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William Ray (Bill) Gibbons was born on January 5, 1958, in Winner, South Dakota, and grew up in Brookings, South Dakota. He graduated from Brookings High School in 1976. Gibbons attended South Dakota State University from 1976 to 1987, earning a B.S. in Microbiology and Chemistry in 1980, an M.S. in Microbiology in 1982, and a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Agronomy in 1987.

Gibbons joined the faculty of South Dakota State University in 1987 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology and Microbiology. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 1991 and to Professor in 1997. During his tenure at SDSU, he held several administrative and leadership roles, including Associate Director of the Center for Bioprocessing Research and Development, Director of the South Dakota Oilseed Initiative, and Interim Director of the South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station.

His research focused on applied microbiology and biotechnology, particularly the use of microbial processes to develop value-added products from biomass and agricultural materials. A central area of emphasis was the development of sustainable fuels and chemicals intended to reduce reliance on petroleum-based products. His work frequently involved collaboration with regional universities, federal laboratories, and research institutions, including the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, North Dakota State University, the University of Minnesota, and the USDA National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research.

Gibbons received numerous awards and honors recognizing his contributions to research and education. He was named SDSU Microbiology Club Teacher of the Year in 1990 and became a Golden Key Honorary Member in 2003. In 2006, he was part of the team that received the College of Agriculture and Biological Sciences Dean’s Team Award for developing a Center for Excellence in Bioprocessing. In 2007, he was named the College of Agriculture and Biological Sciences Distinguished Researcher of the Year and received the Gamma Sigma Delta Researcher of the Year award. He also received the Pat and Jo Cannon Intellectual Property Commercialization Award in 2011 and 2012 and the F.O. Butler Award for Excellence in Research in 2014.

Eugene Goodale graduated from South Dakota State College in 1957 with a degree in civil engineering. He built a successful career in engineering and remained a dedicated supporter of his alma mater. Gene and his wife, JoAnn, contributed to student success at SDSU through scholarship support and alumni engagement. He passed away in Brookings, South Dakota, in 2022 at the age of 86.

JoAnn Goodale, originally from Huron, South Dakota, earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from South Dakota State College in 1959. She later completed a master’s degree in rehabilitation administration and management at DePaul University. Throughout her career, JoAnn remained active in nursing and community service. Alongside her husband, Eugene, she supported nursing education through the establishment of the Goodale Nursing Scholarship at South Dakota State University.

Edwin C. Graber was a poet from Freeman, South Dakota. Active primarily between the late 1930s and late 1940s, he produced a series of chapbooks featuring original poetry that explored themes of nature, solitude, time, and spirituality. His works, including Stars Are My Parade and Nature the Peerless Colorist, reflect a lyrical and reflective style rooted in the landscape and sensibilities of the Great Plains. Graber’s chapbooks are preserved in the Edwin C. Graber Poetry Collection at South Dakota State University, which documents his creative output and contribution to regional literature.

Nels H. Granholm (born 1941) is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Biology, Microbiology and Global Studies at South Dakota State University. He earned a biology degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and pursued doctoral study in developmental biology at Iowa State University, followed by a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at Yale. During his scientific training he participated in Antarctic research as a U.S. Antarctic Research Program biologist at Hallett Station (1967–1968); Mount Granholm in Antarctica was named for him by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names. Granholm taught at South Dakota State University for forty-one years, initially in zoology and entomology and later also teaching philosophy and bio-ethics; he taught in the Honors College for twenty-five years and later coordinated SDSU’s Global Studies program for six years. SDSU recognized him as a Distinguished Professor (2004).

Geoffrey W. Grant was born July 13, 1941, in Evanston, Illinois. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Sociology from Carroll College in 1964 and completed a Master of Arts in Sociology in 1969 and a Ph.D. in Sociology in 1980 at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Prior to joining South Dakota State University, he served as an instructor at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln from 1968 to 1970, as an assistant professor at Parsons College in Fairfield, Iowa, from 1970 to 1972, and as an instructor at Iowa State University from 1972 to 1975. Grant began teaching in SDSU’s Rural Sociology Department in 1977 and became an assistant professor in 1980. His responsibilities were devoted entirely to teaching, with areas of emphasis including social organization, social change, the family, juvenile delinquency, urban sociology, and the sociology of work.

Grant traveled to China on multiple occasions. In 1979, he participated in a five-week visit as a member of a delegation assembled by the Eisenhower Foundation for the Prevention of Violence, touring criminal justice facilities and meeting with legal professionals in five major cities as a guest of the Chinese Ministry of Justice. He returned in 1987 with a similar delegation, visiting five cities and spending time in Lhasa, Tibet. In the spring of 2001, he served as the SDSU faculty exchange professor to Yunnan Normal University in Kunming, China, where he taught composition and tourism courses; his wife, Sue Grant, also taught English during the semester. In 2003, he conducted and reported on the Brookings Human Rights Committee Survey of Discrimination as a project of the Brookings Human Rights Committee.

Sue S. Grant was born November 29, 1940, in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. She married Geoffrey W. Grant on June 29, 1964, and they raised a son, Jeremy, born in 1971. Sue Grant served on the faculty at South Dakota State University, where she taught courses in English.

In 2001, she participated in an international faculty exchange at Yunnan Normal University in Kunming, China, teaching English courses during the semester while her husband served as the SDSU faculty exchange professor. She continued her academic career in South Dakota and was active in educational and community initiatives. Sue Grant died on June 9, 2024, in Brookings, South Dakota.

In 1965, Paul McConaughy sought an inexpensive method for producing limited-edition watercolor prints. He tested his idea at his alma mater by creating a series of prints depicting buildings at Cornell University. The prints were immediately popular, leading to the formation of the College Watercolor Group. The group soon expanded production to include affordable watercolor prints of college buildings from across the United States.

Modeled after the nineteenth-century approach used by Currier and Ives, the process began with a pen-and-ink drawing of a building, which was reproduced as an 8 x 10 lithograph on watercolor paper. Artists then hand-colored each print. The group offered limited-edition sets of four scenes as well as larger individual prints, available framed or unframed.

As professional artists joined the staff, the overall quality of the work improved significantly. One artist, E. B. Walden, began signing his prints using the surname Gray, derived from the watercolor pigment Davy’s Gray. Other artists adopted the same surname while using different first names, with Walden signing as Davis Gray. More than a dozen artists eventually used the Gray name, and this naming convention led to the business becoming known as Gray’s Watercolors.

The manuscript In the Blizzard recounts events from a blizzard in South Dakota in March 1882 and was written by Louis Grewing (1843–1908). His son, Frederick Grewing (1867–1937), copied the document, though the original's whereabouts are unknown. Notes suggest Frederick intended to publish the story, with the earliest known publication appearing in 1949, twelve years after his death. Carlene Aro, a descendant of Louis Grewing, later provided a copy of the manuscript to Carl R. Sunde, a Professor of German at South Dakota State University, for translation from handwritten old German script into English. A small grant from SDSU’s research support fund aided the translation and related research.

Charles F. “Fritz” Gritzner was born June 6, 1936, in Fremont, Michigan, and graduated from Mesa High School in Arizona in 1954. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Geography from Arizona State University in 1958 and completed graduate degrees in geography and cultural anthropology at Louisiana State University. He began his teaching career at East Carolina University in 1960 and subsequently held positions at Louisiana State University, the University of Montana, Oregon College of Education, and the University of Houston before joining the South Dakota State University faculty in 1980.

At South Dakota State University, Gritzner taught undergraduate and graduate courses in geography and served as advisor to numerous master’s degree students. He conducted workshops and institutes for in-service educators and coordinated the South Dakota Geographic Alliance and the State Geographic Bee. He also served as consultant, author, and editor for the Core Knowledge Foundation and as consulting editor and contributor for Chelsea House Publishers’ Modern World Nations series.

His research addressed themes in folk and popular culture and geographic education. He authored or co-authored several books and published in edited volumes and professional journals, including service as contributing editor to the “Panorama” feature in the Journal of Geography. Gritzner served as Executive Director from 1977 to 1980 and President in 1986 of the National Council for Geographic Education and received the George J. Miller Award for Distinguished Service in 1997, as well as the Council’s Distinguished Teaching Achievement and Distinguished Mentor awards. He also received the 2004 Distinguished Teaching Honors Award from the Association of American Geographers. At South Dakota State University, he received the University and F.O. Butler awards for Excellence in Teaching and was designated a Distinguished Professor by the South Dakota Board of Regents in 1993.

Born in Bradley, South Dakota, on March 28, 1917, Barbara Bates Gunderson was one of six children of newspaper editor Carmon L. Bates and Helen E. (Lyman) Bates. The family resided in Onida and later Redfield, South Dakota, where Carmon owned the Journal Observer Co. until his death in 1942. Helen later married Charles Whiting Gardner in 1954 and passed away in 1978.

Barbara worked her way through Yankton College, taking on roles in kitchens, retail, and local newspapers. After earning her degree, she became the Continuity Director for WNAX radio in Yankton and occasionally performed on-air as “Ma Brown” on the Flying Arrow Ranch Show. She later worked as chief copywriter for R.J. Potters Advertising Agency in Kansas City, Missouri. On October 25, 1941, she married Robert W. “Bob” Gunderson in Jackson, Missouri, just before his deployment to Europe during World War II. The couple later settled in Rapid City, South Dakota, in 1947, where Robert opened a law practice and Barbara continued freelance writing.

Barbara’s political involvement began in 1952 as Vice-Chair of the Pennington County Citizens for Eisenhower and later as South Dakota State Vice Chair. She went on to serve as a Republican National Committeewoman and, in 1954, as national Co-Chair of the Citizens for Eisenhower Congressional Committee.

In August 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed her as one of the first women to serve on the U.S. Civil Service Commission. As Vice Chair, she oversaw federal personnel policies and founded the Federal Woman’s Award Program—Washington, D.C.'s first major recognition of women in government. Her tenure included nationwide travel, public addresses, and participation in forums such as a UCLA symposium on women. After leaving the commission in 1961, she continued consulting on equal opportunity issues and held appointments under President Lyndon Johnson, including vice-chair of the President's Advisory on Personnel and public member of the U.S. Information Agency Retirement Board.

In 1974, Gunderson ran in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate from South Dakota. She also wrote a column for the Rapid City Journal during the late 1960s and early 1970s and published two romance novels under pseudonyms: Love’s Bold Embrace (1979, as Brynn Gilbert) and Seasoned to Taste (1981, as Benna Gray).

Active in civic life, Gunderson served on the board that unified Rapid City’s hospitals and oversaw the development of Rapid City Regional Hospital. She was President of the Rapid City Library Board during the construction of the new facility, and also led the local AAUW chapter and Women’s Fellowship at First Congregational Church. Her community contributions earned her an Honor’s Day award from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and a “Woman of Worth” award from AAUW. She also served on the YMCA Building Committee and boards for Pennsylvania Medical College and Yankton College.

In 1994, she was the only woman featured in the A&E television program The Contentious Years of the Presidency, a biographical documentary on Eisenhower hosted by John Chancellor.

Barbara Bates Gunderson died on July 29, 2007, at age 90 in Rapid City. Her husband Robert had passed away in 1994.

Niels Ebbesen Hansen (1866–1950) was a pioneering horticulturist, plant breeder, and explorer whose career at South Dakota State College, now South Dakota State University, spanned more than four decades. Joining the faculty in 1895 as Professor of Horticulture and Forestry, Hansen became a central figure in the work of the South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station. His research focused on developing fruits, forage crops, and ornamental plants capable of surviving the harsh winters, drought, and variable climate of the northern Great Plains. Through systematic plant breeding and selection, he introduced more than 300 hardy varieties that significantly influenced regional agriculture.

Between 1897 and 1924, Hansen undertook multiple plant exploration expeditions to Siberia, Russia, China, and Korea, supported by state and federal funding. From these journeys he introduced species such as crested wheatgrass, smooth bromegrass, and hardy alfalfas, including Cossack alfalfa, which proved transformative for prairie farming. At South Dakota State, he established what is recognized as the first greenhouse in the world dedicated specifically to plant breeding, further advancing scientific horticulture in the United States.

Often referred to as the “Burbank of the Plains,” Hansen combined scientific rigor with practical agricultural application. In addition to his research achievements, he contributed to campus culture by writing the lyrics to the university’s alma mater, “The Yellow and Blue.” He retired in 1937 but continued his research and writing until his death in 1950. His legacy endures on campus through Hansen Hall, dedicated in 1967, and a monument erected in his honor in 1959, commemorating his lasting impact on horticultural science and Great Plains agriculture.

Albert Spencer Harding was born on November 30, 1867, in Janesville, Wisconsin. In 1883, he relocated with his family to Spink County in Dakota Territory. He entered Dakota Agricultural College in 1889, earned a B.A. in agriculture in 1892, and later received an M.A. from the University of Nebraska. In 1897, Harding returned to Brookings to begin his long career as a faculty member at South Dakota State University.

From 1897 to 1943, Harding taught history, political science, sociology, and economics at SDSU. Over the course of his 54-year teaching career, he led 600 different courses and instructed 11,798 students. He was appointed head of the History and Political Science Department in 1931, a role he held until retirement.

Harding married Neva Marie Whaley of De Smet, South Dakota, in 1897 or 1898. The couple had one adopted son, Robert. Neva lived to the age of 105 and died in Brookings in 1978.

In addition to his academic work, Harding was active in the Brookings Kiwanis Club, the Methodist Church, and the Forum. His longstanding dedication to SDSU is commemorated in multiple ways. Harding Hall, constructed in 1952 on the university campus, was named in his honor. The Harding Distinguished Lecture Series, established in 1963, continues to bring notable lecturers to SDSU.

Albert S. Harding passed away in Brookings, South Dakota, on December 2, 1952.

Neva Marie Whaley Harding was born on June 5, 1872, in Rock Island County, Illinois, to Josiah and Susan Whaley. In 1880, the family relocated to De Smet, South Dakota, where Neva completed her education at De Smet High School in 1889. She then embarked on a teaching career in Kingsbury County before pursuing higher education at South Dakota Agricultural College, now South Dakota State University, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Domestic Economy in 1897.

On July 6, 1898, Neva married Albert S. Harding, and they settled in Brookings, South Dakota, where Albert served as a professor in the history department at South Dakota State College. The couple adopted a son, Robert Eugene Harding, in 1909.

Throughout her life, Neva played an active role in the educational and cultural life of the community. She was instrumental in founding the Brookings Women's Club, serving as its inaugural president in 1900, and remained an active member throughout her life. Neva also contributed to St. Paul's Episcopal Church and Guild.

In her later years, Neva developed a passion for painting, creating numerous artworks that reflected the beauty of her surroundings. She also chronicled her life experiences in an autobiography titled "I Recall Pioneer Days in South Dakota," offering insights into the region's pioneer era.

Governor Richard Kneip honored Neva's remarkable life by proclaiming June 5, 1974, as "Neva Harding Day," recognizing her enduring influence and legacy. Neva passed away on January 5, 1978, in Brookings, South Dakota, at the remarkable age of 105.

Reed “Rocky” G. Hart, Jr. was born on August 4, 1926, in Pipestone, Minnesota, to Reed Sr. and Marie (Johannsen) Hart. He grew up in Pipestone and graduated from high school in 1944. After graduation, he enlisted in the United States Army and served until the end of World War II. In 1947, he enrolled at the University of Minnesota, where he played on the freshman football team. He was later recalled to service during the Korean War and eventually returned to complete his B.S. degree in 1955.

Hart spent much of his professional life working on government contracts around the world, including assignments in Greenland, Guantanamo Bay (Cuba), Kwajalein (Marshall Islands), and Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), as well as living in Washington, D.C.; San Diego, California; and New Orleans, Louisiana.

While stationed in Kwajalein and later in Saudi Arabia, Hart founded jogging clubs that organized races, events, and awards. A 1975 scrapbook notes, “October 8 [1975] Kwajalein loses Rocky Hart… Rocky has been a Kwaj resident for 8½ years and during that time organized the [jogging] club in 1968 and in the last five years has organized jogs, special events for the club and he even makes all the awards and trophies himself at the Special Services Hobby Shop.”

After retiring, Hart returned to Pipestone and later moved to Egan, Minnesota. In retirement, he founded the All-Star Jogging League, which served runners in southwestern Minnesota and southeastern South Dakota. At its height, the club had nearly 150 members.

Reed Hart passed away on July 14, 2014, at Dougherty Hospice House in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Wilma (Jean) Walters Lothrop was born July 19, 1919 in Brookings, South Dakota to William Hayes and Grace (Durland) Walters. Jean Walters graduated from Brookings High School in 1937, from South Dakota State College in 1941, and from Denver University with a Masters in Library Science. She also attended the University of Minnesota. In 1941-1942, she taught home economics and science at Langford, South Dakota, High School. On December 20, 1942 she married Eugene “Gene” Henry Lothrop of Huron, South Dakota. She was a librarian. They had two daughters Helen and Martha; and one son Robert. Jean died November 20, 2013 in Prescott, Arizona.

Eugene “Gene” Lothrop was born in Redfield, SD, on August 16, 1920. Gene graduated from Huron High School in 1938 and went on to study electrical engineering at South Dakota State College, graduating in 1942. On December 20, 1942, he married Wilma (Jean) Walters. Gene was the foreman at Lothrop’s Electrical Service owned by Elmer M. Lothrop. Gene died on April 15, 2014 in Prescott, Arizona.

William Hayes Walters was born December 8, 1877 in Laverne, Minnesota to Solomon and Mathilda Walters. He attended school in Bruce, South Dakota and graduated from South Dakota Agricultural College in 1897. William married Grace Jennie Durland in 1904. They had seven children; Maxine, Robert, Leslie, Hubert, Helen, Curtis, and Wilma. William was a self-employed real estate agent in Brookings, South Dakota. William died March 18, 1962. Grace died on March 3, 1978.

Lucille Helen Lothrop was born May 2, 1916 in Redfield, South Dakota to Elmer and Allie Lothrop, She graduated from Redfield High School in 1937. She died on July 20, 1937.