Hazel Lipa (1907-2005)

LIPA, ERICKSON, ALLEN, REED, TOTH

Posted By: Ames Tribune
Date: 10/21/2005 at 11:34:52

THE AMES TRIBUNE, Ames, Story County, Iowa, Thursday, October 20, 2005.

Hazel Lipa died peacefully at home in her room at Northcrest Health Care Center on Monday, Oct. 17, eight days after celebrating her 98th birthday.

Hazel Elvira Erickson was born Oct. 9, 1907, in Evansville, Minn. She attended school in Alexandria, Minn., where she graduated from high school in 1925. In 1929, she received a bachelor's degree from the University of Minnesota, and in 1949 she earned a master's degree in English literature from Claremont Graduate School in Claremont, Calif.

Her first marriage, to Edward D. Allen, a professor of economics at Iowa State College, ended with his death in 1947. In 1959, she married C. Buell Lipa, professor of English at ISU, who died in 1978.

Hazel Lipa taught for 33 years in the English Department at ISU, beginning in 1944 and ending with her retirement in 1977. During those years, she was an active member of the academic community, not only teaching composition, literature, creative writing, and the first course ever offered at ISU in television script writing, but also serving on the Faculty Council, editing the first Faculty Handbook and working with the American Association of University Professors. In 1980, she was awarded a faculty citation; the nomination by the vice president for academic affairs stated: "She has devoted untold hours in her efforts to help make this university into an institution known for collegiality and scholarship."

She also was active in the American Civil Liberties Union and the Collegiate Presbyterian Church. Another colleague, Millard Kratochvil, assistant dean, wrote in support of her 1980 faculty citation: "The activities I have listed tell about a person but do not characterize her. Students and staff recall Hazel E. Lipa's spiritedness, her serenity, her good humor, her sound judgment, her courage, and the imparting to the rest of us the assurance that though this may not be the best of all possible worlds we can share in making it better."

She is survived by two daughters, Karen Reed of Mars Hill, N.C., and Susan Toth of Minneapolis, as well as three granddaughters, Corey Reed of Harrisonburg, Va., Kate Reed of Glendale, Calif., and Jennifer Toth of New York, N.Y.

A memorial service will be at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29, at Collegiate Presbyterian Church. The family will receive visitors after the service in the Barlow Lounge.

In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to the C. Buell Lipa Festival for Contemporary Music at Iowa State University or to Plan USA (Childreach) at www.planusa.org.

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