A grateful SDSU alum

BROOKINGS — While awaiting the birth of her third child in late 1966, Joan Hogan knew only one thing about South Dakota: This state gets a lot of blizzards.

She and her husband, Dr. Ed Hogan, were about to make South Dakota — Brookings, to be specific —their home as Ed embarked on his career as an SDSU geography professor and Joan managed their growing household.

They arrived in January 1967 and planned to stay for only two years.
Instead, they stayed for decades.
The couple raised five children — Bridget, Eddie, Tim, Erin, and Molly — and established themselves as a respected SDSU and Brookings family.

The Hogans also owned five shoe stores in Brookings, which Joan managed. She later attended college, graduating from SDSU with a bachelor’s degree in 1994 and a master’s degree in 1999.

“We just fell in love not only with Brookings and SDSU, but with the whole state,” she said. “So we stayed.”

On Oct. 23, Joan Hogan will be honored as one of South Dakota State University’s Distinguished Alumni, with her five children and 15 grandchildren by her side. Ed Hogan passed away Feb. 18, 2025. The couple was married for 61 years.

******
In the 1960s in Brookings, not many women worked outside the home, Hogan said. But as their oldest children reached middle school, she thought of ways to earn additional income to help fund the kids’ college educations.

“I said, you know what? Whenever I have to take the kids for school shoes, I have to go to Sioux falls. We could start a childrens’ store,” Hogan said.

If the Shoe Fits opened in 1976. The family eventually owned five stores, which she managed until the early 1990s when she went back to college.

Hogan had completed two years of coursework at St. Louis University, majoring in history. When she enrolled at SDSU at age 49, she changed her major to communications.

“I shouldn’t be surprised at how well I was treated,” she said. “Everyone in the department was very kind. They treated me like any other student.”

She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees, then became an instructor in the communications department, now part of the School of Communications and Journalism at SDSU.

During her college years, Hogan experienced “another career all on its own,” creating and hosting the radio program “Holmspun Medicine” with the late Dr. Richard Holm, a local internal medicine physician.

Her segue into broadcasting was perhaps not surprising for those in the Brookings area who had grown accustomed to hearing her voice on the radio during her years as a business owner.

“I couldn’t afford much for advertising when I had the stores, so I would call in three times a week for a 30-second commercial with Bert Getz on KBRK,” she said. “And Bert would just keep talking. People heard a woman’s voice on the radio and paid attention. It was amazing to me.”

Holm had reached out to Hogan about doing a television show, and after doing some research, she told him they could be on the radio in a month and on television in a year.

“Holmspun Medicine,” a 30-minute weekly call-in radio show about healthcare topics, was a success, with Hogan as the host and Holm as the medical expert.

“I learned a lot from Dr. Holm. I really enjoyed watching this man, seeing what he could do. And I did enjoy the on-air discussions,” she said. “It was great fun working with a man that was so dedicated to getting knowledge out. He cared so much.”

Hogan also credits Cami Powers, now general manager of Brookings Radio, for helping the radio show gain traction. Powers cites Hogan’s determination, work ethic and communication skills as foundations for the success of “Holmspun Medicine.”

“I was working at KBRK when Joan first brought the idea for Holmspun Medicine to the station,” Powers wrote in a letter recommending Hogan as an SDSU Distinguished Alumnus. “… when Joan Hogan believed in something, she did not wait for the world to catch up with her. She built Holmspun Medicine from the ground up, and I mean that literally. There was no template, no staff, no budget waiting for her. Joan created the format, organized the recording schedule, managed the archive and handled production … What Joan assembled at this radio station was, by any measure, a remarkable piece of community broadcasting.”

Powers also cites Hogan’s talent as a co-host. When Holm, a gifted physician, went into deep clinical detail, Hogan would kindly and patiently ensure viewers’ questions had been answered, prompting follow-up comments and clarification from the doctor.

“People in radio talk about co-host chemistry as though it simply happens. What I witnessed between Joan and Dr. Holm was not accidental chemistry — it was Joan working, consciously and skillfully, week after week, to make Dr. Holm’s knowledge genuinely accessible to ordinary people. She was the yin to his yang: the steady hand that kept the program on course, the warm presence that made listeners feel welcome,” Powers wrote.

*****
As the radio show aired, Hogan continued working toward a TV spot for Holm, helping start what is now the multimedia production “Prairie Doc” that continues to this day, providing medical information to rural communities.

Hogan, who grew up in Oak Park, Illinois, never imagined herself living in South Dakota, and although she likes to travel, she’d never want to live anywhere else.

“I’m just grateful that we were able to raise our family here and have the life that we had,” she said.

“It’s all because of South Dakota State. We were so influenced by SDSU from the time we arrived here. It gave us a life that I didn’t know I’d ever have.”

These days, she knows there’s a lot more to Brookings and SDSU than blizzards.

The title of the award this fall, she added, should be “Grateful Alumni” instead of “Distinguished Alumni.”