hobart IN, Linda Warrick of Clarinda IA, Mary Arends-Nokes of San Diego CA and Beverly Crowell of Omaha NE.

Duane W. Krohnke

 

Anderson, Jocelyn (“Jo”) Maxine (Williams) (May 21, 1939—May 24, 2015).

Williams was born in Dermott, Arkansas and was educated at the town’s Chico County Training School, which was built in 1929 with funding support from the Rosenwald Fund, an early 20^th century national leader in improving educational opportunities for African-Americans.

After she and her family moved to St. Louis, Missouri, she attended its public schools, graduating from its Charles Sumner High School,

which was the first high school for African-Americans west of the Mississippi River.

Jo started at Grinnell in January 1957, and in early 1958 was in charge of costumes for the College production of “Guys and Dolls,” which gained her entre into the College drama group, Grinnell Players. A cast member said the costumes, especially for the Hot Box Girls and the gamblers –Nathan Detroit, Nicely Nicely Johnson and Big Jule of Chicago (Bob Weitzman)–were smashing. Jo also was a member of Sam’s Club, a social service organization, and in her first semester resided in Main Hall. (Above is her photo from the 1957 Cyclone.) Financial reasons prompted her withdrawal from the College in May 1958.

Jo returned in 1958 to St. Louis, where she was active in the Washington Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church, which in the 1960’s was the site for national meetings of the civil rights movement with Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaking to audiences of over 4,000 in 1963 and 1964.

She was married to, and divorced from Hearn Humphrey Anderson. To this union was born one daughter, Nicole Patrice (Anderson) Borman.

After an extended battle with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Joycelyn died on May 24, 2015. She is survived by her daughter, her sisters (E. Jean Williams, Catherine Boayue, Linda Nance (Herreld), Monnette Lartey and Deborah Benard (Perry)); her brothers (Harold F. Williams, James Edward Williams (Kristin) and Michael A. Williams); and a host of very dear nephews, nieces, aunts, uncles, cousins, church family and friends.

Duane W. Krohnke