Debra L. Schiel-Larson

As parents we are proud to place the name of our daughter, DEBRA L. SCHIEL-LARSON in the Plaza of Heroines at Iowa State University. Deb is a May 1981 ISU graduate with a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture degree, with Distinction. She was the first graduate of the five-year landscape architecture curriculum. During her junior year she spent spring quarter studying in Great Britain, and was the recipient of a George W. Catt Scholarship.

Deb's interests and activities are many. In addition to required courses during her undergraduate years at ISU, she found time to include such electives as Forest Photogrammetry under Dr. George Thomson, and Bee Keeping under Richard Trump. She also had a poem published in SKETCH.

Deb enjoys music and plays piano flute and piccolo. At ISU she was a member of the ISU Cyclone Football "Varsity" Marching Band, and is an alumna who can say she marched in two ISU football bowl games.

She was a carillon student of Dr. Richard von Grabow. Following graduation from ISU she returned to Great Britain to travel more extensively in England, Wales and Scotland, and to visit an English couple who had befriended her while she was there as a student. She visited the Taylor Foundry at Loughbourgh, England, where the ISU carillon bells were forged, and was privileged to play a recital on the Taylor carillon. In Scotland she did volunteer conservation work at a castle.

Deb's varied interests and activities have continued since graduation. In 1987 she received the Service Award from the Iowa Chapter, American Society of Landscape Architects.

Deb and her husband Paul Larson live on an acreage south of Indianola where she has space to do independent research and experimentation with native plant materials. She enjoys horses, watercolor painting, writing, reading and travel, and is active in her church in Indianola where she shares her musical talent and has provided consultation and assistance in the form of parking and landscape plans.

Our lives have been enriched and our world expanded through being a part of Deb’s life and observing her accomplishments and contributions. Our first trip abroad was to Great Britain where we were met by her English friends who had invited us to their home in Wales and helped us get acclimated before continuing our trip in Great Britain and on the continent.

We believe that Deb, in her work with politicians, professionals, contractors and members of the public, clearly demonstrates her competence and professionalism, and is carrying on in the tradition of Carrie Chapman Catt making it easier for women who follow in her profession. She exemplifies the type of ISU graduate who brings credit to her alma mater.

-Harold and Elma Schiel

Submitted on 7/11/94