Debra Roach (Bruene)

We actually met at an ISU Alumni meeting in Oelwein, Iowa in 1979. Deb Bruene was a teacher and Matt Roach was an agricultural chemical representative in Oelwein. A fellow teacher and Iowa Stater made sure we met at a NorthEast Iowa State Alumni picnic and we were married the next fall in 1980. We both attended ISU but never knew each other while in school. (Deb Bruene Roach Art Education ‘76 and Matthew N. Roach Animal Science ’77.) After committing to each other, we committed to ISU by being active in the Alumni Association. We served as co-presidents of the ISUAA Club of Black Hawk County before we moved to Indianapolis. We helped start an ISU alumni club in Indianapolis area. (We even coordinated a combined event to watch the ISU/IA football game with the Indianapolis Iowa Alumni Club.) We continued our involvement with ISU Alumni after moving to The Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Our daughter’s kindergarten teacher in North Carolina would call the class for lunch by their favorite college team. As a loyal Cyclone and wearing her ISU cheerleading outfit, Kelly would wait until all the Duke, UNC and NC State fans were called. We now live in Cedar Rapids; Deb is an art teacher at Linn-Mar and Matt is an agricultural account manager for Monsanto. Our daughter, Kelly, is a sophomore at ISU in Athletic Training. We are proud that she still wears the red and gold! Some of the staff we worked with Jim Hobson, Ronda Cox, Kathy Towe, Reid Crawford and Maurie Blackwelder.