Tara Zumwalt grew up in Iowa, and she always assumed she would attend Iowa State University like her mom. But when she started looking at various colleges around the country, she became interested in the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the school her dad attended.
Her dad always talked about his great experiences at Illinois, but he never put any pressure on her to attend his beloved school.
While going through the college search process, Tara learned more about her family’s Illinois history. If she decided to attend Illinois, she would be the fifth generation in her family to attend the school. That fact, combined with the strong engineering program and Marching Illini, led her to pick Illinois. She says it was a great decision.
“I absolutely love U. of I.,” she said, “and being the fifth generation was definitely part of my decision. It’s just really unique to have that long of a blood lineage attending one school.”
Ralph Allen Sr. was the first member of the family to attend Illinois, then known as the Illinois Industrial University. He graduated in 1876 with a degree in agriculture and later earned an advanced degree as well. He gained a reputation as a progressive grain and cattle farmer. In an October 1927 Illinois alumni publication, he was recognized as “one of the best-known Illinois agriculture graduates.”
He and his wife Ada Mary Allen (who also attended Illinois) had 10 children. Eight of those children graduated from Illinois including Ralph Allen Jr., Tara’s great grandfather. Two of the Allen children died of influenza while they were U. of I. students.
Ralph Allen Jr. graduated in 1912 with a degree in agriculture. His daughter, Martha Allen Zumwalt, graduated from Illinois in 1943 with a degree in home economics. Martha’s siblings, Anna Louis Farnsworth and Stella Orwig, also attended Illinois.
Martha began dating Delmar Zumwalt while at Illinois. They soon married and eventually had five children: Gene, Ann, Connie, Clark and Jack. All but Clark graduated from Illinois, including Tara’s father, Jack, who graduated in 1985 with a degree in agricultural communications. Now Tara is a sophomore in civil engineering at Illinois and Tara’s cousin, Eve Zumwalt (daughter of Clark), is a junior in speech and hearing science. Eve’s brother Jacob Zumwalt just graduated from Illinois last year. Connie’s son Mac Zumwalt graduated in 2006.
When Ann Gerdes (a fourth generation Illinois alumna) was an undergraduate, her mother, Martha, decided to return to Illinois to get her master’s degree in education. In fact, one summer the mother and daughter both lived in Illini Tower in different rooms. In 1973, they both graduated. Ann received her undergraduate degree and her mother received her master’s degree. Another year, Ann, her brother, Gene, and her sister, Connie, were all enrolled at the same time. One year Ann also had four first cousins that were enrolled simultaneously.
Ann had hoped that her two children would also follow the family legacy, but they had other plans.
When anyone asks Ann if her children attended Illinois, she will sigh and reply, “No, they went to Stanford.” Then she quickly adds, “But they are still Illinois fans when it comes to sports!”
She said she is glad that her nieces, Tara and Eve, choose to attend Illinois. “Attending Illinois was one of the highlights of our lives,” Ann says. “It’s been really fun to go back and visit our nieces. We are reliving our college days a little bit through them.”
Going back to Ralph and Ada Mary and their ten children, it adds up to a huge Illinois family tree. More than 100 family members who are direct descendants of Ralph and Ada Mary or have married into the family have attended or graduated from the University of Illinois.
And even though Tara has several aunts, uncles and cousins who have attended Illinois, her position in the family is unique.
“I think I’m one of the few direct, blood descendant who is a fifth generation Illinois student,” she said. Then she paused. “Unless my younger brother, Axel, goes here!”
Tara said her brother is still trying to decide on a major, but he’s interested in engineering.
“I tell him all about Illinois,” she said. “It’ll be exciting to see where he chooses.”
Tara said one of her favorite parts of choosing Illinois was visiting her grandma, Martha, and telling her the decision. Her grandma had endured a decline in health, but as soon as Tara told her the good news, her disposition changed completely.
“Her face just lit up,” Tara said. “She started telling me stories about her experience and about dating my grandpa, Delmar, on campus before he graduated early in 1943 to become a liaison pilot in W.W. II.”
With family history all around, Tara said she can’t help but think about them when she walks around campus.
“It’s really special,” she says. “My freshman year I lived in a dorm right by the AGR house, my grandpa’s fraternity. I’ve seen pictures of my family on the Quad or in front of their Greek houses, and it’s crazy that they are the same buildings that are there now. It’s just a huge part of our family.”
For Homecoming every year, several members of the family come back to campus and celebrate. In 1995, the Allen family was chosen as the first recipient of the ACES Alumni Association “Family Spirit Award.” There is also a room in the ACES Library commemorating Ralph Allen Sr. and his legacy appropriately named the “Ralph Allen Family Room.” The room includes a bronze portrait of the family patriarch that was created by his daughter Lucy Elizabeth Allen, who is also an Illinois alumna.
The future of the family lineage at Illinois isn’t in question, but Tara said it has crossed her mind.
“It would be sad if the lineage doesn’t continue,” she said, “but I will handle it with my kids how my parents did. My dad never pressured me to go here. I’ll just tell them it’s a great school, and hopefully they’ll choose Illinois.”