Anderson, Archie Dwight

Archie Dwight Anderson, 101, of Cedar Rapids, died Aug. 26, 2009, at The Meth-Wick Community / Woodlands in Cedar Rapids following an extended illness. Graveside memorial services will be held at a later date. Arrangements entrusted to Cedar Memorial Park Funeral Home.

He was born on a farm near Mason City, Iowa on Oct. 4, 1907. He had four younger siblings - one brother and three sisters. Only one survives. His parents were Levi Archie and Mary Park Anderson. Levi managed a 120-acre hog and grain farm. At age of 3, the family moved to Rock Falls, Iowa, where they resided for five years. Dwight started first grade there but at age 8 the family moved to a farm in Bagley, Minn. When he was 10 years old, his father moved the family to a farm in Rugby, N.D. Two years later, his father purchased a 400-acre farm in Cortland, N.Y., where Dwight finished his elementary and high school education, graduating in 1926.

In the fall of 1927, he entered Upper Iowa University at Fayette, and four years later earned a B.S. degree in chemistry and secondary education. In order to help pay tuition and other expenses, Dwight worked as a manager of the college bookstore. His primary extracurricular activity during college was involvement in intercollegiate debate and was captain of the national champion debate team. While a student, he first met his future wife, Jessie Louise Howes.

Dwight's first position out of college in 1931 was as principal, science teacher and baseball-basketball coach at the Alexander, Iowa High School. After a year in this position, he became a physics and science teacher, as well as basketball coach, at the high school in Westfield, where he remained for three years.

Dwight and Jessie Louise Howes were married Jan. 1, 1932, in Waukon. Their first child, Dwight Dean, was born in January 1933. In 1937, the family moved to Central City, where Dwight taught science courses and coached baseball and basketball at the high school. After two years there an opportunity arose for Dwight to teach chemistry at Rockwell City High School. A daughter, Jane Louise, was born there in March 1941. In 1942, Dwight became the high school chemistry teacher at Clear Lake. He also began a Drivers Training program, one of only three in Iowa. A second daughter, Mary Jo, was born there in September 1945.

In 1950, the Anderson family of five moved to Cedar Rapids, where Dwight had accepted an appointment to Roosevelt High School (now middle school) as chair of the Department of Science and a chemistry teacher. Concurrent with these responsibilities, Dwight began postgraduate courses at the University of Iowa, earning a master's degree in chemistry in 1951. When the new Washington High School opened in 1957, Dwight became chair of the Department of Science and chemistry teacher as had been his role at Roosevelt. In 1973, he retired from teaching after a career that spanned 43 years.

Immediately after retirement, Dwight continued teaching chemistry for one year as a full-time substitute at Linn-Mar High School. During the first 15 years of retirement, Dwight worked both full and part time in a variety of employment situations. Some of these positions included serving with the Iowa Department of Transportation as inspector of materials and construction for concrete used in paving highways. He also became inspector of materials and construction at the Mason City Airport under direction of the National Aeronautics Administration, headquartered in Kansas City.

These work assignments were intermixed with academic awards and honors. In the summer of 1957, Dwight was granted a Fellowship in chemistry and physics at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif. Dwight also had served as president of the Iowa Science Teachers Association. In a presentation to the Cedar Rapids Public Schools academic staff in 1959, Dwight remarked that “the minute a person arrives at the point where he feels he knows all about his subject, he is no longer qualified to teach.”

Jessie Louise, his devoted wife of 50 years, passed away in June 1983.

In 1989, Dwight began a new career at Horizon Realty as salesperson for home buyers where he was still employed till 2004 on a halftime basis.

In the last several years, Dwight and Mary Jo have traveled extensively to the Holy Land, Egypt, Italy, the British Isles, Russia, countries of Eastern Europe, closer to home Alaska, the Caribbean Island and New England. Dwight was a lifetime member of the Iowa State Teachers Association and National Education Association.

He was justifiably proud of his seven grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Dwight resides in Montana and Jane resides in Oregon. Mary Jo preceded Dwight in death in 2006.