Russell M. Eidsmoe 1905 - 1996

EIDSMOE, HOFFERT

Posted By: Connie Swearingen- Volunteer (email)
Date: 5/31/2017 at 04:43:46

Sioux City Journal
6 November 1996

Russell M. Eidsmoe, 91, of Sioux City died Saturday, November 2, 1996 at a Sioux City hospital.

A memorial service will be at 11 a. m. today at the Grace Methodist Church. A private family burial will be in Beresford. Visitation was Tuesday at Nelson-Berger Northside Funeral Home.

Mr. Eidsmoe was born October 4, 1905 in Beresford, S.D. He graduated from Beresford High School in 1923 and received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Yankton College. On November 25, 1926, he married Beulah Ann Hoffert.

He earned a Master of Arts degree at the University of South Dakota and took advanced graduate study at the University of Minnesota and the University of Chicago. He was awarded an honorary doctor of education degree by Yankton College.

He had experience in the field of education as a teacher coach of speech and athletics, superintendant of schools at Hetland and Volga, S.D., and member of the Yankton Board of Education.

In 1947 he joined the faculty of Morningside College as head of the Department of Education and chairman of the Division of Social Science.

Mr. Eidsmoe engaged in a wide variety of educational interests and activities and served as president of the Northwest Iowa Teachers Association, president of the Iowa Student Teaching Association and president of the Iowa Institutional Placement Association. In 1952, he established the annual Conference of Superintendents of Schools, bringing together approximately 250 administrations to Morningside’s campus each year.

He served as a member of the Professional Advisory Committee of the State Board of Regents for the study of a proposed establishment of a fourth state institution of higher education in western Iowa.

Under his leadership, the Department of Education at Morningside College received its first approval from the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education. He is listed in Who’s Who in America.

Mr. Eidsmoe was a member of Grace Methodist Church and the Sioux City Country Club. He was a member of the Sioux City Rotary Club and served as its president in 1965 – 1966. He was chairman of the Sioux City Heart Fund Drive in 1971 and the Woodbury County Heart Fund Drive in 1972. He was a member of the Siouxland Senior Center, serving as president from 1978 – 1981. He and his wife traveled extensively throughout the United States and the world.

Survivors include his wife; two sons and their wives, Robert and Leone of Sioux City and John and Marlene of Montgomery, Ala.; five grandchildren, Eric, David, Kirsten and Justin Eidsmoe and Elizabeth Orr; and a great-grandchild.

He was preceded in death by five brothers and a sister.

A memorial has been established at the Grace Methodist Church in Sioux City for Christian Education.