Service honors,remembers late IU professor

An old adage goes, "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it."\nDonald Carmony learned history and was determined to make sure his students, colleagues and friends never repeated it through his teaching and his own learning and research.\nThere was more to "Mr. Indiana History" in the eyes of those people whom he touched than being someone who knew about the past. Carmony, who died Feb. 14 at the age of 95, was honored as a friend, a role model, a leader and a teacher, as the students and colleagues relived the memories of the late IU history professor Saturday afternoon at the Meadowood Retirement Community. \nThe memorial, which lasted an hour and a half, featured the President of the University of Indianapolis, Jerry Israel, who presided over the ceremony.\n"Don was a student, alumni and benefactor of the U of I," said Israel. "He was special to it, because of his love for humanity."\nCarmony first began attending classes at University of Indianapolis at the age of 15 and graduated when he was only 19. The professor then attended classes at the IU satellite campus in Indianapolis, now known as IUPUI, where he received both his masters degree in 1931 and his Ph.D. in 1940.\nIn 1930, Carmony did something most people would not have even considered at the time -- he was a guest speaker at an NAACP convention in French Lick, Ind. \n"If you can't sense how progressive and risky this was in 1930 Indiana, ask any historian in this room," said IU professor of history James Madison. "He went on to tell me he was the only white person in the room."\nA former student of Carmony and now professor emeritus of history at U of I, the Rev. Fred Hill went on to say that for all of his traits, Carmony always expressed modesty.\n"He would not be labeled a 'self-made man'," Hill said. "Those around him, such as his wife and his father, whom he looked to for wisdom, were who he gave credit to."\nTo his students at IU, he meant the world. One of those, John Worth, recounted the reasons why Carmony was an important person in his life.\n"He loved education, he touched so many students, and he did so one-on-one," Worth said. "From Don, I found a love of learning. I knew him as a teacher, a leader and a true friend, and I really, really miss him."\nAnother of Carmony's passions included being editor of The Indiana Magazine of History, which he was a part of for over 24 years.\n"He enjoyed writing, research and editing," said another of his former students Stephen Moberly. "This is what led him to this position at the magazine, along with his general love of history."\nIn Arthur Franklin Mapes' Poem, "Indiana," which was read by Carmony's two granddaughters, a line states, "I must learn more of my homeland/For it is paradise for me."\nAnd as professor Madison said, no one learned more of his homeland than Donald F. Carmony, because it was paradise for him.\n"Don loved this state, it reminds me of the thousands and thousands of miles which he traveled across the state -- he was a public historian," said Madison. \n-- Contact Staff Writer Ryne Shadday at rshadday@indiana.edu.