Dettmers woven into Wartburg tapestry - Fall 2007 Wartburg Magazine - Wartburg College

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Dettmers woven into

_________Wartburg tapestry

The Dettmer family posed for this photo at its annual Thanksgiving-Christmas gathering in 2006. They are; from left to right: (back) Dick Brooks; Dick Harms ’64; Tom Dettmer ’69; Arline Dettmer; John Dettmer; Becky Dettmer; Donita Dettmer; Allen Hoeper ’86; (third row) Daniel Dettmer; Roger Hoeper; Patti Brooks ’96; Penny Hoeper ’86; Matt Dettmer ’99; Abby Dettmer ’01; Lori Brandau-Brooks ’93; Ben Brooks; Jack Brooks; Rick Brooks ’92; (second row) Michael Hoeper; Noah Dettmer; Luke Dettmer; Lauren Dettmer; Joyce Harms; Hailey Dettmer; Steve Harms ’88; Jacqueline Harms ’91; (front) Carol Dettmer ’96; Miriam Dettmer; and Adam Dettmer.

When the 31 descendents of Arline and the late Fred Dettmer gather for a reunion, it could double as an Outfly picnic.

Arline, of Waverly, Iowa, is the matriarch of a clan that includes 13 Wartburg graduates and a host of threads woven through the Wartburg tapestry.

Two of the Arline’s four children, the Rev. Tom Dettmer ’69 and John Dettmer ’75, graduated from Wartburg. Daughter Joyce Dettmer Harms married Richard Harms ’64. Another daughter, the late Marjorie Dettmer Brooks, once worked in the Controller’s Office and sent her two children to Wartburg.

Joyce, of Tripoli, Iowa, remembers attending events at Wartburg as a child. She and Richard have two children: Penelope Sue Harms Hoeper ’86 of Waverly, and Steven Harms ’88 of West Des Moines, Iowa.

“I always knew I would go to Wartburg,” says Penny, who met her husband, Allen Hoeper ’86, and most of her best friends at college.

Steve Harms married into another Wartburg family. His wife, Jacqueline Smith Harms ’91, is the daughter of Stephen ’64 and Karolyn Hanna ’65 Smith of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Steve and Jacqueline live in West Des Moines, Iowa.

Tom Dettmer was originally headed for the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. A minor medical abnormality led him to Wartburg instead.

“I started as a mathematics major and took New Testament Greek as my foreign language. I loved the Greek and decided to go to seminary, so I switched to history major and Greek minor,” says Tom, who is now a pastor at Bethany Lutheran Church in Spencer, Iowa.

Although Tom and his wife, Rebecca, didn’t pressure their sons to attend Wartburg, they took them to campus for occasional visits and events. Both sons are now alumni. Tom is thankful for the education they received and also for “the great daughters-in-law my sons brought home from Wartburg.”

Dr. Timothy ’96 and Carol Kentopp ’96 Dettmer live in Mason City, Iowa. Wartburg helped connect them to a bigger world, they say. Both traveled as students—Tim to Guyana and Europe and Carol to New York City, Mexico, Europe and Wartburg West.

“We feel that Wartburg strives to relate to a global society, though tucked in Iowa,” Carol says.

While Carol is the only alumna from her family, she’s thankful her children are surrounded by the Dettmer alumni. “I would love to know some of the Dettmer youngsters will continue the great traditions at Wartburg College.”

Matthew Dettmer ’99 and Dr. Abby Nipp ’01 Dettmer also live in Mason City. John Dettmer ’75 and his wife, Donita, live in Waverly.

Rick Brooks ’92 of Johnston, Iowa, son of Richard and Marjorie Dettmer Brooks, says going to college in his hometown was a good experience. “I always tell people that when I was at Wartburg, I had no idea I was in Waverly,” he says.

He jokes that his sister, Patti Brooks ’96 of Chicago, Ill., went to Wartburg “because she always has to do what I do.” Rick married Lori Brandau ’93, whose alumni family includes her father, James Brandau ’71, and uncles Tim Tower ’63 and Michael Tower ’66.