Gary Rovinski

MONMOUTH, Ill. -- A former Monmouth College associate dean, currently serving in the Navy Reserve, was killed Monday in a roadside bomb explosion in western Iraq.

Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Gary Rovinski, 44, who served as associate dean of students and director of residence life from 1997 until 1999, died in Anbar province of injuries sustained in an IED attack on his Humvee. A Navy Seabee, he was part of a convoy security team escorting semitrailers across the desert.

Also killed in the explosion was fellow Seabee Jamie Jaenke, a 30-year-old mother from Iowa Falls, Iowa. She was the first female soldier from that state to die in Iraq.

"He was an extremely positive and cheerful person," recalled his former supervisor Jacquelyn Condon, vice president for student affairs. "He was kind, patient and forgiving, and had a very good heart."

An active member of Immanuel Baptist Church in Monmouth, Rovinski lived in Roseville and had worked for the last five years as a correction officer at Henry C. Hill Correctional Center in Galesburg before he was deployed to Iraq in March. He was a member of Naval Mobile Construction Batallion 25 based at Fort McCoy, Wis.

According to Angela Reimolds, a member of the Monmouth College admission staff who knew Rovinski through her church, Rovinski was responsible for night missions, but happened to be traveling back to his base when the explosion occurred just before noon on Monday. Rovinski's wife, Jenifer, learned of the attack Monday afternoon when a chaplain and two officers from the Rock Island Arsenal appeared at her place of work.

It was Rovinski's second tour of duty in the Gulf region--and his second military branch. He had served in the Army for eight years beginning in the 1980s, culminating in active duty during the first Gulf War.

A native of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Rovinski earned a bachelor's degree in studio art from College Misericordia in Pennsylvania and a master's in college personnel from Miami University in Ohio. Before coming to Monmouth he had held a similar post at Biola University in California. He was the father of two daughters, ages 13 and 10.

Plans are currently being made for a ceremony at Monmouth College in which Rovinski's body will be received.

Released by the Office of College Communications
Barry McNamara, Associate Director of College Communications
Phone: 309-457-2117
Fax: 309-457-2330