Cathy Luebke
Cathy Luebke established the Luebke-Laade Scholarship in honor of her family. Cathy’s parents, Henry O. “Hank” Luebke and Augusta C. “Gussie” Laade, grew up in Chicago during the Great Depression. Both had to work from an early age to help support their families and they were able to take only a few advanced courses each. Hank and Gussie met and married after World War II, where Hank served in the Battle of the Bulge. Cathy was their only child and the first of the Luebkes to graduate from college. She believes strongly that every child in this country should have the opportunity for an advanced education. Cathy was fortunate that her parents were able to take on most of the financial burden for her education; this is Cathy’s way of giving back since she had no children of her own.
Impact
Cathy received her degree in journalism from Southern Illinois University in 1973 and enjoyed a long career reporting and editing for community and business newspapers, as well as automotive writing. Cathy established this scholarship to encourage students to continue and finish their education. She believes it is important for the public to have access to a strong flow of accurate and objective information and is proud to support the students in Mass Communication who seek to provide it.