Kerkman, Dean H.

Dean H. Kerkman, 86, of Elwood, died Friday morning, May 20, 2011, at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City. A celebration of Dean's life will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday, May 26, at the Elwood United Methodist Church. Visitation will be held from 10 to 11 a.m. Thursday, May 26, at St. Andrew's Lutheran Church in Van Horne, Iowa. Burial will be at the Elwood, Iowa Cemetery, where military rites will be accorded by the Lost Nation American Legion Menzo Widle Post No. 381. The Carson & Son Funeral And Cremation Services in Maquoketa is in charge of the arrangements.

Dean H. Kerkman was born on Oct. 9, 1924, on his parents farm near Van Horne, Iowa, to Hubert and Helen (Jenkins) Kerkman. He attended the country school across the road from his home where his aunt, Mildred Jenkins was the teacher. He graduated from Van Horne High School at age 16 where he excelled in basketball, baseball and Latin. His mother took him to the Quadrangle Dormitory in Iowa City, where he attended the University of Iowa taking pre-med courses. While he was in medical school, he served in the U.S. Army Medical corps in a blood bank in San Antonio, Texas. After the World War II was over in 1945, he returned to the University of Iowa where he studied to be a biology teacher and coach. His first teaching job was at the Mid-Pacific Institute in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1948 and 1949.

On June 11, 1950, he married Thelma Wendel at the Elwood United Methodist Church. They attended summer school in Greeley, Colo.,. where they met a principal from Thompson High School in Siluria, Ala., who hired them to teach in the Appalachian Mountains. In October, Dean was called to serve in the Korean War and boarded a train at Birmingham, Ala., for Camp Hood, Texas. From there he was sent to Fort Riley, Kan., and his unit of reserves was discharged one year later.

Dean served as principal for the Kansas Girls' Industrial School at Beloit, Kan., for three years, then attended the University of Kansas in Lawrence for 10 years to earn a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. During these years, he worked as a psychologist at the KU student clinic. He also taught a human relations class #141 for seniors and graduate students who would be serving on hospital and business staffs.

Dean had also worked for the Peace Corps in Columbia, Mo., at University of Missouri in 1963 and 1964. He served as a Cub Scout leader for his son, Dennis, and Sunflower 4-H Club leader for his daughter, Amy. He was an avid sports fan at KU attending football and basketball games on campus. He was also a fisherman and camper, and the family spent a month camping in national parks every summer.

In 1978, they started attending tours to European countries to study hospitals and nursing homes abroad, as well as to visit relatives in Denmark, Austria and Germany. In 1994, they moved from Lawrence, Kan., to the “old” Wendel farm near Elwood, Iowa, so Dean could visit his mother and brother in Vinton more often.

Dean is survived by his wife, Thelma Kerkman of Elwood; children, Dr. Dennis Kerkman of Platte City, Mo, Renay Kerkman of Chicago, and Amy (Ken Manaugh) Kerkman of Oak Park, Ill.; and four grandchildren, Ameilia Kerkman of Winston Salem, N.C., Adam Kerkman of Austin, Texas, and Conrad and Benjamin Manaugh of Oak Park, Ill.

He was preceded in death by his parents; a sister, Evelyn Ohde of Keystone; a brother, Ralph Kerkman of Vinton; and a niece, Jayne Heise of Osage.

In lieu of other expressions of sympathy, memorials may be made to Camp Courageous of Iowa.

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