Gordon Gray Wiseman
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Memorial service for Gordon Gray Wiseman, 99, Lawrence will be held 2:00 p.m. Sunday, November 27, 2016 at First Presbyterian Church, Lawrence. The family will greet friends an hour prior to the service at the church. Private family inurnment will take place at Pioneer Cemetery. Professor Wiseman died November 19, 2016 at Lawrence Presbyterian Manor.
He was born February 24, 1917 in Livingston, WI the son of Clinton Raymond and Pearl Hazel (Gray) Wiseman.
He married Mavis L. Paterson on April 5, 1942 in Brookings, South Dakota. She preceded him in death on April 1, 2012.
Gordon received his B.S. degree from South Dakota State in 1938 and then received his M.S, (1941) M.A, (1947) and Ph.D. (Physics, 1950) all from the University of Kansas. While finishing his Master’s degree at KU, he was a Professor at Culver Stockton College in Canton, Missouri. At the outset of World War II, he and Mavis moved to Lawrence where Gordon taught physics to the large number of servicemen enrolled at the University during the war. Following the war, he finished his Ph.D. and joined the faculty. He was a Professor of Physics at the University of Kansas until retiring in 1987 as Professor Emeritus.
He was a member of the First Presbyterian Church, Lawrence, Sigma Pi Sigma, the physics honors society, the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce. Following his retirement, he was very active in the Endacott Society at the University.
Survivors include two sons, Bill Wiseman and wife, Kathleen, Ottawa, Alan Wiseman and wife, Marilyn, Milwaukee, WI; his sister, Marion Jacobson, Des Moines, Iowa; four grandchildren, Clinton Wiseman and his wife, Shannon Sullivan, Lauren Wiseman, Eleanor Wiseman, and Wesley Wiseman.
Memorial contributions may be made in his name to First Presbyterian Church and may be sent in care of Warren-McElwain Mortuary.
What a marvelous & long life he led. Thinking of you all and hoping that knowing he made a difference and led a long productive life helps some.
Uncle Gordon Wiseman was a great and special man. As a young child I thought he was such a lot of fun. He always had a joke, pun or science fact for the kids. Gordon & Mavis were progressive thinkers and were willing to engage in lively and timely discussions of almost any topics. I remember engaging them about the civil rights movement -probably sometime in the mid-70’s. Gordon’s parents, Clint & Pearl Wiseman, were so proud of his family and of his many professional accomplishments. How thrilled Grandma Pearl was to report to us that a second child would join Gordon’s family the next summer. Please accept our love, sympathy, and best wishes.
Janice Grover
Great guy who could also sometimes be a kind of “wise guy”–his sense of humor and knowledge of science and almost everything always impressed me.