Representative Harlan W. Van Gerpen View All Years

HARLAN VAN GERPEN

Harlan Van Gerpen was born on June 18, 1924 in Avon, South Dakota. He honored his country by serving in World War II from 1943 to 1946, as a meteorologist in Europe and later serving 16 months in the Korean conflict as an Aircraft Maintenance Officer.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in 1949 from South Dakota School of Mines and received a master’s degree in electrical engineering from University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana in 1950. On August 20, 1950 he married Betty Jean Reynolds together they raised five children. In 1953, he joined John Deere Product Engineering Center and worked for 28 years, retiring as Manager of Technical Services in 1982. At Deere, he pioneered the first-known use of computers to design gears- reducing a labor-intensive process.

In 1966, he was elected to the first Board of Directors for Hawkeye Community College, where he served for 16 years, including two years as chairman of the Board. He also represented Deere for seven years on the Cedar Falls Chamber of Commerce, and he co-chaired the first Cedar Valley Economic Development Committee. Following retirement, he was a partner in Van Gerpen-Reece Engineering for 23 years, served on the Iowa State Board of Education for three years and was a volunteer executive for the International Executive Service Corps in Albania and India.

Harlan was a Republican from Black Hawk County. He was elected to the Iowa House of Representatives in the fall of 1982, serving in the Seventieth General Assembly. During his time he served on Education, Energy, Human Resources standing and appropriations committees.

Harlan Van Gerpen passed away on October 21, 2012 at the age of 88.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE EIGHTY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF IOWA, That in the passing of the Honorable Harlan Van Gerpen, the State has lost an honored citizen and a faithful and useful public servant, and the House by this Resolution would express its appreciation of his service.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution be spread upon the Journal of the House, and that the Chief Clerk be directed to forward an enrolled copy to the family of the deceased.

WALT ROGERS

BOB KRESSIG

Committee