Joe E. Talkington, a former Illinois State University professor and department chair remembered for opening doors to college for generations of students, died this week at age 95.
Talkington spent nearly 30 years at ISU, joining what is now the Department of Technology in 1962 and later serving for years as its chair. He retired in June 1991, but colleagues say he never really left.
"He's really involved in our department, attends our events," said Josh Brown, the current chair of ISU's Department of Technology, who knew Talkington for 18 years. "He's always been around our department and helpful."
Born in Chickasha, Okla., during the Great Depression, Talkington studied at Oklahoma State University and served two years in Korea with the U.S. Air Force. He taught high school in Midland, Tex., before earning a master's degree and doctorate from Colorado State University.
He arrived at ISU in 1962 and never left.
As chair, Talkington guided the department through a period of rapid change, as engineering design became digital.
"He really went from kind of manual drafting to computer-aided design, and really transitioned the department in that era," Brown said. "That legacy carries on here too, from a curriculum standpoint."
After retiring, Talkington founded Star Uniforms, with locations in Bloomington, Urbana and Springfield. He later sold the business to his son, Michael Talkington, an ISU graduate who works at State Farm.
'He always had big ideas'
Talkington and his wife, Charlotte — a former ISU Family and Consumer Sciences professor — established seven scholarship funds in all, six of them supporting students or faculty in ISU's College of Applied Science and Technology, along with additional funds at Heartland Community College.
The Joe Talkington Endowed Scholarship, established in 1995, supports full-time technology majors with financial need. The award is open to community college graduates — a reflection, Brown said, of what mattered most to him.
"He was a constant supporter of students," Brown said. "He wanted to make college accessible for all students."
He added, "[Talkington’s] scholarship here, its primary focus is on community college transfers, and I think that that's one thing that he was very passionate about is students coming in and getting an education."
With his son Michael, he established the Star for Nursing Education Endowed Scholarship for students in ISU's Mennonite College of Nursing. And in 2017, he helped create the Dr. Claude Bell Endowed Scholarship in Technology, honoring a close friend and colleague.
Talkington made a point of meeting the students his scholarship supported.
"He would take them out to lunch or whatever and get to know them," Brown said.
Brown said Talkington remained engaged with the department until the end. The two met as recently as last fall, when Talkington pitched ideas for research collaborations between ISU's technology and agriculture programs.
"He always had big ideas," Brown said. "He was an idea guy that really looked at the nuts and bolts of how to get stuff done."
The Talkingtons lived at Westminster Village in Bloomington, where Joe created a scholarship for ISU students who work at the retirement community. He was a member of Normal's Rotary Club for more than 50 years.
In May, Heartland Community College — where a greenhouse bears the Talkingtons' name — honored the couple with its President's Medallion for their decades of service to education.
"Joe will really be missed," Brown said. "He always had questions, which was a great thing […] and was willing to sit down and talk through stuff and help any way he could."