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Alumni Center to build fountain to honor deceased student

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Published: Sunday, March 4, 2007

Updated: Sunday, July 13, 2008

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Clay Lomneth

Tami Foehlinger, one of Bob Foehlinger's sisters, speaks with some former twirling students of Foehlinger's, Julie Dean, a junior advertising major, and Brooke Walter, a senior hospitality and tourism management major. Tami said it was very fitting that her bother would be honored with a fountain on campus because he loved the university so much.

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Clay Lomneth

Brooke Walter, a senior hospitality and tourism major, performs at the Spaghetti Splash, a groundbreaking for a memorial fountain for deceased UNL student Bob Foehlinger, who was killed in a car accident. The Spaghetti Splash on Friday raised about $8,500, making the total money raised for the fountain around $51,000.

Bob Foehlinger was an active student on campus. He spent his time twirling a baton on the football field, studying at the Delta Tau Delta Fraternity house and representing the university as a student leader.

Now, almost four years after his death from a car accident, his memory will continue on campus, permanently etched as a centerpiece to students.

On Friday, the Wick Alumni Center hosted a fundraiser for a memorial in his honor.

The Bob Foehlinger Memorial Fountain will be built in the Holling Garden of the Wick Alumni Center. Foehlinger was the president of the Student Alumni Association Board of Directors at the time of his death.

"The idea to update the Holling Gardens came around about three years ago," said Anna Pressler, the coordinator of student and recent graduate programs for the Nebraska Alumni Association.

After Foehlinger died, the Student Alumni Association decided a fountain in the memory of him would be a great idea, she said.

"Initial estimates said it would cost $50,000 to build the fountain, but that didn't deter anyone," said Shelley Zaborowski, the senior associate executive director for the Nebraska Alumni Association.

They forged ahead with the help of Foehlinger's family, the Innocents, Mortar Board, Alumni Association and Spaghetti Works, Zaborowski said.

The family donated the first $5,000 for the fountain and the Alumni Association matched those funds, Pressler said.

Since then, they've held the Spaghetti Splash fundraisers to help make money, netting around $10,000 per fundraiser, she said.

After Friday, they raised enough money to hit their goal, with $1,000 to spare.

Foehlinger's mother, Sue, said she was overwhelmed that her son touched so many lives and was such a positive influence on people.

Julie Dean, a junior marketing major and vice president of the Student Alumni Association, twirled with Foehlinger in Sue's Steperettes and said she was one of the lucky people who got private lessons from him.

She said the team jokingly hated Foehlinger as much as they loved him because he always pushed everyone to succeed and perform better.

"He was so many things to so many people," Dean said. "He could do anything he put his mind to."