Herman Eldon Brockman, teacher, researcher, farmer, family man, and lover of trees, grammar, and Pogo, died peacefully at home on April 8, 2025.
We invite you to attend a Tree Walk in his honor on Saturday, August 30 at his family home, 1554 County Road 400 North, Congerville, IL 61729.
We also invite you to send memories to his wife Marlene at the above address, and to scroll down to post your memories and photos on the "Memory Wall." Thank you.
Obituary
Herman Eldon Brockman, a Distinguished Professor of Genetics, farmer, family man, and lover of trees, grammar, and Pogo, died at home on April 8, 2025 in the presence of 25 family members, ranging in age from 90 years (his wife Marlene) to 3 weeks (his second great-grand-daughter Hina Marlene).
All of his 6 children were present: Fred (Odette) of Lostine, OR; Terra (Joel) of Congerville, IL, Beth (Otis) of Barstow, CA; Teresa (Michael) of Eureka, IL, Henry (Hiroko), of Congerville, IL; and Jill (Will) of Danforth, IL. In addition to the 6 children, Herman had 11 grandchildren, 2 great grandchildren, and 1 incredible wife, Marlene. Herman died just 5 months shy of their 69th wedding anniversary.
Herman was born to Fred and Henrietta (Zeedyk) Brockman on December 5, 1934 on the family farm in Danforth, IL, in the same room that his father Fred had been born. As he wrote in his preface to Trees I Have Known, “I loved being a farm boy and helping Dad in all the farm activities I could do at any given age. And I loved learning from Mother to notice and love the natural world." Herman helped his father with farm chores from an early age, including milking cows by hand. Later, as part of the local 4-H Club, and then in high school FFA (Future Farmers of America), he continued his love of animal husbandry and farming.
Herman was a lifelong lover of books and learning. His first 6 years of education were in a one-room school house with a single teacher for all 8 grades. That teacher, Florence Goldenstein, recognized Herman’s love of the natural world through the books he chose to read from the traveling book-mobile. At Gilman High School, Herman’s English teacher Miss Mary Cosner, an alumna of Blackburn College, encouraged him to attend that small liberal arts college in Carlinville, IL.
Soon after beginning classes at Blackburn in 1952, Herman’s life path detoured both professionally, from nature and the farm to academia, and personally, from bachelor to family man. It was at Blackburn that Herman met Marlene, thanks to the alphabetical seating arrangement dictated by their anatomy lab teacher. Herman Brockman sat next to Marlene Castiglia, and the rest, as they say, is history.
In 1956, Herman received his B.A. from Blackburn, and that same year he
and Marlene were married on September 15, 1956. He earned his M.S. from Northwestern University in 1957, and his Ph.D. from Florida State University in 1960. He was then was awarded a 3-year post doctoral research fellowship in the Biology Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.
In 1963, Herman joined the faculty of the Department of Biological Sciences at Illinois State University. He taught courses mainly in General and Molecular Genetics, and directed research for 13 Ph.D., 22 Master’s, and numerous undergraduate students. His research emphasized mutagenesis and antimutagenesis, and was supported by many Federal Agencies. He retired in 1998 as Distinguished Professor and Professor of Genetics Emeritus. Major awards and honors Herman earned over his professional life include:
• Future Farmers of America Star State Farmer (Section 10), 1951
• Arts and Sciences Lecture Award at I.S.U., 1974
• Environmental Mutagenesis Recognition Award from the Environmental Mutagen Society, 1982
• Illinois State University Distinguished Professor, 1982
• Distinguished Alumni Award from Blackburn College, 1991
• Distinguished College Teacher Award - Sciences Division, at I.S.U., 1994
• College of Arts and Sciences College Research Award - Sciences, at I.S.U., 1996
• Outstanding University Teacher Award from I.S.U., 1998
• Illinois State University College of Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame, 2009
• Blackburn College Wall of Honor, 2016
After starting his career at Illinois State in 1963 and living close to the university for a few years, Herman and Marlene began thinking about moving to the countryside so their children could experience a rural life similar to what Herman had in his youth. They finally purchased a parcel in Woodford County with wooded hills and ravines, along with a rich bottomland along Walnut Creek.
In the early 1970s the family moved to "The Land," and began building the house they had designed. It was based on traditional Midwestern chicken coops with clerestory windows to allow heat to rise and escape in the summer months. That house and the land it was built upon turned out to be the perfect place not only to plant fruit trees and a vegetable garden and to rear children and raise farm animals, but also for Herman to live out his nearly 30 years of retirement and rekindle his childhood love of nature and farming.
Over the first decades of his retirement, Herman wrote personal essays (along with many letters to the editor of The Pantagraph and Farm Week), and eventually collected his “tree essays” into Trees I Have Known. Herman wrote in his preface that “each essay was written because I had time, and because the spirit moved me. In fact, each essay came into being because a particular tree picked me to write about it. I hope the spirit of each tree comes through to you as you read these essays.”
This collection also serves as an informal autobiography, and we offer it here if you would like a copy.
After Herman was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2007 and survived the Whipple surgical procedure, his wife Marlene nursed him back to health, and the fresh farm eggs and natural surroundings aided the process. After losing his sight in 2019, Herman became wholly dependent upon Marlene, and she cared for him each and every moment of every day throughout his physical decline. Even through his last days, she did not leave his side, moving the small couch alongside the large couch where he lay so she could continue to hold his hand night and day until his last breath.
We invite you to mark your calendar for August 30, and join us for the Herman Brockman Memorial Tree Walk. After the walk, we will visit Herman’s grave in the old fruit orchard he planted near the house, and share food and stories. This will be a casual event, so feel free to come and go throughout the day as your schedule permits. Please RSVP below if you would like to receive updates and details about the event.
Because of Herman’s love of learning, and of the natural world, particularly trees, his family asks that memorial donations be made to the Herman E. Brockman Fund at Illinois State University (contact the ISU Foundation at 309-438-3135), or to the Aldo Leopold Foundation or the Arbor Day Foundation. You may also make a donation in Herman's name to an environmental or social justice organization of your choice.
Interviews with Herman
ISU Oral History
EIU Interview
Herman Brockman Memorial Tree Walk
In lieu of a visitation and funeral, we invite you to share your photos and memories in the Memory Wall section of this website.
We also invite you to mark your calendar for August 30, and join us for the Herman Brockman Memorial Tree Walk – see details in the "Gathering" section below. (Please note that clicking the RSVP button and adding your email allows us to send you updates about the Tree Walk, but does not obligate you to attend.)
Whether you are able to attend the gathering or not, Marlene would love to hear from you. She will see any Memory Wall posts on this site, or please send a card or letter to her at 1554 County Road 400 North, Congerville, IL 61729 if you are so moved. She can also access emails sent to herman.brockman@gmail.com. Thank you!
Gallery
Memory wall
With all our affection,
Valérie, Guillaume, Gabrielle, Loïc and Morgan.
More recently, Randy and I will forever cherish our New Year’s Eve celebrations with the Brockman’s. Herman kept the fire stoked to ensure we were all warm. He always seemed to have a book in hand or within reach. Randy especially has fond memories of the many discussions that he and Herman had about Aldo Leopold, Darwin, and Wendell Berry. Then to, we certainly would be remiss not to reflect on the joy and adventure of Wassailing the fruit trees in the dead of winter.
Another special time that we shared with the Brockman family was attending the centennial celebration at the Brockman farm. Herman was certainly in his glory. Although we have not been with Herman for some time now, we always took comfort that he and Marlene were close by as the crow flies. We have recently been rereading Herman’s writings, “Trees I Have Known”. Reading his eloquent prose is a reminder that Herman is still near by…and shall always be.
Family tree
Favorites
Animals (in particular, Milking Shorthorn cows)
Historical Figures: Charles Darwin, Gregor Mendel
Writers: Wendell Berry, Walt Kelly, Aldo Leopold, Robert Frost
Treats: chocolate ice cream, black cows (aka rootbeer floats), beer nuts, beer
Sand County Almanac, by Aldo Leopold.
Reading magazines and books of all sorts
Reading books to children, particularly Pogo comics
Diagramming sentences and proper usage and grammar
Cutting firewood for the wood stove
Teaching and doing research at ISU
Organic Farming
Philanthropy
We have met the enemy and he is us.
You buy 'em books, and you buy 'em books.
The preponderance of the evidence is the best explanation for the phenomena you are observing.
Gathering
