Wiens, Alvin Wayne (1936-2014)

Mennonite World Review obituary: 2014 Mar 3 p. 18

Birth date: 1936 Oct 31

text of obituary:

Biology professor mentored generations of Bethel students

Bethel College

NORTH NEWTON, Kan. — A. Wayne Wiens, 77, Bethel College professor emeritus of biology, died Feb. 6 from complications of a fall suffered in December.

He was born Oct. 31, 1936, grew up on a farm near Hillsboro and completed a natural science major at Bethel in 1958, followed by a master’s degree in zoology at the University of Kansas.

In 1960, Bethel recruited Wiens for a two-year appointment to teach biology, just days before he would have committed to a term of service in agriculture in Bolivia. He taught at Bethel for most of the next 50 years.

Generations of Bethel students loved and respected Wiens as a teacher. Bethel alumnus Seiichi Matsuda, who recently became dean of graduate and postdoctoral studies at Rice university in Houston spoke on behalf of Wiens many students at a Feb. 16 memorial service.

“I want to express our deep gratitude for the way Wayne mentored, guided and taught us, making us curious people, loving us, pointing us in the direction of productive lives,” Matsuda said.

During intervals away from teaching, Wiens did research at the University of Chicago, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.

His research varied from genetic control of developmental processes to hormonal regulation of gene activity, from gene activation in leukemia cells to neurobiology of smooth muscle control.

He often wrote for general audiences and gave public talks on evolution and religion, genetics and homosexuality, and the biology of peacemaking and reconciliation.

Wiens’ well-known laugh was that of “a man with a boundless joy for living a life of wonder, a life full of reverence for nature, friends and all that is good in the universe,” said john McCabe-Juhnke, Bethel professor of communication arts, at the memorial service.

Wiens is survived by his wife, Bethel professor emerita of art Gail Lutsch; two children, Amy Wiens of Columbus, Ohio, and Eric Wiens of El Cerrito, Calif.; and two brothers, Paul Wiens of St. George, Utah, and Wendell Wiens of Newton.