Fall 2009

Dear Luther Classmates,

Another summer has come and gone and it’s mid-fall here in Iowa as I write this note. 

Whether it’s climate change, or just the way things work out, this has been another unusual weather year here in Northeast Iowa, with a much cooler than usual summer, and a very wet fall so far.  Crops were late to mature, and harvest has been set back several weeks because of the wet conditions.  In late July, two monster super-cell thunderstorms developed 4 hours apart, each dropping very large, damaging hail on the same wide path from near Decorah, 60 miles southeast, through my town, Edgewood.  Tens of millions of dollars of damage was done to crops in the area with many fields stripped completely bare.  Here in Edgewood, nearly all of the 300 or so homes, including mine, needed to have roofs replaced due to a 20-minute pounding by larger-than-golf-ball-size hailstones.  All this, of course, in a struggling agricultural economy, which contributes further to farmers’ financial woes.  We’re a resilient people, though, and we’ll make it through.

On a personal note, in August I began my 43^rd year teaching chemistry and physics at Ed-Co High School.  With Iowa’s governor announcing a 10 percent across-the-board funding cut recently, this might be the impetus for me to call it quits this year. We have been fortunate in the past, as this is the first time a major education-funding cut has affected my school, but school budgets already are stretched to the breaking point, and since I have options, I’m not sure I want to deal with the hardships the cuts will bring to my classroom and my school. As you know from reading these notes in the past, I have been wrestling with the big “R” decision for several years.

The tough economic times affect all, including our alma mater.  The endowments of most colleges have seen a reduction in principal as investments have lost value, and with current low interest rates, those investments produce less income.  Now, more than ever, Luther needs your support.  

Please keep Luther College in mind as you do your year-end tax planning, and as you work on estate planning. This past year, you and I, the Class of ’67, even in the face of the economic slide, were able to increase participation in alumni giving to 31 percent of the class, up 4 percent from last year.  That’s an encouraging show of concern.  Please continue to do what you can.  It’s easy to give online too!  Just visit givenow.luther.edu.

To keep tabs on Luther, visit http://www2.luther.edu/ often.  You’ll enjoy seeing how things have changed, and how they haven’t!

Best wishes for a joyous Christmas to you and your family.

Art Johnson
1967 Class Agent
[email protected]

Class Note
LYNN (ANDERSON) SCHLIES is an ACT/SAT test preparation tutor at Huntington Learning Center in Appleton, Wis.

Obituary
LYNN ISAACSON of Bloomington, Ill., died April 2, 2009, at age 63. He earned the A.A. degree from Waldorf College in Forest City, Iowa; a B.A. degree from Luther; and an M.B.A. degree from Pacific Lutheran University, in Tacoma, Wash. Lynn was a bookstore manager at Luther College, Pacific Lutheran University, and at the Student Center Bookstore at Illinois State University. He started Innova Marketing after leaving the bookstore, which he operated for several years before joining State Farm Insurance as a systems analyst from 1999 to 2004. Lynn enjoyed hiking, bicycling, working with computers, and especially singing. He sang in his college choirs, and, more recently, in Cantus Novus, J-108 Vocal Jazz Ensemble, and St. John's Lutheran Church Choir. He is survived by his wife, NANCY (LEE) ISAACSON ’67; two children; two grandsons; and his mother.