Broadcasters, Letterman Mourn Wible’s Death
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe Indiana broadcasting community and Ball State University graduate David Letterman are paying tribute to a longtime broadcaster and educator. Letterman says Professor Emeritus Darrell Wible “helped a poor student find a path.” The Star Press in Muncie reports Wible will be laid to rest in Terre Haute Monday. He was 88.
You can read more facts about Dr. Wible's career by clicking here.
August 9, 2013
News Release
MUNCIE, Ind. – Ball State University remembers professor emeritus Darrell Wible, who passed away Aug. 4 at the age of 88. Alumnus David Letterman considers Dr. Wible an important mentor in his career. He issued the following statement about the professor that changed his life.
“I was barely a 'C' student at Ball State in the 1960s, with nothing productive going on at all, when I met Professor Wible. He became a mentor and he introduced me to the world of broadcasting in a way that changed my life. He helped a poor student find a path, and that was the kind of guy he was.”
–David Letterman
“Darrell Wible and the mentoring he extended to innumerable students such as David Letterman represent the best of Ball State University,” said President Jo Ann M. Gora. “He transformed many lives in his time here. His legacy lives on in their contributions and his generosity to our School of Nursing in honor of his late wife, Evelyn Reynolds Wible.”
Dr. Wible also supported Ball State through generous philanthropy. He created a scholarship designed to assist nursing majors in memory of his wife, Evelyn Reynolds Wible, The Evelyn Reynolds Wible Endowed Nursing Scholarship will be made available to senior nursing students with an interest in theory and practice in medical and surgical nursing.
About Dr. Darrell Wible
Dr. Darrell Wible, once said he began his life as “just a farm boy.” He came to be among Ball State University's most distinguished former professors and devoted donors. He taught at Ball State for 25 years.
In 1949, at WBIW in Bedford, Indiana, he began his broadcasting career, during which he performed more than 6,000 programs. Though he barely made a livable wage at that time, the work was so enjoyable that he said that he “would have done it for free.”
Wible earned an M.S. from Indiana State University and a Ph.D. from Ohio State University. He finished the five-year program in three years due to his previous experience as a broadcaster.
Wible initially received an offer from Ball State to work as an assistant professor of speech. Three days later, he received a phone call saying that The Center for Radio and Television had been created. He was asked if he would object to having his title changed. “That's how I became the very first Ball State assistant professor of Radio and Television,” said Wible.
The first class that Wible taught was Mass Communications in Emens Auditorium with 73 students in attendance. “I was so nervous. I think the students may have been nervous because of how nervous I was,” he once recalled. One student who enjoyed the class enough to continue to take additional classes from Wible was Ball State's own, David Letterman. One thing that he remembered fondly of that time was that “David never tried to tell a joke in my courses.”
Wible always believed that the needs of students should come first. With that in mind, he assisted in the funding and developing of The Evelyn Reynolds Wible Endowed Nursing Scholarship, honoring his late wife, Wible has settled into lifetime of accomplishment and generosity. During her career as a nurse, Evelyn always put the needs of her patients first. The scholarship seeks to recognize senior nursing students interested in the theory and practice of medical and surgical nursing.
Wible felt it was a fitting memorial to Evelyn whose devotion to nursing never faltered during her long career. She wanted this level of professionalism to continue to future generations. Supporting aspiring nursing students was a way to reach that goal. “Now, it's all for the students,” he said when the scholarship was established. “The students are most important – always.”
Source: Ball State University