[Reading-hall-of-fame] A heartfelt loss

[P David Pearson]

I learned just 36 hours ago that Robert Dykstra died in his early 90s.  I
have not had time to think about a more professional memory, but I will.
In the meantime, here is a more personal memory, which I shared with his
kids and their families.

I have so many wonderful memories of your Dad.

First, as a teacher: I took two of his courses as a doc student at
Minnesota in the late 1960s. Fair, encouraging--but willing to let you know
when your logic or writing was sloppy.

Second, as a scholar: Whose commitment to improving the teaching and
learning of reading, writing, and language was a model I tried to emulate.

Third, as my boss: He chaired the department I was in at Minnesota-fairly,
firmly, with the right balance of gravitas and humor.

Fourth, as a comrade: from the mid 1970s through 2015, he and I belonged to
an informal group of "guys" who met on the first weekend in June to travel
from Minneapolis to one or another resort-affiliated golf course in
northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, or (on 3 occasions) Iowa for an extended
weekend during which we fine-tuned our skills at our 3 favorite pastimes:
golf, poker, and gastronomic (both food and libations) delights. We got the
idea of creating a faux organization to camouflage our real intentions, so
we created Lodge 1147, with fake officers to run the faux organization. We
regrouped every summer, with two of us returning from new homes across the
country, for 38 years before death, frailty, and memory began to decimate
our numbers. I moved from Minneapolis in 1978, but returned every year to
connect with this special group of guys to reminisce, lampoon one another,
and laugh a lot at the world and ourselves. My last trip to Minnesota for
this event was in 2015.  Reconnecting and visiting one on one with Bobby D,
as we called him, was a top priority for me. Somehow, across all those
years, we managed to pick up in mid sentence from the year before.
Such good memories. Such a quietly warm and modestly kind human being. Such
a friend. I miss him, but am comforted by these memories.

Gravitas and Humor
That is how I will remember him.
David

-- 
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

*"If you are free, you need to free somebody else.  If you have some power,
then your job is to empower somebody else." *Toni Morrison

*"*The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't
have any." Alice Walker
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
P. David Pearson
Evelyn Lois Corey *Emeritus* Professor of Instructional Science
Graduate School of Education
University of California, Berkeley

email:  ppearson at berkeley.edu
other e-mail:  pdavidpearsondean at gmail.com
website for publications:  www.pdavidpearson.org
PDP's YouTube Channel
<https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxzlpPFD04yyV5_kzRZ1ofw>:

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