Ruth Lois Huenemann 1910-2005

HUENEMANN, HANSMEIER, HUBER, STREYLE, BUEHRER, VOLKERT

Posted By: Volunteer
Date: 11/15/2005 at 21:44:21

Ruth Huenemann

Ruth Lois Huenemann, pioneer in the field of public health nutrition, and professor emerita and founder of the public health nutrition program at the University of California, Berkeley, died August 19, 2005, at the age of 95, at the Lake Park Retirement Residence in Oakland, Calif.

Ruth was one of the first researchers to recognize the importance of systematically studying the longitudinal development of obesity in children, conducting seminal studies that to this day inform the understanding of the current epidemic of childhood obesity.

Her research and teaching combined rigorous scientific methods with a pragmatic approach to improving nutrition in a variety of cultural settings. She traveled widely in Latin America, Asia, and Europe as a consultant and lecturer for the World Health Organization, the U.S. State Department’s food aid program, and numerous international health and nutrition organizations.

She was particularly noted for several longitudinal studies of nutrition and physical activity among adolescents and children. “Research in which such a large group of children was studied for so long was unusual at that time,” said her colleague Leona Shapiro. “Huenemann looked at the wide-ranging factors that could have influenced the development of obesity.”

Her studies provided a wealth of detailed data on teenagers’ eating habits, physical activity and body composition. The research revealed a link between low income and an increased risk for obesity, something researchers are still trying to fully understand today.

The researchers also found that teenagers were getting much less exercise than previously thought, signaling the influence of television and cars. In addition, the study results dispelled the belief that overweight babies became overweight adults, showing instead that activity level was much more predictive of future weight.

Huenemann was one of the first to recommend national school lunch programs as a way to address issues of adequate nutrition for all children.

Ruth was born to a farming family in Waukon, Iowa, February 5, 1910, the second-oldest of 14 children. In 1913, her father sold the farm and moved the family to Wisconsin, where she grew up while her father attended Mission House Seminary.

In 1928, Huenemann graduated from Menno High School in South Dakota, where her family had moved the prior year. She spent five years - overlapping the Great Depression and Dust Bowl eras - teaching children aged six to 17 in a one-room school, and saving money to attend college.

She received a B.S. in nutrition from the University of Wisconsin in 1938, and earned an M.S. in nutrition from the University of Chicago in 1941 while working as a staff dietitian at the university's clinics. Over the next decade, she worked as an associate professor at the University of Tennessee, where she established the university’s public health nutrition program as well as a community nutrition program in Knoxville.

During her years at Tennessee, she was offered a scholarship to study at Harvard University and proceeded to earn her doctor of science degree in public health nutrition in 1954. Her dissertation research was on the nutritional health of Peruvian children from birth to three years of age.

Dr. Huenemann joined UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health in 1953, where she founded the school’s public health nutrition program, establishing its curriculum, research program, staff, and funding. During her 24-year tenure at UC Berkeley, she created the first program to enable students earning a bachelor's degree in public health nutrition to also become eligible as registered dietitians.

After retiring from UC Berkeley in 1977, Huenemann accepted invitations as guest lecturer at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, and at Pennsylvania State University in State College, Penn. She also volunteered at the Berkeley Food Pantry, for UNICEF, and served as an elder of her church.

Huenemann is survived by her brother, Rev. William Huenemann, of Ft. Wayne, Ind.; and dozens of nieces and nephews. Gordy and Tom Hansmeier of Waukon are first cousins. Carol Eick, also of Waukon, is a niece.

A private memorial service was held Aug. 25 at St. John’s Presbyterian Church in Berkeley. Burial will be at Ell Township Cemetery in Garner, Iowa, Friday, October 7, where her parents and several siblings are buried. Rev. Richard Eick will officiate at the committal service.

Waukon Standard, October 5, 2005

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Additional info. & photo were added 10/06/11 by Connie Ellis

~source: SOURCE: Mason City, Iowa NORTH CENTRAL IOWA GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY, October 2005

Dr. Ruth Huenemann was buried in the Peace Reformed Church Cemetery in Garner, Iowa in Hancock County where her parents and several siblings were buried. The Rev. Richard Eick of Waukon, Iowa officiated at the graveside service which was held on Friday, October 7, 2005.

Ruth Lois Huenemann, daughter of Rev. William and Mary (Hansmeier) Huenemann, was born February 5, 1910 at Waukon, Iowa. She was the second oldest child of 14 children. Her father sold the family farm in Allamakee County and moved the family to Wisconsin where she grew up while her father attended the Mission House Seminary.

Dr.Ruth Lois Huenemann was preceded in death by her parents, her 8 brothers, Dr. Ruben Huenemann, Calvin Huenemann, Karl Huenemann, Elmer Huenemann, Roland Huenemann, Rev. Edward Huenemann, Lorenz Huenemann, and Paul Huenemann, and 4 sisters, Miriam Huber, Lois Streyle, Erma Buehrer, and Dorothea Volkert.

She was survived by her brother, Rev. William Robert Huenemann of Fort Wayne, Indiana, dozens of nieces and nephews, which included Carol Eick of Waukon, Iowa, in addition to some of the Hansmeiers, who were mentioned in the Waukon Standard obituary.

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