Martha Louise Dunham of Aurora, IL, graduated with a B.S. in History in
1941. She was born February 27, 1919 in Aurora, Illinois to Thomas and
Rosetta (Murray) Dunham. She attended West Aurora High School and was a
member of the National Honor Society. While at Wheaton, she was a member
of the Gun Club, French Club, Tower Yearbook, Aelionian Literary
Society and the History Club. She dormed at Hiatt Hall, off-campus
housing now demolished. She married Richard Dean Timmons on October 19,
1946 in Aurora. By 1972 her second husband, George Matyas died, leaving
Martha to care for her two teenage children (Tom Matyas and Emily
Matyas Klett). After George died of a heart attack she made the
acquaintance, through her brother John, of a local farm manager, square
dance caller and collector, Herb Schingoethe, who had also lost his
first spouse. When Herb and Martha were married in 1975, they embarked
together on a new phase of their lives, pooling their interests in
travel and collecting to form an adventure that continued right up to
the time of Martha's final illness in 2003-2004. In his years as a ranch
manager in Colorado, Herb already had begun serious collecting of
Native American art and artifacts, especially from the Southwest culture
area. Martha caught the collecting bug in a very big way, developing a
particular passion for silver and turquoise jewelry, fine Southwest
pottery, Native American rugs, and contemporary Native American
sculpture. All of these collecting interests are represented in the
Schingoethe collection. She was a life-long Aurora resident and member
of the new England Congregational Church in Aurora, where she was
organist for many years. She worked for more than 60 years at Equipto in
Aurora, a manufacturer of steel shelving, founded by her father in
1907. She worked as sales manager, corporate secretary, director and
chairman of the board. In 1989 the Schingoethes commissioned the
building of Dunham Hall on the campus of Aurora University. Named in
honor of Martha's family, Dunham Hall provides the setting for the
Schingoethe Center for Native American Cultures, which opened to the
public in 1990, as well as for the University's Dunham School of
Business. The Schingoethes donated their collection of over 6,000 items
of Native American arts, artifacts, and related materials and, in
addition, provide major support for the Center and its activities. The
school awarded the couple honorary degrees in 1998 for their
contributions. The Schingoethes were also the most famous collectors of
every states obsolete notes. Their collection consisted of over 30,000
obsolete bank notes. Besides obsolete notes, they were avid collectors
of college currency, depression scrip from 1933 and panic notes that
were issued in the 1890s and early 1900s. In 1993, "College
Currency-Money for Business Training" was released. The majority of
notes in this wonderful reference are in the Schingoethe Collection, the
largest Obsolete Paper Money collection ever to be offered at auction.
She died on February 17, 2004 at age 84, and was survived by her husband
(d. 3/18/2005), two children and five grandchildren. |
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