The founder of the Vada Kinman Oldfield Alzheimer’s Research Fund at UNMC is a proud contributor of a new book that reflects on American life in 1936.
In “A Nation Lost and Found,” UNMC supporter Col. Barney Oldfield joins an array of extraordinary and ordinary people whose stories and memories chronicle the year the Boulder Dam was finished, the first artificial heart was implanted and Franklin Roosevelt and Adolph Hitler won re-elections by landslide margins.
On page 9, Col. Oldfield reflects on the 1936 presidential campaign loss of Alf Landon, when he was a reporter at the Lincoln Journal; and the importance of imagination and the unexpected. It also makes brief mention of the research fund he established in 1999 in honor of his wife Vada, who died in 1999 after an 11-year battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
The book, edited by Frank Pierson and Stanley K. Sheinbaum, includes contributions from 98 individuals including Art Linkletter, Sen. Howard Metzenbaum, Shirley Temple Black, Gregory Peck, Stanley Marcus and Dr. Ruth Westheimer.
Published by Tallfellow Press, the 364-page book will become part of the Vada Kinman Oldfield Alzheimer’s Research Fund display outside the geriatrics department on the third floor of University Hospital.
Searching for a cure
From the Vada Kinman Oldfield Alzheimer’s Research Fund, an award is given annually to a UNMC researcher with a promising new idea in Alzheimer’s research. In addition to the $10,000 annual award, the principal of the endowment is increased by $10,000 each year. Col. Oldfield has said that once a cure is found, the money will be redirected to battle other disorders of old age.
Nebraska roots
Col. Oldfield and his wife were 1933 graduates of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Over the years, the Oldfields have been generous supporters of various scholarship funds and programs at the University of Nebraska. A native of Tecumseh, Neb., Col. Oldfield had a successful career in the U.S. Air Force as a communications officer, then became a public relations executive for Litton Industries in Woodland Hills, Calif. Founder of the Nebraska Dollars for Scholars Program, Col. Oldfield is a legend in the public relations field and counts many celebrities on his list of close personal friends, including former President Ronald Reagan and boxer George Foreman.
Visit Col. Oldfield’s Web site at www.oldfields.org.