Therese Cotton, professor of chemistry, lost a four-year battle with ovarian cancer earlier this week at the age of 59.

Several members of the Iowa State community gathered at Saint Thomas Aquinas Church and Catholic Student Center Wednesday to mourn and honor Cotton.

“Therese was a very courageous individual,” said George Kraus, chairman of the chemistry department. “There are so many things to say about her; it’s difficult to start.”

Kraus said during her nine years at ISU, Cotton received many awards and honors, including the Lester W. Strock Award, a national award that honors creative research.

She also was named a distinguished alumna by Bradley University, where she earned her B.S. in 1961.

“She was a wonderful individual,” Kraus said. “These two recent awards she received are two of the most significant things about her. Also, she worked very well with faculty, staff and students alike.”

Cotton taught a variety of chemistry classes, but her specialty, analytical chemistry, led her to focus her attention mostly on graduate students.

However, for the last two years, Cotton has included the first-year students by teaching a section of Chemistry 160. This course is designed for students who will only have to take one semester of science at ISU.

“She was planning to teach [Chemistry 160] again this year. She really liked this course in particular because she was able to deal with students who may be apprehensive about science,” Kraus said.

“In that area, she is very good with students,” he said.

Richard Walsh, graduate student in chemistry, said Cotton had a great influence on his time at ISU.

“I will say that Dr. Cotton has taught me many lessons in my time at Iowa State, many of which I am only beginning to realize,” Walsh said.

Walsh said he was part of Cotton’s research group.

“I have learned more about chemistry; I have learned spectroscopy; and I have learned much about the field in which Dr. Cotton specialized,” he said.

Not only did Cotton teach students inside the classroom, she also helped students look at life with a new attitude that only her situation could help convey.

“From Dr. Cotton, I’ve also learned much more about what it means to be human, about what it means to live with a chronic disease, about being able to channel all of your energy … fears and anger into something that can be conveyed as a productive lesson for others,” he said.

“In a phrase, [she taught me] what it means to be staring down death, but still to be a ‘good’ person — something I have seen perfectly healthy people fail to do at times, and something I fail to do at times,” Walsh said.

Cotton will leave behind a legacy and an array of memories to her students and colleagues.

“I am not sure what is going to happen to [Cotton’s group] in the coming months, but I am sure my process of learning chemistry will continue,” Walsh said.

“And even though Dr. Cotton has passed on and she won’t be able to teach me directly about chemistry anymore, she is going to live on in my mind, forever teaching me how to be a better human,” Walsh said. “This, I would say, is the mark of a truly powerful teacher.”