LeAnn House, St. Scholastica music professor and arts advocate, dies at 67

When music professor and accomplished pianist LeAnn House addressed new students during a fall convocation at Duluth's College of St. Scholastica in 2014, she didn't just speak to them. She asked them to stand and perform breathing exercises, then sing a verse she wrote for the occasion: "Be genuine, gentle and generous, working for justice and living with joy."

House believed music and its power mattered to everyone, offering relief from stress and new ways of thinking, said her daughter, Rebecca Gruskin. "Music grounds you," Gruskin said, and to House, "it was part of what made life worth living."

House died June 11 after living with neuroendocrine cancer for nine years. She was 67.

She joined St. Scholastica in 1978 and served as chairwoman of its music department for several years, receiving the Lavine Award for teaching excellence in 2014 and retiring from the college in 2017.

House earned a doctoral degree in musicology and master's degrees in applied piano and musicology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She served as music director for the Minnesota Ballet for six years and was involved in Duluth's Matinee Musicale, which brought emerging musicians to town for concerts and showcased the music of students from area colleges.

She shared her love of music with her family. Her husband, Shelley Gruskin, is also a retired St. Scholastica music professor with whom she often performed. Daughter Johanna Gruskin is a professional flutist recently hired to play with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Rebecca plays the French horn.

"Growing up, we were two little kids crawling around in the back aisle of the concert hall," Johanna said of her and her sister.

House also loved to garden and bake pies, and started a pumpkin pie sale benefiting Churches United in Ministry (CHUM) using excess donated pumpkin purée. Having grown up on a Kansas farm, she was resourceful. She was an "earth mother and down-to-earth, lighthearted and whimsical," Shelley said.

House received her cancer diagnosis one morning "and by the afternoon she was making pies for the CHUM rhubarb festival," Shelley said. "She was just unstoppable."

House's enthusiasm for music theory made the sometimes-dry subject come to life, said former student Emily Valine.

"It was a transformative experience for me," she said. "She was challenging as a teacher ... and it was from a posture of caring about me and knowing what I was capable of."

House knew music was part of a well-rounded education, and advocated for it during times of budget cuts. In all things, she "had your back and would go to bat for you," Schwarze said.

"The way she made pies was how she lived," she said. "We didn't take it for granted, the imperfect pie."

In addition to her husband and two daughters, House is survived by a brother, Harlan House, and sisters Lorna Nelson and Linda Franklin. Services have been held.

Jana Hollingsworth • 612-673-4228