Generations of family form tall UW-Whitewater family tree

November 15, 2007

Five decades, five alumni and one current University of Wisconsin-Whitewater student later, the Gedemers of Hainesvile, Ill., know a good school when they go to one. The family has ties to UW-Whitewater that go back more than 50 years.

The Gedemer UW-Whitewater family tree starts with Robert and Lloyd Hoffman, two brothers from Racine, Wis. Both attended the university when it was Whitewater State Teachers College. Robert graduated in 1950 with a degree in biology and chemistry, and Lloyd in 1953 with a teaching degree in elementary education.

After graduation, Robert spent one year teaching high school science at McHenry High School in McHenry, Ill., and then went into pharmaceutical sales. His working days ended with at 35-year reign at Research and Development at Johnson Wax. Lloyd made a career as an elementary school teacher in Mequon, Wis. UW-Whitewater continues in the family with Robert's son and daughter, Scott and Kathy.

Scott attended UW-Whitewater for two years and his wife, Susan Wemmer, graduated from the university in 1978 with a degree in special education.

Kathy (Hoffman) Gedemer and her husband Timothy are both 1973 UW-Whitewater graduates. The high school sweethearts chose to pursue higher education at UW-Whitewater; Kathy for sports and family ties, and Tim for business.

"The biggest influence for me to come to UW-Whitewater was the opportunity to play sports and the fact that UW-Whitewater was in my family," Kathy said.

While at UW-Whitewater, Kathy participated in women's tennis, basketball and softball. She was one of the first woman sports editors for the "Royal Purple" student newspaper, and she was involved in the first-ever NCAA women's basketball conference tournament in 1972 when the Warhawks went to the championship. The women's tennis team also had its first conference tournament in 1973 with the team finishing second. Kathy and her partner took first place in doubles.

Kathy majored in journalism and English in the school of education and held many teaching and education-related jobs before settling in at Woodland Middle School in Gurnee, Ill., as an 8th grade language arts teacher. She will receive her master's degree in April 2008 from National-Louis University in Wheeling, Ill.

Tim said he chose UW-Whitewater because it has a great reputation in the Midwest for producing quality business graduates.

"As I look back on my academics at UW-Whitewater, I still believe I received a great education and was as prepared as I could be to enter the world of business," he said.

Tim graduated with a marketing degree and spent 26 years in the insurance industry. In 2001, Tim received his master's degree from Roosevelt University in Chicago and is now teaching business education at Grayslake North High School.

After graduation, Kathy and Tim moved out of state, which made UW-Whitewater a far reach financially for their children. Thanks to the Return to Wisconsin program that offers a 25 percent waiver on non-resident tuition to sons, daughters and grandchildren of UW-Whitewater graduates, the Gedemer Family Tree is able to continue at UW-Whitewater.

Andrew Gedemer, a freshman, is majoring in business says his first year is going great. He hopes to go into financial planning or work in real estate.

"The first thing that turned me on to UW-Whitewater was the strong business program and the fact that all my family basically graduated from here," Andrew said. "The Return to Wisconsin program made is possible for me to come here and I was really excited when I found out it was a option."

His parents and his Uncle Scott were also excited that the program allowed UW-Whitewater to be affordable.

"I am very happy that Andrew chose to come to UW-Whitewater because the university's reputation in the business field has grown into a nationally recognized school," Tim said. "Also, we like being close enough to catch a football game and visit him. We have a lot of great memories of this place."