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News Release

Last modified: Monday, June 10, 2002

Five to receive service awards at Cream and Crimson Weekend

Indiana governor to speak at his 50th reunion

Indiana University will honor five persons with its Distinguished Alumni Service Award at a recognition luncheon Sunday (June 16) in Alumni Hall of the Indiana Memorial Union building. The honor is IU's highest award that can only be given to an alumna or alumnus.

The recipients this year are Rebecca Taylor Bingham of Louisville, Ky.; Patricia Peterson Danielson of New Castle, Ind.; Jack M. Gill of Houston, Texas; Edgar F. Kettler of Fort Wayne, Ind.; and George F. Rapp of Indianapolis. The awards will be presented as part of IU's Cream and Crimson Weekend, which will begin Friday (June 14) and conclude on Sunday. Other events will include a 50th reunion of the class of 1952, an emeritus reunion and other social activities.

Indiana Gov. Frank O'Bannon and his wife, Judy, will be participating in his 50th class reunion. He is expected to attend the reunion banquet at 5 p.m. Saturday (June 15) in Alumni Hall of the Indiana Memorial Union. The governor is scheduled to give a 15-minute speech at the banquet at about 7 p.m.

The five DASA recipients were chosen for services and achievements in their fields of endeavor and significant contributions to community, state or nation. Since the award's inception in 1953, 258 IU alumni have been so honored.

For more information about Cream and Crimson Weekend activities, contact the IU Alumni Association at 812-855-4822 or go to its Web site at https://www.indiana.edu/~alumni. Following are individual bios for each award recipient:

Rebecca Taylor Bingham

Through a life devoted to education and service, Bingham has played a vital role at the local, state and national levels and at the university. After receiving a bachelor's degree in education from IU in 1950, Bingham began her work in library services at Alcorn A&M College in Mississippi, and continued her education with a master's degree from the University of Tulsa in 1961 and a master's degree in library science from IU in 1969.

Bingham became director of media services in Louisville for the Kentucky Public Schools in 1969, and later was named director of library media services in the Jefferson County (Ky.) Public Schools, the 26th largest school system in the nation.

She has served as president of the alumni board of the IU School of Library and Information Science and was a founding member, past president and staunch advocate of the Neal-Marshall Alumni Club. In 1977, she was the first recipient of the Louise Maxwell Award for outstanding achievement in the field of library science. In 1999, she received the IU Alumni Association President's Award.

Bingham's career culminated with her appointment by then-President Bill Clinton to the U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Services in 1998.

Patricia Peterson Danielson

A generosity of time, talent and treasure defines the life of Danielson. After graduating from IU in 1945 with a bachelor's degree in mathematics and completing a graduate fellowship in mathematics at Columbia University a year later, she began to lay the groundwork for making volunteering her profession.

Her community, state, church, sorority and university have reaped the benefits of her decision. For her contributions to her community, she was named New Castle Citizen of the Year in 1991. She and her husband made a challenge gift to the citizens of Henry County to raise funds for a building that would expand IU East's outreach in Henry County.

As a tribute to their efforts to bring higher education to more students, that building, dedicated in 1999, is named the Danielson Center. Her devotion to Delta Gamma sorority and IU's Theta chapter resulted in her receiving the Anchor Award, Delta Gamma's highest award for fraternity service.

For more than 50 years, she has been generous in her support of the university, including the Wells Scholars program, athletics, the School of Medicine, the arts, class campaigns, the IU Student Foundation, the Alumni Association and the endowment campaign for the Bloomington campus. Her contributions were recognized with the Thomas Hart Benton Mural Medallion in 1998.

Jack M. Gill

As a scientist, entrepreneur, corporate executive, venture capitalist and philanthropist, Gill has helped improve the lives of many in the United States and abroad. He received a doctorate in organic chemistry from IU. He and his wife have shown exceptional dedication to IU through such gifts as the Gill Center for Instrumentation and Measurement Science, an endowed professorship in conducting at the IU School of Music, and an endowed scholarship at the Kelley School of Business.

Gill also has been generous with the even more valuable gifts of his time and expertise. He currently serves as an adjunct professor of chemistry at IU and is a member of the dean's advisory boards for the College of Arts and Sciences and the Kelley School of Business. He is a member of the IU Foundation board.

In 2001, the College of Arts and Sciences awarded him its Distinguished Alumni Award, and in the same year IU granted him an honorary Doctor of Science degree.

He has championed the importance of education around the world. Through seminars and lecture tours, he delivers inspirational messages to students at universities, colleges, high schools and organizations, and often mentors students and associates. His contributions to future generations through his work and philanthropy are testaments to his belief in the value of higher education and its role in individual and societal achievement.

Edgar F. Kettler

With nearly 50 years in the moving and storage industry, Kettler retired as president and chief executive officer of Fort Wayne Storage Co. Inc. in 1995. A 1948 graduate of IU with a bachelor's degree in business, he has served as president of the IU Allen County Alumni Club and was national president of the IU Alumni Association in 1984-85. He was a founding member of the Varsity Club.

Kettler also served on the cabinet for the Campaign for Indiana, and he and his wife donated a room in the DeVault Alumni Center. When the Class of 1948 was preparing for its 50th reunion in June 1998, he agreed to co-chair the class capital campaign, which raised a record $625,000 to honor late IU Chancellor Herman B Wells. Then-Indiana Gov. Robert Orr named him to a three-year term on the IU Board of Trustees in 1986.

The Kettler name has been closely linked to the Fort Wayne campus since its founding. A former director of the Indiana-Purdue Foundation at Fort Wayne, he received the Ralph E. Broyles medal from the IU Alumni Association for outstanding service to IU and the Fort Wayne campus. He was commissioned a Kentucky Colonel in 1967 and awarded the Sagamore of the Wabash in 1981. He is active in Fort Wayne community, church and professional activities.

George F. Rapp

Since receiving his doctor of medicine degree from IU in 1957, Rapp has had a distinguished career as an orthopaedic surgeon in Indianapolis and has worked hard to assure that future doctors are given the opportunity to receive an outstanding education.

For 18 years, Rapp was chief of the IU School of Medicine's orthopaedic surgery residency program. He also made significant contributions to his profession through the design and development of artificial hips and advancements in the treatment of bone fractures. For 20 years, he served as director of the Scoliosis Clinic at Riley Hospital.

He played significant roles in the fund-raising efforts of the IU School of Medicine. He co-chaired the committee that raised funds for the George Garceau Professorship of Orthopaedic Surgery and, together with his wife, endowed the George and Peggy Rapp Professorship of Orthopaedic Surgery. In recognition of these efforts, he received the Spirit of Philanthropy Award from IUPUI in 1993.

He was given the Maynard K. Hine Medal in 1994 for his service to the Indianapolis campus, and the IU School of Medicine presented him with its Otis R. Bowen Leadership Award in 2000 for his service to the school. While serving his alma mater with distinction, he also found time to be active in the arts, scouting, his church and organizations dedicated to his New Harmony heritage.

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