Alumni Memories

Dennis Keeney

Agronomy, B.S., 1959; Ph.D., 1965

Dennis Keeney

Moments to Remember (Four Lads); Autumn Leaves (Roger Williams); these were some of the tunes on the jukeboxes and car radios the fall of 1955. That was when I entered Iowa State College as a green freshman from the home dairy farm near Runnells, Iowa. I experienced most of the emotions of a freshman anywhere, disorientation, homesickness and lack of confidence in my ability to handle the courses and campus life.

My first memories of Iowa State were as a delegate to the state 4-H convention in 1952. It was a hot August weekend and I still recall the soft ice cream in the Union. No ice cream has ever tasted better.

There was no room in Friley when I arrived and I, and many others, had to make do in temporary quarters for a while. Soon I was assigned space with two others. Enrollment was growing far faster than facilities available, and many classes were quite crowded, offered in early mornings, evenings and Saturdays. The temporary buildings, on the west side of campus in the engineering area, were cold and uncomfortable in winter, stuffy and hot in spring and fall. But it really did not matter.

I remember distinctly the orientation seminar by engineering. They predicted only 25 percent of us would make it through the first year. That compared with a seminar by Dean Andre who predicted many of us would end up in Graduate School. An interesting contrast!

Campus memories I treasure include those 7 a.m. classes at 10 below, winter snows and spring rains and autumn leaves on central campus with the tolling of the Carillon, Iowa State Singers and Glee Club practice in creaky Morrill Hall, Robert Cowen’s incredible holiday concerts, military drill at ROTC parade grounds (site of College of Design now) and of course VEISHEA.

1955-1956 saw the beginnings of Rock and Roll, and the end of my desire to be an engineer. I found I could not draw a straight line with a ruler and changed majors rather than flunk engineering drawing. By some good fortune, I ended up first in Farm Operations (thanks to Louis Thompson and Roger Mitchell), and then Agronomy. By 1956, when Elvis Presley was becoming the Rock and Roll king, I was happily working with great advisers especially Bugs Firkins, to plot out the next three years of college life. Agronomy and especially soils fascinated me, but I kept up the physical sciences courses I started in engineering and by graduation, I was well prepared for graduate school.

I loved English as well, and took as many writing courses as I could work in. Speech terrified me, as sorority gals dominated the class. I had a great old guy in English 103, he smoked constantly, sat on the edge of the desk, perspired profusely, and the gals in the front row with short skirts got the highest marks on their essays.

The College was on the quarter system then, which I always thought was the better way to organize courses. It gave more flexibility and allowed one to adjust the course work around work schedules. I always helped on the farm with planting in the spring, and appreciated having a lighter course load and no Friday classes during spring quarter.

Most profs smoked in those days, pipes for more dignified ones, but chain-smoking through a lecture was not unusual. They gave out free cigarettes, those little packs of samples, at the food line in Friley Hall (also passed them out in the airlines, etc.). One of the top hit songs of 1958-1959 was “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” by The Platters.

Iowa State was a big part of my family. Agronomy had many great professors as Frank Gardner, Wayne ”Doc” Scholtes, Bill Pierre (department head), Charles Black, Louis Thompson, Roger Mitchell, Lloyd Duminel, Lloyd Frederick, Don Kirkham, John Pesek and Min Amemiya. The students were close, and had good times with the faculty. As it is now, the College of Agriculture put high emphasis on undergraduate instruction.

I had to work as much as possible to get through. I waited tables in Friley Hall, and had a great job in the Terrace Room, the short-order restaurant in Friley, on Sunday night. It included a hamburger and fries, and that was heaven for a hungry college student. Later I worked at the Soils Testing Lab, and other agronomy jobs. Dishwashing in a research lab was a great way to get to know what a scientist does.

I was fortunate to receive an Eli Lilly scholarship. They were headquartered in Indianapolis, and the award winners were feted to a gala weekend as part of the honor. Dean Andre went along, and I recall a wonderful conversation with him while the plane labored on its way to Chicago. It was my first commercial airline flight (a DC-3) and we went through Midway. O’Hare did not exist then except as a sleepy backwater farm community. It was also my first shrimp cocktail (I had no idea what to do with those strange looking creatures) and my first high rise hotel.

In 1958, Buddy Holly was starting up the charts with such great tunes as “Peggy Sue,” and Ritchie Valens had a huge hit in “Donna.” Life on campus was good, with a few panty raids, and some other shenanigans. A group actually blew out the dam on Lake Laverne. I remember that blast well. I was no longer in ROTC (never could march) and had more time for coursework.

1959 was cleaning up the major, taking some graduate courses, and picking a graduate school. I chose the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a great choice. On Feb. 3, 1959, Buddy Holly’s small, chartered plane crashed in a field outside of Mason City after a gig at the Surf Ballroom. Also killed were Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper, J. P. Richardson. I am not sure what courses I was taking that quarter, but I remember the crash well.

The Veishea of 1959 was truly one of the best. I was president of the Agronomy Club and in charge of our float, and we had a blast. After that was graduation (one of the hottest May days on record, at least in the old gym). We were the very last class to graduate from Iowa State College. Three weeks later Betty Goodhue (home economics, ’59) and I were married in Carlisle.

We began our married life together with fond memories of Iowa State. It has meant much to us personally and professionally over the years. The hit songs of the ’50s never died, and each time I hear them, it is Iowa State all over again in my memories. Truly these were “Moments to Remember.”