Dr. Katherine Buell
1912 - 2007
Stories about the trepidation Dr. Katherine Buell inspired in students are legendary, even 27 years after teaching her last class at Doane. But students might have been less fearful if they had recognized what they feared for what it was. A fierce intelligence. High expectations. A passion for knowledge and the beauty of science and living things.
In a videotape long forgotten in the basement of Perkins Library, Professor Emeritus Dr. Robert Muckel interviewed Buell as her career at Doane came to a close. On it, he asks: "What was your objective in teaching?"
"To encourage an appreciation for nature... I want them to realize and appreciate what you have around you all the time," Buell replied.
Ironically, she put off taking science classes until her last year of high school. Biology fascinated her, drew her in and led to a life-long career studying and teaching the subject. Her first college courses were at Washington University in St. Louis, because her first choice - Oberlin College - wouldn't accept a 15-year-old. She went on to enroll at age 16 and earn her bachelor's degree from Oberlin, returned to Washington University for her master's degree in Zoology, and later earned her doctorate in botany from the University of Wisconsin.
Students might have understood her desire for an orderly classroom if they had seen her that day in 1935, student teaching at a high school in suburban St. Louis. Buell said the supervising teacher walked out and "completely abandoned me." Airplanes, paper wads and "total bedlam" followed. "There wasn't a thing I could do about it." She walked out, turning her back on secondary education.
It was a defining moment. Soon, a family connection to Doane Biology through Professor C.O. Carlson led to a job at the Crete campus, where Carlson was in need of an assistant. She arrived at Doane in the fall of 1936, not knowing she would live out her life in Crete.
Few people saw the campus develop as she did. "Can you imagine what it was like then? No paved roads. It was against the rules for freshmen to have a car. When we hit 300 students we thought that was super-duper." Buell gathered crayfish specimens from Bug Pond (now Miller Pond) fishing them out with a pail and a rake. The entire student body would gather for chapel and convocation; students would race to Merrill to ring the bell after a win in athletics.
"She expected a great deal of work out of her students," said Muckel, who taught biology with Buell for 11 of her 43 years at Doane. She kept a notebook on students and its notations were a factor in the final grade. He still marvels at her dedication. "During a particularly severe blizzard (during a final exam week) she slept on a lab table to ensure she would not miss class the next day," he said.
One day each year, however, students saw a different side of their professor. On the day before Christmas break, Buell would read from Loren Eiseley's "How Flowers Changed the World." For Buell, Eiseley's words captured what she called "the absolute beauty of evolution:"
"Down on the grass by a streamside, one of those apes with inquisitive fingers turned over a stone and hefted it vaguely...another hand like the hand that grasped the stone by the river long ago would pluck a handful of grass seed and hold it contemplatively. In that moment, the golden towers of man, his swarming millions, his turning wheels, the vast learning of his packed libraries, would glimmer dimly there in the ancestor of wheat, a few seeds held in a muddy hand..."
After retiring in 1979, Buell's life continued to include Doane, and of course, music. Her passion for piano rivaled her love of biology. When she moved to Doane Village, a note on the bulletin board would invite residents to a "piano evening," classical music pouring from her baby grand.
The results of her teaching reach far beyond the nearby campus. When Buell recommended a student for medical school, it carried weight. "Dr. Buell's influence and teaching made a positive impact on so many students and on Doane College," said Doane President Jonathan Brand.
On the videotape from the 70s, Muckel asked Buell if students changed through the years.
"I had the whole gamut, from the terrible to the wonderful, the special jewels...You have that no matter whether you're thinking about 1885 or the year 2000," she told him.
"Your eyes shine when you talk about the special ones," Muckel commented.
"Well, they should. They deserve it."