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Bill & Nancy Doemel's Retirement Celebration

a man in a suit and tie

The College celebrated the long and distinguished careers of Bill and Nancy Doemel on Wednesday. Bill served the College for more than 40 years as a biologist, director of the computer center, and most recently as the director of operations for Trippet Hall and the Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts. Nancy served the Advancement Office as grant writer and Senior Advancement Officer, and for more than a decade directed Wabash's overseas program in Aberdeen, Scotland.

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Nancy Doemel said: "I want to thank so many of you in this room for being wonderful collaborators, and to my office mates, who have really been a family. That, I think is what I’ll miss the most.  "One of the things Wabash has given me that has made me happiest ...is that while I’ve been a grant writer, I’ve also worked with students in many different ways. And that’s been important to me, because you can sit in an office and write grants for the College, but unless you see those wonderful, screwy 18 year olds in their shorts and sandals when it’s 20 degrees out, you sort of forget who is at the heart of all this. And I’ve never forgotten because I’m always in touch with them."
 

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Bill Doemel is greeted by his long-time friend Aus Brooks, who recruited Bill to teach biology at Wabash in 1969. 
Bill said to the large crowd gathered to honor him, "I have had an exciting time because of you. You have made each day special, a new opportunity, as I like to say. And every day has been different. I’ve met such wonderful people who’ve had so many great ideas that just energized me."

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Nancy is greeted by her colleague of nearly 30 years, Guyanna Spurway, who retired from the Advancement Office in September.

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Lucy Brooks congratulates Bill Doemel on his successful career. The two have been friends for more than 40 years.

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Nancy Doemel chats with Professor Bob Olsen and Registrar and Associate Dean Julie Olsen.

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Nancy and Bill Doemel have not only been devoted to Wabash for the last 40 years, they have been dynamic members of the community. Bill has served on a number of boards, and recently completed two years as president of the Christian Nursing Service. He's now working with to establish the Montgomery County Free Clinic. Nancy has been a long-time board member for the Montgomery County Community Foundation; her MCCF colleagues Cheryl Keim and Ann Malott helped celebrate her retirement. (Not pictured from MCCF is Kelly Taylor.)

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Alice Moore and Bill Doemel worked together for years in the College's Computer Center.

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Emeritus Professor Vic Powell gives Nancy Doemel a few tips on how to enjoy her retirement.

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Irmi McKinney, wife of the late chemistry professor Paul McKinney, catches up with Nancy Doemel.

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Dean of the College Gary Phillips paid tribute to Bill Doemel. He said, "Your teaching wasn’t just focused on the students. I remember the day I was walking home and we’d been doing some work on the Lilly Grant, and Bill came up to me and said, 'You have to understand that this is about students!'
"He did this with his index finger in my chest. I remember not only the truth and power of that  but also the fact that you help hold people and the college accountable for the things that matter the most, in the classroom with your teaching colleagues, with your administrative colleagues, with the alums who come back and acknowledge not just that you’re here, but that you have continued all these years to hold the mission of the place in your heart and make us mindful of it."

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Dean for Advancement Joe Emmick paid tribute to Nancy Doemel. He said, "One of the things I appreciate, and I know our colleagues appreciate, is the way in which Nancy thinks broadly about our work. She’s constantly thinking about how to pull together this alumnus with this opportunity, how we can broaden the reach of our grants to involve people across campus and involve our alumni. It’s that kind of reach — that kind of global thinking about Advancement — that I think has been Nancy's deeper value to the College over these past 30 years."

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