Donald Kaiser

Madison - Donald F. Kaiser, age 88, former director of Independent Study, UW-Extension, died on Sunday, November 13, 2011. He was born on September 17, 1923, in Burkburnett, Texas, the son of Paul and Marguerite (Gallman) Kaiser, and the brother of Sylvia and Kenneth Kaiser.
Don entered military service in 1942 during World War II. He volunteered to be trained as a deep-sea diver, and after training was assigned to the 106th Engineering and Port Repair Company. During the war he was involved in salvage operations along the Normandy coast of France. After Germany's surrender, his diving unit was transferred to the South Pacific for further salvage operations.
With the financial aid of the GI Bill, he graduated in 1948 from North Texas University. From 1948 to 1950 he attended George Washington University, D.C., to study English and American literature, while also working part-time in the editorial office of the Congressional Quarterly. He married Barbara Collins in Washington, D.C., on March 27, 1951.
Don and Barbara resided in Anchorage, Alaska, from 1951 to 1956, where their daughter, Andrea, was born. In Anchorage he worked in the information office of the Rural Electrification Administration, while also teaching evening classes in literature for the University of Alaska.
In 1956 he and his wife moved to Madison. He enrolled in a doctoral program at the University of Wisconsin and later joined the staff of the UW Press. In 1965 he joined the faculty of University Extension. Don served as the director of Extension's Independent Study, which enrolled approximately 10,000 students annually, from 1965 to 1987 when he retired. He also worked with the faculty and WHA Radio in developing university courses. In 1987 he received Extension's Award of Excellence for furthering the reputation of the Independent Study program as a national model in continuing education.
Barbara, his wife, died in 2004, and he is survived by his daughter, Andrea, son-in-law Michael Wunnicke, and grandchildren Aaron (Chelsea), Claire (Antonio Avilia Rivas), and Brendan Wunnicke. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to a charity or project of one's choice. He made the request that a private burial be held with members of the family. He recently recorded in his diary these words of Walt Whitman:
"This is your hour, my soul, your free flight into the wordless. Away from books, away from art, the day erased, the lesson done. You fully emerging, silent, gazing, pondering the themes of night, sleep... and the stars."