Rosenkjar, Einer "Rosy"

Born on a farm in Iowa of recently immigrated Danish parents; deafened about age 3 from spinal meningitis. Attended the Iowa School for the Deaf, then graduated Gallaudet College 1931. Originally intending to be a teacher, he went back to school at Iowa State to learn engineering, completing his B.S.C.E. degree in 1935. At first he worked for his brother-in-law during the Great Depression, but in 1939 got a job for the City of Los Angeles, eventually being put in charge of the Bridge and Tunnel Maintenance Group. During World War II, he worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, building bridges in Latin America for the Pan-American Highway. Many of Los Angeles' freeway bridges were also designed by Rosenkjar and have withstood several earthquakes. Married Helen Hunter in 1936.