Notable Alumni of Morningside College

Ellis Yarnal Berry 1902–1999

U.S. representative from South Dakota

Also attended: University of South Dakota

Ralph F. Beermann 1912–1977

U.S. representative for Nebraska

Bud Day 1925–2013

Air Force officer and Medal of Honor recipient

Also attended: University of South Dakota

William L. Harding 1877–1934

22nd governor of Iowa

Also attended: University of South Dakota

Stanley L. Greigg 1931–2002

Former US Representative from Iowa

Also attended: Syracuse University

James I. Dolliver 1894–1978

Republican US Representative from Iowa

Attended until 1915

Also attended: University of Chicago

Sharon S. Steckman 1947–

Iowa House of Representatives member

Also attended: Iowa State University, University of Nebraska at Kearney

Lawrence E. Roberts 1922–2004

Air Force colonel and Tuskegee Airmen pilot

Also attended: Tuskegee University, Howard University

Child: Robin Roberts (Southeastern Louisiana University)

Einar Haugen 1906–1994

Norwegian-American linguist and professor

Also attended: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, St. Olaf College

Ira Noel Gabrielson 1889–1977

Naturalist and ornithologist

Arthur Ward Lindsey 1894–1963

Entomologist

Alexander Grant Ruthven 1882–1971

Herpetologist and president of the University of Michigan

Also attended: University of Michigan-Ann Arbor

Samuel A. Stouffer 1900–1960

Sociologist and survey research pioneer

Also attended: University of Chicago, Harvard University

Phyllis Somerville 1943–2020

Stage, film and television actress

Also attended: University of Northern Iowa

Pauline Phillips 1918–2013

Advice columnist who began Dear Abby

Sibling: Eppie Lederer (Morningside University)

Eppie Lederer 1918–2002

Advice columnist known as Ann Landers

Child: Margo Howard (Brandeis University)

Sibling: Pauline Phillips (Morningside University)

Emory Parnell 1892–1979

Vaudeville performer and actor in over 250 films

Josephine Herbst 1892–1969

Writer and journalist

Also attended: University of California-Berkeley, University of Iowa, University of Washington-Seattle Campus

Peggy Gilbert 1905–2007

Jazz saxophonist and bandleader

Era Bell Thompson 1905–1986

Journalist, writer and editor

Attended until 1933

Also attended: Northwestern University

Roger Neumann 1941–2018

Jazz saxophonist, composer and arranger

Also attended: Berklee College of Music

A. G. Kruger 1979–

American hammer thrower

Paul Splittorff 1946–2011

Professional baseball player and TV sports commentator

Matthew Harrison 1962–

13th president of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod

Also attended: Concordia Theological Seminary