Son's disabilities led Ki Anderson to special ed career

Cleon (Ki) Anderson of Minneapolis became a special education teacher because she was inspired to help others after her son was found to have mental disabilities.

Anderson, who taught at the former Sheltering Arms School in Minneapolis, died of leukemia on Aug. 10 in Edina.

She was 85.

After graduating from high school in 1941 in Proctor, Minn., she earned a bachelor's degree in home economics at the University of Minnesota in 1945.

During and after college, Anderson, then Cleon Wiles, managed a restaurant at Donaldson's Department Store in Minneapolis.

She married in 1947, and began to raise a family. Her son Scott had a heart defect that led to disabilities, said her family. He died in 1972.

In the 1950s and 1960s, she played leadership roles in several organizations, such as at what is now Arc Greater Twin Cities.

By 1965, Anderson had earned a bachelor's degree in education, with a minor in special education from the University of Minnesota.

She went to work in the Minneapolis public schools, starting at the Michael Dowling School, as a substitute teacher of children with cerebral palsy.

In 1967 she began a 16-year stint at the Sheltering Arms School, a research center and independent school for children with mental disabilities, staffed by teachers of the Minneapolis School District.

"She was so patient, so good with the children," said Sally Bervig of Burnsville, a classroom aide who worked with Anderson. "I learned so much from her."

Anderson worked with Sheltering Arms staffer Charlotte Petit of Edina, formerly Charlotte Snowberg, to stage special events.

After Sheltering Arms closed in the 1980s, she became a special education substitute teacher in Minneapolis.

When she was a member of the PTA at Sheridan Hills Elementary School in Richfield, she helped form a musical group as part of a fundraiser.

She took drum lessons so she could play with Calypso Jack and the Banana Boat Twelve.

With Anderson on the congas, the band performed at schools and other events until the late 1990s, said her husband, James Anderson of Minneapolis, the band's trombonist.

She also held leadership roles at the Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church in Minneapolis, serving as president of United Methodist Women at the church for many years.

Services will be held at 11 a.m. today at Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church, 511 Groveland Av., Minneapolis.