Kenyon S. Tweedell

Kenyon S. Tweedell, 97, passed away on March 30th.  He was born in Stirling, IL to late Kirkham Tweedell and Agnes (Wiederin) Tweedell.  He was also predeceased by his sister, Audrey Tweedell.  Upon graduating from high school in Calumet City, IL in 1943, he joined the U. S. Navy and served during WWII in the Pacific as a Radarman Second Class on the minesweeper Seminole.  After his discharge from the Navy in 1946 he attended the University of Illinois and earned his BA, MS, and PhD in Developmental Biology.  He then traveled to the University of Maine where he taught in the Biology Department for several years.  There he met and married Joan Werber, his wife of 65 years.  Together they had five children, Eric Tweedell (Michelle) of Standish, ME, Daren Mareb (Fred) of Sandown, NH, Kristin Tweedell Alexander of Woods Hole, MA, Lisa Tweedell of Key West, FL, and Brigit Carpenter (Kenneth) of Franklinville, NC.  They have seven grandchildren, Allison Tweedell, Paul Mareb (Tori), Rachel Mareb, Elisa Livengood-Coons (Michael), Heather Livengood-Harper (Simon), Steven Livengood (Stephanie), and Klarissa Chase.  They have one great-grandchild, Maxine Mae Coons.

In 1958 he became a professor at the University of Notre Dame where he taught Pre-Med and Embryology until his retirement in 1994.  He was proud of the accomplishments of his many students, especially Eric Wieschaus, a 1995 Nobel Prizewinner in Medicine.  While teaching, Dr. Tweedell also carried on research on tumors in frogs which was supported by grants from the American Cancer Society.  During his professional career he published many research papers in various biological journals.  He was a member of the American Society of

Zoologists, the Society for Developmental Biology, the International Society of Developmental Biologists, the Indiana Academy of Science, and the Society of Sigma Xi.

Every summer he traveled to the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA where he studied regeneration in Tubularia and Pectinaria marine animals.  His family loved those summers on Cape Cod and every one of his children are where they are in life because of those happy days in Woods Hole.

After retirement he continued publishing review papers on current research topics in Biology.  He also enjoyed gardening, birding, singing in the church choir, and researching Tweedell family genealogy.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at St. Joseph Catholic Church, South Bend, on Friday, April 9th at 10:00 a.m. with interment to follow at Cedar Grove Cemetery at Notre Dame.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Marine Biological Laboratory, 7 MBL St., Woods Hole, MA, 02543 or St. Joseph Catholic Church, 226 N. Hill St., South Bend, IN, 46617.

Palmer Funeral Home – Welsheimer Chapel is assisting the family with arrangements.  Family and friends may leave email condolences at www.palmerfuneralhomes.com.

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