A celebration of life service was held in the Twomey Auditorium Saturday, Sept. 8 for former history professor Alfred Eugene Twomey. He was recognized by many of the students he taught and colleagues with whom he worked for his highly personalized teaching style and air of cynicism, which earned him an extra measure of respect.

“He made each of our lives better,” said David Rice, former professor.

Rice came to Warrensburg at age 27 for his first teaching position.

“I never thought of Gene as being old, even though we were 30 years, one month different in age,” Rice said. “I always thought of Gene as my age.“

Rice shared memories of Twomey throughout the service. He said in his initial encounters with Twomey he detected “an air of suspicion” around him, a trait that characterized Twomey to be cynical of any student or colleague and leading to the persona that made him famous among those who knew him.

“It didn’t take each of us too very long from the moment I arrived on campus for him to come visit me in my office,” Rice said.

There was an old, mint green chair in the office where Rice and Twomey met for the first time. After a while of getting to know Twomey through a series of meetings, Rice said he felt Twomey really deserved a chair.

“He’s been here so long,” Rice said.

Rice said he made a little post-it note and placed it above the chair, calling it “The A.E. Gene Twomey Chair of Cynicism.”

All participants throughout the service reflected on his unique ability to teach, and how his talent and dedication earned him the ability to quickly gain attention, respect and approval from fellow students and colleagues.

“Before there was Google, there was Gene,” Rice said.

When a student would come up to him with a question, he was notorious for answering with a short and simple reply, then encouraging the student to research and check out the background on the topic.

Mary Ellen Rowe, former history professor, spoke of how she proudly inherited “The Chair of Cynicism” from 1990 to 2018 in the service.

“It mysteriously appeared in my office” Rowe said. “I assume Professor Twomey had one of his teaching assistants put it there. He would not have picked up a piece of furniture and moved it himself. I just walked in one day and there it was,” Rowe said.

“What I learned is you don’t question these things, you just accept them because Gene wanted it to
happen,” Rowe said. “It became a mark of acceptance. Gene is never going to come up to you and say ‘Hey you did a great job. I am glad to have you here. You’re going to make a great addition to this department. He was the type of guy to have a T.A. move (his) Chair of Cynicism into your office to let you know that is what he thinks.”

Upon Rowe’s retirement in May 2018, it was time to pass on this tradition and story to her colleague Krisana West, who spoke of her experience of receiving the chair most recently.

“What was interesting was that the previous office professional, Rowe, called me up one day saying ‘I have something here. It can’t just be forgotten. It needs to go someplace to someone who will understand,'” West said.

West said she came over and carried the chair into her office. She re-taped the sign that was getting a little ragged and smoothed out the edges very carefully.

“I don’t allow many people to sit in it,” she said.

Rice said with local students who graduated from Warrensburg High School, he became known as “Uncle Gene” through lecture presentations while they were transitioning from high school to university life.

Many traditions were reflected upon in the service, including Twomey’s passion for the Star Theater, his love for eating fried chicken, his gift for hand-picking greeting cards and giving them out to colleagues along with a special pin to some extra special colleagues as a symbol of his respect or admiration for the time they dedicated to being his teaching assistant or colleague.

Rice said he was recognized for his dedication for having spent a lot of time lurking in a store, hand-picking out just the right line, for just the right moment.

Novella Perrin, dean emeritus of the graduate school and sociology professor, said she’s been given numerous pins from Twomey in appreciation for her time spent helping him in the department.

Perrin said the one thing that held the most significance was a simple flower and hummingbird that had belonged to Twomey’s mother. She said she wears it on special occasions and she felt honored he respected her enough to have given her something that had been his mother’s.

A bronze plaque hangs in the auditorium where Twomey taught the majority of his classes. Perhaps from this spot he will continue his tradition of expressing his own method of gratitude to all those in attendance.