A Wonderful Life

I was back in my home state last week to help my sister sort through my father's personal things following his death last December. Dad had been living with Kathy and my brother-in-law for the past 5 years; we'd already helped him downsize when he sold his home, and my sister donated his clothing and some furniture shortly after his death, but there were still many, many personal items left.

Portraits of family members, some going back more than 100 years. Snapshots, too. Cards and letters. Paperwork. Beautiful pencil sketches. Trained as a landscape architect (B.S. Iowa State College - now University - 1935), he did many detailed sketches during his college career, and - fortunately - saved some of them.

Blueprints. Notes. Articles. Many of these are from historically significant projects such as the Manhattan Project and construction of both the Air Force Academy and O'Hare Field. What a wonderful life!

My sister and I took a break from the job of sorting through his belongings to drive out to his alma mater, Iowa State University, for a quick visit.

Since my father's death, I've become acquainted with one of the Associate Professors at the Department of Landscape Architecture at ISU; she's especially interested in the history of the department during the 1930s so it was wonderful to meet her and get a campus tour from someone with her perspective. More on that in another post.