Roderick Arthur Magoon died at his home in Fairfield, Iowa on February 14, 2017. He was born in Ypsilanti, Michigan on Wednesday, May 20, 1936 to Wallace Herbert Magoon (d.1986) and Iris Norton Eppens Magoon (d.1992) Younger brother of Dougald Wallace (d. 2000) (Bette) Magoon of Muncie, Indiana; Duncan (Marilynn) Magoon of Ann Arbor, Michigan; Mary Anne Magoon of Boone, North Caroline; and older brother of Patricia (Tom) Hogan of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Father of Julie (Alain) Desaulniers of Evansville, Ontario; Bonnie Helton of Indianapolis, Indiana; Maggie (Robert Roe) Magoon of Mt. Pleasant, Michigan; Ryan Magoon of Vancouver, BC; Andrew (Mei Yieng Chin) Magoon of Vancouver, BC; Yitzhak Magoon of San Diego, California; and Beyana (Thaddeus McPike) Magoon of Seattle, Washington. Grandfather of Kristina Desaulniers of Evansville, Ontario; Maria (Marcus Puharich) Desaulniers of Tofino, BC; Lysanne (Mark Sanchez) Desaulniers of Spring Bay, Ontario; Etienne Desaulniers of Evansville, Ontario; and Tara Helton of Indianapolis, Indiana. Great-grandfather of Ava and Emma Sanchez and Indiana Floyd of Manitoulin. Rod had nine nieces, six nephews, 15 great-nieces, seven great-nephews, four great-great-nieces and one great-great-nephew (niece Angel Wirrick d. 2007, and great-niece Lauren Magoon d. 1988). Rod attended Burris Lab School of Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana and graduated President of the Class of 1954; attended Wabash College (1954-1956) and was a Private First Class in the U.S. Marine Corps (1956-1958) under a special program that also took him to Alaska. Rod married Carol Burkett Blane of Plymouth, Indiana in 1958; finished his Bachelor of Science degree in Education from Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana (1961); and received a Master’s degree in Science (Conservation) from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan (1967). Rod worked for Parke-Davis Pharmaceutical Company in Akron, Ohio (1962); was involved with and taught a special program through Dr. Layman Allen at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut (1964); taught Grade 7 and 8 Science in Alpena, Michigan (1963-1966); and taught High School English and Russian Literature at Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, Michigan (1966-1973). Rod started going to McGregor Bay, Birch Island, Ontario for three months each summer in 1947 and eventually moved to Mills Township, Ontario in 1973 where he started Manitoulin Goat Farm and focused on farming and his passion to write. Rod left Manitoulin Island in 1979 and lived for a couple years in Ottawa, Ontario. Rod married Cathy Kahn Clemens of Seattle, Washington in 1984 and taught High School English, American and British Literature, Writing, and Speech at MSAE (Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment), Fairfield, Iowa (1985-1994), where he was voted “Teacher of the Year” for a number of years; taught a small group of home-schooled children (1994-1996); and taught special needs adults at Indian Hills Community College, Iowa at least three years. Rod retired in Fairfield, Iowa. Among things he enjoyed were classical music, playing card, word, board, and outdoor lawn games; involvement in kids’ sports activities; ‘the great outdoors’; gardening; drive-in movies; pet cats and dogs; canoe trips; camping in Michigan, Florida, Canada, Iowa, and later RV camping/road trips to Wisconsin, Glacier National Park, Montana, Arizona, and New Mexico; picnics in all seasons!!; inventing games, writing, teaching, and speaking. He was the author of the novel ‘Life With Larry’. Rod loved his seven children and wanted each of them to be free and happy individuals who could think outside the box and use their brilliance in constructive, positive, happy ways. A memorial service will be held this July in McGregor Bay, Birch Island, Ontario. Memorial donations may be made in Rod’s memory to Interlochen Center for the Arts (as I.A.A. is now called), Rod Magoon Memorial Writing Scholarship at www.interlochen.org/memorial or P.O. Box 199, Interlochen, MI, 49643 or by contacting Kate Olson at 231-276-7611 or The Arbor Day Foundation, Trees in Memory at https://shop.arborday.org/content.aspx?page=commemorative-sample-time (will plant five trees for $10 in a forest in need).
