Genevieve Erlene Hubly

Dr. Genevieve Erlene Hubly, Associate Professor in the Department of English Language and Literature, died on Friday, 27 December 1996, at Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas, apparently of cardiovascular complications.  Funeral services and burial took place on December 31 in Houston.  A memorial service will be held here on a date to be announced. Dr. Hubly received her B. A. degree in English and History from Rice University in 1957.  The following year, she completed the Harvard-Radcliffe Program in Business Administration.  After teaching secondary English in Houston for three years, she began graduate work in English at Columbia University and then, the following year, transferred to the University of Iowa where she completed an M. A. in English in 1966 and then earned an M. F. A. in Creative Writing at the Writer's Workshop in 1967.  Her Ph. D. was awarded with distinction by the University of Oregon in 1977.  In 1978 she was a Fellow of a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar at Stanford University. Erlene Hubly became a member of our English faculty in the Fall of 1967, and she taught here through 1993; since then she has been on medical disability leave.  She taught courses in British literature and was also well-known and highly regarded for her advanced writing course, "The Personal Essay," and a course that she developed on detective and mystery fiction.  Erlene's teaching was marked by spirited exploration of ideas and craft; she brought to the classroom an independent mind, a vigorous enjoyment of the provocative and the humorous, and a commitment to excellence in intellectual and creative activity. In her own creative and critical writing, too, there is present the imaginative and perceptive care that Erlene Hubly took with literary craft and with understanding and explaining literary artistry.  Eleven of her short stories (some under the pen name, Ellen Dearmore) and five of her essays appeared in such notable publications as as North American Review, Lear's, The Western Humanities Review, Colorado Quarterly, and Modern Fiction Studies.  Two of these stories were honored subsequently in annual volumes of The Best American Short Stories, and another will be included in an anthology of ''partnership detective fiction," Two of a Kind, forthcoming this fall from Oxford University Press. Further, an essay on Gertrude Stein was selected for The Best American Essays, 1987, and another essay won first prize in a national Gertrude Stein Writing Contest in 1984, the award including a trip to France for a celebration of Gertrude Stein's life and work.  There was, in fact, a special fascination with writer Gertrude Stein and her companion, Alice B. Toklas:  their idiosyncrasies and incidents from their lives are woven into a series of Erlene's short stories--several published, others unpublished or in progress--for which they also serve as protagonists, a cycle of literary mysteries with the working title. The Adventures of Gertrude Stein. Erlene Hubly was born January 20, 1936, in Houston, Texas.  She is survived by her parents, Anton T. and Genevieve Black Hubly of Houston and by two sisters, Dr. Janet Hubly Noever of Oklahoma City, and Bonnie Lou Hubly of Houston.  She was preceded in death by her brother, Anton T. (Tony) Hubly, Ill.  Memorial contributions may be directed to the UNI Foundation for a fund to establish a literary prize for UNI students in honor of Erlene Hubly, or to a charity of the donor's choice. CEDAR FALLS-- Erlene Hubly of Houston, Texas, formerly of Cedar Falls, died Friday, December 27, 1996, in Houston after a brief illness. She was the daughter of Anton T. and Genevieve Black Hubly.  She graduated from Rice University in 1957 and received a business degree from Harvard Radcliffe.  She taught in the Houston public schools for three years, then went to Columbia University to work on her master's degree for a year, transferring to the University of Iowa to finish that degree. Dr. Hubly taught at the University of Northern Iowa for many years, taking time off to earn a doctorate degree from the University of Oregon.  She returned to UNI and continued teaching as an associate professor.  She received a national award as a Gertrude Stein Scholar. Survived by:  her parents; and three sisters, Dr. Janet Hubly Noever, Nancy Kay Noever, and Bonnie Lou Hubly. Preceded in death by:  a brother, Anton "Tony" Hubly, III. Services:  were 2 p.m. Tuesday at George H. Lewis & Sons, with burial in Forest Park Westheimer Cemetery, both in Houston. Memorials:  may be directed to First United Methodist Church, 1320 Main Street, Houston, Texas 77002, or to the charity of donor's choice. Copyright Waterloo Courier, January, 3, 1997, p. C2.