William Brock Brentlinger (Lamar University), 82, committed himself to higher education, civic causes, community service and family values. Higher education: he spent 18 years at his alma mater Greenville College (bachelor’s degree in speech) as a professor of speech and later as Dean of Academic Affairs. Then, he logged more than 35 years at Lamar University: Dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communication (1969-92), Interim President (1992-93) and Assistant to the President (1993 until retirement at the end of 2005). Civic causes included enlisting in the Navy in 1944 and serving on the Greenville City Council. Community service spanned chairman of the Beaumont Library Commission, president of the Southeast Texas Arts Council and board member of the Beaumont Habitat for Humanity. Family values: he was married for 62 years to his high school sweetheart, with whom he raised six children, all of whom attended Lamar. His wife, three sons, two daughters and 10 grandchildren, among other relatives, survive him. The earner of a master’s degree and a doctorate in speech and rhetoric and public address (from Indiana State University and University of Illinois, respectively) died on Feb. 19.

Yoland Condrey-Tinkle (Arkansas State University), 55, blended dedication as a pediatrician with magnanimity as a humanitarian. The resident of Mountain Home, Ark., was for many years the only pediatrician in a 10-county area, and she made several trips to the mission fields in Brazil. Condrey-Tinkle was a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the GFWC Cameo Club, a local civic organization. She died on March 22 and is survived by her husband and their son and daughter; as might be expected, mourners were encouraged to donate to Brazilian missions, a scholarship fund in her honor, a hospice and Gideons International.

Robert Charles Connor, Sr. (Iowa State University), 80, knew the forest from the trees. After all, he was a registered forester and owner of a timber service in Crystal Springs, Miss., where he aided landowners as a consultant forester. The native of Omaha, Neb., and forestry major at Iowa State University worked earlier jobs in the field and was a lifetime member of the Society of American Foresters and a member of the Mississippi and Copiah County Forestry Associations. The Army veteran died on Dec. 18, 2008, and is survived by his wife, two sons, daughter, three stepchildren and eight grandchildren, among others.

Beverly J. Curry (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), 80, taught countless children the practicalities and pleasures of home economics at AlWood Middle/High School in Woodhull, Ill., in what was her most memorable school job. The graduate of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign took her hospitable spirit elsewhere, too: in her youth, she participated in 4-H (head, heart, hands and health); as an adult, she played piano at church and school events; and in retirement, she owned and managed with her daughter the Flower Bin in Bloomington, Ill. She died on Dec. 13, 2008, and is survived by one son and one daughter and five grandchildren, among others.

John "Tommy" Holleran (University of Georgia) assumed the roles of teacher and inspirer as both profession and mission. Educated at Augusta College, now called Augusta State University (bachelor’s degree in business administration and master’s degree in business management), and at University of Georgia (master’s degree in educational administration), he spent more than 20 years with the Army in active and reserve service, including being a member of the advance party from Fort Monmouth, N.J., that transferred the Signal School to Fort Gordon in Augusta, Ga., in 1948. As a civilian, Holleran worked in leadership positions in training and retired in 1988. He was a past president and regional board member of the Augusta chapter of the American Society for Training and Development. His service to a cause extended to his faith: being a past president of the board of education for all Catholic schools in the southern half of Georgia and past chairman of his Holy Trinity Church council and of the Advisory Council of Catholic Churches in the Augusta area. In 2000 he was awarded the Holy Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice, the highest medal that can be awarded to the laity by the Papacy. He also was a member of the Armed Forces Communications Electronics Association and the Association of the U.S. Army and served for many years on the Georgia advisory board for electronics training at the Augusta Area Technical School. The Brooklyn, N.Y.-native and golf lover, who died Jan. 19, is survived by his second wife, two daughters and other relatives.

Ada Nell Delony Jarred (Northwestern State University), 71, adored books, magazines, newspapers, periodicals and just about every form of printed and research material as a librarian at numerous colleges and universities. Jarred earned degrees from Louisiana College (bachelor’s in English education), University of Denver (master’s in librarianship) and Texas Woman’s University (doctorate in library and information studies). She served as Director of Reader Services at Louisiana College, Cataloger at Emory University, Assistant Librarian at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and Head Librarian and Professor at Louisiana State University at Alexandria. She retired from Northwestern State University as Director of Libraries and Professor. Jarred, who died on Feb. 22, was a member of the American Library Association and the Association of College and Research Libraries, plus other professional and educational organizations. She is survived by a daughter and brother, in addition to other kin.

Ellery L. Knake (member at large), 81, understood the lay of the land as a professor of agronomy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, his alma mater, for more than 30 years. His green thumb landed him various administrative functions and awards with the Weed Science Society of America. Knake, who died on March 1, also earned the Ciba-Geigy award for Outstanding Contributions to Agriculture, the Midwest Agricultural Chemical Association Educator’s Award, and Crops & Soils magazine Best Article Award. He was a member of the American Society of Agronomy. The Army veteran (1945-46) and member of the Knights of Columbus with a 3rd degree was preceded in death by his wife of 50-plus years and is survived by two sons and two grandchildren and one great-grandchild, among others.

Kathleen Mary Kertland Patricia Apuzzo Krasniewicz (Florida State University), 54, helped kids learn to love to read by serving as a children’s librarian for almost two decades before dying on Jan. 28. She began as a volunteer at the Perrot Memorial Library in Old Greenwich, Ct., and became a full-time staffer in 1990. In related ventures, the graduate of Manhattanville College (English) and Florida State University (library science) was a school volunteer and active in youth programs. Survived by her husband, three daughters, two sisters and two brothers, among other relatives, Krasniewicz was a member of the American Library Association, serving on several committees to recognize the best contributions to children’s literature. She also reviewed children’s books for Kirkus Reviews and School Library Journal. Her passion for her profession was such that it was requested that in lieu of flowers, mourners should make donations in her memory to the Perrot Memorial Library Children's Department.

James Rayford “Ray” Nix (member at large), 70, spent much of his life in the physics lab and in the great outdoors. Born and raised in Natchitoches, La., and educated at Carnegie Mellon University (bachelor’s degree) and University of California-Berkeley (doctorate), he completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen in 1961, then went to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory at Berkeley before moving in 1968 to Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, working there until retirement in 1998. He served as group leader of the Theoretical Nuclear Physics Group from 1977 until its dissolution in 1990. The husband and father of a son and daughter (his wife of 46 years and the children survive him) was named a Los Alamos National Laboratory Fellow in 1994 and received a fellowship sabbatical in West Germany from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. He also was a fellow of the American Physical Society. Nix didn’t take calculated risks merely in his mind, however. The adventurer visited all seven continents by age 65 and celebrated his 70th birthday on a small cruise ship on the Mekong River in Vietnam. He was an avid member of the Los Alamos Ski Club, frequent hiker of local mountains, and extensive world traveler. Nix climbed the Matterhorn, summited Kilimanjaro and Mount Rainier and journeyed to the Mount Everest base camp. He also was an accomplished sailor, chartering boats in the Caribbean, South Pacific and Mediterranean. Nix passed away on May 8, 2008, at the Los Alamos Medical Center from complications from an injury sustained while traveling in Southeast Asia.

William Campbell Orr (University of Connecticut), 88, formed hypotheses in science, pedagogy, the military and the arts. He was a chemistry professor at the University of Connecticut and served 13 years as Associate Provost and Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs before retirement in 1978. An alum of the Princeton University class of 1942, he earned a doctorate in chemistry from the University of California-Berkeley in 1948. His postgraduate work was interrupted by his enlistment in the Navy as a radar officer (lieutenant) on an aircraft carrier in the Pacific. His volunteer efforts included president of the Friends of the University of Connecticut Libraries; board member of the Seabury Foundation, a Chicago philanthropic organization; treasurer of Northeastern Connecticut’s Opera New England; and member of the Mansfield Board of Education. He died on Jan. 16 and is survived by, among others, his second wife and her two children and his two daughters and one son from his first marriage of 47 years.

Arthur Rezny (Arkansas State University), 98, believed in the power of education and service. He was on the Society board of directors as a regional vice president (1977-83) and was so instrumental in establishing a chapter at Arkansas State University that in 1987 the chapter named a lectureship in his honor. Educated at, among other institutions, University of Illinois (bachelor’s and master’s degrees) and University of Michigan (doctorate), he spent years with public schools in Ann Arbor, Mich., before becoming associated University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Arkansas State University, plus other institutions of higher education. The Navy veteran served in World War II, entering as a lieutenant junior grade and being discharged as a lieutenant commander. He was a member of American Legion Pickett Post # 21 and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Preceded in death by two wives, he is survived by two daughters, six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. He died March 24.

Jo Ann B. Ruiz-Bueno (University of Minnesota) claimed credentials medical, educational and historical. The graduate of Cleveland State University (BSN) and the University of Minnesota (CNM, MSM and Ph.D.) was a professor and director of graduate nursing programs at institutions including State University of New York at Buffalo, University of Kentucky, University of South Florida and University of Cincinnati. The 70-year-old, who was raised in Tucson, Ariz., and who died on Oct. 2, 2008, at her Florida home, also was a Daughter of the American Revolution and related to Patrick Henry. Her husband, an OB/GYN doctor with whom she once worked in a medical practice they had established, preceded her in death; two sons and many grandchildren, among others, survive her.

Gertrude A. Shawyer (Michigan State University), 99, planted such lovely flowerbeds that the City of Midland, Mich., awarded her a certificate of appreciation and beautification in 1991. The valedictorian of Midland High School, class of 1927, and home economics major at Michigan State University was a charter member of the Midland Garden Club. Married for 60 years, she died Feb. 8 and is survived by a son and daughter, among others.

Frederica Fay Hatch Stone (University of Utah) 89, helped others as a social worker in special education for San Mateo County and in private practice. She also was a Civil Rights supporter. In retirement, the grad of University of Utah (bachelor’s degree in social work in 1941) and University of California-Berkeley (master’s in social work in 1965) continued her supportive role by volunteering for the Meals on Wheels Association of American and founding a mental health professionals group. She interrupted her studies partly to raise with her husband of 63 years three children, the latter of whom are counted among her survivors. She died on Nov. 26, 2008.