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SOCIAL STUDIES DIARY

An Open Letter

Thomas L. Dynneson, Ph.D

Greeting to my classmates from the class of 1953.

I am currently married to Barbara Dynneson, my wife of thirty-three years and together we have six girls and over twenty grandchildren, as well as several great-grandchildren. Barbara and I were both widowed with our spouses killed in accidents. (Nancy, my first wife), was killed in a horse accident in 1977 and Barbara’s first husband Bob was killed in an auto accident in 1968). We are blessed with a very large extended family whose activities serve to keep us young.


After serving in the US Air Force in the Unites States and France, I spent my life as a teacher and a scholar, including a ten-year teaching career in the Edina schools. Upon receiving a Coe graduate fellowship in history to the Stanford graduate school, I taught at the college and university level for twenty-five years, including a one-year assignment at Coe College in Iowa before being called to the University of Texas. In Texas I served as a founding faculty member of The University of Texas of the Permian Basin in Odessa, Texas, where I taught in the School of Education and chaired the Department of Anthropology before retiring in 1995. Most of my career has been related to anthropological and educational research and the publications related to that research. In addition, I have published many academic books, monographs, and a university textbook related to a variety of fields. I have presented research findings to many schools, including the Smithsonian, Oxford University, and the University of Athens. My recent books deal with ancient European history, Greek history and philosophy. Currently I am working on a book on the Roman Republic. My wife Barbara has served as my editor for many years. We hope to be in Rome next year to present a paper related to my research on topics related to Roman history. I have been honored with membership in Who’s Who in America, and with the honorary position of Professor Emeritus with the University of Texas System. I am a member of the Authors Guild in New York City that sponsors my webpage: thomasldynneson.infor


The above description would shock many of my high school friends, in that I was not active in any clubs or sports, sang in no choir, played in no band, nor served in any office while at Roosevelt, nor was I any kind of standout academically; as a dyslexic I was slow to learn to read and math was a disaster; however, I do credit some of my teachers at Roosevelt with not seeing me as a hopeless case and with giving me encouragement. The real drive behind my ambitions came as the result of my four years in the Air Force as a Military Policeman, followed by the years that I spent at Macalester College before going on to The University of Colorado and Stanford University (later being invited back to Stanford where I served as a Visiting Scholar). Presently, when not traveling, we maintain an apartment in Minneapolis and spend a part of our summers in that wonderful city, and my hometown.
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