A festive ceremony on May 4 broke ground for the long-awaited expansion of science facilities and paid tribute to the life of the woman whose inspiration allowed the work to begin.

The existing Science Hall and the $23 million expansion project was officially named in honor of the late Barbara Deer Kuss as her husband Richard L. “Dick” Kuss ’45 and university officials celebrated by breaking ground on the project.

Joining members of the Kuss family in the program were President Baird Tipson, Provost Sammye Greer, Board of Directors Chair Robert James and Kenneth Bladh, head of the faculty building committee.

The highlight of the event was when Kuss shared memories about his wife. Although Kuss was the Wittenberg alumnus, he said Barbara always claimed to be the real graduate.

“When the graduation ceremonies were held in June 1945, I was ‘bouncing around’ on a ship in the Pacific and was unable to attend,” Kuss related. “Therefore, Barbara went up on the stand, and she received the diploma.”

Wittenberg recognized Barbara’s close kinship with the college (she had attended MacMurray College) by granting her honorary alumni status, but “we never were able to resolve this issue amicably,” Kuss said.

Barbara Deer Kuss was a long-time community activist, and she held leadership positions on the Springfield Foundation, Community Hospital and Covenant Presbyterian Church. “She had many private charities,” Kuss remembered.

“It was quite fascinating at tax time, when we were itemizing our deductions, to discover what and who many of these beneficiaries were. ...

And no child who was selling candy or Christmas wreaths as a fund-raiser for his or her school or a budding Junior Achievement stockholder who had the latest ‘hot’ product, was ever turned down.

“We still have some of those gadgets around our home.” Kuss said his wife of 55 years would have been too modest to enjoy so much recognition.

“Nonetheless, she would be extremely proud of being part of this significant Wittenberg University project — a most advanced state-of-the art Science Center.

“The ultimate cause of Barbara’s passing was that she was afflicted with a motor neuron or neuromuscular disease.

It is our family’s hope and prayer that some aspiring Wittenberg student, after having had the benefit of having been educated in this outstanding new Science Center, will go on into medical research and help find a cure for these and related diseases,” Kuss said.

The estimated price of the new wing, which is the most ambitious construction project ever attempted at Wittenberg, has doubled over the past five years.

In the face of such escalating costs, the board of directors decided to begin construction of the new facility while simultaneously stepping up fund raising for the project.

The project will bring Wittenberg an additional 47,000 square feet of new laboratories, classrooms, office and study space. The expansion is needed to accommodate popular

Wittenberg science programs, which have grown by 100 percent during the 1990s.

—Jim Dexter