Richard Horton went to work one day to find his close friend and co-worker Bob Samuels was gone.

For months, Horton, professor emeritus of electrical and computer engineering, did not hear from Samuels or Samuels’ wife Betty.

“No one knew where they were,” Horton said.

“They just got in the car and took off down the street.”

He and Samuels became fast friends after they met.

“We were like grad students – as soon as we’d given our last final, we left for vacation at the end of every year,” he said.

Finally, he received a letter from Samuels’ wife. She wrote that they were in Tennessee, but Horton and Samuels did not resume contact. At his time of death, Samuels was living in Arizona.

“I’m still not completely sure what happened, but if I get out to Arizona, I plan to look Betty [Samuels] up,” he said.

A Memorial Day ceremony gave Horton and many others a chance to share their stories about ISU faculty, staff and spouses. More than 150 people gathered in the Molecular Biology Building to remember loved ones and share memories with each other.

Jean Rieck shared a letter written to her by a friend at the time of her husband Don Rieck’s death. Don Rieck was a former director for the Instruction Technology Center.

“No matter how busy Don [Rieck] was, he always had time to listen and help,” she read.

Those who were unable to attend the ceremony wrote letters of remembrance, which were read by ISU professor emeritus Palmer Holden and former professor Roger Coulson.

“He could fix almost anything, from a broken watch to a broken air conditioner to a broken heart,” wrote Clara Webb and her daughter, Rachel Shaw, about Webb’s late husband George. George Shaw was an ISU staff member for 27 years. He died in June 2005, a week before his 85th birthday.

After memories were shared, the ceremony ended with a benediction by Reverend Thomas Niehof, pastor of Trinity Christian Reformed Church, 3626 Ontario St.

“Whether a person was given many years or not so many years, they well-used the time they had been given,” he said.

All in attendance were invited to a reception in the lobby, where refreshments were served. Everyone was also invited to decorate the graves in the ISU cemetery. Floral decorations were provided.

The ceremony has been held for an undetermined amount of time, said Betty Licht, coordinator of special events for human resource services and ex-officio member of Memorial Day committee of the ISU Retirees Association. She said the association took over the event from Iowa State 13 years ago.

The planning starts in January of every year.

“We invite all families and colleagues of the deceased,” she said. “They just come and speak. Those that can’t come write letters.”

There are six members on the planning committee. Licht said the only obstacle faced by the committee was weather, which had become less of an issue since the decision 12 years ago to hold the ceremony indoors.