F. Alan Duval

Francis Alan DuVal, 91, of Mt. Vernon, died Monday, March 24, 2008, in Mercy Medical Center, Cedar Rapids, from complications due to pneumonia. He was born on a farm near Glenwood, Iowa on December 30, 1916. His parents were Frank Earl and Grace Cattron DuVal. At the age of ten he moved with his parents to a farm near Malvern, Iowa. He attended country schools and graduated from Malvern High School. After acquiring a B.A. degree in modern languages, he attended graduate school at the University of Iowa and received an M.A. in German language and literature in 1941. He taught German at Cornell College during the school year 1941-42. In 1942, he enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard and later attended officers' training and graduated from the Coast Guard Academy with an ensign's commission. During his military career, he was the captain of a small Coast Guard cutter in the Atlantic and later spent nearly two years on a landing ship in the Pacific during World War II. On December 15, 1942, Louise M. Miller and he were married in her parents' home in Amana, Iowa. In 1946, he was released from active duty and resumed his teaching at Cornell College. He received a Ph.D. degree from the University of Iowa in 1948. In 1960, he became chairman of the newly-created Department of Classical and Modern Languages. With his wife, he published several college German textbooks prior to his retirement from Cornell in 1982. On Homecoming weekend in October, 2006, Alan was honored by Cornell College as a long-standing member of the President's Society during the annual Trustees' Dinner. In 1957, he received a summer Fulbright Scholarship to study in Germany and later served several terms on the Fulbright Selection Committee. He was a member of the committee that created a new language organization, the Association of the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). In 1975, he was made an honorary member of Phi Beta Kappa. Late in life, Alan realized a life-long dream and interest by becoming a life member of Mid-Continent Railway Historical Society in North Freedom, Wisconsin. The group maintains a railway museum and operates steam passenger train for tourists. He fired steam locomotives and was qualified as brakeman and conductor. He was a long-time member of the Lisbon-Mt. Vernon Rotary Club and participated in several local activities, among them six years as member and president of Chapel View, a low-rent housing project in Mt. Vernon. Besides holding membership in several professional societies, he was also a member of the Amana Heritage Society. Alan is survived by his daughter, Anne Louise, and her husband Jerry Rehfuss of Roswell, Georgia, by his grandchildren Kristina MacRae and her husband Dr. Ryan MacRae of Seneca, South Carolina, Jonathan Rehfuss of Madison, Wisconsin, Benjamin Rehfuss and Katherine Rehfuss of Roswell, Georgia, and by great-granddaughter, Emma MacRae of Seneca, South Carolina. He is also survived by nieces Peggy Miller of Indianapolis, Indiana, Rosemary Miller Berry of Sautee Nacoochee, Georgia, and Kathleen Miller Estevez and her husband, Carlos Estevez of St. Petersburg, Florida, and a nephew Dr. Stephen Miller and his wife Cathie Miller of Muncie, Indiana. Friends may visit the family from 5:00 to 7:30 p.m. at the Morgan Funeral Home in Mt. Vernon on Friday, March 28, 2008. The funeral will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 29, 2008 in the First Presbyterian Church, Mt. Vernon, by Reverend Emory Gillespie, and interment will be in the Mt. Vernon Memorial Cemetery, with military rites. Memorials may be sent to Cornell College, 600 1st Street SW, Mt. Vernon, Iowa 52314 to be used for the purchase of foreign language books for the library or to the Amana Heritage Society, P.O. Box 81, Amana, Iowa 52203.