A group of alumni from the 1980s and 1990s and a former faculty member came together to raise money for a new memorial bench outside of Gregory Hall to honor graduate students from that era’s cohort who died young. The bench honors Katherine Aaslestad (PhD, ’97, history), Debra Allen (PhD, ’92, history), Charles Crouch (PhD, ’91, history), Louis Haas (PhD, ’90, history), and Daniel Soloff (PhD, ’93, history).
“Juggling the academic and teaching demands of graduate school creates a comradery among those who manage it; at least such was the case with those of us who worked in the warren of TA offices atop Gregory Hall in the 1980s,” the planning group for the memorial bench wrote. “Survivors of that time share happy memories of intensely busy days and nights, even today as we approach or adjust to retirement. While mourning the loss of our colleague Katherine Aaslestad in 2021, we came together to remember those in our cohort who left us too soon. We were prompted by Professor Geoffrey Parker, who retains a particular fondness for that era at Illinois.”
Led by Katie McFarland Kennedy (’87), the planning group consisted of Geoffrey Parker (Charles E. Nowell Distinguished Professor of History 1986-1993), Mark Angelos (’92), John Beeler (’91), Tom Connors (’97), Elizabeth Dunn (’90), Louis Haas (’90), Jon Huener (’98), Ken Noe (’90), Mary Sprunger (’93), and Bill Sutton (’93). Tragically, Louis Haas died during the planning process and his name was added to the inscription. Other donors and friends of the honorees made generous contributions to the cost of the bench, which now sits on Gregory Hall’s northeast corner, looking across to Foellinger Auditorium and the main quad beyond.
“While none of us now haunt Gregory Hall on any regular basis (we’re less sure about those listed on the bench), we’re delighted to have our friends remembered in its shadow,” the planning group wrote. “Unfortunately, we did not have space for the perfect epitaph that Louie provided in one of his emails: ‘Clio’s disciples and friends from my professional youth.’”