Hall of Honor Recipient

Marian Bowman Tonn & Reinhardt G. Tonn
Class of 1936
Inducted in 1995-96

Maion Bowman Tonn and Reinhardt G. Tonn were both 1936 graduates of Davenport High School.

In the fall of 1937, Reiny began his military career as a member of the 34^th Division of the 185^th Field Artillery of the Iowa National Guard. Having reenlisted in the fall of 1940, he was officially federalized into the Army in February, 1941, and sent to Camp Claiborne, Louisiana. There he was promoted from Buck Sergeant to First Sergeant when the First Sergeant became ill. In the fall of 1942, Reiny attended Officer Candidate School and joined the 697^th Field Artillery at Fort Bragg. Having been promoted to Captain, Reiny went with the 697^th to France in the Frankfurt, then through Nuremberg and Munich. On VE Day, they were in Salzburg. Reiny was awarded the Bronze Star medal for his “superior leadership” between October 1944 and May 1945.He had been responsible for coordinating battalion gun positions.

After Reinhardt’s honorable discharge from the Army in September, 1945, he returned to Davenport and married his former classmate, Marion. Marion had graduated from the University of Iowa and taught elementary school while Reiny attended the University of Minnesota. After graduating in 1948 with a major in Industrial Education and minors in Mathematics and Social Science, he accepted a position in Milwaukee with the Herbst Corporation, a manufacturer of high grade children’s shoes. Working for the same company for 34 years, Reiny moved up through the ranks as office manager and corporate secretary. When corporate headquarters moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, the family moved as well, residing there until his retirement in 1983. He and Marion then returned to Davenport.

What distinguishes Marion and Reiny’s life from most others is the dignity and devotion with which they coped with a tragic illness for most of their married life. In September of 1955, at the age of 37, Marion contracted polio and became a quadriplegic. At that time she and Reiny had two daughters and a son, who were 5, 4 and 18 months. She lay in hospitals for ten months, four of them in an iron lung, and was finally able to return home. Surmounting immeasurable difficulties, Reiny was able to take care of Marion, as well as their three young children. A classmate of theirs described Reinhardt’s story as one “of untiring, devoted care for over thirty years, a story of courage, faith, and determination.” For her part, Marion remained ever cheerful, and was able to oversee the children’s homework and piano practicing, and still planned means and attended ball games. In 1957, Marion was named Wisconsin’s “Polio Mother of the Year.” A moving tribute to the family was made by their neighbors in Whitefish Bay who built an addition to their home with a specially equipped “room for Marion.”

Marion died in 1985. Reiny now resides in Bettendorf and has remarried. He still demonstrates his caretaking skills by delivering Meals on Wheels, and with his wife, Lola McGinnis, shops for and serves Salvation Army dinners.


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Hall of Honor Recipient

Marian Bowman Tonn & Reinhardt G. Tonn Class of 1936 Inducted in 1995-96

Marian Bowman Tonn & Reinhardt G. Tonn
Class of 1936
Inducted in 1995-96