Becki (Gilpin) Milne Update

Hi Dave,

I am in Iowa City for my mom’s 84th birthday today. My flights were delayed last week due to the snow storms raging in this area. But once I got here, I was able to go x-country skiing with Jean, Jay, Beth and Victoria a few days later. Pictures below, sent from my sister, Beth’s iPhone.

All 7 siblings are here! Great times. We drove past 704 – 12th Ave house the other day and thought of you.

Hope all is well with you and yours, weather and otherwise :). I have been enjoying your emails and updates so much!

Warmly,

Becki

In Memory of Melva Eileen Petrak

Dave,

Just writing to let you know my mother, Melva, passed away early Friday morning, January 11th.  She was going strong at 93, and lived alone in the same house my parents bought in 1951.   We are so grateful she was in no pain and did not linger.   Her visitation is this Tuesday, January 15th, at Lensing’s on Kirkwood from 4 to 7 and the funeral mass starts at 10am at St. Mary’s.    She was an inspiration to us all, as she lived life to the fullest until she died.

Thanks,

Bill

Bill gave us permission to post his mother’s obituary as a tribute to her life.

Melva Eileen Petrak

Melva Eileen Petrak, 93, of Coralville, died at Mercy Hospital in Iowa City on Friday January 11, 2013, surrounded by her family, under the care of Iowa City Hospice. Visitation was Tuesday January 15 from 4 -7pm at Lensing Funeral Home, 605 Kirkwood Avenue, Iowa City. Funeral Mass was celebrated at 10 am Wednesday, January 16 at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Iowa City. Burial followed at St. Joseph’s Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to either St. Mary’s or to Iowa City Hospice.

Melva was born Sept. 3, 1919 in Oxford, IA. She was the daughter of James and Winifred Cooney Leeney. She was the second of five Leeney daughters; Vivian (Hedges), Bernice (Kron), Mary (Kallaus) and Marge (Thormann). She graduated from Oxford high school in 1938 where she also played basketball. Melva obtained a nurses aide certification through the U of I where she worked in pediatrics for two years.

Melva moved to Detroit, MI. where she got a job at Chrysler as “Rosie the Riveter” working on airplanes during the war. When the war ended she worked on Chrysler cars.

Melva married Richard Petrak, of North Liberty on April 29, 1944. After eight years in Detroit they returned to Iowa City in 1951 and purchased a home in Coralville ­ the only home they ever lived in. They had three children; Ann, Bill and Mike. She worked at Oaknoll for ten years and worked at Hillcrest Dormitory for 14 years.

Melva enjoyed bowling and also liked playing cards, especially Euchre. She liked the Cubs and the Hawkeyes. She was a member of the Coralville Rec Center’s exercise group and she lived independently until recently. At age 81 she traveled to Ireland with family to celebrate her Irish heritage. At 85 she went to Scotland. At 90 she celebrated with a large party at St. Mary’s. Melva recently traveled to Denver with family to celebrate Thanksgiving with all of her children and grandchildren. She enjoyed her Coralville neighbors, including longtime friend Julie Weidner.

Survivors include her children Ann (Kevin) Satterly of Coralville; Bill (Cindy) Petrak of Waukee, IA; and Mike (Missy) Petrak of Denver, CO. Grandchildren include Ryan and Nicole Satterly, Jacob and Nate Petrak, and Hannah and Nick Petrak. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Richard and her four sisters.

In Memory of Lawrence Edward McCabe

Cheri McCabe Hochstetler’s father passed away on the 8th of January, and Cheri gave us permission to post her father’s obituary as a tribute to his life.

Lawrence Edward McCabe

Lawrence Edward McCabe, 81, longtime Coralville resident died at home Tuesday, January 8th surrounded by his family. Funeral Mass was celebrated at 10:30am, Friday, January 11th at St. Thomas More Catholic Church with Reverend Edmond Dunn and Reverend Thomas Doyle officiating. Burial will be in St. Joseph’s Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, friends may contribute to the Lawrence McCabe Memorial Fund or to St. Thomas More Church.

Larry was born June 23, 1931, in Cosgrove, Iowa, the son of Edward F. and Mary E. Murphy McCabe. He attended school in Cosgrove and in 1946 the family moved to Coralville. Larry was a 1949 graduate of Iowa City High School. He married the love of his life, Janet Webster on June 30, 1952 in Oxford.

Larry was a mechanic and then became the service manager at Burkett-Rhinehart Motors. In 1967 he purchased the John Deere dealership, McCabe Equipment Inc, which he owned and operated for 34 years.

Following his retirement in 2001 Larry drove a school bus for First Student in Iowa City and Regina schools and was a driver and greeter at Lensing Funeral & Cremation Service.

Larry was a Coralville volunteer fireman for many years and was a member of Iowa City Rotary and Knights of Columbus. He served on the Coralville Recreation Commission and had been on the board of directors at Uni-Bank & Trust.

His greatest joy in life was his children and grandchildren. He was a tremendous husband, father, and grandfather. He loved summer vacations boating with them all at the Lake of the Ozarks and winters snow skiing in Colorado.

Special thanks to Iowa City Hospice, especially Angelika for her tender care and support.

Survivors include his wife of 61 years, Janet, their two daughters, Cheri (Kim) Hochstetler of Tiffin and Julie McCabe of Coralville, seven grandchildren: Abby, Ashton, & Cameron Kacena, Rachel (Jesse) Rohret, Damon (Gina) Knowling, Shelly (Tyler) Kopriva, Steve Hochstetler, and 2 great granddaughters Elsa and Lena Kopriva; his sister Betty Donohue; numerous nieces, nephews, extended family; and Angel (nicknamed Rooster), his beloved maltese who never left his side.

He was preceded in death by 5 brothers, Clem, Joe, Frank, Bill, & Bob; four sisters, Connie Leeney, Marie and Regina McCabe, & Eleanor Donohue.

Judy (Becker) Bryant Update

2012 Holiday Greetings from The Bryant Family

This was a year of many developmental transitions. Ben became a teenager, Sam assumed some of the responsibilities of emerging adulthood, and Judy lost her father, thereby becoming part of the older generation for that side of the family.

Ben completed his Eagle Scout project in September and should be applying for Eagle rank promotion soon. He is competing in soccer (his team is undefeated as of this writing) and participating in his school’s band and jazz band, track team, spring math league, and Junior Honor Society as a straight “A” student taking three high school credit courses in 8th grade. Ben advanced his tuba skills at band camp last summer and attended a week-long program for gifted learners, both at the University of Tampa. He also spent a week with our scout troop at summer camp in the Georgia mountains and, with Sam, completed a week of scout youth leadership training. Both he and Sam performed this month in the annual Tuba Christmas concert in Zephyrhills. Ben participates energetically in many social groups. He amazes (and often aggravates) us by simultaneously navigating homework, texting, Facebook, and Skype.

Sam turned 16 and obtained his driver’s license. Earlier in the year, his Grandfather Sam decided to stop driving and gave his car to Sam. He and Dave had an adventuresome road trip driving the car back to Tampa, including a stop at the Corvette plant in Kentucky. Sam has enjoyed the autonomy of driving to school and to practices for his high school’s award-winning marching band. Sam’s greatest adventure was a summer trek at the Philmont Scout Reservation in New Mexico. This backpacking challenge of over 70 miles in 10 days required months of preparation and conditioning. That included taking various long hikes and running the stairs of a skyscraper downtown with heavy backpacks since we have no mountains to train on in Florida. Sam was elected to be the group’s crew chief. Just a couple weeks after he returned, Sam was on another plane bound for Michigan State University as a delegate to the National Order of the Arrow convention. (OA is Boy Scouting’s honor society to which both Sam and Ben have been elected.) It was quite a year of scouting accomplishments with Sam being recognized as the District’s top youth for his service to Scouting. Sam’s skills as a mature, planful leader and thoughtful citizen are clearly emerging.

Dave continues his polygraph business and working part time for the police department. He attended a week of forensic polygraph training in Denver in April and was re-elected to the board of the Florida Polygraph Association. He just had an article on interrogation published in the American Polygraph Association magazine. During the Republication National Convention, Dave was selected for a security detail driving U.S. Senators. He was assigned to Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming. Being politically like-minded, they got along well. The Senator broke with protocol and introduced Dave to Sen. John McCain and gave him passes so Judy, Sam, and Ben could attend the final night of the convention where they witnessed speeches including Clint Eastwood, Marco Rubio, and Mitt Romney. It was an 83 hour work week for Dave, but there was no place he’d rather have been for this historic event even though he was profoundly disappointed with the results of the election.

Judy finished her 31st year as a psychology professor at the University of South Florida (and eighth year as director of one of the doctoral programs) and co-chaired her 35th Yale reunion. Although those milestones should make her feel terribly old, trying to keep up with the boys keeps her feeling reasonably youthful, albeit tired. She served as the scout troop’s Committee Chair and is active with the advisory councils for both boys’ schools and the high school band booster organization. Last August she and Ben attended the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association meeting in Orlando. Judy had administrative responsibilities and Ben presented a poster describing his science fair project about students’ backpack weights.

Rommel the wonder dog turned 9. He’s slowing down some, but still enjoys guarding the house, stealing food, and traveling with the family. This year we took a spring break RV trip to Cedar Key and a summer trip to visit friends and family in New York and North Carolina. Along the way, Sam had the opportunity to check out potential colleges.

As busy as this year has been, we look forward to a 2013 with even more adventure. Life is filled with highs and lows, challenges and opportunities. We hope you will make the best of yours too.

Jackie (Dague) Nicholson Update

Jackie passed on this note from Paul and Julie Roberts:

Hello,

Merry Christmas. Hard to believe its that time of year already. Once again we will be doing the program on two different weekends. The first one, Dec 9th, is at our church Sharon Center United Methodist. The next weekend, Dec 14-16 will be up in Main Amana at the Iowa Theatre Artists Company. A flier for each is below. Hope you can make it to one or the other, or both. They are similar but not the exact same “friends” both places.

Thanks,

Paul and Julie

Ed Barker Update

Dave:

Thanks for keeping me informed about the Class of 1973. We have a bit of news for you.

Ethel, my wife, had her first novel published about a month ago. It is about the Orphan Train Children. Trains left New York City for almost every state in the United states periodically from the 1850’s until 1929. New York and Iowa received more children from the trains than any other states. Ethel’s novel follows three of these former “street children” from New York City to a fictional town in Iowa for about a year in 1880.

She has a book reading this Thursday at Prairie Lights Books Store in Iowa City. The publisher is Ice Cube Press located in North Liberty and can be purchased at all major book stores via their web site.

[Webmaster’s note: The book is entitled “For the Love of Pete“, and you can get it with free shipping if you are a member of Amazon Prime!]

Ed Barker, Principal, West High School, 1968-1979

In Memory of Dorothy O’Hearn Schrock

Dorothy O’Hearn Schrock

Kathy (Schrock) Olin’s mother passed away on the 2nd of October, and Kathy gave us permission to post her mother’s obituary as a tribute to her life.

Dorothy O’Hearn Schrock, 92, died peacefully Tuesday, October 2, 2012 at her home in Iowa City.Dorothy Schrock was born to Frank and Letha Colegrove O’Hearn in Mason City, Iowa on August 4, 1920. She attended Mason City High School and graduated from the University of Iowa in 1942. She was a talented musician, accomplished on the drum, timpani and piano, and was a public school band director in Mechanicsville, Iowa and Iowa City. “Dottie” was married to Christian Schrock in 1943. They established a medical practice In Iowa City in 1953 and raised a family of five children. She was a great assistant in her husband’s growing practice.

Dottie was avid about her children’s education and they all achieved professional degrees. She was active in the Women’s Medical Auxiliary, her church, and the PEO Sisterhood. She loved sports and was a passionate spectator, as well as a skilled skier and tennis player. Her hearty laugh and smile will be remembered and missed by all.

Dorothy Schrock is survived by her five children and their families: C. Gerald and Mary Schrock of Minneapolis, MN; Steven and Sara (Schrock) Dallman of Denver, CO; C. Daniel and Mishell Schrock of Providence, RI; Paul S. and Kathryn (Schrock) Olin of Golden Valley, MN; and Larry and Margaret (Schrock) Nelson of West Des Moines, IA; twelve grandchildren; seven great grandchildren; and her sister, Lauretta Hayes of Elyria, OH.

A Celebration of Life service was held on Sunday, October 6, at Zion Lutheran Church, 310 N. Johnson, Iowa City, at 1 pm. A reception and brunch followed at the University Club, 1360 Melrose Avenue, Iowa City.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, 3580 E.P. Parkway, Suite 101, W. Des Moines, IA 50265, or Mercy Hospital Foundation, 500 East Market Street, Iowa City, IA 52245.


In Memory of Robert Soper

Nat’s father passed away on the 3rd of October, and Nat gave us permission to post his father’s obituary as a tribute to his life.

Robert Soper

Dr. Robert T. Soper, 87, of Iowa City, died Wednesday, October 3, 2012, at the Oaknoll Retirement Residence, surrounded by his loving family following a brief illness.

Memorial services are planned in his honor for 4:00 p.m. Saturday, October 27, 2012, at Trinity Episcopal Church in Iowa City. In lieu of flowers memorial donations can be made in Dr. Soper’s memory to the Oaknoll Foundation. Online condolences may be sent for his family through the web @ www.gayandciha.com.

Dr. Soper was a prominent pediatric surgeon at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine for almost four decades and had served as an Emeritus Professor since his retirement in 1995. Robert, or ‘Bob’, is survived by his wife, Helene Jolas, as well as 6 children, 14 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Dr. Soper was born at the University of Iowa hospital and grew up in Emmetsburg, Iowa. He served in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific theater of World War II and was proud to have been on a destroyer that participated in the Tokyo Bay ceremony ending the war. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa where he met his future wife, the daughter of a Cornell College Professor of Music. Drawn to a calling in medicine, he attended the University of Iowa College of Medicine and then trained in Cleveland and Mason City before returning to Iowa for a general surgery residency. He then took his fledgling family to Liverpool, England where he performed a one-year fellowship in pediatric (children’s) surgery, a new specialty that was just emerging. Dr. Soper returned to Iowa City to join the faculty at the University of Iowa. He rose through the professorial ranks and ultimately served as the interim Chair of the Department of Surgery from 1992-1995. Dr. Soper was the first, and only, surgeon to specialize in pediatric surgery in the state of Iowa for many years, treating thousands of children during his long and productive tenure at the university.

Dr. Soper had a very distinguished academic career. He was the editor of 7 textbooks of surgery and more than 200 scientific articles. He was invited to give lectures throughout the world on various topics in pediatric surgery and demonstrated operations in several foreign countries. He also performed missionary work in the Congo and on a Navajo reservation.

Dr. Soper was a mentor to many medical students and surgical residents. He was instrumental in training hundreds of surgeons who carried his passion for surgery to all corners of the state of Iowa and across the United States. Dr. Soper received the prestigious Ernest Theilen Clinical Teaching and Service Award from the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine in 1996 and the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2006. In 1998 the Robert T. and Helene J. Soper Chair of Surgery was established, the first endowed chair within the Department of Surgery.

Dr. Soper had a positive influence on many people and was revered by all who came in contact with him as an honest, dedicated, and humble individual. He took care of his patients passionately and treated those around himself with respect and dignity. Bob also cared deeply about his family and managed to carve out time from his incredibly busy profession to be involved in the lives of those he loved. He and his wife of 61 years created an atmosphere of love and inclusiveness with a passion for music, the arts and science in their household. Their loving partnership touched many lives beyond their nuclear family.

Although he will be missed by all those who love him, his legacy will remain vibrant and his spirit lives on in our hearts and minds.