The Perry Lutheran Homes Board of Directors hosted its second annual celebration and awards banquet Thursday night at La Poste, with a focus on celebrating intergenerational connections and elders.
Perry Lutheran Homes Board Chairman Curtis Carlson welcomed the assembled diners, and the Rev. Lyle Hansen offered prayerful gratitude for the meal and all things.
After dinner, Perry Luther Homes Administrator Melissa Gannon presented the Serving Together our Elders in Perry (StepUP!) award, bestowed for outstanding service to Perry-area elders.
Gannon said the award signifies the “critically important challenge to StepUP! to honor the elder citizens in our community” and to become “increasingly more aware of and responsive to their needs.”
The 2019 Step-Up Award Serving Together our Elders in Perry (StepUP!) award was bestowed on longtime Perry Lutheran Homes Activity Director Wanitta Ramsey for her outstanding service to Perry-area elders.
Gannon embraced Ramsey as she presented the award, and Karen Menz of Perry, last year’s StepUP! award recipient, was among the first to congratulate her fellow winner.
Local celebrity and WHO radio personality, Van Harden, was the evening’s keynote speaker, sharing many stories and speaking about the importance in his own life experience of intergenerational connections.
Harden got his start in the radio business at KDLS in Perry, so he was the perfect choice to honor the evening’s Exemplar Award winner, longtime KDLA owner and on-air personality Tom Quinlan.
“I don’t know where I’d be standing tonight if it weren’t for Tom Quinlan,” Harden said, “but it wouldn’t be here.”
Accepting the posthumous award on behalf of their father, who died Feb. 11, 2019, were Dennis Quinlan of Palm Springs, Calif., Tom Quinlan of Mason City, Iowa, Kathy Hoskinson of Perry and Patty Schlotterbeck of Urbandale.
The Exemplar Award is given in order “to honor an elder citizen who demonstrated to others a ‘life well lived’ through community impact.”
Thomas A. Quinlan was born Oct. 22, 1924, in Pocahontas, Iowa, to Thomas and Frances (Graham) Quinlan, the youngest of five children and his parents’ only son.
Tom graduated in 1942 from Sacred Heart High School in Pocahontas and joined the U.S. Air Force in 1943, serving in the Signal Air Warning (SAW) 583rd Unit until the war ended in 1945. He later served stateside during the Korean War.
After the war, he moved to Kansas City to attend Midland Radio and Television School.
Tom married Bernadine “Binx” K. Stoulil in Pocahontas Aug. 30, 1948.
He made a career in radio broadcasting, working in Des Moines, Boone and Perry, where Tom and Binx moved in 1962. Tom — or TQ at work — became the co-owner and inimitable voice of the KDLS radio station for more than 40 years.
An exemplar in service to his country and community, Tom was active in the Perry Elks Club, St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, Perry Little League, Perry City Council and the Iowa Broadcasters Association, which honored him in 1999 as Broadcaster of the Year.
Retiring at the age of 80, TQ liked to spend his leisure over coffee with friends at the bowling alley, and he loved seeing his grandkids and visiting with friends and family.
Tom was preceded in death by Binx, his wife of 38 years, in 1987; his youngest son, Tim, in 1996; and his sisters, Dorothea, Regina, Mary and Frances.
Along with his children Dennis, Tom Jr., Kathy and Patty, Tom is survived by six grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. Ever proud of his Irish ancestry, one of TQ’s favorite sayings was: “If you’re lucky to be Irish, you’re lucky enough.”
Thursday’s Perry Lutheran Homes gathering reminded all attendees how lucky they were to know TQ and how large is the gap his loss has opened in the Perry community.
