Dr. J. Elaine Kalmar, 76, of Cedar Falls, died Saturday, March 27, 2010, at Covenant Medical Center, Waterloo. She was a faculty member in the Department of English at the University of Northern Iowa for twenty-eight years, retiring in December 1999.
She completed B. A., M. A., and Ph. D. degrees at the University of New Mexico. Her post-doctoral studies included participating in five Folger Library Seminars and three Summer Seminars sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Dr. Kalmar was a remarkably versatile teacher focusing on classical literature, early English literature, and women writers. She was a member of numerous scholarly organizations including the Modern Language Association and the Shakespeare Association of America. She was strongly committed to faculty governance, and she served on a multitude of departmental, college, and university committees.
Dr. Kalmar had a strong interest in the performing arts, and, for several years, she wrote Waterloo Courier reviews of university and community performances of drama, music, and dance. Also, over many years, she organized theater trips for UNI students to the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis and American Players Theatre in Spring Green, Wisconsin.
Altogether, Dr. Kalmar was devoted to the arts, to books (she was an avid collector), to early English literature, and to scholarly discussion within literary studies. She was undaunted in her efforts to engage student learning, in her pursuit of fairness and equity among faculty and for students, and in her advocacy for genuine faculty participation in university governance. Hers was a spirited, intellectually lively, and good-hearted presence that nurtured learning among both her students and her colleagues.
Survivors include four children, Christopher Kalmar of Hiawatha, Peter Kalmar of Roseville, California, Amy Kalmar of Gold River, California, and Joel Kalmar of Cedar Falls. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial gifts be directed to the American Cancer Society. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 17, 2010, in 161 Baker Hall (Thompson Commons) on the UNI Campus. Please enter Baker Hall through the entrance facing the Campanile. For further information or directions, please call 266-1209. Richardson Funeral Home assisted the family.
Copyright Waterloo Courier on-line edition, April 11, 2010.