Carol Hovious, ca. 1926Carol Hovious. Daughter of Vernon B. HOVIOUS and Linnie SWINDLER. Born on 18 May 1906, "on a farm between Cromwell & Prescott, Iowa". Little is known about Carol Hovious at this time, except the information below from some 1926/1927 newspaper clippings. She did graduate from the University of Wisconsin; information from her yearbook states that she majored in English, was active in the Franch Club and wrote a thesis titled "The Herman Melville Revival". She died on 5 June 2001 in Tacoma, WA. Research continues.

    Girl Races Against Blindness to View Beauties of Europe

    Virtually racing against the darkness that physicians have predicted, Miss Carol Hovious, 20, Iowa school teacher and honor student of the University of Wisconsin, is fulfilling an ambition to see the beauties of Europe before blindness shuts them from view. She is the daughter of Mrs. Linnie Hovious of Denver, Colo. Miss Hovious was teaching in Mercus, a small Iowa town last Christmas when her eyesight failed and specialists who were consulted made the grim prediction that she would be totally blind within a year. With a time limit set upon fulfillment of an ambition to see the beauty of the Old World before blindness shut them out forever, Miss Hovious started for Europe at once. In company with Miss Stella Hinz, head of the German House of the University of Wisconsin, Miss Hovious viewed the artworks of the old masters and drank in the beauties of the historic scenes of Europe. Carol Hovious was an unusually bright student, completing her high school and university courses before the age of 20.


    This story was carried by Iowa Papers and one called the World-Herald, as well as associated press. Research continues in hopes of finding out more about Carol Hovious.


    Thanks to Jessie Thompson for finding and contributing this research, which came from William C. Hovious' family bible. The bible and some attached obituaries now belong to Doreen Taylor of Creston, IA. Death information from the Social Security Death Index. Thanks to Steve Masar at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Archives for locating the photograph above, from the 1926 UW yearbook.

    4:51 PM 7/11/02