By Susan Motander
Marianne Krackhart Campbell died on January 24th. She taught English and German at Monrovia High School from 1958 through her retirement in 2000. She was one of those extraordinary teachers who reached her students on many levels and her passing marks the end of an era.
Even students who never took a single German class from her knew Campbell as “The Frau.” She was an unusually upbeat person she literally skipped through the halls when she was in an especially good mood. Those moods came from a multitude of sources: her birthday, Christmas, German Club events, any number of things.
But above all else, she loved to teach. She went to great lengths to generate excitement in her classroom. In the 1970s when, for some inexplicable reason known only to the administration, her room was in the Science building, every inch was cluttered with German memorabilia. There was her German Flag, the omnipresent red and white mushrooms, her collection of steins and, of course, her posters of all things German. And that excitement reached her students.
She inspired her students with her own love of the language (English as well as German I would imagine, although I only studied the latter with her – please note I wrote studied, not learned – I was a horrid student of the language). At Christmas, there were German carols to be learned and sung (the ACLU would have fits with that one) and folk songs throughout the rest of the year.
Even her beloved German Club was a method to inspire learning. In my tenure as President we took trips to both Solvang (though why a Danish town inspired such German interest I have yet to understand) and the Alpine village in Torrance for Oktoberfest (I first discovered Gummibaren there).
Perhaps what most of us who were lucky enough to be her students remember best was her own enthusiasm and optimism. She was born in Germany before the Second World War. How she and her mother Denise survived is a story to which she only occasionally referred. Coming to this country after the war she experienced the mixed blessings of a refugee, a warm, generous welcome from some people and rejection from others because of her German accent.
Coming here with no knowledge of English, she set out not only to learn it, but to master it well enough to teach it. She came to this country, learned its language and sought to teach it and instead ended up teaching her native tongue. One note on social media about the death of “The Frau” was especially poignant.
Tina Van Eijsbergen, a student from the 1970s wrote, “Mrs. Campbell was extremely involved with her German students. It seemed as it her whole life was driven by the desire to see her students excel.” She went on to write, “Her influence continues on in may of her students, I continued my education to become a German teacher although my move to Europe gave me the chance to teach English as a foreign language. Thanks, Marianne for your inspiration and love.”
Marianne would have loved the irony in that. She came to this country, learned English in order to teach it and ended up teaching German. Tina studied German here to teach it and would up in Europe teaching English.
There will be a memorial service for on April 11 at 11 a.m. at the Bethany Church of Sierra Madre, 93 No. Baldwin, Sierra Madre. According to Phil Carlson, a former student who was close to her throughout her last months, the delay in holding the service is to allow as many former students as possible to make arrangements to attend.
Carlson wrote “There will be a reception right after the service and we will have many of the books she used to teach available to you as a memento of her influential role in many lives as an outstanding teacher. And it will be a good time to catch up with old friends.”
I will bring her German flag and a few of her mushrooms. I think she would like that.
Marianne was always very private about her age and health. Dates and details have been omitted in deference to her wishes.
