The impact that this year’s Homecoming king and queen have made at Illinois State is monumental. Their involvement, support, and love for the University make it fitting that Lynda Lane ’66 and Carl Kasten ’66 were crowned during the milestone year of ISU’s centennial Homecoming.
Lane came to campus in 1962 to study French. She joined the French Club and chaired both the Homecoming and Big Four committees. She fondly remembers Homecoming as she attended the parade, bonfire, game, and dance. Lane also met President Robert Bone. She was a part of a historical time when Illinois State Normal University became Illinois State University her sophomore year, and enrollment doubled in size.
Kasten shares the same memory. While serving as student senate president, he worked with campus officials on the name change. A social science education major, Kasten joined the men’s glee club, young democrats, and LUNA. He will never forget attending President Bone’s midnight reception on the Quad upon his return from the Middle East.
Following graduation, Lane began teaching French in a Chicago suburb school. She married and moved with her husband back to central Illinois, where she taught elementary and high school English. Lane retired as Olympia High School’s Department Chair of English and Foreign Language, and substituted until 2020.
She served on the Alumni Association Board of Directors for 37 years and in 2017 received the E. Burton Mercier Service Award. Lane is a volunteer at Ewing Manor and serves on several Alumni Association committees. She and Kasten enjoy attending ISU events, including Half Century Club reunions, Athletics competitions, and Homecoming.
Kasten attended Northwestern University’s School of Law and earned his juris doctorate in 1969. He practiced law the next 48 years, primarily in the field of personal injury and wrongful death litigation.
He was appointed to ISU’s inaugural Board of Trustees and served as chair. He co-founded the ISU Attorneys Advisory Council, served as a trustee for the State University Retirement System, and was a member of the Alumni Association Board of Directors for 14 years. Kasten received the Distinguished Alumni Award in 2014.
Alumni leaders selected as Homecoming Royalty
