John Caddy, longtime Minnesota poet, naturalist and teacher, dies at 83

While others were preoccupied with the plight of large, charismatic animals, award-winning poet and naturalist John Caddy was drawn to the overlooked and underappreciated.

"When I was a kid, we would look at all the lacewings and the delicate beetles and mayflies," said Caddy's son, Owen Caddy. "He thought that the small things were really the foundation of the ecosystem, and they were kind of a canary in the coal mine, but he also just thought they were beautiful."

Caddy died Aug. 7 of natural causes. He was 83.

Friends and family remembered Caddy as an innovator who merged his love of the natural world with his critically acclaimed poetry and teaching in order to educate others.

"His sense was too often we humans view ourselves apart from nature," said Caddy's longtime friend, George Roberts. "He was interested in finding himself in nature."

Caddy was born into a mining family in Hibbing and found his love of the natural world growing up in Virginia, Minn.

"I had a very messed-up family," Caddy told the Star Tribune in 2012. "For me, nature was a way to escape, a healing place."

He attended the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis on a Naval ROTC scholarship, served as a midshipman in the Caribbean, Panama and Chile in the late 1950s and soon afterward returned to the Twin Cities.

He worked at the U as a teaching assistant in the English department in the early 1960s and later in the university's College of Education and University High School.

Roberts became fast friends with Caddy while working as his intern, teaching high school students; Caddy mentored Roberts in his career as a teacher and writer.

"He wasn't shy about working hard, so he took a look at what was happening in his classroom and if it wasn't working, he'd take a look at why … and think of himself as the problem as opposed to the kids," Roberts said.

Caddy also led trips with students to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, was a founder of the Minnesota Poets in the Schools Program and cofounded the Sundog Center for Environmental Education near Lake Itasca, where he also taught.

He published his first nature poem in the late 1960s and would go on to publish several books. In 2012, he received the McKnight Foundation's Distinguished Artist Award, one of several awards in his career.

"He left an impact in terms of the importance … [of] the commitment to service, to being a poet in the schools teaching," said Vickie Benson, who was the McKnight Foundation's arts program director at the time. "I think that's where John excelled and he leaves that legacy on the writing world."

Daniel Slager, publisher and CEO of Milkweed Editions, worked closely with Caddy on his 2008 book, "With Mouths Open Wide."

"He was quick, he was funny and he was gracious, but he was also capable of being tough — kind of a scrappy personality," Slager said.

Caddy was especially captivated by questions from children at his book readings, Slager recalled. "He just found great wisdom in their ways of thinking and their questions, which was quintessential John Caddy," he said.

Caddy's work wasn't slowed by a stroke in 1994 that left him paralyzed on the left side of his body and dependent on a cane. He posted poems daily to his website, Morning Earth, which is no longer running, based on observations on his property in Forest Lake. He also taught classes online and encouraged other poets to do the same.

"Rather than give up, he'd dig in and try to educate people, find new ways to communicate," said Owen Caddy.

Caddy is survived by his wife, Lin Caddy; his son; his daughter, Wendy Stock; and a sister. Services are pending.

Chao Xiong • 612-270-47087