Duane & Edwina Wolfe Math Education Scholarship

Duane spent the first eighteen years of his life on the family farm near Fountain City, WI. He graduated from Fountain City High School in 1956, married Edwina between his junior and senior years in college and received a degree in Mathematics from Winona State, graduating in 1960. He taught mathematics and science at Kasson-Mantorville Jr.-Sr. High School for four years. In 1964 he completed a Master’s Degree in Mathematics which was the result of a fully funded National Science Foundation (NSF) grant for three summers at Central Michigan University. That fall he began teaching at Winona State College. In 1968-69 he was awarded a NSF grant to attend Indiana University to study graduate mathematics and statistics. He also did graduate work in mathematics at the University of Minnesota. He was awarded two summer NSF grants to continue his studies of graduate level mathematics at Rutgers University and Auburn University. After 30 years of teaching courses at all levels in the Mathematics and Statistics Department he retired as Professor Emeritus in 1994.

Edwina was born in South Dakota and moved with her family to the Fountain City area while she was in high school. She graduated from Fountain City High School in 1957 and attended Winona State College for one year. She and Duane met in high school and at this time she opted for her MRS degree! She returned to Winona State College in 1964 (with a 4 year old at home) and graduated with Special Honors in 1968 with a degree in Elementary Education (and had 2 babies). She completed her Master’s Degree in Elementary Education in 1971 at Winona State. Most of her teaching career was spent teaching first grade in the Winona Catholic School system. She also taught kindergarten, junior and senior high school mathematics and computer literacy and also ran the Learning Center at Cotter High School before she retired in 1995. She was an adjunct teacher at Winona State where she often taught Mathematics for Elementary Teachers.

Their family includes a son Mark and his wife Nancy and their children: Michael (Alison), Katie (Daren Sullivan), David and Kevin. Also, a son Jeffry and his wife Beth and their children: Tyler, Ethan and Griffin and a daughter Brenda and her husband Bill Diesslin and their children: Megan and Audrey.

The WSU tradition was carried on by their daughter, Brenda Wolfe Diesslin, ’89 and their son-in-law, William Diesslin, ’88. In 2014 their granddaughter, Megan Diesslin began her college career at WSU. They now enjoy spending time with their children and grandchildren and spending winters in Arizona.

When Duane was a junior in high school he decided that he wanted to be a teacher. He always enjoyed mathematics so without reservation that was the subject he wanted to pursue. He was happy doing what he liked best, namely teaching mathematics and statistics for his entire career. We were also very happy that scholarships were available to help our daughter with expenses as she acquired a Mathematics degree at WSU. Edwina also spent her professional career teaching so when Duane retired they decided to do something to promote quality teaching. It is their hope that this scholarship will help Mathematics Education students to achieve their goals.

Scholarship contacts are Duane and Edwina, and William Diesslin.