J. Thomas “Tom” Tredway
1935 — 2022
There was a grand party on a Sunday afternoon this April in East Moline, Illinois to celebrate Tom Tredway’s life. A lively crowd of at least 150 gathered at the Bend, a fine party space filled with sunlight streaming through tall windows.
As those who know her would expect, Kate Tredway, hosted the event in the tradition of the Tredways’ friendly, competent, and gracious hospitality.
A buffet was ready when we arrived at one o’clock. Soon there were clusters of people spreadaround the spaciousroom talking and laughing and letting one another know, despite our loss, how glad we were to be here.
Caleb Langenbrunner, Tom’s deeply-loved grandson — 16, tall, well-built yet slender, nice tie, classy suit, shoes shined, a high school student in Los Alamos, New Mexico, who will be an exchange student in France next year — is a very fine All-State violinist. Caleb played for us. He told us that “Pops” had asked him to play Auld Lang Syne at the party. Caleb did a lovely job blessing us with the melody’s pervasive spirit of friendship and conviviality.
Dag Blanck, a longtime friend, and expert, along with Tom, on Scandinavian, especially Swedish and American, relationships and immigration, spoke of his experience as a Swedish ladlandingin Rock Island and arriving at Augustana College as “the Swedish student.”
It was no surprise that Tom quickly reached out to Dag, the tall young Swedish freshman; he made him feel comfortable, encouraged him, and befriended him. Dag, now an outstanding professor at Uppsala University, is a great example of the impact support, friendship, mentoring, and laughter can have. Dr. Tredway was good at that.
There is more to be remembered and said of this occasion which included the poems “Campus President” by Art Mampel, read by Kai Swanson, and “God’s Grandeur” by Gerald Manley Hopkins, read by Tom’s niece Nancy Stook, and the following tribute to Tom and Kate.
The brilliant Dr. Tredway continued to digest history, literature, and theology by the volumes to the very end. His will power was a marvel, his memory remarkable, and his wit quick. There were lots of laughs when Tom was around.
Mention a poem, Tom might know it by heart. Or a hymn. No good hymns slipped past him. He loved to sing.
And what can one say about the kindness of Tom and Kate? They have been ever alert for chances to help people and make friends.
Tom’s friends from student days have never completely escaped their surprise and are unable to let the question rest. Their question is, “How did Tom pull it off?”
How did the guy who wanted to go to Sears and look at tools, maybe buy one or two, and work on his bike rather than anything else—a guy who was dedicated to horsing around, how did he become a college president? How did he hold the job of president of Augustana College for 28 years and get a library named after him?
Tom’s Augustana College colleagues, students, and friends know what he did and how he did it. They saw him in action and experienced his wit and wisdom.
Dave Mampel, the celebrated children’s entertainer known as Daffy Dave the Clown, an Augustana grad, is also a poet and painter and lives in Seattle, Washington. Dave wrote:
“As for the Wednesday night beer, popcorn, and peanuts at Hilltop Tavern at Augustana college when I was a student in the late 70s early 80s… We would gather, professors and students, and just joke around and discuss philosophy and whatever else. It was one of my highlights as a student there. Anyway, Tom was so great with engaging the students all the time, whenever he encountered us out and about… [He] always made you feel valued. I guess I could say to have someone of his caliber caring about you and your welfare and so forth was a huge, encouraging lift.”
Tom wrote 45 essays and articles for Pietisten, most of them are available online. In addition to many articles, he wrote Coming of Age: A History of Augustana College, 1935-1975 (2010) and Conrad Bergendoff’s Faith and Work: A Swedish-American Lutheran (2014). Upon his retirement in 2003, colleagues published a festschrift, On and Beyond the Mississippi: Essays Honoring Thomas Tredway. Among other honors, Dr. Tredway received the Royal Order of the Polar Star for the way he nurtured Augustana’s ties to the homeland of its founders.
We frequently trekked to breakfast at “Mickey’s,” under the Golden Arches in Le Claire, Iowa, across the river from Tom and Kate’s place. In our conversations there and elsewhere, he made no claim to success. He downplayed such talk. Rather, he would say: “I worked for Augustana College, the school built on the bluff and run the same way.”
And the biking! Tom cycled the entire perimeter of the state of Washington, and he biked throughout Europe. He biked daily even in his last month of life, weather permitting. Tom was a terrific athlete! And he was a builder of bikes and fixer of bikes.
President Tom’s body was badly broken on a street in Santa Fe when a truck hit him while riding his bike. It almost took his life, and the recovery was long and painful.
A lot of people would have given up riding bikes after that. Not Tom.
Dr. Tredway loved the joking life. Tom was involved in other institutions besides Augustana — some not so well known. For example, he, Bruce Carlson, and Art Mampel were the “three amigos.” Their great friendship was celebrated at Tom’s retirement. For another, Tom was a founding member of “The Despair Conference,” an institution that eventually allowed women and a couple of new members to join. The game plan for Despair Conferences is this. If we start at the bottom in despair, there is no way to go except up. It has led to many good times.
We have been blessed by Tom and Kate — blessed by their generous spirits, by their jovial courage, and by the love and wisdom they employ daily to bless those whom they encounter. These blessings are fueled by their thankful hearts.
Blessings on our memories of Dr. J. Thomas Tredway. May pride and peace of heart envelope Kate and Dan and Rebecca and Caleb and Carol and Nancy and the Rodriquez girls and the Lopez children and all of Tom’s family, his friends, his colleagues, and readers. That is what Tom would want — peace of heart and fond memories for each of us.