Alan C. Law ’67 passed away on the morning of July 5th, 2019. He was preceded in death by his parents, brother, wife, one granddaughter and two great grandchildren. He is survived by his three children, 9 grandchildren and 34 great grandchildren.
View the full obituary here.
Janet G. (Radakovich) Huss ’63, age 78, of Shorewood, passed away Friday, July 5, 2019 at Presence St. Joseph Medical Center. She was born in Joliet, IL. Janet graduated from Joliet Township High School and attended Illinois Wesleyan University for two years. Janet enjoyed traveling with her family and shopping. She is survived by her loving husband of 57 years, Frank Huss ’61 and two children.
Read her full obituary here.
Gerri Friedberg ’60 has lived in Door County for almost 20 years and is on the Board of Midsummer’s Music, chamber music series. She play regularly for the Unitarian Fellowship in Ephraim. She also volunteers as docent at the Miller Art Museum in Sturgeon Bay. She urges classmates to come visit!
James Proctor Brown III ’62, recently gave a lecture on African Art and led a group through the Norfolk State University African Art Museum. Mr. Brown also just put his novel Naked Nights and Naked Truths: Kenyan Prelude, on Amazon Books.com in Kindle form and paperback. Also he just copyrighted his Country and Western song, called “One More Night of Suitcase Livin‘”
Congratulations James!
Jerry Hahn ’61 stopped by campus to donate some of his beloved camera equipment to the Illinois Wesleyan Ames School of Art. “It will be super-satisfying to have this equipment used in the manner of supporting IWU and today’s students,” he said.
You can read more about Jerry from a 2006 edition of IWU Magazine!
Charles Robert “Bob” Berg ’65 of Detroit died May 8, 2019. He was 76. Raised in central Illinois, Bob became a spokesman and adviser for two of Michigan’s most influential politicians: former Michigan Governor William Milliken and former Detroit Mayor Coleman Young. After his time at Illinois Wesleyan, Bob held reporting roles in Iowa and Nebraska. He left for Lansing, Michigan, to head a state capital bureau for United Press International. He later became state capital bureau chief of Panax Newspapers and, by 1977, was hired to work in the public affairs office of Milliken, the longest-serving governor in state history. He held the role until Milliken left office in 1982, at which point he was hired as a press secretary for Young, the city’s first black mayor. When young left office in 1994, Bob started a public relations firm that lives today as Van Dyke-Horn Public Relations. During his time in Detroit, Bob worked to form a relationship between the Detroit Public Schools and Illinois Wesleyan, in which IWU became the only out-of-state university to participate in the district’s Wade McCree Scholarship Program. Bob was recognized in 2000 with IWU’s Loyalty Award, in 2014 with a John Rakolta Jr. Leadership in Race Relations Award, and in 2018 by the Urban League of Detroit as one of its Distinguished Warriors. He served on the boards of the Coleman A. Young Foundation, Roeper School, Detroit Police Foundation, Detroit Urban League, and Caring Athletes Team for Children’s & Henry Ford Hospitals. He was also a member of Jefferson Avenue Presbyterian Church. He is survived by his longtime partner, three children, four grandchildren and two siblings, including Karen (Berg) Dolan ’70. An obituary may be viewed here.
A public visitation will be held from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. May 16 at Swanson Funeral Home, 14751 West McNichols Road in Detroit. A funeral will begin at 1 p.m. May 17 at Jefferson Avenue Presbyterian Church, 8625 E. Jefferson Avenue in Detroit.
A second funeral will be held at 11 a.m. May 20 at Cissna Park United Methodist Church, 221 W. Koplin Ave. in Cissna Park, Ill. Burial will be at Floral Hill Cemetery, 301 W. Main St. in Hoopeston, Ill.
Ellen Flanagan ’63 with her legacy graduate grandson Tate Lewis.
Photo: Robert (Trey) Frank ’14
Bryan Olofson ’66 of Effingham, Illinois, died March 18, 2019. He was 74. He was know as “Olee” to his family and friends. Bryan played football at Illinois Wesleyan. After graduation, he started his own company, Central Business Forms, Inc. serving banks in Southern Illinois until he retired in 2013. Bryan is survived by his wife, two daughters, three grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and two sisters.
You can view his obituary here.
Marcia (Allen) Manner ’60 recently returned to campus for the first time since graduating. She received a tour from a current student along with her daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter. She was thrilled to get to see how campus has changed and see her old residence hall where she met the students who work at the same front desk that she used to work at.
She is pictured here with a current IWU student.
Navana Ahrends ’63, a region director for the Illinois Retired Teacher’s Association State Board, will speak at a meeting of the Bureau County Retired Teachers Association on Thursday May 16. Navana was a member of Sigma chapter of Delta Omicron while at IWU and is currently a member of the alumni chapter Zeta Eta. You can read about her speaking engagement here.
