1979 Recipients
Frederick W. Luehring
Class Year: 1905
Outstanding Alumni Award Winner 1979
Frederick Luehring received a Master of Philosophy degree from the University of Chicago in 1906 and earned his Ph.D. in 1939 from Columbia University with a dissertation on swimming pool standards. Luehring devoted his entire 47-year professional career to the instruction of physical education and athletics at the college and university level. He began his career in 1906 at Ripon College and later served at Princeton University, the University of Nebraska, and the University of Minnesota. He retired in 1953, after serving the University of Pennsylvania as professor and director of health and physical education for 22 years.
Genevieve Brayton Towsley
Class Year: 1928
Outstanding Alumni Award Winner 1979
Genevieve Towsley served her alma mater as an instructor in English and was a founding member of the Naperville Heritage Society. In 1975, she published a book, “Historic Naperville.” By 1976, Towsley was named Woman of the Year of the Naperville branch of the American Association of University Women. In 1978, she received an honorary doctor of letters degree from North Central. Towsley received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Illinois Department on Aging for her significant achievements in 1993. She wrote for the Naperville Sun from 1954 until her retirement in 1994.
Paul Washburn
Class Year: 1936
Outstanding Alumni Award Winner 1979
Bishop Paul Washburn graduated from Evangelical Theological Seminary in 1938. Washburn received his license to preach in 1933, his ordination as deacon in 1936, and his ordination as elder in 1938. For 30 years, he served pastorates in Illinois. He was one of the principal drafters of the Plan of Union, which resulted in the union of the Evangelical United Brethren Church and the Methodist Church to form the United Methodist Church. He was elected Bishop of the Evangelical United Brethren Church at the denomination’s final general Conference session.