Marlene Blaney Longenecker

Longenecker Marlene Blaney Longenecker, a long-time faculty member in the English department at Ohio State University, died at home in Redlands, California, on December 25, 2014, following a vigorous 21 month struggle with acute myeloid leukemia. A trusted advisor and mentor to students and faculty at Ohio State for four decades, she remained a teacher to the end, articulating her experiences of illness with an incisive wit and wisdom that comforted and inspired a wide circle of supporters. Her last written reflection was a tribute to her own graduate advisor, John Dings. She singled him out as a person of high standards and great caring, attributes that she in turn modeled throughout her academic career. Marlene was born in Santa Monica, California, on August 24, 1945. She graduated from Arcadia High School in 1963, received a BA from the University of California at Riverside in 1967, and completed her PhD from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1973. She was proud of the fact that she was arrested three times during the civil rights and anti-war movement of the 1960's. While in graduate school, she also took a leave to live on a commune in British Columbia and enjoyed attending a reunion of its members last fall. Born into a Quaker family, she was a lifelong pacifist who was passionate about social justice, human and animal rights, and access to education and other social and cultural institutions. She started her career at Ohio State in 1972, surprised to have landed in central Ohio, where her grandfather Claude Longenecker had been a dentist and his second cousin, Elizabeth Lange, the organist at Broad Street Presbyterian Church. She adjusted to life in the Midwest by surrounding herself with an ever expanding collection of books, baskets, jewelry, Birkenstocks, crafts, Democratic political pins and bumper stickers, and treasures from her numerous trips to England. Her cozily cluttered home in Clintonville, always shared with several cats, was the site of innumerable meetings of reading groups, campaign committees, election night celebrations and consolations, furniture assembling parties, baby showers, graduation celebrations, and long talks over tea. Her house and carefully maintained gardens became an embodiment of a generous scholarly life to her friends and colleagues and to generations of graduate students. At Ohio State she taught 18th and 19th century British literature, with a focus on Romantic poetry and the works of William Wordsworth and John Keats in particular. She also loved the works of Virginia Woolf, Emily Bronte, Herman Melville, Wallace Stevens, and Toni Morrison. She introduced legions of students to feminist theory, and, at the end of career, to environmental and critical animal studies. She believed that it was important that she give her best ideas to students, and she was recognized for her exceptional teaching, including twice receiving the university's highest teaching award, the Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching. Marlene was committed to good citizenship in all of its forms. At Ohio State she demonstrated this commitment by serving on countless committees and also taking on numerous leadership roles in the Department of English, including a term as the director of graduate studies and several stints as vice chair. She was also the director of the center (later department) of women's studies from 1980-1986. As a life-long Democrat, she was also committed to public service and in 1986 took a leave of absence to serve as the executive assistant to Ohio Governor Richard Celeste and First Lady Dagmar Celeste. She retired from Ohio State in 2008 but continued to serve the English department in various capacities until 2013. Marlene is survived by her sister, Margaret Gillroy; nephew, Scott Thomas Gillroy (Wendy); niece, Jennifer Marlene Goupil (Charles); great niece, Rebecca Gillroy; beloved cats, Sonoma and Shoeshone; and a multitude of friends. She was preceded in death by her parents Scott and Ethel Longenecker and a nephew Robert Sean Gillroy. A memorial service will be held at Ohio State University later in the spring. Donations may be made in her memory to the Dr. Marlene B.Longenecker English Faculty Teaching and Leadership Award Fund at Ohio State University; Save the Redwoods; or to a favorite animal rescue site.