Iowa State University Alumni Association| online edition | spring 2008

SPRING 2008
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Cover Story:
VISIONS@20

Feature Story:
Iowa State & the Bioeconomy

Feature Story:
Voices

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LETTERS

Be our guest
In cleaning off my desk, I discovered a copy of VISIONS from winter 2006. That issue was special to me, which is why I kept it for so long, I guess. Of course, there was the article on bed and breakfasts, restaurant food service, home cooking and catering. Well, this ’ol ISU grad has done it all. After a divorce in the early ’90s I was left with a large new house and need for income. I opened the first bed and breakfast in the Lubbock, Texas, area. I experienced nearly everything written in those articles. I ran the B&B for 13 years. I still live in the house but have closed the business. I loved the business, but my body finally said “stop.” Today I entertain family and friends here.
Your article on dorm waiters was very reminiscent for me.

My former husband was a waiter. We used that style of serving for several years when our children were growing up and we had to “fix” their plates.

I think I may keep that VISIONS a little longer – just to show the grandkids what life was like “way back then.”

Pat Solomon Conover*
’59 home economics education
Wolfforth, Texas

Sesquicentennial Top 10 and trivia
I was so pleased to see Knute Heglund in the Iowa State University Top 10 list (winter 2008). He was a kind and caring man. In the early ’40s, I was a research assistant in nutrition and was allowed to
use a laboratory in Ag Hall. When I was working there
in the evening, Knute would be on a chair
at the top of the entrance stairs and just outside the laboratory door.

It was very comforting in that big, empty building, and he made it a “fine night.”

Harriett Roberts Wilkinson**
’42 dietetics, MS ’44
Lakewood, Colorado

As proud graduates of ISU we were chagrined and outraged with inclusion of Jeffrey Dahmer on your list of “famous and infamous” connections to ISU
(“Sesquicentennial Top 10,” winter 2008). We can’t believe that you would consider him for your list.

James A. Fenner**
’48 mechanical engineering

Carolyn Nelson Fenner**
’50 home economics education
Renton, Washington

In the fall 2007 edition there is a mistake on the sesquicentennial trivia. Question 7(a) refers to a Robert W. Parks. This is incorrect. It should be W. Robert Parks.

Bill Tronsen**
’90 electrical engineering
Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota

Editor’s Note: You are absolutely right! W. Robert (not Robert W.) Parks served as ISU president from 1965 until 1986.

Romancing the grape
I really enjoyed your article on Iowa wines (“Romancing the Grape,” fall 2007). It left me determined to sample as many Iowa wines as possible.

David Voigts*
MS ’70 zoology, PhD ’73
Jesup, Iowa

* Annual member of the ISU Alumni Association
** Life member of the ISU Alumni Association