The Luminary Women initiative recognizes women who have impacted the Ames community through volunteer and professional work, behind-the-scenes efforts, and giving of their time and talents expecting no recognition. These unrecognized women have cared for the community and contributed to the quality of life in Ames. They have made an impact on individuals, families, and society. Their efforts are largely unrecorded. The Luminary Women initiative seeks to change that.
Donors contributing at the $5,000 level or above may supply a photo of and information about the woman to be honored. The woman's name will be displayed around the base of the Pantorium skylight located in the Reading & Research Room and the information will be included in a database on AHM's website.
Submit a nomination
Luminary Women
A-M N-Z
Rita Ann (Dobson) Baumel
August 27, 1929 – October 2, 2015
Community Contribution:
Based upon her personal observations and experiences, Rita became aware of the need to address the social isolation of many international student wives when they moved to Ames so their husbands could attend Iowa State University. The wives often lacked English skills and the essential social support network to adjust to a new culture. Rita had moved to Lima, Peru as a young mother and knew first-hand that the wives and children needed to be welcomed and supported. In Peru, she experienced a culture that she learned to love; she wanted to help the international families have a similar experience in Ames.
Rita created the organization Friends of the Foreign Wives with the sole purpose of helping wives of foreign students adjust to life in Ames. An outgrowth of this effort was to pair an Ames woman with a foreign wife to study the English language and learn about American culture. Many former ISU international students have commented that Mrs. Baumel and the troupe of volunteers who reached out to their wives were so important to their success because their wives were welcomed into Ames which enabled them to focus on their studies. Rita understood that meeting that the needs of wives and families of students was critical for the husband’s success at the university.
Rita was a long-time faithful member of St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Ames which helped shape her compassion towards others. She was active in numerous community organizations including the Catholic Daughters of the Americas, PEO Chapter KC, Mary Greeley Medical Center Auxiliary, the ISU Women’s Club and Alpha Chi Omega Alumnae. Professionally, Rita was active in The American Dietetic Association and the Council of Consulting Nutritionists.
Biography:
Rita Ann (Dobson) Baumel was born in Columbus, Ohio and graduated from St. Mary of the Springs Academy in 1947 where she was the class salutatorian. Continuing her education at The Ohio State University, she received a Bachelor of Science in Dietetics in 1950. She then completed a three-year internship and was a dietitian at Ross Laboratories and Nationwide Insurance Company in Columbus. In 1951 she married C. Phillip Baumel. Upon moving to Ames in 1963, Rita was employed at Mary Greeley Medical Center, the Doran Clinic for Women and the Family Practice Medical Clinic in Ames. Rita and her husband Phil were married for 64 years and were the parents of five children. Rita understood the challenges of balancing career with family life and still found time to give to others.
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Judy Beitz
Community Contribution:
Judy Beitz inspired and influenced many people through her profession as a social worker for 17 years at Mary Greeley Medical Center in Ames. She had that special warm touch and helpful attitude when interacting with patients of all ages.
Biography:
Judy Beitz was born in Champaign, Illinois on June 29, 1943. She graduated from Champaign High School in 1961. She attended the University of Illinois for two years. She met Don Beitz at the University Lutheran Chapel on campus. They married at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Champaign in 1963. After a honeymoon to St. Louis, they moved to Spartan Village at Michigan State University where Don was a Ph.D. student.
Judy was employed at Michigan Bell Telephone Company until 1967 when son David was born. That year Judy and her family moved to Ames where her husband joined the faculty at Iowa State University. She and her family became active members of Memorial Lutheran Church. In 1970, Judy became mother to Jennifer.
Judy worked at Bell Telephone Company and First National Bank for a few years before resuming a B.S. program with a major in sociology at Iowa State, graduating in 1978. She became a social worker at Mary Greeley Medical Center, and while working, earned a Master of Social Work from the University of Iowa in 1990. During her tenure at Mary Greeley Medical Center, she rose to director of the social services department. Because of health reasons, she retired in 1994. During retirement, she has enjoyed the growth and development of five grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
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Fay Gish Hill
Community Contribution:
Questers are an important part of Fay’s life. The Questers organization helps preserve history by supporting preservation, restoration and education. Fay has held numerous offices in her Ames chapter, Captain Greeley #871, as well as state offices -- Second Vice President, First Vice President, President, Historian, and Preservation and Restoration Funds Chair. As the Iowa Quester Class Collection Chair, she worked with Brunnier Art Museum at Iowa State University to help Questers make gifts to the glass collection and organized a glass show. She has served as Restoration and Preservation Chair for International Questers.
Fay wrote a Questers grant for the Ames History Museum to sort, file and purchase archival boxes for newspaper clippings. Her 2007 Quester President’s Project collected vintage clothing for the Textiles and Clothing Museum at Iowa State University. There was an emphasis on feed sack items and Halston, who was born in Des Moines. This covered the two extremes of fashion from very basic to haute couture. She wrote a grant for International Questers and purchased two Halston items for the museum: a Black Label, sequined evening dress and a cashmere man’s sports coat. Several feed sack items were added as gifts with personal documentation to verify they were made from feed sacks. More than $17,000 was collected in clothing value and cash to increase the ISU collection.
Fay is on the Board of the Terrace Hill Foundation Society which preserves the antiques and furnishings of the Iowa governor’s home. She helped organize Friends of Foreign Wives in the early 1980s and was on the Board until it disbanded in 1986. She was a Girl Scout leader and Council Chair for Gilbert. She is active in Northminster Presbyterian Church where she was on Session and taught Sunday School. She and her husband co-chaired the Ames Chapter of the Des Moines Opera Guild.
In 2019, she gave 36 acres of wooded land to NICHES (Northern Indiana Citizens Helping Ecosystems Thrive) in memory of her mother and father.
Biography:
Fay Gish Hill was born in Rensselaer, Indiana to Vergie Powell Gish and Roy Charles Gish. She has a B.A. from Purdue University and a M.L.S. from the University of Texas. She worked at Texas A&M University in reference before moving to Ames in 1975. She has one daughter, Christina Gish Hill-Klekner, who is an associate professor at Iowa State University and one grandson, Benjamin Roy Klekner. Her husband, John C. Hill, is a professor emeritus of nuclear physics. Fay belongs to P.E.O. Chapter AA and Iowa State Faculty Women’s Club.
Fay worked as a librarian for the State of Iowa answering reference questions for small libraries in all 99 counties. She had an office in the Ames Public Library (APL) for which the state paid rent to the Ames library. She used APL’s resources but also could go to Iowa State University’s library for difficult questions. This way the small libraries had access to the best available information.
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Pauletti Joyce (Shively) Lasley
July 29, 1954—July 12, 2019
Community Contribution:
When her nursing career was cut short by a major stroke in 1992 at age 38, Pauletti Lasley focused her energies on being a full-time mom and professional community volunteer. She was active in numerous community affairs, including volunteering at the Israel Hospice House, Mary Greeley Medical Center, Ames United Church of Christ and PEO chapter IV. For several years she was an election official in Story County. She enjoyed being a volunteer and received numerous awards and recognition for giving of time and talent. She opened her home as a safe haven for troubled girls and young women who would seek her out for moral support as they worked through personal challenges.
In spite of difficult medical issues, Pauletti demonstrated throughout her life the importance of giving to others. Many Ames residents and ISU students were touched by her generosity and her gifts of stitchery, recipes, a warm smile and the twinkle of her eyes.
She never allowed her disabilities to define her or limit her compassion and assistance to others. Her personal philosophy was, "If your life story doesn't turn out like you thought it would, then learn to find joy in the story you're living".
Biography:
Pauletti Joyce Shively was raised on the family farm near Coatsville, Missouri and attended Lancaster High School, graduating in 1972. She attended Iowa Methodist School of Nursing in Des Moines and graduated with a nursing degree in 1976. Her first job was at the University of Missouri Medical Center in Columbia as a pediatric nurse (1976-81). Pauletti and her husband Paul moved to Ames in 1981 where she earned a bachelor's degree in family studies in 1989 from Iowa State University. She was a staff nurse at the ISU Student Health Center from 1982 until 1992. She was the health center’s first certified HIV counselor and spent many hours being a patient advocate for those who felt abandoned or marginalized. During this time, she also managed the allergy clinic at ISU Student Health Center and became a surrogate mom to many students who would see her at every appointment for their allergy injections. Upon graduation many of her patients remained in contact with her.
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Thelma Holveck Miller
January 11, 1917 — February 21, 2020
Community Contribution:
Thelma and Marvin were proprietors of Ames Stationers on Main Street in the 1950s and ran the store with Jack Hazlett until they sold the company in 1977.
They believed in preserving local history and were major supporters of the Ames History Museum. They donated historical items to the museum. Thelma, dying after Marvin, left a large bequest to the museum and memorial contributions at the time of her death were donated to the Ames History Museum. The Thelma & Marvin Miller Volunteer Workroom in the museum is named in their honor.
Biography:
Thelma was born in 1917 to Daniel and Margaretta (Alexander) Holveck, near Zearing, Iowa, in the house where her father was born. Her mother and grandmother died in the flu epidemic of 1919 when she was just two years old, so she and her brother were raised by her father and Pearl Zeller of Marshalltown, Iowa. Her brother died at age 19.
Thelma was always inquisitive - always asking how things worked. She was the first girl to take physics at Marshalltown High School.
Thelma was always a bit adventurous, taking her first airplane ride when she was 19 (she told her father afterwards), and traveling alone and with friends several times to New York and California in her late teens and early twenties.
Thelma married Marvin Miller of Kellogg, Iowa in 1941. They lived in Ames their entire married life. She and Marvin were very active in Rotary. Thelma was one of the first Paul Harris Rotary Fellows, honored by the Ames Rotary Club for her work as de facto secretary. She took many trips throughout the world with Marvin until he passed away in 2001.
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Mary Elizabeth (Graf) Speer - (Meg)
September 3, 1924 - August 26, 2013
Community Contribution:
Meg’s volunteer efforts were diverse. She chaired the Board of Trustees and was on the governing council at Ames United Church of Christ. She chaired the Harvest Home dinner, a tradition of rural Congregational churches. This involved developing the menu and organizing the kitchen staff, servers and table hosts.
Elected to the Iowa State University Alumni Association Board of Directors, she served as secretary and chair of the membership committee. She worked with staff person Frankee Oleson to increase membership. Meg was involved in the discussion of an alumni credit card and the distribution of any profit.
Meg served three years on the Ames Historical Society board, on the membership committee and researched and wrote several articles for the newsletter.
She served eight years, two as president, on the Heartland Senior Services Board. She initiated discussions on the purpose and future of the organization. She was chair of the 30th Anniversary Committee.
Meg and her husband Vaughn were involved in the growth and development of Reiman Gardens. They served as co-presidents of the CoHorts in 1998-99. Through their endowment, the Speer Room in the Mahlstede Building is used for many events and meetings.
Meg read for the blind through a radio program called IRIS for some eight years. She was president of Faculty Women's Club at Iowa State University. She volunteered at Israel Family Hospice House.
Biography:
Mary Elizabeth Graf arrived in Ames the fall of 1944 toting a new suitcase with the initials MEG. A roommate discovered the letters and from then on … Meg became her university name.
She met her eventual husband at Frisbee House, a Congregational student center at the beginning of spring quarter, March 1, 1946.
Home, her profession and volunteering accurately describe her married life. At home she always read to her four children at bedtime and was a source of advice and encouragement throughout their elementary and high school years. She remained a support as they attained their B. S. degrees, adulthood and future employment.
As a dietician she consulted for ten different hospitals and retirement centers in Iowa. Through passionate persistence, she convinced the board, administrators, dining room and food service employees that restaurant style dining with menu options in long-term care facilities would be beneficial for residents, a dining challenge she successfully established at the Eastern Star Masonic Home in Boone and Bethany Manor in Story City.
She achieved state and national recognition because of her professionalism and leadership. The highlight was as Speaker of the House of Delegates of the American Dietetic Association. Upon completion of her term, she was nominated for president. The inside joke was if she had a rich husband, she would have been a stronger candidate as her opponent plied the nonpolitical and uniformed with drinks and hors d’oeuvres and was rewarded with votes.
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