Wadena-Deer Creek teacher dies, is remembered

Longtime Wadena-Deer Creek High School science teacher Craig Klawitter is being remembered this week for the impact he had on students and staff.

Klawitter, who spent 37 years of his teaching career at Wadena-Deer Creek High School, died Saturday, Oct. 31, at Tri-County Hospital in Wadena after a battle with cancer. He was 60.

While his death was not unexpected, the loss to the school, the community and his family is heart-breaking.

When Klawitter was diagnosed with cancer in December of 2013, his oncologist explained the disease would respond well to treatment, but it was not curable. That didn't stop "Klaw" from fighting and living on his own terms for 22 months, rarely allowing the disease to keep him out of the classroom.

"He was so strong," said Sheri Holst, science teacher at WDC. "He would not let anyone know his weaknesses. He was strong to the very end."

Teachers Kelly Shrode and Dawn Paurus round out the science department, with Klawitter as chair. This past June, Klawitter decided to fully retire from teaching and concentrate on spending time with his wife, Tammie, and their two sons and new daughter-in-law.

Devotion to teaching science

Klawitter had a passion for teaching science, and he wanted to share his passion and knowledge to every student that passed through his classroom door.

When Holst was hired 17 years ago, Klawitter immediately mentored her on how to be a hands-on science teacher like himself.

"That's one of the reasons kids loved him, because he was that hands-on kind of teacher," Holst said. "Kids loved his labs. Now I'm a hands-on teacher because of him."

Aaron Pederson, who graduated in 2002, recalled how influential Klawitter was in his education at WDC. While in high school, Pederson signed up to be a student-service worker with Klawitter, but the work assignment quickly turned into an independent study class.

"He gave me an old physics book and told me to pick out labs, then he'd help me set them up," Pederson said. "He spent time teaching me directly."

During his senior year, Pederson struggled with what he was going to do after graduation. It was Klawitter who suggested he study aerospace engineering at the University of Minnesota, his alma mater. Today, Pederson supervises 20 engineers at an aerospace company in Washington state.

"I am ultimately doing what he recommended I should do," said Pederson, who remained in contact with Klawitter via email over the past 13 years. But perhaps what impressed Pederson most about Klawitter was how he made science fun for every student.

"His goal was to get students to love science-even kids who didn't especially care for science," Pederson said.

Robby Grendahl had the unique opportunity to go from student to colleague and friend of Klawitter's. Grendahl graduated from WDC in 1989, went to college and returned to WDC in 1995 to teach social studies.

As Grendahl reflected on Klawitter's career, he described his colleague as eclectic and intellectual.

"I think the part that struck me the most was he was such a high-caliber teacher," Grendahl said. "He was very intellectual. He could have gone on to teaching at the college level. But he decided to stay here so he could work with students ... it truly was a calling for him."

Grendahl recalled how Klawitter would reminisce about the old junior high building, where he first taught science to students.

"He would tell me it was the absolute best teaching environment because of the high ceilings. He could shoot flames 8 to 10 feet up in the air," Grendahl said with a laugh.

Students may also recall Klawitter's typical answer when students would ask him questions: "I don't know," Klawitter would quip with a twinkle in his eye.

"He wasn't going to tell you how science was going to turn out," Grendahl said. "As a student, you needed to find out."

It was common to hear former students who returned from college praising Klawitter's science lessons.

"Students who would come back from higher learning, routinely said they could not have survived their college classes had they not taken classes from Craig," Grendahl said.

Unwavering commitment

Throughout his teaching career and even during his cancer treatment, Klawitter would arrive at school no later than 5 a.m. each school day, preparing his lesson plans and labs for the day. He offered a very popular "zero-hour" college class for students so they didn't have to choose between choir or band.

"He loved providing opportunities to kids to fit their schedules," said Tyler Church, principal at WDC Middle/High School. "He wanted to help our kids who took college-level courses. And he was a big supporter of music."

Church described Klawitter as a "patriarch" who loved his family, loved his school family and was deeply proud of Wadena-Deer Creek Schools. He was also honest, brutally honest at times, laughed Church.

"He'd say, 'Hey, kid! Get in here!'" Church said. "He didn't always tell me what I wanted to hear, but I listened. His intent was, 'How are we going to make this better?' He taught me how to be real, how to work with kids. He loved science, but he loved kids more than science."

For Mike Ortmann, who also battled cancer last year, Klawitter was his rock, his support system.

"My very first day of chemo, he was there with me-even when he was going through his own battle with cancer. After our chemo treatments, we'd exchange text messages or if we were at school, we'd go down for coffee," recalled Ortmann, who is now cancer-free after surgery and treatment.

Activities Director Norm Gallant worked with Klawitter when he coached softball and volunteered at sporting events. Klawitter also coached volleyball for many years too.

"Everything he did, whether it was teaching, coaching or volunteering, it was with the students in mind," Gallant said. "Even the relationships he built with the kids and the whole staff, he genuinely cared. He wasn't afraid to be honest, but it was meant to help. It was to benefit the school and the kids."

"There's so much that he brought to us," Holst said. "When Dawn (Paurus), Kelly (Shrode) and I went to see him in the hospital (on Oct. 30), I didn't say goodbye. I just said, I am going to see you soon. ... I didn't want to give up on him, because he never gave up on us."

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2/2: Craig Klawitter leads a lab experiment in his classroom at Wadena-Deer Creek High School. (Contributed photo)