3 minute read
In Memoriam
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Leta Powell Drake
Leta Powell Drake, 83, died Sept. 15. She was a member of the Fine and Performing Arts Alumni Board.
Born in Duluth, Minnesota, Powell Drake received her bachelor’s degree in speech and English from the University of Minnesota and a master’s degree in theatre arts from UNL. She won the Best Actress award five times at the University of Nebraska Theatre, with the award being renamed the Leta Powell Drake Acting Award. She acted in more than 100 plays and two movies.
In her 60-year TV career, she hosted and produced more than 10,000 TV shows, including KOLN-TV’s The Morning Show, among others. She is remembered as “Kalamity Kate” on KOLN-TV’s long-running children’s show Cartoon Corral. She also worked at Nebraska Public Television, serving as assistant network programming director for 13 years.
Most recently, Powell Drake received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln at the August 2021 commencement.
In addition to our Alumni Board, Powell Drake served on the boards of the UNL Alumni Association, Muscular Dystrophy Association, Lincoln Advertising Federation, Lincoln Community Playhouse, YMCA, the Salvation Army, Nebraskans for Public Television, Nebraskans for Public Radio, among others. She also worked extensively with UNL’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.
Leta Powell Drake received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters during the university’s undergraduate commencement ceremony on Aug. 14. Photo by Craig Chandler, University Communication.
David Routon Frank Tirro
David Routon
David F. Routon, 88, of Lincoln, professor emeritus of art, died Oct. 26, 2020.
Routon was born Dec. 6, 1931, in Jackson, Tennessee. He served as a U.S. Marine in the Korean War before going on to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts in studio art at Mexico City College and a Master of Fine Arts in art practice at the University of Iowa with emphases in painting and printmaking.
During his career as an artist and art instructor, Routon taught at several institutions, including Michigan State University, State University College at Plattsburgh, University of Minnesota and the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. His served for 23 years at Nebraska, starting on Aug. 23, 1976, and retiring as an emeritus professor in 1999.
Routon is well known for his pictorial artworks, including a number of portrait commissions. His works were primarily completed by drawing and painting.
Robert Spence
Dr. James Robert “Bob” Spence, 95, passed away March 31, 2021. He was born on Aug. 20, 1925. He was Professor Emeritus of Art History and a former chair of the School of Art, Art History & Design (1970–1974).
Spence began teaching at Nebraska in 1966. He retired in 1998 after a 32-year career. He had previously taught at the University of Pittsburgh and Mount Mercy College in Pittsburgh.
He received his B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Maryland and his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin.
Frank Tirro
Frank P. Tirro passed away March 28, 2021, after a long illness. Tirro was the dean of the Yale School of Music from 1980 to 1989 and a former member of the Hixson-Lied Advisory Board.
Tirro is remembered for his pathbreaking writings on music, education and racism in America; his landmark contributions to our understanding of the history of jazz; his studies of late medieval and renaissance music; and his considerable administrative accomplishments.
Tirro was also an ASCAP award-winning composer and highly respected professional clarinetist and saxophone player.
Born in Omaha, Nebraska, Tirro received his Bachelor of Music from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in 1960. He earned his M.M. from Northwestern University, and his Ph.D. in musicology from the University of Chicago in 1974. Tirro received the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts Alumni Achievement Award in Music in 2006.
