Jo Dressen taught math and English for more nearly 30 years at Browerville High School, but her impact on students went far beyond lessons on conjugating verbs and solving geometric formulas.
While counselor was not part of her job description, Dressen filled that role for scores of students and staff members in the central Minnesota town of about 700 who often turned to her when they simply needed an ear.
"She was the most sincere, genuine listener that I can remember," said Browerville School District Superintendent Robert Schaefer. "You knew that she cared about you whenever you visited. We lost a dear friend and wonderful person with her passing."
Dressen, 88, died May 19 of complications from pneumonia at her home in Alexandria, Minn.
Dressen started in Browerville in 1962 and taught sophomore geometry, grammar and literature to junior high students. She was famous for using cribbage to teach math lessons to seventh- and eighth-graders.
"If you didn't know how to play when you went into her class, you sure did when you went out," said Dressen's former neighbor Lynn Ollman, who taught social studies at Browerville until 2001 and now is a substitute teacher.
Ollman said she learned a profound lesson from Dressen: how to forgive and not judge others. Students learned that, too, she said. In a tribute to Dressen in the 1991 yearbook, they wrote: "Mrs. Dressen has always been there for students. Not only does she listen to what you say, but she hears you. She feels more compassion for her students than we ever thought possible." Many students would gather around her at class reunions, family members said.
Dressen, who also was the school's cheerleader adviser, inspired her four children to pursue careers in education. Her daughter, Mary Hedstrom, is a teacher in Minnetonka. Her son Ric is superintendent of Edina schools and son Nic is a teacher in Hastings. Another son, Dan, was a junior high principal in Belle Plaine, Minn. He died in 1999.
