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Ken Macrorie Obituary
When he began work on his doctorate at Columbia University, he studied perception, concentrating on how it affected journalists and accompanying New York Times reporters on assignments. He wrote his doctoral thesis on objectivity/subjectivity in reporting. After receiving his degree, he returned to Michigan State, eventually moving to San Francisco State and then to Western Michigan University where he made the breakthroughs that led to his national leadership role in re-educating teachers trapped in unproductive teaching methods to learn how to express themselves in print and pass that knowledge on to their students.
As an educator and writer, Ken touched and changed the lives of his students by opening them up to their own latent abilities to write their stories, tell their truths, find their interests, research their curiosities, and finally organize what they needed and wanted to say into memorable prose. His books include, "Uptaught," "Writing to be Read," "Telling Writing," "Four In Depth," "A Vulnerable Teacher," "Twenty Teachers," and "The I-Search Paper." All of his books are filled with student writing alongside his, demonstrating his belief in them. Additionally, for many years, he edited the professional journal, "College Composition And Communication."
Perhaps Ken's happiest teaching experiences were at Breadloaf Graduate School of English, a summer Masters program for Vermont's Middlebury College. He taught there for many years after retiring from Michigan and moving to Santa Fe in 1978. He was never more certain he was on a good path than during his tenure at Breadloaf. Most of the students were already teachers who came together with concentrated energies, eager to learn and willing to put what they learned to use in their own classrooms.
When old age necessitated Ken's staying home in Santa Fe and made him consider doubles tennis rather than his usual tough singles, he decided to indulge his wife and move to warm Las Cruces. He died there on July 11, 2009, at the Village at Northrise.
He leaves his wife, Joyce; grown children, Mike (Marie), Lisa Dillman (Dennis Hamel), Karin Imel (Scott), Kirk Dillman (Lori); and the grandchildren, Olivia, Deirdre, Jessica, Erika, Cole, and Rachel.
At Ken's request, cremation will take place and no services will be held at this time. Arrangements are with La Paz-Graham's Funeral Home. To send condolences, go to www.lapaz-grahams.com
Please visit the online guestbook at www.lcsun-news.com.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Memories and Condolences
for Ken Macrorie
Chip Sterosky
August 15, 2009
So sorry to hear about Dr. Macrorie. I would never have known what 'fabulous reality' was if I hadn't met Ken at Western Michigan in the early 70's. What a positive impact he had on so many people's lives.
Dan Farber
August 5, 2009
I have just learned about Ken's death from Bread Loaf School of English director, Jim Maddox. While at B.L. in the 80's, I took two of Ken's courses and, like many others who studied with him, counted him as a friend. By turns, Ken encouraged and cajoled his students to become better writers, and nobody was better at pinpointing, with very few words, the central deficit in any piece. Beyond that, however, Ken was a great teacher because he taught "the whole adult." He was famous at B.L. for avoiding the faculty table and taking meals with the students and probably knew more students than any single person on the mountain. His keen curiosity about people, about where they came from, about their deepest hopes, together with his maddening spins and dinks that frustrated stellar athletes one-quarter his age on B.L.'s clay tennis court, is what I most treasure in my memories of Ken.
My best wishes to his family and close friends.
Leila Christenbury
August 3, 2009
Ken Macrorie was an original in every sense of the word; he opened me to new ways of teaching and learning with my students. He is one of the greats in English education, and I am truly sorry to think that he is no longer with us.
Patricia Wachholz
July 30, 2009
Dr. Macrorie had a profound effect on my life. Until I took a class from him at WMU, I was a science major, looking toward a life in the laboratory. His influence moved me from the "dark side," and I became an English teacher and later, a professor myself. True to his dedication to his students, he stayed in some contact with many of us over the years, and continued to be our teacher. He actually "fussed" at me a few years ago because I insisted on "telling" him about things I was doing, when in fact, I knew better- and he expected me to "show" him, through what he referred to, then, as "pearls" of writing. I used his book "Writing to Be Read" in my Teaching Writers and Writing class just last year. It remains a classic and just as appropriate today as it was in the 1960s when he was so influential to so many of us. Thank you, Dr. Macrorie!
Ed Darling
July 28, 2009
I want to write a second message about Ken because his obituary and guest-book entries mention what he did for teachers and students. I always thought, and still think of myself as his student, both in learning to teach and learning to write, although I never studied with him formally in a class. I only talked with him face-to-face two times: first at Bread Loaf towards the end of the summer in 1993, and a few years later during a week's visit with him and Joyce in Santa Fe. He was my teacher through his books, espcially "Writing To Be Read." It was through studying that book in 1993, that, at the age of 55 I discovered I could becme a writer and publish my work. I had always thought that as a high-school English teacher I was not a writer and would never become one. There were many causes for that belief, but Ken changed my thinking by what he wrote about writihg, and especially about writing my own truth. As far as I know, he's the only person that makes a writer's truth an essential part of a book on teaching high-school writing. I think of what he did as "unsilencing" me and my students, and thousands of others. He was generous in his teaching and in welcoming me, a stranger, to talk and be with him. I hope I thanked him enough.
John Callaghan
July 28, 2009
I was at Bread Loaf in 1985 and took a class right across the hall from a class he was teaching. I found his students eager to get to class and share with him. I wish I could have taken a class with him but I've read "Twenty Teachers" and use his approach to the I-Search paper in my classes. His work will live on.
John Callaghan
Clinton Township, MI
Ed Farrell
July 24, 2009
Ken put the I, the personal narrative voice, back into writing, freeing tens of thousands of students thereby to express their unique experiences, their individuality, in their prose. Those emancipated personal voices also enabled readers to enjoy once again what they were reading, to participate through the words of others in the ongoing human comedy.
Though Ken will be deeply missed, his voice, his writing, will live on.
Jim Davis
July 24, 2009
I will miss knowing Ken is "out there." I met him in the early '70s at the University of Missouri, brought him to Iowa repeatedly, and - as did many others - maintained an NCTE convention relationship through the years. Breakfast chat's with Ken and Jim Moffett remain especially memorable. He contributed greatly to our shared profession and society. Thank you for sharing him with us.
July 24, 2009
With sympathy and best wishes to Ken's family, and with thanks for all that he did for writers, teachers, and students, and for the wonderful writing he has left us.
Ed Daring, So. burlington, VT
Joseph Wood
July 24, 2009
Sorry for your loss and our loss. Ken Macrorie's work changed me as a teacher 36 years ago. I retired last year as a high school teacher after 40 years. Ken's name came up in an interview that I had yesterday for a teaching job at a local community college. I still remember attending a workshop at Western where he talked about a great teacher: a tennis coach. He'll be missed but never forgotten.
p hirsch
July 24, 2009
I always think of him as a young man, one who wrote books to inspire new teachers. He helped me get started and his influence has stayed with me. God bless. Patricia Hirsch, Oyster Bay, NY
Martha Kay
July 23, 2009
Ken Macrorie inspired the Rhetoric staff at Danville Area Community College in Danville, IL, even though he never visited in person. We still remember his "telling facts" and "fabulous realities."
Jim Nagle
July 23, 2009
"Write for ten minutes as fast as you can. . ." I still begin writing class that way, 39 years later. My colleagues and I at Danville (IL) Junior College fell in love with the Macrorie approach in Telling Writing. I am glad I had the chance to meet him once, years ago, to thank him. My sympathies go to Ken's family and friends. They will miss his presence, but his work will live on in a profound philosophy of composition: "Good writers speak in honest voices and tell the truth."
July 23, 2009
To Ken Macrorie's family.: My condolences; and thank you for sharing this wonderful teacher throughout the years. I attended a workshop around 1972 at the University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, and Ken Macrorie changed the way I saw myself, my students, and the teaching of writing forever. I just used some excerpts from one of his books semester before last, and one lady who had come back to school after ten years ended up being published in the student bulletin not once, but twice. She said what we had done in class helped her so much. The thanks belonged to Ken. So he lives on. (Donna Gilbert, Branson MO)
Lisa Ede
July 23, 2009
Ken Macrorie played an essential role in the development of the field of composition and rhetoric. Throughout his long and distinguished career, pre- and post-retirement, he reamined engaged and energetic--and also committed to the power of teaching and writing. He will be missed by many, many scholars, teachers, and students.
Louann Reid
July 23, 2009
I read Ken's work early in my teaching and it changed everything I thought I knew about teaching writing. "Engfish" was a style I recognized from my own schooling and one I sought to eliminate in my teaching, writing, and editing. I hope his family will take some comfort in knowing how important his thinking and writing have been to so many of us who carry his ideas forward. Extending my deep sympathy on your loss,
Candace Grissom
July 23, 2009
I am very saddened to hear about Ken. I first discovered his method in a teaching methods class and was drawn to it by his inviting and lively style of presentation. He really had a powerful writer's voice all his own. Since then, his works have been instrumental in helping me develop my own teaching style grounded in a respect for students' ideas. A very inspiring and groundbreaking voice in education. He will be missed!
Carole Ronane
July 23, 2009
As I said in the funeral home's guestbook, you've made an indelible mark in education and inspired many teachers. You will be missed.
Tish McGonegal
July 23, 2009
Ken helped me to think about both my writing and my teaching in profound and lasting ways. I count myself lucky to have been one (among so many) of his Bread Loaf fans, students and friends.
Margaret Ferguson
July 22, 2009
I was so sad to hear of Ken's death. I extend warm sympathies to his family. I taught with him at Breadloaf in Vermont in 1982 and remember him vividly as a gentle and deliciously funny man, devoted to his students and to the art of teaching writing well.
Jolane Roy
July 22, 2009
To the Macrorie family.
It is with great sorrow that I read of his passing. His influence on me as a teacher candidate in the late 70s was immense. He forever changed how I understood and taught writing in the middle school through Uptaught and Telling Writing. The I-Search became a fundamental component in my curriculum. By teaching writing in this fashion, I also came to more fundamental understandings of myself as a writer, teacher, and person. Please accept my condolences and thanks for a life well-appreciated.
Vicki Holmsten
July 22, 2009
I went to Bread Loaf in 1981 to study with the people who wrote the books I was reading as a new teacher of writing, and there I met Ken. He marched around the room, Pueblo-dance shuffle style on the first day and I knew I was going to learn from this man. He was--and still is--one of my best and most important teachers. Your legacy lives on, Ken, in those of us who you touched and now in the lives of our students as we pass on the wisdom.
Deepest sympathies to Joyce and your children. Ken will be missed--but never forgotten.
Gay Brookes
July 22, 2009
I am indebted to Ken Macrorie for what he taught me through his books about teaching writing. My students know his name and will pass it on to their students. He will be remembered. My sympathy to his family and close friends.
Rich Gibson
July 22, 2009
Ken was my English prof at WMU when I was almost entirely focused on sds. His class was a safe place where I could clear my mind a bit, reflect, bring a Fabulous Reality to share, and know that whatever the case was, people would be treated with extraordinary kindness and respect. His gentle criticism of written work was insightful, but couched in ways that the individual student could hear it. Ken was a model for me and many others. My sympathy to the family and best wishes. Thanks, Ken, for an honorable life.
Sr. Rita Yeasted
July 22, 2009
To the Macrorie family: While I never knew your husband and father peersonally, his influence on me was great. I first read "Uptaught" when I participated in the Western Pennsylvania Writing Project in 1991. He changed my thinking about teaching and learning. May he rest in peace. His legacy is all of us who read his books or studied under him.
Charles McDonnell
July 22, 2009
In the summer of 1985, it was a great honor to enroll in a class team taught by Ken and his good friend, Carol McVey. Teaching is my life for the past 37 years, and that experience had the most profound impact on pedagogy and classroom rapport of anything I've encountered in education. As wonderful as Ken was in the classroom, he was even gentler, kinder, and wiser sitting in pleasant conversation on the BLSE porch. My wife, Leslie, and I will miss him greatly, and we offer our deepest sympathies to the family.
Patricia Long
July 22, 2009
I am so sorry to hear that Ken has died. I was a part-time colleague at Western Michigan and then used his ideas in over thirty years of teaching high school English. His campaign against stuffy, meaningless student writing, and his concept of the I-Search paper, have influenced and enriched the lives and learning of countless students and teachers. His family is in my thoughts and prayers.
Don Zancanella
July 22, 2009
When I was about seventeen years old, I read Uptaught and from that moment on knew I wanted to be an English teacher. More precisely, I wanted to be an English teacher like Ken Macrorie. He will live on through his many students, those who learned from him in person as well as those who learned from him through his books.
Joan F. Kaywell
July 22, 2009
Ted Hipple introduced me to Ken Macrorie's work in the early Eighties and I've referred to him ever since. He's truly one of the greats in English composition, and his ideas will live on. I can only hope that all of these giants in the field--Ken, Ted, Donald Murray, Louise Rosenblatt, Margaret Early, among others--are having a great time "breaking bread" in the hereafter.
Marilyn Hollman
July 22, 2009
It is with real sorrow that I read about Ken's passing. No one made a bigger difference in the ways I approached students and their work.
My sympathy to his family.
Margaret McLaughlin
July 22, 2009
Although I never met Ken McCrorie, I used his books in the late 1970's and returned to the I-Search book for my students in the 1990's. His work greatly influenced the way I taught writing and had a wonderful effect on many, many students. What greater monument can there be to a well-lived life?
Lynne Alvine
July 22, 2009
My first summer as a student at Bread Loaf was Ken's first summer teaching there. I was enrolled in his Teaching Writing class. One day I said to Ken, "I can't believe it. I read your WRITING TO BE READ in my Writing Project Summer Institute 2 years ago. Now I am sitting in your 'Helping Circle' here in the Barn at Bread Loaf."
He replied, "You know, Lynne, when you meet someone who is a so-called 'authority' on something, it gives you the courage that you, too, can become an authority on something." And so it did.
Later, he published my high school students' interviews in the third edition of WRITING TO BE READ.
I finished my MA at Bread Loaf, earned my doctorate at Virginia Tech, and have completed my 23rd year as an English teacher educator. I still draw from Ken's books, from my experiences in his class, and from the wise advice he gave me about teaching all those years ago.
I am saddened to learn of his passing and extend my sympathy to Joyce and the rest of his family.
Marti Maas
July 22, 2009
Dear Macrorie family, I am a high school English teacher who has been greatly influenced by Ken's I-Search strategy. I will think of his remarkable work as my students continue to make personal connections in their writing, enthusiastically investigating the answers to their questions. Marti Maas
Wally Ingebritson
July 22, 2009
I've always counted Ken Macrorie as my writing teacher guru. I originally went to Bread Loaf because Ken taught there and I count myself lucky to have met him and been able to personally convey how much pure pedagogic pleasure TELLING WRITING brought me. I have continued to be guided by his humanity and wisdom.
Fran Claggett
July 22, 2009
Ken Macrorie was one of the greats of our profession; I was fortunate to experience his work fairly early in my own career and am indebted to him for his wisdom, innovative techniques, and ability to convey his ideas to others. I still have his books on my shelves although I am nearly eighty! My condolences to his family, and to those who have been touched by him in their teaching.
Brian Cambourne
July 21, 2009
Professor Macrorie's books had a profound impact on the teaching of writing in Australia in the 1980's, during our " process writing" revolution.
All his books helped me shape many professional development programs for Aussie teachers as they tried to come to grips with a completely new approach to the teaching of writing. Please accept condolences from my generation of Aussie teacher educators who relied upon his wisdom and knowledge in shaping the way writing would be taught in our schools. Unfortunately the advocates of formulaic approaches to teaching writing have gained the ascendancy in our country, much to my angst and regret.
Sincerely,
Brian Cambourne
Wilma Davidson
July 21, 2009
Janet Emig introduced me to Ken Macrorie's books and advice , which have vastly affected my teaching--and the writing lives of hundreds of my students. His work influenced my work beyond words; and I send my heartfelt sympathy to his family.
Wilma Davidson, Ed.D.
Carole Bieshaar
July 21, 2009
I met Mr. Macrorie one time at the Colorado Language Arts Society conference in Colorado Springs. His work on the I-Search paper greatly influenced my teaching for many years and gave me ideas to pass on to other teachers when I became a principal. I was sad to hear of his passing. Know that he helped teach many students he never knew. Carole Bieshaar, retired educator, Lakewood CO
July 20, 2009
Dear Macrorie family, Joyce introduced me to Ken several years ago when he first came to Las Cruces. It is my loss that I did not know him earlier in life - such a fascinating gentleman! Sending you healing energy, Kath Rosenthal
July 20, 2009
Dear Joyce & family,
I am so sorry about Ken's death. You are in my prayers.
Elaine Brink
Dan Sharkovitz
July 19, 2009
When I began studying at Bread Loaf in Vermont in 1987, Ken typed a single-spaced page responding to a profile I had written that was itself only two pages, typed, double-spaced. What he wrote taught me more about writing than I had learned in all the years of my life to that point. What he taught me I have tried to pass on as best I can to my own students about their writing. In his note, which I have saved to this day, he advised me to honor the depth and mystery and humanity of those I choose to portray in words and of those I hope to teach. He spent an enormous amount of time responding to my work and discussing my work with me--as he did for all who asked for his wisdom. I know members of the Bread Loaf community will continue to feel his presence on the mountain. My deepest sympathies to his family and friends.
Dan Sharkovitz
Bread Loaf class of 1990
July 19, 2009
Ken was a gentle man in all ways. Ken is happier now than in recent days. I will miss him as a dear friend. May God Bless Joyce real good. Love, Marcie Palmer
Janet Atkins M.A. '97; MLitt '08
July 19, 2009
There are a few Bread Loaf professors who rise to the top in my fifteen years' association with the school. Ken is certainly at the top of my list. I learned more about writing and the teaching of writing from him than any other single person. I am indebted to him and his work and feel a deep sense of loss knowing he is no longer with us.
Charles Broman
July 18, 2009
Ken,
Au revoir.
Charles
Barry Guitar
July 18, 2009
To the Macrorie family: I am deeply affected by Ken's passing.
Ken had a great influence on my writing and on my thinking. Although I knew him primarily when I was a student at Western Michigan, I have been impressed by how often I meet people from all over the country who knew Ken and had learned much from him. He was an amazing teacher and made a huge impact on the teaching of writing and how we write.
Karen Willis
July 17, 2009
Dear Macrorie family, As a retired professor of English at NMSU, I want to express my sadness at this great loss. Ken Macrorie's work had a profound influence on my teaching, and more importantly on my students' learning. I am sorry for our profession's loss but especially for yours. Karen P Willis NMSU
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