Neal Prochnow, 82 of River Falls, Wis. passed away after a long fight with prostate cancer surrounded by family and friends in his home.
His life was centered on his soul mate Caren, his family, gardening, the family cabin in Tomahawk, Wis., fishing, cross country skiing, Packers, hockey and a love of teaching, travel and good friends. He loved the Birkie and the Kortelopet and skied both. He was always optimistic with a good sense of humor, compassionate and active in the church. He taught Sunday School, was a trustee, deacon and moderator. He believed the world was bad enough as is and you had no right to make it worse.
He was born in Ladysmith, Wis. on Feb. 3, 1941 and raised in Gilman, Wis, where he achieved Order of the Arrow in Boy Scouts. At age 16 he started working summers at Harvey and Emily Warner’s Dun Rovin Resort on the Chippewa Flowage in Hayward, Wis. He worked summers through high school and during college while at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. After graduating in 1962 he married his high school sweetheart Caren Joan Royce.
He received an Atomic Energy Commission Fellowship in 1962 to attend Vanderbilt University and graduated with a MS physics degree in 1964. The degree required working summers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. He started teaching physics at UW-River Falls in 1964 and worked as a Research Associate summers at the Savannah River National Laboratory in Aikin, SC until 1968. He received a NDEA Fellowship and a Teaching Assistantship to Duke University in 1968. At Duke he earned a PhD in nuclear physics graduating in 1971 and returning to teach at UWRF.
In the late 1970’s he was a member of the National Bureau of Standards advisory committee for weatherization, a consultant to the Wisconsin Energy Corporation and Community Services Administration to develop, validate and implement residential energy audits and educational programs for low-income individuals. With his leadership, the students at UWRF won a National Society of Physics Students award for the work done on this project.
He was entrepreneurial and used his grant writing skills to generate special programs for teachers and students. Four special programs had a significant impact. He wrote Federal National Science Foundation (NSF) grants for elementary teachers, biology and agriculture teachers and NDEA grants to fund a summer’s only program to certify Wisconsin science teachers to teach physics. Over 140 teachers were certified through this program from 1986 to 2002. He worked hard for equality in the sciences and over 40% of those certified were women. He designed a three-year program for secondary teachers of English from Taipei, Taiwan to improve their ability to teach English as a second language (ESL) and complete a masters degree. This program was funded by the city of Taipei and 66 teachers completed this program.
He shifted his talent to administration later in his career and was chair of the physics department as well as Assistant Dean and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at UWRF. He was also interim Dean of the School of Business and Economics, which he helped form, and Director of Extension. One of his mottos in the course of his work, and life was “Adapt, Migrate or Perish.”
He was most proud of winning the UWRF outstanding science teaching award twice, teaching in the Great Ideas in Science capstone course and teaching one year of general physics for premeds during the eight-week summer session. He received the Wisconsin Association of Physics Teachers award for excellence in or service to teaching at college level in 1995. He provided leadership to reorganize the College of Arts and Sciences including creating the School of Business and Economics as well as encouraging the development of new majors. He published a book “Graduate and Start a Career On Time – Tips for College Students and Parents” in 2014 and holds a patent on a new fishing tackle caddy.
Neal is survived by his wife Caren of 61 years and his children and grandchildren; Jen Brown and her husband Dan Brown with children Brandy and Maia, Jeffery Prochnow and his wife Stacey Prochnow with their children Kovi, Nickolas and Ty, Jamie Prochnow and his wife Nicol Prochnow and their children Marley, Radek and Alexi, his brother Larry Prochnow and wife Jeanne Prochnow as well as 14 nieces and nephews and several great nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents Arthur and Gladys Prochnow, his sister Joan Prochnow Kuep and infant daughter and his nephew Caleb Horvath.
A wake will be held at the First Congregational United Church of Christ located at 110 N, Third St., River Falls from 4-7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 25. The memorial celebration of life will be held at the same location Friday, Jan. 26 with visitation at 9 a.m. followed by the service at 11 a.m. officiated by Rev. Chris Myers. Donuts and coffee will be available during the visitation and lunch after the service. Memorials are preferred to the First Congregational United Church of Christ music or confirmation programs or can be written to Caren Prochnow to be given all at once to the UW-River Falls Foundation, 310 South Hall, River Falls, WI 54022.
He was an extremely giving and amazing individual that lived a life dedicated to family and service to others. He could be stubborn and organized with this being the only portion of his obit not written by him. He will be greatly missed by those whose lives he touched.
