@MIZZOU ASKS YOU

Mizzou In The Family

@Mizzou readers share their MU family connections and experiences…

In my family, I'm a first-generation college graduate, but that didn't mean I had to discover Mizzou on my own. My dad was a long-time Mizzou basketball and football fan, and I grew up knowing that when the time came, there really was only one university I wanted to attend. My sister followed me to Columbia just a few years later. My wife is a College of Education graduate. Our two sons, Joseph and Elijah, aren't short on Mizzou gear for every season. I look forward to attending many games with my junior Tigers in the coming years.

— Jeremy Diener, BJ '99, MPA '07

My daughter, Emily Geisel, BES '06 was just named outstanding First Year Teacher for the Columbia Public Schools during an awards dinner on April 19. She teaches math at Jefferson Junior High School. She was a student of Fran Arbaugh and Robert Reyes in the College of Education. Her father, David Geisel, is also an alumnus of Mizzou (as is her aunt and grandmother).

— Ellen Baker, BS Ed '78

My guidance counselor in high school adamantly advised me to attend a smaller college, such as Drury in Springfield. I said “No, my cousins and uncles had all graduated from MU, and that is where I intend to enroll.” These relatives included: Hubert Proffitt, Virgil Proffitt, Perry Proffitt, Dean Proffitt and Don Proffitt. Happily, I made it just fine — graduated in three years (1958-61).

— Patsy Pence Mann, BS Ed '61

The first Mizzou grad in our family was H. Linn Smith, BS BA '28, who watched the first game on the now-named Faurot Field in 1926. There was a long gap until his youngest son came to Mizzou in 1974! But, once there, Stephen R. Smith didn't want to leave. He achieved a BS Ag '78, an MD '82, and then completed his anesthesiology residency at Mizzou in 1985.

While there, Steve made a Mizzou match with Ursula E. Adrian, and they were both in school for awhile. Ursula Adrian Smith, BSN '80, convinced her brother, Karl Peter Adrian, to join her at Mizzou — and join Steve's Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity, too. Karl graduated with a BA from the then-named Forestry, Fisheries and Wildlife College, in wood products management in 1982. Karl also made a Mizzou match with Donna Masters, who got her accounting degree in the same year.

In 1983 Steve and Ursula began to raise the first of their Tiger cubs, Heather Danielle Smith, who is now at Mizzou and is about to complete her BSN in December of this year. She is accompanied by her sister Emily Adrienne Smith, now a junior in nursing. They will be joined by their brother Harrison Lee Smith this fall, who will be a freshman in pre-respiratory therapy. So we will have three children at Mizzou this year.

Donna and Karl's son Brian Adrian is also at Mizzou, studying psychology and is a member of Delta Sigma Phi. Donna's sister also married a Mizzou man, and they have two children pursuing degrees at Mizzou — one of them in nursing. The tailgate is getting crowded. Two more Smith-Tiger cubs anxiously hope to join their family legacy, and both of them hope for graduate degrees from Mizzou (MD and DVM), so we shall be packing the car for those tailgates for years to come.

— Ursula Adrian Smith, BSN '80

Our family has a high regard for Mizzou. My older brother graduated from Mizzou in '65 with a master's degree in fine arts. His son also graduated from MU. Both my husband and I graduated in '65. Our only source of shame was that my son attended — gasp — KU. Where did we go wrong?

— Linda Eder, BS Ed, '65

Next year, I will have three children at Mizzou: Will, a second-year civil engineering student; Benjamin, a junior transfer student in liberal arts; and Hannah, a first-year graduate student in clinical psychology.

I graduated in civil engineering at Mizzou in 1977, the last of seven children of Bill and Belle Klingner, who met at Mizzou in 1932. All three of my dad's brothers attended Mizzou, arriving from Fairgrove, just outside of Springfield, Mo. My mother, and two of her six siblings who attended came from Unionville, Mo. My great aunt Mimi Klingner was the first woman professor at the university, teaching home economics in the early part of the last century. My uncle Clarence taught in the agriculture department.

Four of the seven in my family graduated from Mizzou, and eight of my 20 nieces and nephews, as well as a couple of Klingner cousins. Yes, for over 100 years, hardly a year has passed that a Klingner in our family has not been at Mizzou.

Guess we should have bought a house in Columbia.

— Mike Klingner, BS CiE '77

I married into the delightful Kent family, and Mizzou is a big part of our lives. Father-in-law Kyle Kent graduated in veterinary medicine in 1953. My husband and all five of his siblings are graduates, one in the College of Veterinary Medicine, two in the Sinclair School of Nursing and three in agriculture. Three of the spouses are alumni, and so far we've graduated six grandchildren, including three in one day just two weeks ago.

Right now we have one sophomore, one junior and one senior there. One will be a freshman in the fall, and another will start law school, also in the fall. My family lives in Iowa, and our daughter graduated from the School of Journalism last year, one of our daughters just finished her freshman year, and a third daughter (black sheep) goes to Iowa State. The shame. We all attend most home football games and have great tailgate parties. My oldest daughter played softball for Mizzou, and we had a blast watching her.

— Jill Bullock Kent, BS HE '79

My dad, Carl Rexroad, grew up in Columbia, graduated from University High School (now the remodeled Townsend Hall in the College of Education), went to World War II, and then returned to get his bachelor's degree in 1949 and master's degree in 1950. He has an endowed scholarship in his honor in the Geological Sciences Department. He now lives in Bloomington, Ind. I now live in Carbondale, Ill., which is where my daughter graduated from high school. She is studying music and Spanish, but is officially undecided this semester. I have a bachelor's degree in journalism from 1973, and now own a bookstore with my wife after 28 years as a newspaper reporter and editor.

— Carl E. Rexroad, BJ '73

My father was the first to join Mizzou in 1972. He came from Medellin, Colombia to do his PHD in Agricultural Engineering. I followed in his footsteps also coming from Medellin. I joined Mizzou in 1996 to get a Bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering. During that time I met my husband who came from Armenia, Colombia to get his Bachelor's in Management and now my daughter who recently graduated is planning to join Mizzou in the fall.

— Monica M Restrepo, BS IE '99

We are a three generation MU family. Both my parents received degrees from MU. Daddy received his law degree in the late '30s and Mother received her degree in Arts and Science in the early '40s. I have 2 degrees: a BS Ed in '71 and an M Ed in '75. My husband has three degrees from MU: a BS Ed in '70, M Ed. In '72 and an EdD in '78. Our son graduated from MU in '98 in education and our daughter graduated in '00 from HES. We are all proud alumni.

— Helen Hatridge, BS Ed '71, M Ed '75

Our family is all Tiger! From my mother, father, brother, sister and sister-in-law as well as my former wife, her brother, her sister and our three children (two graduates and one sophomore), and first cousin. My father, James D. Austin, lettered in football and basketball in the '40s, sandwiched around a tour of duty in the pacific with the marines. My mother, Patty Austin, along with my sister and sister-in-law all were Pi Beta Phis. My brother David and I lettered in football in the early '70s. Along with my cousin James E. Austin and sons Brian (graduate with Masters in Accountancy) and Alex (sophomore), we have been active members of Beta Theta Pi Fraternity. My daughter Sarah, a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma, graduated Cumma Sum Laude this spring with a Masters in Accountancy. My grandmother, Dorothy Austin, was the Kappa housemother during the '40s, though I'm not sure which years.

— John C. Austin, BS BA '76

My father, sister and brother are all Mizzou grads. While enjoying Mizzou in the mid '80s (the age of big hair, mullets and Middlebush Hall), we also had six cousins at Mizzou with us. Today, on the back of our boat at the Lake of the Ozarks, we proudly wear, “Mizzou Crew” and fly the black and gold flag from the dock. You might say it is in our blood.

— Doug Eisenhart, BS BA '88

Mizzou encompasses the entire meaning of family to the Felix family. We are from Kansas City and have always been a close family. To us, family means tradition, togetherness and sharing. Going anywhere other than MU never crossed my mind. I graduated from the School of Journalism in 2004. My younger sister, Lindsey, followed my lead and graduated May 2007 from the School of Education. We loved going to college together and sharing the experiences of college life, meeting new friends, tailgating and football games. We even got part-time jobs together! Our shared experience at Mizzou brought us closer than when we were in high school — and we lived under the same roof! We tried to install our MU pride in our younger brother and sister by bringing them to basketball and football games and Greek events. (Plus, they were always more than willing to help us move into our dorms, sorority houses and places off-campus!) We are proud to say that the twins, Andrew and Courtney, are officially Tigers and will be attending MU in the fall of 2007. We cannot wait to have family tailgates and hear all about their experiences at some of our favorite places. We are so excited that Mizzou has become a large part of our family's unity and has offered us so many fun times together — my parents even talk about going back to school at MU!

— Rachel Felix, BJ '04

My oldest brother Larry graduated in '69 from Mizzou, his wife Kathie also graduated in '69. They have five children, Andy attended MU, Laurie graduated in Occupation Therapy, Emilie graduated from the Veterinary School, and Joey graduated with an engineering degree. My brother Allen graduated in '76 and got his masters and PhD from Mizzou. His wife Jean graduated in '76 also. He moved to Oklahoma and teaches at OU so his children didn't go to MU. I graduated in '76 and my wife attended Mizzou but quit after two years to get married. We have three children. Kristen graduated in 2004 from MU and her husband Mike Crews (his father Doug was Alumni President a couple years ago) graduated that year also. Our daughter Brooke graduated a year ago and is getting her master's degree this year from MU. She is getting married in June and her husband Neal Wolf graduated a year ago from MU. I have about five cousins that went to MU. I think we have been pretty faithful followers of Mizzou over the past 40 years.

— Don Knehans, BA '76

I came to Columbia in 1975 to attend Mizzou, graduated in 1979 with a degree in Agriculture, met my wife in the dorms, married and stayed in Columbia (a familiar story, I'm sure). My wife graduated in 1983 with a degree in Accounting. We have four children, Jessica Price Apostle, a 2002 Nursing graduate, Elizabeth Price Looten, a 2004 Education graduate, Charles, a sophomore Engineering student, and Ruth, who will enter Mizzou this fall in the Pre-Physical Therapy program. There is a lot of Mizzou loyalty in our home! The educations we received at Mizzou have been solid and beneficial, with lots of good memories and friends from those days.

— Chuck Price, BS '79

My wife and I both graduated from Mizzou in 2002 from the College of Agriculture. We met, became engaged and got married all during our time with Mizzou. Our wedding was even held on campus. Through the years we were at Mizzou and even to this day, we have been huge Tiger fans. We used to go to almost every football game. It especially helped that she was in Marching Mizzou. We now live south of St. Louis, where we still fly the Mizzou flag along with our American flag in the front yard. Even our one year old son has quite the collection of Mizzou apparel, from clothes, to stuffed animals, to Mizzou toys. We have always been, and always will be loyal Mizzou fans, and hopefully in time, our son will continue the tradition of being a Missouri Tiger.

— Scott Smith, BS '02

Mizzou has been a big part of our family. I am a two-time Mizzou alum with a BJ in 1985 and a MA in 1990. My dad, Norman K. Myers, is a three-time Mizzou alum - BS '61, MEd in 1962, and doctorate in 1970. My mom (Patsy J. Nobles Myers) and dad met at Mizzou and my mom graduated in 1959 with a bachelor's degree in education. My younger sister, Julie Myers Hudson, and her husband, Mark Hudson, also got graduate degrees from Mizzou in library science in the '90s. That is eight degrees between the five of us with seven within my immediate family. (Also, my cousin got a BS degree.) One day I hope my kiddos will also attend Mizzou!

— Jon Myers, BJ '85, MA '90

In my extended family, I count 17 graduates, four who attended but didn't graduate, and three who will be on campus beginning fall 2007. That includes father, brother, aunts, uncles, cousins, cousin's children, spouses of all of those, and of course myself. My father was at MU the first year they had student numbers so his starts with a zero and is a couple of digits short of the current numbers. He and his two brothers all graduated (and his sister attended); the spouses of all three siblings also graduated from Mizzou. Then almost all of the cousins (eight of nine), and their spouses, and now all of their children (including my own), went or are going to MU. On the maternal side of my family tree, two uncles , two cousins, and a spouse all graduated from Mizzou. Stories of college years at Mizzou for all generations have a special place at most family reunions!

— Janet Pullen, BS BA '77

Going to MU is a big tradition in our family. On my husband's side we have his grandfather Lewis Thieman in 1903, his father Harold in '36, and my husband Jim in '73. They all graduated from the from the Ag. School. And then there is his uncle Homer Thieman in '34 and his daughter Lynn in '68, both of them were in the J-School. On my side, I graduated in '76 with a BSN, my sister, Kerry, in '80 with BSN and later with a MSN. My brother, Jim, graduated in '73 with a BS in Zoology and again in '82 with a MS in Computer Science. Now, three out of our four children have graduated from MU. Corey Caldwell in 2000 with an Ag. Journalism degree, Erica in 2004 with an Ag. Education degree and Karla in 2006 in Ag. Econ. We are hoping that the tuition doesn't get to expensive to send our son to Mizzou in 2012. We would like to keep the tradition going! Go Tigers!

— Nancy Kohrs Thieman, BSN, '76

Hi Tigers! I have a long list of family members who graduated from MU. I do not know exact graduation years. On my Mom's side, there's James Aubrey Laws Sr. and Grace Warner Laws, who both graduated in the '20s. On my Dad's side my grandparents, Paul M. Jones, BS '22 and Nancy Lawson Jones, also graduated from MU. My dad, Russell S. Jones, graduated in 1951 and my mom, Joy Laws Jones in 1953. My aunt, Nancy Laws Ade Jackson graduated in 1955 with my uncle, Carl Ade. James Aubrey Laws, Jr. and Dottie Dibble Laws Nance, my other aunt and uncle, also graduated in the '50s. I graduated in 1983. Other Tiger fans in the house: Beth Cox, my daughter, Charlie Cox, my son, and my husband Brad Nowlin who graduated from UT, but he is an MU fan when we don't play Texas! Since we live in Kansas, my kids have to listen to all the KU kids at school. They wear their MU clothes a LOT to school. Just like the bumper sticker says, “I may live in Kansas, but I ain't one!”

— Grace Ellen Jones Nowlin, BS HE '83

As a senior School of Journalism student I got the honor of covering President Harry Truman's address to the June 1950 commencement at Memorial Stadium (now Faurot Field). After long speeches by the Governor and President Middlebush, Truman rose and approached the podium just as thunder crashed and rain flooded the field. I ran for the White House Press Corps bus but met my girl photographer who told me she had left her camera bag on the table. I ran back to get it and as I returned to the bus I noticed President Truman reaching down from the covered platform and shaking hands with a couple of graduates. So I stopped and waited my turn to shake the hand of the president. The affair was adjourned to Jesse Hall where the president was presented an honorary degree. I took down his remarks and relayed them by couriers to the journalism school where they provided the lead for our story. Later in the day, following a tea at the president's mansion, Truman held a copy of The Missourian aloft as he waved goodbye from the rear platform of his train leaving from downtown Columbia.

— Robert D. Lewis, BJ '51

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Last Update: November 15, 2007