Dr. Ken Ledbetter, a UW English professor since 1966 and founder of several successful programs in the arts faculty, died February 7. He was 61. Ill for some time, Ledbetter had officially retired from the faculty as of February 1. He was remembered by colleagues, friends and former students at a memorial service Wednesday that nearly filled the Theatre of the Arts. He was a Distinguished Teacher Award winner in 1983, reflecting the dramatic way in which he taught everything from American literature to the basics of grammar -- filling the classroom with music, props, extravagant gestures, the organ roll of his voice, and anything else that would get the message across to successive waves of enthralled students. He was a short-story writer and novelist, his biggest success being Too Many Blackbirds in 1984. He was a product of rural Missouri, its Ozark culture coming through not only in his fiction but in his accent, his laid-back approach to life and his beloved jeans (although he wasn't too self-conscious to come to work in a flowing gelabia, either). He was a lover of music and of food -- the latter enthusiasm being put to use during his five-year stint as restaurant reviewer for the Kitchener-Waterloo Record. He was an administrator, serving as deputy dean of arts 1968-69, associate dean (special programs) 1975-81, and acting director of the correspondence program 1980-81. And he was an innovator. At the memorial service last week, Dr. Robin Banks, former dean of arts, said at least half of the current students in arts are involved in some program Ledbetter developed: * Off-campus teaching, which flourished during his years as associate dean. * The applied studies co-op program, which now draws many of the top students in arts, introduced at a time when arts had no co-op except two tiny experimental programs. * English 109, the huge introductory course in essay- writing. But most conspicuously, Ledbetter developed the English language proficiency program, first in the arts faculty and then for almost the entire university. It was founded in 1977, at a time when "declining writing skills" were a Canada-wide issue, and it became the model for diagnostic and remedial programs at many other Canadian universities. Its structure still exists at UW: a proficiency exam for arriving first-year students and a writing clinic to help students who can't reach the necessary standard in the exam -- sometimes briefly stated by Ledbetter as "one decent paragraph". About 1980 there were hundreds of first-year UW students sweating through the proficiency program. Today the number is greatly reduced, and writing experts give Ledbetter the credit, not just for starting the clinic but for working with high schools, especially through a series of "Writing Skills in Ontario" conferences, to make clear what universities expected in their students. He is survived by his wife, Sally Melville, who is on the staff of the writing clinic, and by three sons and two daughters, as well as three grandchildren and an extended family. Memorial donations can be made to UW's writer-in- residence program, through the university's development office. REMARKS BY Dr. Bob Gosselink, of UW's English department, at the memorial service for Ken Ledbetter: * When Ken died Sunday evening, I lost not only a respected and admired colleague, a valued mentor, and my favourite modern author, but my old and very special friend. Ever since we both arrived over 26 years ago, we have had a very close, very rare relationship. Ken has been the friend I needed when I have needed a friend most. A friend to listen and not to judge, to share joy and comfort pain. A friend despite absence, disagreement and changed circumstances; a true friend, the older brother I never had. My youngest son, now a man himself, is named for Ken. I will sorely miss him. The members of the English Departament will miss a colleague who challenged students to think, engaged their interests, entertained them in their search for knowledge with playful wit and a strong sense of humour, and led them to a more profound understanding of literature. Over the years many students have demanded to be in his section of whatever he was teaching. Those in his classes spoke of the sheer enjoyment, the sense of fun in the class as well as its educational value. His training of graduate teaching assistants in his first year writing course benefited those like me who inherited them in other large classes and the students subsequently under their instruction. We were all pleased when his abilities and dedication were recognized with the Distinguished Teaching Award. Ken's teaching had panache. Members of the Arts Faculty and the University at large appreciated Ken as a person who, rather than complaining about the sad decline in writing ability among the entering students, set out to improve it and influenced the teaching of writing at all levels across the province. We valued the work he did as deputy dean in the late sixties and associate dean for special programs a decade later to make the Arts Faculty a more accessible, more noteworthy place in Ontario. I will miss a long established, thoroughly trusted mentor. From the moment I landed, brash but frightened with three new courses to teach, Ken reached out to share experiences and give sound advice, and through the years, whether for general pedagogical advice or just comparing notes, Ken always had time to listen carefully and non- threateningly, and help sort things out. I know that he helped others the same way. Ken is my favourite modern author. His long standing flair for story telling bore fruit in publication. Though all of his stories are worthy of serious attention, Ken's first novel is a wonderfully teasing, provocative masterpiece, a delight to read and a real joy to teach. Too Many Blackbirds, including a classroom visit from the author, is the most widely appreciated work I've ever taught. The students were amused, amazed, outraged, and fascinated in turn, and sometimes all at once. They were always eager to meet and question the man who wrote this howlingly funny, horribly fascinating work. I believe the book gives an important insight into his teaching, his administration and his collegiality. Doc Holbrook, the seventeenth and final character-narrator, tries to explain, on the novel's final page, the truth about the mysterious professor: "I've been telling them for years that all he was doing when he lived out there was messing around with their minds and he's been messing with them even more since he died, but nobody wants to believe it." It seems to me that Doc sums up the method of the novel, what the author as well as the professor is up to. In a wider context and more profound way, Ken has been doing that to his students and colleagues, provocatively, creatively, fruitfully, in all his years at Waterloo, messing around with our minds -- opening closed minds, unsettling settled perceptions, creating new vistas in literature and writing, the nature and function of an arts education, and living life. I hope that the legacy he has left to his colleagues, students, and friends will fulfil Doc Holbrook's prophecy that he will mess with our minds even more after his death, causing us to engage in more effective teaching, more eager learning, better writing, and more joyous living. In those ways we can keep his spirit alive in our hearts.