Dero and Harriet Downing
Dero Goodman Downing was born on September 10, 1921. Downing, the fourth President of Western Kentucky University, was born in Fountain Run, Kentucky, and raised in Horse Cave, Kentucky. One of eight children of Katie Burton Goodman and A.C. Downing, Downing became a leader at an early age. He was president of his 1939 Horse Cave High School senior class and a star member of the basketball team.
Recruited by legendary WKU Coach E.A. Diddle to play basketball at Western, Downing began a lifelong love affair with the university, the community, and the woman who became his wife of 68 years, Harriet Yarnell. He was a star member of some of the late Coach Diddle’s finest basketball teams, including the first Western team to participate in the National Invitation Tournament in New York’s Madison Square Garden. Receiving his undergraduate degree in mathematics in 1943, Downing was again president of his senior class and was elected to “Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities.” After graduation, Downing joined the United States Navy as an ensign and served as an officer on a ship carrying troops and supplies in the first wave to hit the beaches at Normandy on D-Day in June, 1944. He was engaged in naval activity across the English Channel between England and France until the end of World War II. In late 1945, he was released from active service with the rank of lieutenant.
In 1946, Downing returned to Western as a mathematics teacher and basketball coach at College High School, the high school division of Western’s Training School. He completed his Master of Arts degree at Western in 1947. Downing gave up coaching in 1950 to devote his full attention to teaching mathematics, and in 1956 was named director of the Training School.
Downing received his Ed.S. degree in 1958 from George Peabody College for Teachers in Nashville. He was named Registrar for Western in 1959, Director of Admissions in 1962, and served as Dean of Business Affairs before being named Vice-President for Administrative Affairs in 1965. In 1969, Downing became Western’s fourth President, a position he held until his retirement in 1979, then being named President Emeritus. He then became President of the College Heights Foundation where he continued to serve as Chairman of the Board.
Downing was an active member of State Street United Methodist Church since 1946, having served on the Administrative Board, as a Sunday School teacher, working with youth groups, and as a member of the Men’s Liberty Bible Class. He was a former member of the Kiwanis Club and a longtime member of the Fortnightly Club. He served on the Boards of The Boys Club and The Girls Club. For many years, Downing refereed high school and college basketball games, officiating in both the OVC and SEC.
Downing received numerous honors, including honorary Doctor of Humanities degrees from Kentucky Wesleyan College in Owensboro in 1970, Morehead State University in 1974, and honorary Doctor of Laws degrees from Murray State University in 1972, and Eastern Kentucky University in 1979. He passed away on April 4, 2011.
Harriet Elizabeth Yarnell Downing was born on October 31, 1922, in Searcy, Arkansas. The daughter of Henry and Jenny Yarnell, Harriet grew up the child of the local Postmaster and a Justice of the Peace. After graduating high school in Searcy, Harriet originally planned to attend Hendricks College in Arkansas. Through the advice and counsel of an attorney for whom she worked and of a special music teacher, Harriet instead traveled the road to Bowling Green, Kentucky and Western Kentucky State Teachers College.
During her first few days on campus in 1941, Harriet met Dero Downing, the man with whom she would form a bond and partnership that would carry them on a journey lasting until his death in 2011, and beyond, until she joined him on March 3, 2023. The pair spent their lives traversing a path filled with family, faith, and dedication to what would become Western Kentucky University.
While Harriet shared in raising five children while maintaining a home and being involved in church and school activities, and always acting as the perfect partner and helpmate in Dero’s career, she often deflected praise of her own accomplishments and contributions to the community. Everyone who knew her, however, was blessed with the gift of her complete immersion in the person they were and where their own road had led them. Whether the grocery store clerk, the community leader, the fellow church member, the university administrator, the gas station attendant, the philanthropist, or the best friend of a grandchild, each person held a position of unique importance in her perspective on the world.
As one of the earliest members of WKU’s Faculty Wives Club, Harriet knew the value of the spouses and families of all WKU faculty and staff, and made a special point of validating and acknowledging the contribution of the families of university employees. A loyal member of State Street United Methodist Church since 1941, Harriet devoted many hours to cultivating her own faith and that of her family. Her belief that she was the most blessed person she knew gave her the strength relied on by family and friends throughout her life. Nothing was more treasured in Harriet’s life’s journey than her family.
The establishment of the Dero and Harriet Downing Scholarship Fund within the College Heights Foundation was made possible by colleagues and other friends at the time Dr. Downing announced his resignation as the fourth president of Western Kentucky University. The committee, which gave leadership to the creation of the fund, requested that it also serve as a tribute to Harriet Downing as Western Kentucky University’s First Lady during her husband’s period of service from 1969 to 1979. In addition, the scholarship fund continues to honor the memory of Dr. and Mrs. Downing, and the many contributions to their family, friends, profession and community.