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Nadine Zimmerman, from Ken Granzin
A couple of months ago you provided me with the address
of Nadine Zimmerman and I finally got around to writing her a letter last week. Nadine and I (along with our classmates Milt
Beeman, Bonnie Hill, and occasionally the very busy Dennis Sheets) were in the Methodist Youth Fellowhsip at Memorial Heights
Methodist Church (now long gone). Yesterday I received a prompt reply from her son, Chris. Nadine passed away
24 October
of last year. Up until her death she worked part-time as a social worker. She is survived by her three children
and four grandchildren, and by her sister Karen Darling in California, also an RIHS grad. Chris said she loved living
in New Orleans and all that it had to offer, like great restaurants, museums, art galleries, the street cars, and the French
Quarter.
Dennis Sheets
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Photo:
Dennis Rodney Sheets
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Dennis Rodney Sheets, 74, passed
away at his home in Dania, Fla., on
Nov. 24, 2011.
He was born in Rock Island and was educated in Rock Island
public schools. Although he was offered scholarships at Yale and Harvard, he selected Yale, where he graduated with a bachelor's
degree in 1958, magna cum laude. In 1967, he earned a graduate degree from Tulane University
in Latin studies.
He served in the U.S. Army and later as a civil servant, investment officer, at the U.S. Overseas
Private Investment Corp.
Throughout his international financial management career in the commercial banking and public
sectors, he worked and/or resided in the U.S. as well as in more than three dozen foreign countries, including Panama, France,
Brazil, Ecuador, numerous countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, Philippines, Sri Lanka, New Guinea, North Africa,
South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Tajikistan and Mongolia. Dennis held multiple executive positions in
U.S. and international banks and spoke and conducted business in four languages. As such,
he was considered an expert in international banking and finance.
He published or coauthored books and studies on
ornithology. He traveled every continent to pursue his quest for knowledge of birds and was considered an expert in the field.
Dennis
married Genoveva Margoth Gaete Aviles; he was preceded in death by her. He is survived by his two sons, Eric Sheets, Guayaquil,
Equador, and Manfred Sheets, Sunny Isles Beach, Fla.; his brother, Arthur (Bud) Sheets, Nags Head, N.C., formerly of Rock
Island; two daughters-in-law, Giomar Jimenez and Maria Fernanda Egas; three granddaughters, Nicole, Erica and Fiona Sheets;
and two nieces, Cari Sheets, Macomb, and Nancy Sheets-Darr, Nags Head, N.C. He was preceded in death by his parents, Arthur
Sr. and Gertrude Sheets.
A private service was held in Hollywood, Fla., on Nov. 29, 2011, to reflect upon his life and contributions in his extended fields of studies, endeavors, interests and
accomplishments.
This is the last email I received from Dennis Sheets.
It passes along a video by Eskimo children and the Hallelujah Chorus.
Wonderful. Also click on one of the great regular choral arrangements of the Hallelujah Chorus shown on the trailer. You will be reminded
then that It is customary for everyone to rise and remain standing during the Chorus out of honor for this great piece of
holy music.
Went a few years ago to the Xmas celebration of Handel’s Messiah here in Ft. Lauderdale. Brings back memories and a tear or two, from my
youth in Rock Island, location of Augustana
College, whose nationally known Augustana Choir every year presents the whole Messiah…four
hours long. One the highlights of the Christmas season for me. [Bill, I recall that we both get inspiration from hearing the
Panis Angelicus sung by some of the opera greats….similar emotional experience]
Reminds me of my intention to write a brief chapter
on how so much of the world’s art has been religious-inspired… Music, architecture, sculpture, painting, poetry. But somehow I just cant get going on it…perhaps it can be said in a couple of
sentence… or in many pages. I defy any non-believer to demonstrate that human life would be about the same without religious-inspired
Art.
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