School Alumni Associations

IU School of Social Work Alumni Association

Alumni Profiles

Ed Gatke

Ed Gatke was born in Warsaw, Indiana and grew up "next door" in the village of Winona Lake.  He attended grade school in Winona Lake and high school in Warsaw. Following high school he went to Wheaton College in Illinois, where he earned his undergraduate degree in sociology. 

Ed was one of six boys born to his parents.  His youngest brother had Down's Syndrome and because of this, Ed became aware, at an early age, of the special needs of people with disabilities.  Early on, he had thought that he wanted to become a minister.  He was pointed in the direction of working in human services and, from a faith perspective,  he wanted to make a contribution to others.  While at Wheaton College, he was greatly influenced by Gordon Jaeck, ACSW, Professor of Social Work. He decided to pursue a master's degree in social work and applied to several schools, including Indiana University in Indianapolis.  He was interviewed at IU by Professor Walter Johnson and  wound up choosing IU because of demographics and logistics, and the fact that he was able to secure a stipend from the Indiana Department of Public Welfare.  Ed's field work placements were at Marion County DPW and  the Indianapolis Family  Service Association.  He and I attended graduate school together from 1961 to 1963. 

Ed and his first wife married right after graduation from Wheaton.  Following graduate school  he went into the Army to serve six months of active duty as part of his National Guard obligation.  He then went to work for the Madison County Welfare Department in Anderson, IN to fulfill his stipend commitment.  He was at their county children's home for two years in a frustrating job where he was trying to deal with children who had many different kinds of special needs without having the necessary resources to meet their needs.

Ed then went to work at the Indiana United Methodist Children's Home in Lebanon, IN where our classmate, Tom Temple, was working.  Ed worked there as a caseworker with the children and houseparents for about two and a half years.

Subsequently, he left to work as Director of Cary Children's Home in Lafayette, IN for six years.  While there, he enjoyed being involved in a statewide social work organization which planned regional meetings for social workers.  Ed takes pride in the fact that he arranged a regional program in Lafayette out of which grew an organization called United Stand for Children and Youth.  That organization  helped establish a group home for girls, developed a tutoring program in the Lafayette schools,  and started an "attention home" which thus stopped the jailing of juveniles with adults.  United Stand also lobbied the county government for adequate funding to establish an effective treatment program for adolescent males at Cary Home.  Several other programs for children also grew out of that organization.

Following his time in Lafayette, Ed  went to the Woodstock, IL Children's Home where he was to develop a treatment program for the children.  Instead, he uncovered abuses perpetrated by the staff of this home that was owned and operated by a strict religious group.  He was there for two years until the home was closed in its 89th year of operation.

At this point, Ed went to Bluffton, IN to open and head up a satellite rural mental health center there for the Park Center of Ft. Wayne, IN.  He worked there from 1975 to 1987 during which time he opened the clinic, helped the community to understand and accept mental health problems and treatment, and worked with law enforcement and others in the community to create an effective program for treating sexual abuse victims, perpetrators, and non-offending family members.

He married his current wife, Betty, in 1986.

Ed then had a private practice and worked in employee assistance for about ten years after which he and Betty moved to Virginia for three years where he worked in community mental health in a rural setting, managing the adult outpatient mental health and substance abuse program.

In 2001 they came back to Indiana and Ed went to work as the Director of another rural community mental health clinic in Decatur where he currently continues to work.  He is also doing mental health assessments in nursing homes on a part-time basis.

Ed and Betty live in Ft. Wayne, IN.  Their blended family consists of four adult children named Ingrid, Dawn, Doug, and Sara.  Ingrid is also a social worker and she has adopted a daughter from China.  Ed is a former member of the Iron Sissies Motorcycle Gang (3 members) who traveled all over the U. S. for fifteen years before their age caught up with them. Ed has been a die hard Chicago Cubs fan since 1947.  In high school he played baseball and ran cross country, and in college, he enjoyed running track and cross country.

Ed has a wonderfully  dry and deliberate sense of humor which certainly helped us get through graduate school.  And, since my part time job takes me to the Ft. Wayne area from time to time, I have been fortunate enough to spend some time with him and Betty in recent years when I have again been able to enjoy his humor. 

Written by Irene Weinberg    

See the IUPUI Office of Alumni Relations Calendar of Events for upcoming School of Social Work alumni programs.

School of Social Work web site 

IUPUI Office of Alumni Relations contact:
Karen Deery, (317) 274-8959 or kdeery@iupui.edu