Ted De Vries ’56

ed D. DeVries, 84, passed away October 31, 2018, at the Heritage Center in Evansville. Ted was born in Hammond, Indiana, on May 27, 1934, to the late Tunis and Evelyn (Swanson) DeVries. Ted was a graduate of Hope College in 1956.

He received his Masters of Education from Ball State University and his Doctorate in Education from Indiana University. He was the first Dean of Education for ISUE, now USI. Ted served as the president of two colleges, Valley City State University in Valley City, North Dakota, and Huron State College in Huron, South Dakota. After leaving the field of education, Ted became vice president of Jones Electric in Orlando, Florida, and then spent several years as a consultant for Computerland Corporation before starting his own business, CompuLit, from which he retired in 1996.

Ted loved baseball. At one time, he owned one of the largest private collections of baseball books in the country. He spent countless hours playing APBA baseball. He also idolized Ted Williams, and of course, the Chicago Cubs. One of his lifelong dreams was for the Cubs to win the World Series before he died, and two years ago his dream came true. Ted kept busy during his retirement. He served on the board for the Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library for several years. He belonged to Rotary Club and was on the board for the Evansville Food Bank. He also volunteered at the St. Anthony’s soup kitchen and spent time with his grandchildren.

Ted is preceded in death by his wife of 60 years, Judith in 2015; his brother James DeVries in 2018; and his parents. Ted is survived by his children, Alison (Tony) Moore, Jennifer (Ed) Steckler, John (Amy) DeVries, Anthony (Jolie) DeVries and Laurie (Scott) Basham; grandchildren, Thomas and Emily Steckler, Abbey Ruhland, Sam Moore, Caitlin Hurt, Zoe, Jack, Fergus, Sam, Kylie, Emma and Teddy DeVries, Christopher and Ethan Basham and Ian Llorian; and several nieces and nephews.

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