He was born June 9, 1925, in Canton, Illinois, son of Leon and Anna Jackley Whitnah. He married Florentine Egger on August 9, 1947, in Springfield. Illinois. She died April 26, 2002.
He served with the U.S. Army combat engineers during World War II and, following the war, was a merchandise control manager for the U.S. Army Exchange Service in Salzburg, Austria.
Dr. Whitnah received his bachelor's, master's, and doctorate degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana and from 1956 to 1959 taught history at Valley City State College, Valley City, North Dakota. He then joined the faculty at the University of Northern Iowa, where he was head of the history department from 1969 to 1988. He was then acting dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences from 1989 to 1990, retiring in 1992.
Survived by: two daughters, Victoria A. Whitnah of Seattle and Tara B. Whitnah of Keokuk.
Preceded in death by: a sister, Maurine Lang.
Memorial services: 1:30 p.m. Friday at First United Methodist Church, with inurnment at a later date in Cuba, Illinois. There will be no visitation. Richardson Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Memorials: may be directed to Cedar Bend Humane Society, the UNI Foundation, or the Cedar Valley Food Bank.
Copyright Waterloo Courier, July 14, 2002, page C5.
By JON ERICSON, Courier Staff Writer
The University of Northern Iowa lost one of its better storytellers Friday.
Donald Whitnah, 77, former head of the history department, died Friday from complications from Parkinson's disease.
He leaves behind memories of great conversations, a mound of published work, and the legacy of four decades of caring for the university.
Whitnah came to UNI hi 1959 as an assistant professor of history. By 1969, he was head of the department. He would later serve as acting dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. He became one of those faces you would just see everywhere around campus.
Noreen Hermansen, executive director of the UNI Alumni Association, worked with Whitnah on many committees.
She remembers how he was an active supporter of UNI sports, theater, and music, in addition to academic activities.
"He was really a well-rounded university person," Hermansen said. "He was popular with the students." Hermansen said Whitnah was never too busy for a good conversation, and once started, he'd commit his full attention to you.
Whitnah and his wife, Flora, were good friends with LeRoy and Nancy Redfern over the years. They'd go out for dinner and swap stories.
Many of those stories centered on how the Whitnahs met. Flora Whitnah was Austrian, and they met while Don was stationed in Austria as part of an occupying army following World War II.
"They were so interesting because of their vast interests and experiences," LeRoy Redfern said.
Just recently Don Whitnah had given a speech at a local club regarding how they met in Austria. Despite the long relationship with the Whitnahs, Redfern said he always heard something new when they met.
"They had so many experiences, he told stories that even I hadn't heard," Redfern said. .
The Whitnahs had come to the United States and married in 1947. Don Whitnah went through his education all the way to a doctoral degree at the University of Illinois.
He taught in North Dakota for four years before coming to Cedar Falls.
Over the years, Whitnah's stories were hardly limited to the oral variety. He published several books on topics as far ranging as air traffic safety, the occupation of Austria, and the history of the United States Weather Bureau.
Numerous articles published showed a similar diversity of interests.
In April, Whitnah lost his wife of fifty-four years. With Parkinson's disease, he had also lost some of his abilities to write and read, his lifelong passions.
When he died Friday, some close to him think it was his time, a time to rejoin Flora.
"We sure are going to miss them both," LeRoy Redfern said Friday.
Copyright Waterloo Courier, July 14, 2002, page C10.