Former Iowa City VA administrator celebrating 100th birthday and 75th anniversary; Wife turns 100 tomorrow September 21, 2008
Posted by John in Health Care, Biography, Family.Tags: Iowa City (Iowa), Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Veterans Administration hospitals, J. Gordon Spendlove, Elizabeth Spendlove
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From Denver Post:
On Sunday, [Dr. J. Gordon Spendlove and his wife, Elizabeth] will celebrate their 100th birthdays — he was born Oct. 10, 1908, and she on Sept. 22, 1908 — and their 75th wedding anniversary. They tied the knot Sept. 22, 1933.
“No, no, I never thought we’d live to be 100,” J. Gordon Spendlove said Wednesday, confiding, “It’s not all that bad.” …
They moved from town to town during Spendlove’s 31-year career as a physician and Veterans Affairs hospital administrator. He was director of the Iowa City, Iowa, VA hospital in the 1960s and retired from the Fort Wayne, Ind., facility in 1976. …
More about Dr. Spendlove from December 30, 1969 Cedar Rapids Gazette:
While in Iowa City, Dr. Spendlove has been active in the Chamber of Commerce, City-University Planning committee and was in the founding group of the Hawkeye Area Community Action Program [HACAP]. …
ARRL: ‘A Great Name in Radio Turns 75′ (Rockwell Collins, f/k/a Collins Radio) September 11, 2008
Posted by John in Biography, Business, Technology.Tags: 1933, Amateur Radio, American Radio Relay League, Arthur Collins, Collins Radio, Ham Radio, Rockwell Collins, September 22
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From ARRL News:
Seventy-five years ago a small radio communications company, operating from the owner’s basement, officially incorporated in the state of Delaware. From these humble beginnings arose one of the nation’s foremost communications and avionics companies — The Collins Radio Company. Arthur Collins, W0CXX, started building high quality Amateur Radio equipment that from the very beginning was to make the Collins brand legendary among ham radio operators worldwide. The Collins Radio Company was incorporated with $29,000 in capital and eight employees during the depth of the Great Depression. …
Read more biographical information about Arthur Collins reprinted from “The First 50 Years … A History of Collins Radio Company,” by Ken C. Braband. The exact anniversary date is Sept. 22.
On September 22, 1933, with eight employees and $29,000 in capital, Collins Radio Company became a corporation under the laws of the State of Delaware. …
Biographical info about Abigail Van Allen, wife of James Van Allen, from 1962 Gazette article and 1995 ‘Close-Up’ September 9, 2008
Posted by John in Biography, Deaths, History.Tags: Abigail Halsey, Abigail Van Allen, Iowa City (Iowa), James Van Allen, obituary
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9/11/2008 UPDATE: Gazette obituary posted for Van Allen, Abigail Halsey
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From July 15, 1962 Cedar Rapids Gazette:
Life Is Never Dull for Mrs. James Van Allen…
The former Abigail Halsey grew up in Cincinnati and attended Mt. Holyoke college.
“It was during the war and I went through on an accelerated program. I was graduated in December, 1943.”
She joined her family in Chicago, where they had recently moved. A friend told her about “some supersecret work in Washington, D. C. This sounded terribly intriguing and we decided to go.”
Dr. Van Allen was stationed in the Pacific at the time. “We didn’t meet until a year later, when we were both working in the Johns Hopkins University applied physics laboratory.”
The Van Allens were married Oct. 13, 1945, in the “church founded in 1640 by my forbears” at Southampton, Long Island.
The Van Allens lived in Washington until 1951, when Dr. Van Allen accepted his present position as head of the SUI physics department.
I always thought we’d be leaving. But now we’ve passed the ten year mark, so I guess we’ll stay,” Mrs. Van Allen mused.
“So many interesting opportunities have come along,” she said. “My husband’s great motivation for staying is his being a native of this great state that has so much potential. He greatly regrets the fact that our young people are leaving after they’ve been educated.
Many, many opportunities can be created here.” …
[MORE...]
From January 1, 1995 Gazette:
Abigail Van Allen sets positive course
CLOSE UP
By Sue Davis Smith
Editor’s note: Today’s subject is Abigail Van Allen, 72, of Iowa City, homemaker.
Education: Educated in private schools in Cincinnati. Bachelor of Arts in English literature from Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Mass.
Hometown: Cincinnati.
Family: Husband, James Van Allen, 80, retired professor of physics and astronomy, University of Iowa.
Children: Cynthia Van Allen Schaffner, 47, of New York City, author of books and articles on American folk art; Dr. Margot Van Allen, 45, of West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, physician and associate professor in the College of Medicine at the University of British Columbia; Sarah Trimble, 41, of Princeton, N.J., director of corporate communications for the Gallup Organization; Thomas, 39, of New York City, architect; Peter, 35, business editor for the Courier-Post in Cherry Hill, N.J. Four grandchildren.
What do you like most, least, about your occupation?
Basically when you get to my age you have different views on things. The best and least doesn’t come into one’s thinking anymore. You do your job for so many years you don’t think anymore about what you like or don’t like.
What’s good and bad about living in Iowa City?
I don’t bother with the bad parts. You can’t concentrate on those things. Iowa City is a wonderful place to live – with stimulating people, a government that works hard and a wonderful city council that is very conscientious. The growth is toppling the place, but that’s true of every place.
What is your goal in life?
To live as healthily as I can and long enough to see my grandchildren turn into what they turn into. With luck, I want to see the 21st century.
What is the best book you ever read?
I’m very fond of the 19th century and enjoyed “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen. Right now the book I’m reading is “Descartes’ Error,” by Antonio Damasio, who is in the neurology department at the medical school at the University of Iowa. It’s really very interesting. All those things you know to be true about human emotions, there’s now a reason for it in the brain.
If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?
For several years I’ve been wanting to go to St. Petersburg, Russia, and see the Hermitage Museum. I’d want to start in Stockholm (Sweden), Helsinki (Finland) and then St. Petersburg.
What is your favorite meal?
I do have two: Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. I love the turkey and pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving, and the roast beef, Yorkshire pudding and plum pudding at Christmas. I also love the cranberry relish that goes with both of those meals.
What are your leisure interests?
I do like gardening, reading and swimming.
The most important thing you’ve learned in life is …
“The best laid schemes o’ mice and men gang aft a-gley,” from Robert Burns’ “To a Mouse.”
What’s your idea of a great time?
Dancing with my husband.
Do you have a pet peeve?
I have none. I concentrate on the positive.
What did you want to be when you were in high school?
I wanted to be an opera singer, an actress and the practical choice was a nurse. I told this to my father, who said if I was to go into medicine I should be a doctor. The more I thought about it, I realized I didn’t want to work that hard.
The first thing you notice about a person is …
Their appearance. It tells you so much.
Exclusive of the present, what would be your favorite time in history to live?
I’m grateful I live now. I couldn’t be one of those pioneers in the snow and cold and the animals.
What was your most embarrassing moment?
Several years ago my husband received the Crafoord CQ Prize, which is given by the Royal Swedish Academy of Science. Our whole family went – 15 of us. My granddaughter was 5 years old. She knew about queens and princesses, and the idea of meeting a queen was thrilling for her. We met the king and queen (of Sweden) at a ceremony, and the queen came along and was introduced to Elizabeth.
When she reached out to Elizabeth to shake her hand, Elizabeth wouldn’t shake hands with the queen. She looked at the queen and told her, “You don’t look like a queen!” We were embarrassed, and other people who had heard Elizabeth’s comment were horrified. The queen, though, calmly told her, “It’s probably because I don’t have my crown on.”
Today’s death notice for Abigail Van Allen in Gazette.
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1972 article about fatal crash which took life of Joe Biden’s wife, daughter August 24, 2008
Posted by John in Accidents, Biography, Children, Family, Political.Tags: Amy Biden, Curtis Dunn, Dec. 18 1972, December 18 1972, J. Caleb Boggs, Joe Biden, Joseph Biden, Joseph R. "Beau" Biden III, Naomi Christina Biden, Neilia Biden, Neilia Hunter, Neilia Hunter Biden, Robert Biden, Robert Hunter Biden, U.S. Senators
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From The Cedar Rapids Gazette, December 19, 1972:
Senator-Elect’s Wife Dies in Auto Accident
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) – The pretty blonde wife of Joseph R. Biden was at his side through his campaign. They rejoiced in victory last month when he became the youngest man to be elected to the U.S. senate in this century.
Biden, an intensely family oriented man, had said earlier that he wanted his wife Neilia to get a doctorate and teach college when their children were older. In the meantime, he said, he wanted her “to mold my children.”
End in Tragedy
Biden’s plans for his family ended in tragedy Monday when a tractor-trailer truck slammed into the family station wagon near Hockessiri.
Mrs. Biden and the couple’s 18-month-old daughter Amy were killed and the Bidens’ two young sons were injured. Joseph, 4, sustained leg injuries; Robert, 3, suffered head injuries.
Also hospitalized was the truck driver, Curtis C. Dunn, 43, of Avondale, Pa.
Police said the station wagon “pulled from a stop sign” and was struck on the left side by the truck, “continuing approximately 150 feet, spinning around, going backwards down an embankment, and striking three trees.”
Biden, 30, Democrat, was in Washington at the time, working on staff appointments. He flew back to Wilmington and arrived at the hospital with his sister and campaign managers.
A half-hour later he departed with his son Robert in an ambulance.
“With You”
In an apparent effort to reassure the child, Biden said: “I’m going to jump right in there with you, son.”
The boy was transferred to Delaware Division hospital nearby.
Biden met his wife, a native of Skaneateles, N.Y., during his junior year at the University of Delaware. Two years later, in 1965, after he finished his first year at Syracuse law school, the two were married. Mrs. Biden had been on the dean’s list and was homecoming queen at Syracuse.
Her parents are Mr. and Mrs. Robert Hunter of Auburn, N.Y. Biden, a Wilmington lawyer and New Castle county councilman, had been soaring on the crest of victory after defeating veteran G.O.P. Sen. J. Caleb Boggs in the Nov. 7 general election.
At that time Biden was still 13 days shy of his 30th birthday, the minimum age required to be a U.S. senator.
Boggs, when notified of the accident, said, “It’s tragic and
terrible beyond words.”
UPDATE:
According to a December 2007 New York Times story, this is how Sen. Biden described the accident:
“Let me tell you a little story,” Mr. Biden told the crowd at the University of Iowa. “I got elected when I was 29, and I got elected November the 7th. And on Dec. 18 of that year, my wife and three kids were Christmas shopping for a Christmas tree. A tractor-trailer, a guy who allegedly — and I never pursued it — drank his lunch instead of eating his lunch, broadsided my family and killed my wife instantly, and killed my daughter instantly, and hospitalized my two sons, with what were thought to be at the time permanent, fundamental injuries.”
A drunk driver or not? Check out this article by News Journal of Delaware. [Link came from Comments for this post]
Some Gazette coverage on Sen. Biden’s 2007 Iowa visits here.
Now online: Reader’s Digest article about Iowa City hero Steve McGuire August 20, 2008
Posted by John in Weather, Biography, Kindness, Nature.Tags: Iowa City (Iowa), Flooding, Floods of 2008, Iowa River (Iowa), flooded areas, Steve McGuire, Steve Thunder McGuire
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From Reader’s Digest:
Saving a drowning person is, at most, a once-in-a-lifetime event. But Michelle Kehoe was the third person Steve McGuire had pulled from the Iowa River. …
Son of Tipton man, Coe College student still seeking dad lost in Vietnam War July 22, 2008
Posted by John in Biography, Deaths, History, Military, War.Tags: Coe College, Reserve Officers' Training Corps, Tipton (Iowa), Vietnam War
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From Naperville Sun:
Forty-two years have passed since Capt. Dennis Eilers’ plane was shot down in Laos during the Vietnam War. No one has ever been able to find a trace of the wreckage or any of the six crew members aboard the plane. …
Dennis grew up on a family farm in Tipton, Iowa, Curt said, and he always wanted to fly. He went on to attend Coe College in Cedar Rapids, where he joined the ROTC. …
Anamosa State Penitentiary in historical New York Times; Tales of lynch mobs, bigamist or twin, woman who hid gender, more… July 16, 2008
Posted by John in Biography, Crime/Courts, History.Tags: 1883, 1887, 1888, 1892, 1916, Anamosa (Iowa), Anamosa State Penitentiary, historical newspapers
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Link provided yesterday by Anamosa State Penitentiary Prison History Web site.
University of Alabama student from Iowa killed in plane crash June 29, 2008
Posted by John in Accidents, Biography, Education.Tags: airplane crashes, Birmingham (Alabama), Bobby Crump, Clive (Iowa), crash, GAMMA PHI BETA, Jan Crump, lifeguards, Matt Crump, Matthew Crump, plane crashes, University of Alabama, Walker County (Alabama), West Des Moines (Iowa)
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From The Birmingham News:
A University of Alabama student from Iowa has been identified as the fourth person killed in a plane crash this morning near the Walker County airport.
Lauren Brue, age and hometown unknown, was killed in the crash that took the lives of …
From comments:
Lauren was my sorority sister. She was 19 years old from West Des Moines, Iowa. …
Listed as a GAMMA PHI BETA pledge and from West Des Moines on this page.
A Des Moines Register database shows a Lauren Brue worked as a Clive lifeguard in 2007.
~~
UPDATE: The Register reports that “Brue was a 2007 graduate of Dowling Catholic High School in West Des Moines.”
~~
6/30 UPDATE: News obituary from Des Moines Register




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