Dwayne Rohweder

Middleton-Emeritus Professor Dr. Dwayne A. Rohweder passed away on Friday, December 8th, 2017. Dr. Rohweder was born in Marshalltown, Iowa to Claus Arnold (Henry and Christina (née Rathmann)) and Luella Alvena (Hans and Caroline (née Wiese) Claussen) Rohweder on August 12, 1926 and grew up on a farm outside Green Mountain, Iowa. He received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. from Iowa State University in Agronomy (1948), Soil Fertility (1956), and Crop Production/Soil Management (1963), respectively. He was married on December 5th, 1948 at Central Lutheran Church in Des Moines, Iowa to Wilma Janet Slot.

Dr. Rohweder joined the Iowa State University Cooperative Extension Service in 1948 serving as County Extension Director for Louisa and Sioux Counties. Upon request, he returned to academics at ISU where he obtained his M.S. and Ph.D. while concurrently serving as Area Extension Agronomist in southeast Iowa. In 1963, he joined the University of Wisconsin Extension Service as Extension Agronomist - Forages, a position he held until his retirement in 1988 except for 2 ½ years (1967-1969) when he served as Agronomist and Chief of Party for the UW - USAID University Development Contract Team at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Porto Alegre, Brazil. He obtained full professorship in 1970, trained many graduate students, was vice-chairman of the UW Extension University Committee, and had over 134 publications in the forage sciences. Dr. Rohweder was the recipient of the Fellow Award for the American Society of Agronomy (ASA) in 1974; the Merit Award from the AFGC in 1975; Distinguished Service Award from UW Extension in 1976; and the "Second Mile' award from the Wisconsin County Agricultural Agents Association in 1978. Over the years he continued to be professionally active serving as "history" editor for the University of Wisconsin Department of Agronomy's history, The First 100 Years. Additionally, he was corresponding author of the book, Development of the ASA 1978-2007, which allowed him the opportunity travel to the ASA annual meeting in New Orleans with his grandson, Marcus, who was attending his first scientific conference.

Dwayne was the consummate extrovert that was loved by so many. He made life long relationships from his childhood and formative years in Iowa, from his professional life in Madison, WI, and Porto Alegre, Brazil, from his retired life in Sun Lakes, AZ and Middleton, WI (Woodcreek Village), and most recently Attic Angels. To his friends he was known as Boomer and to his family Opa. For thirteen years Wilma and Dwayne were "snowbirds" where they split their time between Sun Lakes, AZ and Madison, WI. Throughout those years he was an avid golfer and scored a hole-in-one on Hole #8 at the Palo Verde Golf course, which was the same hole that backed up to his house in Sun Lakes! Since 1963, Dwayne has been a beloved member of Midvale Lutheran Church where he sang in the choir, attended Bible study, and was instrumental in bringing their new pastors Blake and Katie into the Midvale Community. He is perhaps most notable for being the first to arrive for the early service every Sunday morning occupying his spot next to Wilma in a pew unofficially reserved for them. Throughout the years he was fortunate to extensively travel the world. He traveled to every state in the U.S. except Maine, traveled to almost every country in South America, spent parts of four summers working and traveling in Italy, and has been to much of Europe including Armenia, Estonia, Latvia, and Russia. He was an active member of the Madison West Kiwanis and has been involved with Kiwanis for close to 60 years even earning an attendance record for over 50 years straight. He was a mainstay at the ticket counter on Pancake Day and was their longtime Song Leader. He was an active member of the Cuba Kids, which is an organization of the Wisconsin Extension Retirees, the Odana Bunch, which was formed in the spring of 1969 as a golfing group in the Midvale Heights neighborhood and still meets regularly, and where he arranged the singing of Christmas Carols every year, most recently with his granddaughter Nicole singing. He, along with Wilma, took part in the mini-med school lectures at the University and was a Badger hockey season ticket holder for over 40 years attending with his grandson, Marcus for the most recent seasons. Marcus and Dwayne greatly enjoyed singing Varsity together in between the second and third periods. As the years passed no one has been more important to the well being of Dwayne than his daughter, Mary. Mary allowed Dwayne to continue all his activities by cooking his meals and helping him with errands while he continued to live independently. His dear friend and editor Val has been a wonderful addition to our family over the past few years helping him continue his independence. Despite the help needed, he was still able to chauffeur his son, Tom, to the store on a weekly basis. He stayed sharp until the end in part because he was a voracious reader. He was always reading at least one novel (both non-fiction and fiction), he subscribed to numerous scientific and leisurely periodicals, and he read the local paper every day. The plentiful recipients of his annual Christmas card is a nice example of the expansive and numerous connections he has made over the years. We are all very lucky to receive one last Christmas card written by him this year.

Dwayne is survived by his wife Wilma (Slot); two children, Thomas Mark and Mary Jean Vinje (Kevin); four grandchildren, Marcus (Nicole), Brittany, Krista, and Tiffany; and three great granddaughters, Kara, Eliana, and Adeline. Additionally, he is survived by his brother G. Dean (Ruth); nephews, David (Amy) and children, Steven (Mia) and children, and James; and niece Leanne (Joe) and children.

Visitation will be held at Midvale Community Lutheran Church located at 4329 Tokay Blvd., Madison, WI 53711 on Wednesday, December 13th from 3:00-6:00 p.m. Funeral worship will be held on Thursday, December 14th at 11 a.m. with visitation one our prior. In lieu of flowers or gifts, memorials may be given to the Midvale Community Lutheran Church.

Cress Center
6021 University Ave.
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