[EDITOR'S NOTE: While individuals he encountered throughout his life have their memories, the writer in Louis E. Ingelhart brought him to prepare his own obituary.]
Louis Edward Ingelhart was born in Minco, Oklahoma on January 19, 1920. His father was Louis C. Ingelhart and his mother was Estella Burns Ingelhart. They are both deceased, as are his sister Caroline Ingelhart Britt and brother Fred Burns Ingelhart.
His wife was Margaret Jeanette Wade Ingelhart, who died at the age of 80 at Ball Memorial Hospital on February 23, 1997. He and Margaret were married in Wayne, Nebraska, on November 24, 1948. Her daughter, Sharon, arranged a birthday party for her at the hospital which was attended by 80 persons on February 10, 1997. Margaret and Louis were married for 48 years and 4 months.
He is survived by his daughter, Sharon Margaret White of Muncie (husband James White is deceased), his son, James Louis Ingelhart, his daughter-in-law Barbara Johnson Ingelhart and their daughters, Kara and Kelsey Ingelhart of Cedar Lake, Indiana.
He is survived by his sister-in-law, Mrs. Lavonia Ingelhart, and by Robert and Lori Ingelhart and their sons Daniel and Joseph of Grand Junction, Colorado. His other nephew's family, Fred and Judy Ingelhart, whose children are Deborah, John and Kimberly, live in Glenwood Springs, Colorado.
His Colorado cousins include Alvin and Mildred Wing of Grand Junction and their families; Ann Burritt of Hotchkiss and her son of Grand Junction and her daughter of Denver; by Jack and Edna Ingelhart of Carbondale, and their families; and Jay and Tana of Fruita, and their families.
Oklahoma cousins Melvin and Margaret Nanee and their families live in Stillwater. Russell and Helen Hubbard and their families live in Oklahoma City. Charles Jacquette lives in Florence, Arizona. Other cousins live in Iowa and California.
Survivors also include Gordon and Dorothy Johnson, the father and mother-in-law of James and Barbara Ingelhart and their daughter Beth, whose husband is Gary Eskine of Anderson, and their daughter Megan; Ned Wad, in-law and his children Sandra, Lorrie and Gary; and Margaret Ingelhart's cousin, Jean Chappelle, who lives in Roanoke, Virginia, with her husband Tom. They have a daughter, Wendy Gay.
Mr. Ingelhart's Ball State University assignments include Assistant Professor of English; Assistant Professor of Journalism; Director, Ball State News Bureau; Director, Ball State Sports Information; Director, Ball State Student Publications; Adviser, Ball State News, Orient, Athletic Printed Programs, Student News and Article Magazine, one issue of the Ball State Directory; Chairman, Center for Journalism; Department Head, Department of Journalism.
His teaching experiences include substitute teacher at Rhone Elementary School in Colorado (1939); editor of Air Force Base newspaper in Goose Bay, Labrador (1943); journalism teacher and adviser at Fruita Union High School in Colorado (1946); English teacher and sports publication editor for Colorado Northern University (1946-47); journalism teacher, newspaper adviser, director of publications for Nebraska State College in Wayne (1947-50); teaching graduate assistant at school of journalism of University of Missouri (1950-52); journalism teacher, yearbook and newspaper adviser at Stephens College (1952-53); reporter for the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel (1953) and occasional proofreader (1946-53); stringer for Associated Press, radio, television news in Nebraska and Indiana (1947-60); English teacher at Ball State University (1953-54).
His religious affiliations include International Society of Christian Endeavor; member, First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) of Grand Junction, Colorado; associated with Hazelwood Christian Church (Muncie, IN); vice president, Colorado Christian Endeavor Union; member, Board of Trustees of International Bible College in Grand Junction, Colorado.
Organizations to which he belonged: American Legion; Indiana Associated Press Managing Press Association (life member); College Media Advisers (life member); American Council for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications; Association of Education in Journalism and Mass Communications; Alumni Association Mesa State College; Alumni Association University of Northern Colorado; Alumni Association University of Missouri; Alumni Association Ball State University (honorary member); Quill and Scroll Society (life member); Society of Professional Journalists; Alpha Phi Gamma (national president); Society of Student Journalists; Cardinal Varsity Club; Eastern Indiana Advertising Club (life member); American College Public Relations Association; Columbia Scholastic Press Advisers Association (life member); Indiana Collegiate Press Association (co-founder); Public Relations Committee of the American Association of College for Teacher Education; member of the Executive Board of the AACTE; Phi Delta Theta social fraternity; Phi Delta Kappa education fraternity; Indiana State Teachers Association; Indiana Civil Liberties Union; First Amendment Congress (vice president); and The Creative Coalition.
His awards and citations include Sagamore of the Wabash; Halls of Fame - Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame, Ball State Journalism Hall of Fame, College Media Advisers Hall of Fame, Colorado Community Journalism Hall of Fame; College Media Advisers Distinguished Newspaper Adviser; College Media Advisers Ross Strader Award; Palladium-Item Medal; Journalism Education Association Carl Towley Award; Mesa State College Outstanding Alumnus Award; Colorado Northern University Alumnus Pioneer Award; Indiana High School Press Association Louis Ingelhart Award; Indiana Collegiate Press Service Award; Community College Journalism Association Distinguished Service; Columbia Scholastic Press Association Medal; Phi Delta Kappa Garland Hardy Award; American Advertising Foundation Silver Medal Award; Dow-Jones Newspaper Foundation Achievement Award; First Amendment Award Society of Professional Journalists; Hugh Hefner First Amendment Award; College Media First Amendment Award named after Ingelhart and awarded to him. College Media Advisers also founded an endowed fund to promote free press rights and named it after Ingelhart. He has service awards for 500 hours as a volunteer for both Ball Memorial Hospital and the Ball State Alumni Center; the Pioneer Award of the National Scholastic Press Association; named as a member of Who's Who in America, The American Registry of Outstanding Professionals and in Outstanding Educators in America. [Plaques and certificates of these awards are on display on the second floor of the Journalism and Arts Building, Ball State.] Older Hoosier Award of LifeStream.
Ingelhart was a prolific writer as a professional journalist or news bureau public relations provider and as a writer of books and articles. He estimated that he had written nearly 10 million words and that more than eight million of these had been published.
In addition to being a newspaper journalist, he produced many radio news tapes and directed or participated in at least one hundred radio programs. He also produced a series of television programs and film reports for television stations.
At Ball State he conducted several news conferences, including those for John F. Kennedy and for Clement Attles of England.
While in college and high school, he had parts in a dozen plays. He was a member of the Lowry Field Players in Denver and he wrote a farce for Goose Bay Labrador special services.
He appeared frequently on Ball State related radio and television programs and directed a series of them. He was a winning contestant thirteen times on the Gilbert Forbes Test the Press programs on Channel Six in Indianapolis.
Among the books he has are these: academic books and commentaries - Freedom for the College Student Press, Press Law and Press Freedom for High School Publications, Press Freedoms, What Americans Have Said About Freedom of Expression, Student Publications, Journey Towards Freedom, Press and Speech Freedoms in America 1619-1995, Press and Speech Freedoms in the World from Antiquity Until 1988, Public Relations Case Problems, A Twenty-First Century Almanack, The Literature of Liberty, Wonderful Families (a genealogy).
Novels - Mrs. Presidents, Jealousy's Double Jeopardy, Return to Honor, Logan's Front Porch.
Plays - The Ax and the Green Angel (musical, Jody Nagel provided his music compositions), Retirement (comedy), Bold Expression (history of free expression), Wild Blur Yonder (a farce), Ascension (religious operetta).
(These books or their manuscripts are located in the archives of Bracken Library, Ball State, or a minimum of 10 manuscripts may be purchased through the Ball State University Virtual Press, a computer service at Bracken Library.)
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