Conservation pioneer William Aberg, 80, a staunch Republican who worked with Aldo Leopold to pass the Conservation Act of 1927 and save the Horicon Marsh, died on March 18. A major east-side street was later named in his honor.
Alicia Ashman, an activist with League of Women Voters and Capital Community Citizens, was elected April 2 as the second woman to serve on the Madison Common Council. A public library was named in her honor in 2000.
Bjarne Romnes, 56, executive director of the Madison Housing Authority, died on April 10. The Richmond Hills public housing project for the elderly, which opened a month after Romnes' death, was renamed in his honor.
Sol Levin, director of the Madison Redevelopment Authority, became the first head of Department of Housing and Community Development, which the city created to merge the staffs of the two agencies after Romnes' death.
Army coach Bobby Knight, 27, is named the UW's new head basketball coach on April 24. Knight considers the announcement "premature," and angrily declines the job.
Erwin Knoll, 36, former Washington Post reporter and White House correspondent for Newhouse News Service, becomes Washington correspondent for The Capital Times and The Progressive magazine; he is arrested and jailed while covering the Democratic Convention in Chicago in August.
Olympic great Jesse Owens addresses the opening day banquet of the West Branch of Madison YMCA on June 4.
In a June 7 address at his alma mater, East High grad (1958) and Washington Redskin Pat Richter tells the Class of '68 that what counts is "character."
Deputy District Attorney David Mebane, 33, is kidnapped and robbed at knife point near Drake Hotel while in Chicago for legal education conference on Aug. 4.
Rev. Richard Pritchard is installed as the first minister of the new Heritage Congregational Church on Sept. 8, following his ouster by Westminster Presbyterian.
Edward Garvey, 28, of Eagle Heights, former president of the Wisconsin Student Association and national president of the National Student Association, is tapped to manage the Dane County campaign for Bronson La Follette's unsuccessful run for governor.
Attorney Shirley S. Abrahamson presents an ACLU/WCLU statement on dissent and political protest to Mayor Festge on Sept. 25.
Eugene Parks, 21, receives 3,260 write-in votes for sheriff, Nov. 4.
Senate Dems reelect liberal gadfly and parliamentary tactician Fred Risser as minority leader, Nov. 18.
Adolph C. Bolz, Oscar Mayer and Co. retired senior vice president, and the first Madison plant manager, dies at age 74, Nov. 28.
John Matthews is hired as the first executive secretary of Madison Teachers Inc.
Midge Miller, a former assistant dean in the UW College of Letters and Science, runs the Madison headquarters of Eugene McCarthy's presidential campaign.
Bill Kraus chairs the finance committee of the powerful Coordinating Council for Higher Education.
Ruth B. Doyle, wife of federal Judge James E. Doyle Jr., and mother of Wisconsin's current governor, is vice president of the Madison school board and an administrator at the UW. The school administration building is later named in her honor.
