Burton Kreitlow
of Grand Marais, Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin Madison, passed away on October 21, 2010 in hospice at Cook County North Shore Hospital. He was 93.
Burt was born in 1917 at his parents’ farm near Howard Lake, as bells throughout the country rang celebrating the ending of World War I. He grew up milking cows before school and learning all the skills needed to help on an 80-acre farm.
Burt graduated from Howard Lake High School at the age of 15 as the Great Depression was at its peak. He was able to get into a County Normal School program that trained teachers for rural schools. Two years later he qualified to teach first through eighth grade at a school near Montrose. During the next two years of teaching he saved enough money to enter the Agricultural Education program at the University of Minnesota’s St. Paul campus. He received his bachelor’s degree in 1940 and was immediately hired as County Extension Agent in Crookston.
Then came World War II, and Burt was called up to serve as a U.S. Army Air Force crew chief on the 376th Squadron based in North Africa, one of five bombardment groups engaged in a dangerous 1943 mission to destroy Nazicontrolled Romanian oil fields near Ploiesti. He married Doris Ounsworth during an unexpected furlough in 1944 when he was transferred to Texas to train on B-29s. The marriage lasted for 66 years.
Returning home after the war, Burt had the opportunity to earn his Ph.D. under the G.I. Bill. After teaching one year at Michigan State University, he was invited to accept a joint appointment at the University of Wisconsin in Madison in the departments of Agricultural Education and the College of Education just as the new field of Adult Education was developing. For 32 years Burt held that position, and he became the driving force behind a “Lifespan Education” curriculum from grade school to adult. He also shepherded many fine students through their doctoral degrees in the field of education. When he retired in 1981, Wisconsin’s Adult Education program was number one in the field.
A group of Burt’s former graduate students met to discuss their careers every two years after his retirement, calling themselves the “Super Seminar.” Three of those meetings took place here in Grand Marais.
The Kreitlows purchased land near Grand Marais at Rosebush Point in 1952 and built a summer cabin in 1956. After retirement and several additions to the cabin, they moved there full-time and began pursuit of a second career as writers, jointly publishing a book entitled Creative
Planning for the Second Half of
Life
in 1997 based on interviews with 140 successful retirees.
Burt was a Lion’s Club member for over 50 years and an active participant in the Congregational Church of Grand Marais. He was the inspiration and first chair for Grand Marais’ Homestead Cooperative, built after a needs assessment determined that half of county residents over age 55 did not qualify for local U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development senior housing facilities.
Burt had a candy-making hobby which kicked in every December—chocolate dipping became the big item and bourbon bon-bons his great priority. Students, friends and family were his recipients. He taught an adult class in candymaking in Grand Marais. After he first consented to taste wine in the 1970s he became expert in wine-making, and the wine cellar at his house is still well stocked. He taught a few people like Larry Krause and Del Rosenquist to make wine. He was always the teacher!
Memoir writing was another hobby, and Homestead Writers, the group he led for 20 years, continues to meet after his retirement from it. His memoir, 75 Years
a Teacher,
will be published posthumously.
The Kreitlows have two daughters: Karen (Pat) Neal of Grand Marais and Candace (Pete) Bauer of Brandon, Ore.; and three granddaughters: Jessica Neal, Tiffany Hafermann and Holly Brook Hafermann.
Burt is also survived by his brother Willard Kreitlow and niece Marian Kreitlow of Howard Lake; and nephew David Kreitlow of Portland, Ore. He was predeceased by his parents, William and Esther Kreitlow.
A memorial service will be held on November 3 at 2 p.m. at the Congregational Church in Grand Marais. Memorial gifts can be sent to Care Partners, PO Box 454, Grand Marais, MN 55604 or Cook County North Shore Hospital.
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