All Student Biographies

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Romm, Harry J. (B.S., Zoology, 1930; M.S., Entomology, 1934; Ph.D. Plant Morphology, 1946)

Headshot of Harry J Romm

Harry J. Romm was born 4 Sept 1899 in Navasota, TX, to Benno Romm, born in Schwarzenau, Germany, and a mother from Tennessee.

Romm was still enrolled in public school at age 19 when he registered for the WWI draft in 1918, later graduating from Galveston Central High School, Galveston, Texas. In 1920, according to the Federal Census, Romm was employed as a porter in a dry goods store in Galveston. He married Fannie B. Dunlap in Dallas, Texas, on 11 June 1927 and was listed in 1928 Dallas City Directory as a teacher.

Moving to Ames in 1923, Romm earned his B.S. in Zoology in 1930, M.S. in Entomology in 1934. In 1935, Romm was an attendee at the banquet held by the Iowa State Alumni Association for Frederick D. Patterson’s inauguration as President of Tuskegee where he was listed as the Head of Department of Biology at Tuskegee Institute. While at Tuskegee, he served as a Volunteer Weather Collector for NOAA, a position that was held prior by George Washington Carver. During WWII, he served as a Principal Correspondent for the Army Specialist Corps.

Romm went on to earn his Ph.D. in Plant Morphology in 1946 and was later listed as teaching Biology at Southern University, Louisiana, in 1952. He died on 15 November 1955 and is buried in Lakeview Cemetery, Galveston, Texas. His headstone suggests he was a Catholic.

Iowa State College Dissertation Title: The development and structure of the vegetative and reproductive organs of kudzu, Pueraria thunbergiana (Sieb and Zucc) Benth; The insect depredators of purslane (Portulaca oleracea L.), 1946 

Iowa State University Catalog Record:https://quicksearch.lib.iastate.edu/permalink/01IASU_INST/q0r84t/cdi_proquest_journals_301851928 

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Mark, Jesse Jarue (M.S., Agriculture, 1931; Ph.D., Botany, 1935) 

Jesse Jarue Mark, Jr., was born 24 September 1905, in Apple Springs, Trinity County, Texas, to Jesse James Mark, Sr., a farmer, and his wife Lula V. Mark. Mark graduated from Prairie View State Normal & Industrial College (now Prairie View A & M University) in Prairie View, Texas, in 1929 and moved quickly on to Master’s Degree work in Agriculture at ISC, which he completed in 1931. While at ISC, Mark lived with Archie and Nancy Martin at 218 Lincoln Way

As early as 1931, Mark was teaching agriculture at Kentucky State Industrial College (now Kentucky State University), where fellow Iowa Stater Rufus B. Atwood was president. While working at Kentucky State, Mark pursued his Ph.D. in Botany, receiving it in 1935. That same year Mark’s work was recognized nationally when he was named a Rockefeller Fellow in Agriculture for 1935-36.

While at Iowa State, Mark had been employed at the Agricultural Experiment Station. He continued his ties to that organization while teaching and researching at Kentucky State, later becoming the Head of the Agriculture Department there. Following his teaching there, Mark also taught at Tennessee State College, Texas College, and Southern University of New Orleans. Mark He ended his career teaching biology there (“Dr. Mark Rites”).

Jesse Jarue Mark died at age 65 on 20 February 1971 and is buried in the Nigton Memorial Park Cemetery in Nigton, Texas.

Iowa State College Thesis Title: The relation of root reserves to cold resistance in alfalfa, 1935

Iowa State University Library Digital Repository Link:https://doi.org/10.31274/rtd-180813-14899; 

Iowa State College Dissertation Title: The response of winter grains to late fall seeding, 1931 

Iowa State University Catalog Record:https://iowa-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/12tutg/01IASU_ALMA21210594870002756

Sources

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Woods, Clara Williams (M.S., Home Economics Education, 1937)

Clara Williams Woods was born 26 October 1905 in Holly Springs, Mississippi, to Louis B. Woods, a minister, and his wife, Annie Ingram Woods, an at-home laundress. In 1937, Ms Woods received her Master’s of Science in Home Economics Education from Iowa State College. The title of her thesis was The Effect of Course Work in Consumer Buying upon Certain Buying Practices of Negro Students. While at Iowa State, she lived with the Archie and Nancy Martin at 218 Lincoln Way, a home where many Black students resided over the years. She eventually went on to work at the Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical & Normal College in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

Iowa State College Dissertation Title: The effect of course work in consumer buying upon certain buying practices of negro students, 1937

Iowa State University Catalog Record:https://quicksearch.lib.iastate.edu/permalink/01IASU_INST/174tg9m/alma990010340860102756 

Sources

Biography available at  HBCU Connections at Iowa State University :  Clara W. Woods  ( http://hbcuconnections.iastatedigital.org/Clara_W._Woods )

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Bowling, Lynce Crawford (D.V.M., 1920)

Headshot of Lynce Crawford Bowling

Lynce Crawford Bowling was born on 22 September 1893 in Fannin, MS, to Rasberry B. Bowling and Annie Adams Bowling. He completed high school and college in Mississippi before enrolling at ISC in fall 1916. While at ISC, Bowling served in the Iowa State Agricultural & Mechanical College Federal Service, Medical Enlisted Reserve Corps, the Cadet Corps (Fold3, 2015). He enlisted in the Army on 6 Jan 1918, was on active duty as a Private from 1 October 1918 to 15 November 1918, and was honorably discharged on 1 February 1919. He  graduated from ISC with his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in 1920. After his Army service, he married Doris Victoria Jackson.

Dr. Bowling served as Head of the Veterinary Department of Southern University and Agricultural and Mechanical College of the State of Louisiana, Scotlandville, LA (U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1925). Following that, he worked for two decades at the Carsten Meat Packing House as part of the Bureau of Animal Husbandry, Meat Inspection Division, Field Station Tacoma, WA, ca. 1927-1947 (Bowling, n.d.). He died 26 February 1956 and is buried in the Los Angeles National Cemetery, CA.

Sources

Photo credit: Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine. (1920). Class of 1920. [Photo]. Retrieved from  https://cc.cvm.iastate.edu/cc/class-of-1920/

Bowling, Lynce C., Dr. (Doris). (n.d.) Tacoma Public Library Online Digital Collections [Item Description]. Retrieved from https://tacomalibrary.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p17061coll12/id/10810/

Fold3. (2015, 26 Feb). Headstone applications, 1925-1963, database and images. Retrieved from https://www.fold3.com/image/319405012?filmstrip=true&terms=lynce,bowling

U.S. Department of Agriculture. (1925, March). List of workers in subjects pertaining to agriculture 1923-24 (Office of Experiment Stations Miscellaneous Circular No. 34). U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Experiment Stations. Retrieved from https://archive.org/stream/listofworkersins34agne/listofworkersins34agne_djvu.txt

U.S. Department of Agriculture. (1936. List of technical workers in the Department of Agriculture and outline of Department functions 1935 (Miscellaneous Publication No. 233). U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Personnel and Business Administration. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?id=J6koAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA37&lpg=PA37&dq=%22lc+bowling%22+dvm&source=bl&ots=rMuMESCQYu&sig=ACfU3U2vQKKBiu5da7-JuuWcFbOTlj2v0w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjr5vWLh-7xAhXCXc0KHekYDMIQ6AEwD3oECBgQAw#v=onepage&q=%22lc%20bowling%22%20dvm&f=true

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Cowan, Marian Frances Anderson (M.S., Home Economics Education, 1945)   

3/4 shot of Marian Frances Anderson Cowan

Marian Frances Anderson was born 15 April 1915 in Boston, MA. She was the second of five children born to Benjamin Franklin “Frank” Anderson, Sr. , a molder in the Navy yard, and Anna Elizabeth “Annie” Bibby. Marian received her Bachelor’s of Science degree from Howard University, where she was a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. After graduation, she taught home economics in the Indianapolis schools for some years before she married Jason Mouldin Cowan 25 October 1945 in Newton County, MO. That same year, she received her Master’s of Science in Home Economics Education from Iowa State College. Cowan also received a Master’s Degree from Indiana University (“Marian Cowan, Retired Teacher,” 1996). In the mid-1950s, the Cowan family relocated to Texas, where Marian, continuing in education, went on to be a leader in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) regionally and locally in Texas, and later nationally (“Marian Cowan: Retired Educator,” 1996).

Later, Ms. Cowan taught for several decades in the Los Angeles County schools and, in retirement, became a researcher in the Geriatrics Department of the University of California, during which time her short films on geriatrics were published on Public Television and used in college geriatrics classes. Cowan ended her career where she had begun it, teaching in the Indianapolis Public Schools. She died 6 February 1996 in Indianapolis, IN, of complications of ovarian cancer. She is buried in Ingelwood Park Cemetery, Los Angeles, CA (“Marian Cowan, Retired Teacher,” 1996).

Sources

Photo credit: Fouke Hawkins High School. (1961). Quettes join the fun at Weldon High School (detail of Marian Cowan). [Photograph]. Fouke Hawkins High School Yearbook, 1961. p. 146. Retrieved from https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1265/images/1265_b698550-0014

Marian Cowan: Retired educator & church leader. (1996, March-April). The Oldtimers’ Grapevine 6(2). Disciples of Christ Historical Society, p. 10. https://digitalcommons.discipleshistory.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=oldtimersgrapevine 

Marian Cowan, retired teacher and Christian Church official. (1996, 9 Feb) The Indianapolis Star, 32.Obituary for Mr. Jason Gregory Cowan. (2016). Northwest Funeral Chapel,  https://www.northwestfuneralchapel.com/obituaries/Jason-Cowan/#!/Obituary

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