The Torch Award was established to acknowledge and honor alumni and non-alumni parents. The Torch Award is given to an alumni family of at least two generations or to non-alumni parents, all of whose children have attended William Penn University.
The Ken and Lorelei Martin family has exceeded what a Torch family legacy is all about. Ken an electrician at K&D Electric and Lorelei the school secretary at Oskaloosa encouraged their children to continue their education after high school and helped in many ways.
Ken and Lorelei had four children – Steve, Jim, Joette and Jeffy (deceased at 1 ½ years old). Steve, who passed in 2012, married Claudia Brandtner who graduated in 1979 and was a teacher at Oskaloosa Schools in the TAG program. On a side branch of this tree, Claudia’s brother, Alex graduated from William Penn in 1977 and became a pediatric dentist. Jim graduated in 1976 with a major in Industrial Technology and played football during the Boot Hill Bowl era. He taught and coached for several years before becoming an engineer at the Donaldson Company where he retired after 29 years. Jim and his wife, Cathy live in WI. Cathy’s sister, Connie (Goemaat) Jimenez, also graduated from WPU in 1971. The third sibling, Joette, began a new line of family legacy.
The next generation: Joette a retired surgical first assistant, and her husband, Robert, a retired farmer and truck driver have four children- Amy, Nicole, Stacy and Joel. The third generation begins to expand on the William Penn campus as this family grows.
Amy, a nurse with the Medtronics company, is married to Ryan Andersen, who graduated in 2002 with an Elementary Education degree and played baseball for WPU. He now works as the Behavior Interventionist at North Mahaska Schools. Their son, the third generation, Nolan is a current student at WPU on the golf team. Sydney, their daughter, was a freshman as well and a potential basketball player for William Penn until her tragic death the fall of 2025.
Nicole, is a guidance counselor for North Mahaska Elementary School and her husband, Joel DeBoef, has taken classes part-time at WPU and is employed by Musco. Their son, Asher is currently a freshman at WPU and is on the men’s basketball team.
Stacy, is a new Instructor at WPU in the Education Division, her husband Tim Veiseth is Superintendent at North Mahaska Schools. Their son, Brayden is a current student here and participates on the cross country and track teams. His sister, Allie plans to join the campus family this coming fall ’26.
Joel, a 2010 graduate, majored in Industrial Technology and played basketball. He works at Farm Credit is married to Allison (Knoot), a Specialist elementary teacher in the Oskaloosa School system.
Taking a look at another branch on the tree, Joette’s husband, Robert brings another lineage. Robert’s brother, Roger married Joi, a graduate of 1996. She retired from teaching at Oskaloosa Elementary as a Title I reading teacher. Their twin sons, Caleb and Clint both graduated from WPU in 2010; both played basketball and majored in Industrial Technology.
Robert’s sister, Bonnie (Stout) Dawley graduated from William Penn in 2002 and is a special education teacher at North Mahaska. Her daughter, Amanda (Dawley) Ross, finished her Elementary Education at WPU in 2006 and her Master of Business Leadership in 2010. Bonnie’s son, Steve Dawley, graduated in 2011, majored in Sociology/Criminology and played football for the Statesmen.
A couple of side notes, Allison (Knoot) Stout’s grandmother, Mary Louise Sieren graduated in 1970 as well as Allison’s mother, Carol Knoot, graduated from William Penn in 1983.
Allison’s siblings, Amanda, married to Brett Doud, Oskaloosa High School football coach, graduated in 2006 and is the Director of the Mahaska Hospital Foundation; Amber, graduated in 2011 and is a Financial Advisor with Edward Jones, and is married to Nick Coffey, a graduate of 2011 and basketball player for WPU, who is currently the Assistant Women’s Basketball Coach at WPU and also earned his Master of Sport Management in 2025; and Alex graduated in 2014, and teaches at the Oskaloosa Middle School, while his wife, Taylor (Richardson) Knoot attended for two years, Class of 2019 and currently works at Musco.
We are honored to recognize the commitment of the Ken and Lorelei Martin family as the 2026 Torch Award recipients.