Mark Harris ’83 died Oct. 5, 2019, in Aledo, Illinois. He was 58. Mark loved to entertain and earned a BFA in drama at Illinois Wesleyan. He traveled many career paths but finally found his calling in the ministry. Mark served churches in Fairview Heights, Illinois, and St. Joseph, Illinois, and was most recently the pastor at Aledo United Methodist Church. He was also a devoted family man and enjoyed nothing more than time spent with family. Diagnosed with cancer in 2017, Mark chronicled his journey through a blog he described as “a daily look at the life of a shaved-headed, earring-wearing, rock drumming, United Methodist minister.” Writing with transparency and authenticity, Mark’s blog inspired many fighting the same battle. He is survived by his wife, two songs, including Sam Harris ’10, three siblings, and many aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, grand-nieces and grand-nephews.

We are saddened to inform you that Angie Dyer ’81 passed away on November 29, 2019. She was born on March 10, 1959 and graduated from Beardstown High School in 1977.  She earned her BSN in 1981, and worked at Memorial Medical Center for 25 years. Angie retired from Springfield Clinic as a TeleNurse. She was the queen of the 2000/2001 Christmas Parades in Springfield, Illinois, and a member of Our Savior’s Lutheran church in Springfield as well. She is survived by her husband, Steve Dyer, her two sons, seven sisters, and other family members.

Read her full obituary here.

Kevin Long ’80 passed away on Sunday, November 24.

Kevin served Textbook Coordinator in IWU’s Bookstore starting in August 2002, then transferred to Campus Safety in July 2019. He is survived by three children, two grandchildren and three brothers.  A celebration of life service is scheduled at 11 a.m. Friday, December 6, at Calvert-Johnson & Musselman Memorial Home in Lexington, with visitation from 9 to 10:45 a.m. on Friday at the memorial home. His obituary is available online.

Emeritus Associate Professor of Economics Robert (Bob) Leekley passed away on Tuesday, Jan.1. Prof. Leekley started teaching at Illinois Wesleyan in 1974, and from his first year to his 44th, his commitment to IWU and our students remained unchanged. His positive impact on generations of students and colleagues will not be forgotten. Read an obituary. A service will be held in the IWU Evelyn Chapel from 11-12 on Wednesday, January 9th.

A medal-winning Senior Olympian, Paul was remembered fondly by IWU athletics department colleagues Norm Esch ’75, Ron Rose ’88 and Stew Salowitz ’76 in a tribute in The Pantagraph.

We are deeply saddened to announce that Laura Christine (Peterson) Roman ’85 recently passed away on Sunday, August 12, 2018.

After her time at IWU, she received her MS in School Psychology from Illinois State University. Her devotion to children ultimately led to a career as a school psychologist in the Wheaton school district, and she received glowing reviews from colleagues, administrators and parents. When Laura left the district her friends created WWLD (What Would Laura Do?) bracelets, as a reminder of her ability to find solutions to almost any problem.

A link to her obituary can be found here.

Jane Brue, 84, of Bloomington, passed away Saturday, May 12, 2018 at OSF St. Joseph Medical Center, Bloomington.  A funeral service will be held at 10 a.m. this Friday, May 18, in Evelyn Chapel, with a visitation prior to the service from 9-10 a.m. in the Chapel.

We are saddened to announce that John Wilk ’82 passed away. You may view his obituary here.

We are very sorry to announce that Mariann Mayberry (’87) has passed after a lengthy battle with cancer. She died Tuesday, August 1st, 2017.

There was a tribute to Mariann in the Chicago Tribune, recounting her life as an actress in theater. You may read more here:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/ct-mariann-mayberry-dead-201707-column.html