Michael Paul Novak

Michael Paul Novak, 71, 200 Seneca, Leavenworth, died Dec. 2, 2006 at Providence Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, after complex medical emergencies and treatment. Retired from the faculty of the University of Saint Mary, Leavenworth, he had taught in the English department for 37 years. Holding a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Iowa's Writers Workshop, Novak received his B.A. in English from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. His specializations in teaching included American literature and creative writing. Before coming to Saint Mary, he taught at Eastern Illinois University. Widely published in literary journals, Novak's poetry appeared in four collections, The Leavenworth Poems, Sailing by the Whirlpool, A Story To Tell, and a volume, From the Tower, in collaboration with colleagues, Mary Janet McGilley, SCL, and Susan Rieke, SCL. A mini-volume of short fiction preceded publication of Poets, Poetics, and Politics: America's Literary Community Viewed from the Letters of Rolfe Humphries, 1910-1969, edited by Novak in collaboration with Richard Gillman. Well known in the Kansas City community for poetry readings at the Writers Place and Riverfront Center, Novak was active in politics, public service, and adult education. He served the Democratic Committee for Leavenworth County for many years including a twoyear term as its chair. On the University faculty, Novak taught traditional age students and working adults in degreecompletion courses at Saint Mary in Leavenworth, Wyandotte, and Johnson Counties. He taught degree courses in English in the Correctional Facilities in Lansing and at the Disciplinary Barracks, Fort Leavenworth. For an extended period, he visited prisoners at the United States Penitentiary and the DB. Novak's library will be given to the Lansing Correctional Facility, with signed volumes reserved for De Paul Library, University of Saint Mary. For 25 years, the Kansas Humanities Council named Novak as available to lead book discussions in the Visiting Scholars Series. Engagements took him to public libraries across the state and throughout eastern Kansas. Returning Oct. 27 from a discussion in Oxford, he was first stricken at a highway restaurant outside Topeka. Novak is survived by his daughter, Christina, her husband, Obed Remy, and children, Alec, Alyssa, and Autumn, of Kissimee, FL; and by his son Brian, of Boston, MS. Visitation will be from 6 to 8:30 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 6, at Belden-Sexton-Sumpter Funeral Home in Leavenworth with a brief service at 7 o'clock. The Mass of Resurrection will be in Annunciation Chapel at the University of Saint Mary on Thursday, Dec. 7, at 10 a.m.