Approximately 170 people gathered yesterday for Memorial Day to honor the ISU employees, retirees and spouses who have died in the past year. The ceremony lasted one-and-a-half hours and featured speakers and guests from around the country.

Walking into the Molecular Biology auditorium, one could hear the Tarnished Brass Quintet playing a prelude to incoming guests.

The ceremony began with a welcome by William Bathie, a member of the Memorial Day committee of the ISU Retirees Committee. Rev. Steven Chellew of St. Paul Lutheran Church, 1435 Wilson Ave., gave an invocation, followed by an address by Farwell Brown, an Ames historian.

Brown, 1934 graduate of Iowa State in agricultural finance, spoke at the ceremony regarding the ISU Cemetery. Brown, 90 years old, has given approximately 400 speeches and addresses on the history of Ames but hadn’t previously given an address at a ISU Memorial Day ceremony.

Brown said he has known about the ISU Cemetery for years and has attended funerals there for professors he had during his college years.

“I was somewhat familiar with the cemetery,” Brown said. “The ISU Cemetery carries on the tradition that established Iowa State University.”

Following Brown’s address was a guitar and vocal solo by Chellew. Names of people that have died since May 15 last year were then read by Etha Hutchcroft. Fourteen of the 102 people remembered were buried in the ISU Cemetery.

Families, friends and colleagues were then given the opportunity to speak about their memories of the people that passed away. Twenty-four different people were remembered either by guests or in letters sent by people that were unable to attend the ceremony.

At that time, Irene Swanson was honored for planning the Memorial Day ceremonies. Swanson is a member of the Memorial Day committee, but she was unaware of the special recognition that she was given.

Swanson was given a Certificate of Appreciation and her work was recounted.

For many years, the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) had planned and conducted the Memorial Day ceremony.

When the university changed the format of the school year from quarters to semesters in 1995, classes no longer fell over Memorial Day. This meant most students were gone, and the ROTC could no longer sponsor and provide the ceremony.

Because of this, it was announced several weeks before Memorial Day that the ceremony would be cancelled.

When Swanson found out, she decided that she would not allow the cancellation to happen. Swanson made all of the arrangements within two weeks, including finding people to play the prelude, having programs printed out and finding speakers.

To this day, the ceremony still continues under the planning of the ISU Retirees Committee, which began planning the ceremony after Swanson in 1995.

The Memorial Day ceremony has changed formats over the last several years. It is unclear as to when the first Memorial Day ceremony was held at Iowa State, but Swanson remembers attending one of the ceremonies 58 years ago.

Swanson said the ceremony used to take place in the cemetery itself, with about 20 to 25 people sitting on folding chairs in a circle. Swanson said the ceremony was moved to State Gym when the guests were rained out several years in a row.

This was the first year brochures about the ISU Cemetery were handed out at the ceremony.

The brochure states the history and regulations of the cemetery and gives the history of some of the noteworthy deceased buried in the cemetery.

“Someone sent in money to print the brochures about the cemetery,” Swanson said.

After the acknowledgment of Swanson’s hard work, the Benediction was given by Chellew, who recited an Irish blessing. This was followed by “Taps” which was played by two trumpeters.

Following the ceremony, guests filed out of the auditorium to the nearby ISU Cemetery.

Floral decorations to be placed on the graves of those buried in the ISU Cemetery in the past year could be found at the flagpole in the cemetery.

One large floral arrangement was visible during the ceremony, which was in memory of the people buried elsewhere.