Richard Peter Vande Hoef (May 15, 1925 – December 20, 2020) was an American politician in the state of Iowa. Vande Hoef was born in Boyden, Iowa, in May 1925. He was a veteran of World War II, serving in the United States Army and worked as a farmer. He served in the 2nd District of the Iowa State Senate from 1981 to 1993, and House of Representatives from 1993 to 1999, as a Republican. Vande Hoef died in December 2020 in Sibley, Iowa, at the age of 95.
Joseph M. Kremer (19 August 1921 – 30 June 2010) was an American politician.
Joseph Kremer was born in Jesup, Iowa, on 19 August 1921 to Matt Kremer and his wife, Matilda Lardy. Following his graduation from the high school in his hometown in 1939, the younger Kremer served in the United States Army during World War II, through to his discharge in December 1946. Six months after, he married Ellen Janice Harn, with whom he raised eight children. Kremer was active in several county-level civic and agricultural organizations, and retired from farming in 1986.Kremer, a Republican was first elected to the Iowa House of Representatives for Buchanan County in 1984, and served continuously until 1993, when fellow Republican Darrell Hanson represented District 27 for a single term. Kremer returned to the seat in 1995, was reelected once more, and retired at the end of his sixth term in 1999.He died on 30 June 2010 at the Buchanan County Health Center Long-Term Care Unit in Independence, Iowa.
Peter Andrew Gowland (April 3, 1916 – March 17, 2010) was a famous American glamour photographer and actor. He was known for designing and building his own studio equipment and was active professionally for six decades with his business partner, Alice Beatrice Adams, whom he married in 1941.
Victor P. Dauer (April 14, 1909 – September 30, 2000) was an American football and baseball coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football and head baseball coach at Valparaiso University during the 1941–42 academic year.
Dauer was born on April 14, 1909, in Hammond, Indiana. He graduated from Emerson High School in Gary, Indiana. He played college football and college basketball at Indiana University Bloomington.Dauer served as an officer in the United States Army during World War II. He was an assistant coach for the 1943 Camp Davis Fighting AA's football team and was head coach of Camp Davis's basketball team in 1943–44.In 1947, he was appointed assistant professor and assistant athletic director Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts. In 1949, he moved to Washington State University as an assistant professor in the Men's Physical Education Department. Dauer earned a PhD in education from the University of Michigan in 1951.
Edward Jones "Red" Borom (October 30, 1915 – January 7, 2011) was an American second baseman who played two seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Detroit Tigers. Born in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Borom was 28 years old before he made it to the big leagues. He only played one full season in the major leagues, and that season saw him win the 1945 World Series. Borom also played professional and semi-pro baseball for over 15 years from the mid-1930s into the 1950s.
Borom served in the United States Army briefly in 1943, but was released because of migraine headaches. He recalled: "Two days after getting home, I got a call from Jack Zeller, general manager of Detroit ... Four days after getting out of the service, I was in training camp with Detroit in Evansville, Indiana. I realized it was wartime, but there were some good players still in the majors."In 1945, Borom played the entire season with Detroit. Playing in place of injured second baseman Eddie Mayo, Borom batted over .300 during the September pennant drive.
Borom played in 55 games for the Tigers in 1945, batting .269 with a .307 on-base percentage. He played in two games of the 1945 World Series. Describing his appearance in the World Series, Borom said: "I hit a ground ball up the middle, off the glove of pitcher Hank Borowy. The shortstop, Roy Hughes, threw me out on an extremely close play. I thought I had a base hit." Borom also pinch-ran for catcher Bob Swift in game three.
When asked about his biggest thrill in baseball, Borom responded: "When Hank Greenberg hit the bases-loaded home run against the Browns [in September 1945] and we were behind 3–2 at the time. I was the runner on third, and when I saw the ball headed for the seats and knew we were in the World Series. Nothing could surpass that."In 1946, as veteran players returned from World War II, Borom did not make Detroit's roster. Borom played several more years of minor league and semipro ball. Borom was involved with two NBC tournament titlists – Wichita's Boeing Bombers in 1942 as player and Sinton, Texas, in 1951 as manager. Reflecting on his career, Red observed, "I guess a career that looked like it was headed nowhere for so long turned out pretty well."
Borom was inducted into the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame in 1978 and the Kansas Baseball Hall of Fame in 1996.After retiring from baseball, Borom worked 25 years for a freight company in Dallas. He died on January 7, 2011, in Dallas as one of the oldest living former Major Leaguers. He attended Society for American Baseball Research meetings in the DFW area (Hall-Ruggles Chapter) for many years.
Donald William Strauch, Jr. (April 8, 1926 – January 11, 2016), known as Don Strauch, was an American politician. He served as mayor of Mesa, Arizona, from 1980 to 1984. He had previously served on the Mesa City Council since 1972.Born in Iowa and raised in Arizona, Don was the only son and eldest child of three siblings born to Donald W. Strauch, Sr. and Mary Strauch. He served in World War II with the United States Army. After the war, Strauch attended Babson College, Phoenix College, and Arizona State University.Strauch was the president of Strauchs' Stationers, Inc. He served as a Republican in the Arizona House of Representatives for district 29 in Mesa until his defeat in 1988 in a primary. Strauch died in Scottsdale, Arizona, from complication from a fall on January 11, 2016, at the age of 89. He was survived by his wife, daughter and extended family.
Paul Francis Conrad (June 27, 1924 – September 4, 2010) was an American political cartoonist and winner of three Pulitzer Prizes for editorial cartooning. In the span of a career lasting five decades, Conrad provided a critical perspective on eleven presidential administrations in the United States. He is best known for his work as the chief editorial cartoonist for the Los Angeles Times during a time when the newspaper was in transition under the direction of publisher Otis Chandler, who recruited Conrad from the Denver Post.
At the conservative Times, Conrad brought a more liberal editorial perspective that readers both celebrated and criticized; he was also respected for his talent and his ability to speak truth to power. On a weekly basis, Conrad addressed the social justice issues of the day—poverty in America, movements for civil rights, the Vietnam War, the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and corporate and political corruption were leading topics. His criticism of president Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal landed Conrad on Nixon's Enemies List, which Conrad regarded as a badge of honor.
Melvin Wallace Bleeker (August 20, 1920 – April 24, 1996) was a professional American football player who played halfback for four seasons in the National Football League for the Philadelphia Eagles and Los Angeles Rams.
Robert Brown Asprey (February 16, 1923 – January 26, 2009) was an American military historian and author, noted for his books on military history published between 1959 and 2001.
John Henry Geiger (June 19, 1926 – January 10, 2011) was an American architect and engineer who served as the National Commander of The American Legion from 1971 to 1972.