John Streed | Obituary | Minneapolis StarTribune

Streed, John Colin (Jack), who passed away on August 8, 2024 at the age of 92, will be greatly missed.

He leaves behind, among others, his children Sarah Marie Streed, Erik Streed, Ellyn Bullock, Stephen Streed and Sinn Lok, his sons-in-law Roger Luhn and David Bullock, his daughter-in-law Channa Pich, fourteen grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, his brother Mike Streed and his sisters Carol Swanson and Mary Emerson.

Jack graduated from North High School in 1950 and from Winona State Teachers College with a BA in English Literature in 1954. After college, he joined the Marine Corps, where he was promoted to Marine Lieutenant in 1956.

In December 1958, after earning his master’s degree in English from the University of Minnesota, where he was supported by the GI Bill, Jack married Joan Mildred Hagg, whom he had met while working at the YMCA in downtown Minneapolis – he as a counselor, she as a receptionist. The marriage lasted 63 years, until Joan’s death on November 20, 2022.

In the fall of 1959, Jack and Joan moved to Minnetonka, where Jack began teaching at Minnetonka East Junior High School, where he taught for nine years before transferring to Minnetonka High School, from which he retired in 1989. Jack was a popular and innovative teacher in and out of the classroom, including, but by no means limited to, such activities as: – reading to his children every night (no television until high school); writing the literary history “The River Western” for the school district; publishing many classic but out-of-print short stories for the school district through his own publishing company, Logress Press; developing and teaching for years a popular course, “The Bible as Literature”; serving as president of the Minnetonka Teachers Association during the strike year of 1976 (Jack was happy to brief the school board on more than one occasion); planting and caring for trees on school grounds purchased with his tree fund; and writing and producing the revolutionary war musical “Yankee Song” with other Minnetonka teachers in 1973.

Jack and Joan were lifelong members and pillars of Excelsior Covenant Church, where Jack taught Sunday school and confirmation classes and was involved in many other ways.

Jack was also a founding and life member of the Happy Readers Book Club, which over the years has included other teachers, community members, former students, and children. When he wasn’t working on his writing – he published a samizdat collection called Whispers and a number of books, including a volume of poetry (Garden Revisions) – Jack was designing and working in gardens, whether those of his family or those of clients and friends.

In addition to his Christian faith, which fueled his love of philosophy and literature (he amassed a large “Inklings” library), Jack credited the YMCA (he was a happy camper and counselor at Camp Ihduhapi for many years), the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, and the United States Marines for giving him a love of community and camaraderie, punctuality, discipline, and courage.

Jack’s lifelong commitment to the environment, which began before Jimmy Carter’s wake-up call from the White House fireplace, was rooted in his love of gardening and the outdoors.

Jack will be sorely missed by his family, friends and many students who were inspired by his English and life lessons.

The memorial service will be held on September 7, 2024 at 11 a.m. at the Excelsior Covenant Church.