Julie Klassen, age 74, died in Northfield on Saturday, January 13th. Julie taught German language and culture at Carleton from 1978 until her emeritus retirement in 2009. Her course on “The Forest in German Literature and Culture” fed her dedication to environmental causes, just as her interest in East German literature provided students with a unique perspective on issues of conscience and the role of the arts in an authoritarian regime. She co-taught courses in ENTS, often using the journals of immigrants to explore earlier engagements between people and the natural world.
Julie was a rigorous teacher, demanding much from her students, as well as herself. She loved taking students on study abroad programs and could easily negotiate a bicycle through the busy streets of Munich in quest of the best confectioner’s shop in any given district. Julie was also active on many college committees, including helping to shape policy on sexual misconduct as a member and chair of the Sexual Harassment And Resource Education (SHARE) committee for many years.
Julie was a woman of remarkable energy. Despite the difficulties of her cancer treatment, she stayed active until very recently, working with others on the plays of Bertolt Brecht and on projects in the Carleton Arb, the Valley Grove Preservation Society, and the Cannon River Wilderness Area. She was a master naturalist and loved being in the woods near her home. She had an adventurous spirit and traveled widely.
A celebration of Julie’s life was held at Carleton on Saturday, April 14th (see video below). A more complete obituary is available on the Bierman Funeral Home website.
Comments
I am very sorry to hear of Julie's passing. She was among the very helpful and supporting colleagues when I started to teach Japanese Studies at Carleton in the fall term of 2001. Probably a year or two later, I remember having had a lengthy talk with Julie about environmentalism in Germany during one reception event. I lost track of time and place during our conversation and thought then that Julie embodies great things about Carleton that I had been gradually discovering as a new hire. When I think I last ran into Julie at LDC, she told me that she is enjoying taking Russian as she was planning to visit Sochi for the Winter Olympic Games. With that, I assumed that she was doing very well and enjoying her retirement. I failed to notice the passing of time and that conversation was back in 2013-14. I will always remember Julie fondly.
It is with a heavy heart that I write this morning to remember my colleague and friend, Julie Klassen. When I came to interview for my position in January 2006, Julie and Gary Wagenbach took me to dinner that first evening at Chapati. When we sat down, Julie pulled out a book of photographs of her family's cabin in the Colorado high country, which was part of the area I had studied for my doctoral dissertation research. She talked about the area in lively, fun terms, and she got me talking about some of the things I had learned about the area. The anxieties I felt quickly melted away and I felt at home talking to Julie and Gary, and those feelings shaped my entire campus visit. We never really talked about it, but I think her entire aim was to get me to relax and do my best -- and I'm sure she did that for every job candidate, junior faculty member, and for many others her whole life. Julie always wanted everyone around her to show their best and that is a warm memory to keep and live by.
Julie will always stand out as a key figure in my early years at Carleton. Her energy and insight and dry wit made her a formidable scholar and an incredible human being. She was one of the first colleagues on campus who really demonstrated for me how broad-ranging a liberal arts intellect can be on a modern campus. And I'll never forget our first meetings in her office, wrangling the EndNote program to meet her needs. You will be dearly missed, Julie.
Julie was enthusiastically welcoming to us when we were a new family in Northfield. Such a warm spirit. Someone I always wanted to stop and talk to when I ran into her, someone I always wanted to connect with when we were both at a Carleton gathering. She's a gem and a role model.
Julie was always such a joy to talk with -- she was enthusiastic about so many things, and generous with her insights. I had many lovely chats with her both early on in my time at Carleton and after she retired. I was especially touched to receive a gift from her upon receiving tenure, a perennial plant that is still growing in my garden (which we fondly call the "tenure bush"). It will now evoke memories of Julie and her eagerness to help celebrate others' important milestones. I will miss you, Julie.
I attended Carleton from 1980 to 1984. Julie was one of the top three most important instructors in my time there, and remained an enormous influence in my life ever since. I was on the 1981 Munich trip with her and Hanno and 18 other Carls. I remember how Hanno was able to out-hike all of us on our hikes in the Alps, even though he beat us undergrads in years by many decades. That semester was life-changing in so many ways, and Julie was at the center of it all. I remember her ordering at a restaurant, saying "Ich haette gerne..." this is a tiny example of the way she constantly modeled for us new ways to speak idiomatically. Hanno and Julie took us to then-East Germany - to East Berlin and to Leipzig. I met young people there, had unforgettable encounters. How bold this was! I am so thankful to have been part of that. I returned to East Germany in 1985 to visit one of the girls I'd met when there with Julie and Hanno. In my later 20s, I was thinking of graduate school; I wrote to Julie to ask her advice on how I would find the right subject to pursue. She wrote back with wise and helpful advice. I went on to get a PhD. It was learning German and becoming fluent in it at Carleton that gave me courage to learn Zulu for my doctoral work. A few years ago, I came to Northfield to visit classmate Alison Unger, and had a magical evening with Julie at her home. She was the only woman professor I had at Carleton, aside from my beloved voice teacher. She was also warm, funny, engaged - such an important role model. It was in large measure due to having had her as such an important teacher while I was at Carleton, that I knew I could still be me, who loves to bake and sing and do all kinds of "unscholarly" things, and still go to graduate school.
Gary Wagenbach and I got a grant to take a group of faculty on a month long tour of Australia. We saw many of the most important sites in the country and covered a lot of ground. Julie was a great participant, always enthusiastic and into whatever the experience of the day was. One of our last spots was the central desert, where we stayed in some fairly rough accommodations. Julie had liked our guide Rob, who was a quirky but very fun and interesting guy. On our last night, in a cramped room, Julie had written a version of "You're the Top, all changed to reflect Australia and our appreciation of Rob over the month of travel. It was funny, but also quite touching. It showed a real talent and grace, understanding people, enjoying an experience, and all with good humor.
As a German major graduating in 1985 I was supremely lucky to have both Julie and Anne Ulmer as female professors and role models. I had several classes with Julie, and remember her unbridled enthusiasm for German literature and the environment. We would often have class outside during Spring Term to combine nature and literature. She embraced German culture wholeheartedly, often wearing her Dirndl dress to class. She was generous and thoughtful, inviting us to her home where we'd enjoy a great meal and discussion along with her husband, Hanno. Recently, in 2015, just after she was diagnosed with cancer, I had an opportunity to benefit from her wisdom and kindness again as I considered embarking on a much -delayed Ph.D. in German Lit at the University of Minnesota. She invited me to her home, and along with Anne Ulmer, we had a great conversation about this, over a lunch of carrot soup she had just made. She was optimistic and positive about her outlook on life despite her diagnosis. I will never forget that. I ended up not pursuing the PhD but am grateful for the advice and counsel she gave me.
I first became acquainted with Julie during my early days at Carleton in the 1980s. But I got to know her best on the trip that a group of Carleton faculty members -- all connected with European Studies -- took to Istanbul, Budapest, Toledo, and Madrid in summer 2004 to study cross-cultural intersections. Julie was an engaged and fun member of the group and the two of us shared meals fairly often. Julie was also a semi-vegetarian and in Madrid that proved a challenge. On one of the last days of the trip, she located a restaurant quite far from our hotel. After a full and somewhat exhausting day of museum going, I returned to find Julie waiting in the lobby. She importuned me to forget about my tired feet and join her in search of this restaurant which was a metro ride away. Although initially reluctant, I am so glad she twisted my arm because it became one of the highlights of the trip. We arrived around 8:00 pm for what the Spanish would consider an early meal. Afterwards we walked around the square outside the restaurant where all kinds of activities played out well into the later evening: kids loudly running about, families chatting, all of them ignoring the pair of Americans who stopped to take note. It was an entirely ordinary Madrid neighborhood, far from tourist haunts, which I would never have seen without Julie’s encouragement. Julie’s general good cheer, energy, and enthusiasm to recount her unusual travel experiences (some much more exotic than this) made her a wonderful companion over dinners back in Northfield, too. We will all miss her.
Very sad news! I was a 1979-graduating German major, so I got in on Julie and Anne Ulmer's first years at Carleton. They're part of the reason that I (wrongly, perhaps) have never really felt like a victim of gender discrimination. They were such great examples of women entering a workplace and assuming they had the full rights of their position from day one. They can't have been there very long when they introduced an experiment to hold classes in German. It doesn't sound radical, but it was a departure at the time. When Dick Cantwell died, I wrote about this and said I was glad he didn't participate because he lectured so rivetingly in English. But I am even more appreciative of Julie and Anne for having and modeling the courage to make change. Even though we were out of touch, my world seems poorer today without a Julie in it.
I'm choked up to hear of Julie's passing, not because I knew her very well but because she was a full-of-life professor I admired. I enjoyed my German classes with her in the early 2000s. While she always had a smile on her face and radiated support, I was a bit intimidated because she had exacting standards. I consider myself a high-energy person, but in class she had such energy I could barely keep up. It's wonderful to read all about her accomplishments—academic and personal—at Carleton and beyond. Thank you, Julie.
I took part in the Munich trimester abroad program that Julie led in 1988. It was one of the most memorable experiences of my Carleton career. During the waning years of what was then East Germany, Julie took us to Dresden, Leipzig and East Berlin. She used personal contacts to allow us to spend the evening at a family's home in Dresden, which gave us an glimpse of ordinary life in a very different context. In Berlin, she took a couple of us to a bilingual church where, again, she had personal connections. When I was waffling between majoring in German or religion, she encouraged me to think about how I might use German in the study of theology. Her advice and that time in Germany had a major impact on my vocational path, leading to a year as an English teacher in Austria and eventual doctoral work in theology. I am happy and fulfilled in my vocation as professor and dean, in part, because of Julie's encouragement and an unforgettable spring trimester in Munich. Rest in peace, Julie.
I bluffed my way in the Carleton and I wheedled my way out. I wasn't that good of a student, and there is more than one professor who has rightfully forgotten that I was on campus at Carleton College until 1983. But Professor Julie Klassen took a special interest in me and personally saw to it that I received a priceless education at her hands. She was a quality human, an inspiring teacher and a brilliant academic. She was kind, patient, present, wise, encouraging, mentoring and funny. She supported me through all my choices, and I wonder about the purpose of The One in allowing the removal of such beauty and value from the rest of us.
I felt like I needed so badly to be at her service on 2018_04_14_sa in Northfield, MN because this wonderful woman had done so much for me in my life. But, a group of young athletes whom I coach and mentor needs me this weekend. Like me at their age, they ignore sage advice and they act irrationally and they don't consider long term consequences. But they are gifted and they have a chance to advance this weekend to a national women's rugby playoffs. So I agonized over what to do. And then I knew exactly what Julie would tell me to do: She showed me at Carleton. Godspeed, Beloved Rabbi.
I was deeply saddened to hear that we’ve lost Julie Klassen. I knew her for 27 years at Carleton and interacted with her closely in the Natural History concentration and then the ENTS major. We were both active members of the Association for Literature and Environment (ASLE) and talked often about nature writing, German Green Party politics and her European travels, both with and without students. I admired the enthusiasm her “German Forest” course sparked in students. She was always a strong, passionate voice for the importance of the humanities in environmental studies at Carleton. Of course, we also talked often about her time growing up in Southern California. There was always a stylish, carefree, fun-loving, barefoot touch of SoCal to Julie’s personality. I didn’t know Hanno well but noted that he always loved playing with children as much as adults at Carleton parties, which told me something important about Julie and the kind of people she wanted to have in her life. Julie’s vivid love of life and the earth, her quick smile, her warmth and generosity to others all come to mind when I think of her. I’ll miss her dearly.